In the highly-saturated bar category, Bobo’s nut butter filled oat bars stand out for balancing decadence and better-for-you ingredients for an easy to eat and satiating snack, but in our taste test they lost points for packaging elements.
ABA: Fiber suppliers are stuck in a 'holding pattern'
The arrival of the new-look Nutrition Facts panel (which will require manufacturers to list added sugar), is generating renewed interest in inulin: a widely-used ingredient from chicory root that also serves as a sugar replacer. But this enthusiasm is...
Will the July 2018 deadline for compliance with the new Nutrition Facts panel stand? Will federal GMO labeling regulations stop GMO-related lawsuits? And will the FDA nail down ‘natural’ anytime soon? FoodNavigator-USA headed to the American Conference...
To stimulate public debate about the “double burden” of malnutrition in the United States and spur food and beverage companies in the nation to improve the nutritional profile of and access to their products, the publisher of the influential Access to...
Industry efforts to delay added-sugar labeling and the new Nutrition Facts panel could damage manufacturers’ long-term sales by eroding consumer trust in them, and pushing shoppers to more transparent options, industry experts suggested at the Building...
Updated daily values (DVs) for vitamins and minerals that will roll out with the new-look Nutrition Facts panel, coupled with changes to serving sizes, may reduce the nutrient density of fortified foods, and could lead to reduced overall intakes of some...
A majority of consumers, 78%, said that they encounter a lot of conflicting information about what to eat and avoid, according to a new survey by the International Food Information Council Foundation (IFIC).
Requests to delay the implementation of the updated Nutrition Facts panel, which includes a line to indicate added sugar and makes calories more visible, and a last-minute delay of menu labeling regulations are insulting to consumers, suggests Former...
The clean label movement may have started as industry’s response to consumers who wanted foods and beverages made without artificial or “chemical” sounding ingredients, but overtime as brands continued to one-up each other, the concept morphed and metastasized...
What is healthy? Comments flood in as FDA docket closes
“If we were looking for an easy answer and widespread agreement on the definition of ‘healthy,’ we didn’t find it [at a public meeting last month],”observed the FDA in a blog post this week. So could it seriously consider banning the word from food labels...
Assuming FDA does not delay the deadline for the new Nutrition Fact label as requested by industry, then large companies have slightly more than a year left to overcome challenges associated with added sugar, the new definition of dietary fiber, changes...
The results of the 2017 FoodNavigator-USA reader survey are in… and not surprisingly, given the breadth of our readership, they’re pretty mixed, with many readers excited about their company’s prospects and others feeling trapped in a race to the bottom...
After eight years under the Obama Administration of a “whole lot of fun” for nutrition policy advocates, the next four years under the Trump White House likely will feel like a “swinging pendulum” to the far other extreme, according to a prominent food...
FDA is “listening” to requests “on both ends of the spectrum” related to the upcoming deadline for changes to the Nutrition Facts Label currently slated to go into effect next July for large companies and in July 2019 for smaller firms, according to a...
The implementation deadline for the new Nutrition Facts label, which includes a new line indicating added sugars, could be pushed back several years if President Trump’s nominee for FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb is confirmed.
With a goal to become “the Little Debbie of the natural snacks industry,” Nature’s Bakery is expanding its portfolio beyond its flagship Fig Bar line, and overhauling its branding to ensure the company name isn’t lost among the multiplying stock-keeping...
Despite increased transparency into how food is sourced, who makes it and how, much of the research on which nutrition policy is based and how it is funded remains notably opaque – a situation that the founder and CEO of KIND Healthy Snacks wants to change.
Kevin Klock: ‘Now we have created a real brand identity’
Talking Rain Beverage Co has unveiled a $37m national ad campaign that president Kevin Klock says will give Sparkling ICE a stronger brand identity – something it has historically lacked, despite its meteoric growth (estimated retail sales have surged...
Perhaps not surprising, but disappointing nonetheless to environmental, health and nutrition advocates is new research that ranks the US dead last, or very near the bottom, out of 25 countries on a long list of food sustainability indicators, including...
High levels of added sugar should disqualify foods from being able to make health claims, or nutrient content claims such as ‘healthy’ or ‘high fiber,’ argues a citizen’s petition filed last week by the nonprofit advocacy group the Union of Concerned...
To the frustration of the dairy lobby, false advertising lawsuits objecting to terms such as ‘almondmilk’ and ‘soymilk’ have failed to make much headway. However, complaints filed this week vs Blue Diamond Growers and WhiteWave Foods adopt a different...
The Trump Administration’s regulatory freeze announced last week could significantly impact how the Nutrition Facts Label final rule and regulations related to the Food Safety Modernization Act are interpreted and enforced even though they passed well...
A “striking” increase in the consumption of no- and low-calorie sweeteners over 13 years combined with conflicting data on their connection to obesity, diabetes and other health issues escalates the need for more research on their chronic health effects,...
Healthcare concerns likely are behind the steep drop in Americans’ spending at restaurants in 2016 and the uptick in consumers who say they will cook at home more in the New Year, according to recent research.
The FDA has attempted to clear up some of the confusion over defining and calculating added sugar, in new draft guidance designed to help firms get to grips with the key changes it is making to the Nutrition Facts panel.
Providing transparent, accurate information about products that go beyond what is legally required can boost sales, market share and consumer loyalty, suggests new research by Label Insight.
Too much sugar remains a top consumer concern, but confusion about how to read product labels and general distrust of their accuracy means many Americans are at a loss as to how to reduce sugar, a new Healthline survey reveals.
Rightly or wrongly, organic snacks often are stereotyped as “esoteric” products that sacrifice flavor and fun for nutrition and are “hard on the wallet” compared to their conventional counterparts, according to the CEO of Pure Growth Organic.
While President-elect Trump’s position on food policy is relatively unclear still, changes to the exhaustively researched and intensely debated Nutrition Facts label, menu labeling rule and food safety regulations could all be on the chopping block under...
Consumers appear to becoming more sophisticated and specific about which ingredients or characteristics they find most troublesome in packaged foods and beverages, new research from CivicScience suggests.
Historically consumers who wanted a gluten-free alternative to a wheat-based product had to sacrifice nutrition, taste or accept the presence of other common allergens in the ingredient list.
Consumer research leads Cargill to believe that it has finally rounded the stevia taste bend, just in time for the revamp of nutrition labeling phases in over the next several years.
Before the chill of fall settles in, a group of DC urbanites – some foodies and others not – gathered to sample and critique four variations of kitchen staples designed to engage consumers while also easing the burden of cooking from scratch, including...
At the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo in Boston this week, emerging and maturing trends showcased on the show floor included more watermelon-based products, variations on peanut butter and lots of fruit- and vegetable-forward convenience foods.
Widespread confusion about how packaged foods are made and labeled is eroding consumer trust in brands and threatening future product sales, according to new research from Label Insight.
If a high percentage of the calories in your product are from added sugar, and you are stating or implying that it’s healthy and nutritious, are you at risk of a false advertising lawsuit? A flurry of lawsuits recently filed vs Kellogg, General Mills...
Seafood checks many of today’s on-trend boxes, including being high in lean protein and omega-3 fatty acids, sustainable, natural and minimally processed – yet consumption of it in the US continues to fall, prompting manufacturers and public health advocates...
New research from market intelligence company CivicScience suggests changing consumer attitudes about healthy eating could mean manufacturers can shed their years-old “stealth health” approach to product reformulation without fear that sodium-, sugar-...
The added sugars portion of the newly revamped nutrition facts labels for food products will provide a significant opportunity for purveyors of alternative sweeteners, an industry expert says.
As The Dannon Company nears the finish line for fulfilling its promise to improve the nutrition of its products that it made three years ago to the Partnership for a Healthier America, the company also is demonstrating that what is good for Americans’...
First Lady Michelle Obama unveiled the long-awaited new Nutrition Facts label as a “landmark achievement” that serves as a capstone to her dedicated efforts to improve the health of America’s youngest generations.
The FDA has submitted final rules for updating the Nutrition Facts panel and serving sizes to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a regulatory impact analysis.
In final guidance released April 29, FDA once again pushes back the compliance date for the long-delayed menu labeling final rule and clarifies when grab-and-go, deli-counter and bulk-bin items sold at grocery stores and other establishments must include...
FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition is plowing ahead with an ambitious and wide-ranging agenda for the remainder of 2016 without pause after knocking out five final or proposed rules related to food safety and nutrition in just as many...
Parents’ lack of knowledge about how much and what to feed children as they transition from baby food to more solid foods means most toddlers in America eat too much sugar and sodium and not enough whole grains and vegetables, new research reveals.
