Rising food, beverage and agriculture start-ups joined leading retailers, investors and celebrity chefs at Rabobank North America Wholesale's FoodBytes! Brooklyn pitch-slam March 3 to discuss advancing food culture, sustainability and farming.
It remains to be seen whether edible insects can move from the niche to the mainstream of US food culture, but a $4m cash injection into cricket protein bar brand Exo - one of the pioneers in this nascent category – suggests bugs may have broader appeal...
The Mushroom Council and Sodexo hope to encourage children to eat more produce by introducing “Blend Burgers” and expanding the Eat Brighter marketing campaign into school cafeterias.
American’s demand for protein shows no sign of slowing in 2016, but it is evolving to focus more on plant-based options, according to a new report from Packaged Facts.
Collaborative research by Fair Trade USA and Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) suggests 59% of consumers recognize the Fair Trade Certified label, compared to 38% in 2012.
LaLoo’s Goat Milk Ice Cream may be healthier for people and planet than more traditional cow milk varieties, but it is still an indulgence, which is why the brand’s new marketing campaign encourages consumers “to get out and move their hooves,” the company’s...
The financially daunting three-year transition to certified organic production just became a little less risky for farmers thanks the USDA expanding crop insurance to better reflect the product’s actual value.
Cricket bar pioneer Chapul is poised for significant growth in 2016 after securing national distribution agreements with UNFI and Nature’s Best (KeHE) that will see it boost its footprint from 500 stores today to 3-4,000 stores by the year end, CEO Pat...
Modeled after the coveted architectural LEED certification, being REAL certified tells buyers that manufacturers have gone “above and beyond” to produce a responsible, healthy product.
Ben & Jerry’s new line of vegan frozen desserts could accelerate the already fast consumer adoption of plant-based alternatives to conventional products and inspire more mainstream product manufacturers to follow suit, advocates say.
Moringa superfood product manufacturer Kuli Kuli expands it portfolio and the reach of its social mission with the launch of three energy shots, thanks to an infusion of $1 million from a mix of investors and fundraising tactics.
About half of Americans say “local” claims are an important factor in their food purchase decisions, but exactly how influential they are depends on where in the store they are made, according to a recent survey.
The Organic & Natural Health Association is abandoning its plan to create a certified seal that demonstrates when products are natural, but it remains dedicated to defining the widely used, but loosely understood marketing term.
An infusion of $5 million of private and public equity funding will help ready-to-grow and ready-to–eat food manufacturer Back to the Roots expand its distribution in public schools and its product portfolio in the coming year as it strives to “undo food,” according...
The co-founder and CEO of Green Chef infuses his passion for transparency into every aspect of the fresh meal kit delivery company, and in doing creates new marketing opportunities for its suppliers and helps them increase consumer awareness of their...
Does bone broth have mass market appeal, and if so, what’s the best format to package it in, and where is the best place to put it in store? FoodNavigator-USA caught up with EPIC Provisions co-founder Taylor Collins to get his take on this emerging category...
A bipartisan Senate agreement and proposed legislation slated for markup Jan. 20 could end the long, drawn out food fight over healthier school meal standards laid out in the aggressive Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.
Campbell Soup recently released its Culinary TrendScape report for 2016, an annual effort that started in 2014, which lists the top 10 influential food themes researched by chefs, bakers, and culinary professionals.
Marinated and vacuum packed, juiced, or turned into a bar, Love Beets is reinventing ways to make the healthy beetroot vegetable more adaptable to a busy lifestyle.
Growing consumer concern about food waste and the environmental impact of food production could be a “conversation starter” for food manufacturers to shift consumers’ focus on genetically modified organisms away from the perceived negative impact to the...
Americans’ evolving definition of health and wellness from treatment to prevention is dramatically impacting how they view food – with many people looking to the ancient past for guidance on how and what to eat in the future.
Mushrooms will feature more prominently in plant- and meat-based dishes in 2016, predicts the Mushroom Council, which says domestic production and value are at an all-time high, while ‘blended’ burgers, meatballs and tacos combining ground meat and chopped...
Upmarket meat snacks maker EPIC Provisions has been wooed by several suitors, but ultimately agreed to tie the knot with General Mills because it would help it achieve its goal of making high-quality grass-fed animal protein available to a broader audience,...
Sales of single-serve coffee pods in the US continue to grow, but the pace will slow in coming years as the maturing category enters a tumultuous period fraught with increased competition that could compress prices and margins, market research suggests.
Offers to buy-one, get-one free are an effective marketing strategy, but the maker of GIVN bottled water believes an even more effective take on this technique is an offer to buy-one, give-one.
As the race for manufacturers and restaurants to switch to 100% cage-free eggs in the US gains momentum, the speed of the transition could create short-term supply challenges for manufacturers and long-term opportunities for existing specialty egg providers,...
If you didn't make it to Chicago in October for FoodNavigator-USA's inaugural Food Vision USA event, you missed a truly awesome ensemble of industry experts covering everything from our nutritional needs on a manned mission to Mars to the challenges...
The old adage that one person’s trash is another’s treasure is the foundation of San Francisco-based startup ReGrained, which makes snack bars from grains used to brew beer and eventually hopes to connect other manufacturers with a steady supply of the...
US exports of organic produce and products are on the rise thanks to organic equivalency arrangements that ease verification requirements between some countries without compromising the integrity of organic, according to new research from the Organic...
I can't believe it's Just Mayo ... so will Just Butter be next?
Just weeks after telling Hampton Creek it was playing fast and loose with food labeling regs by branding its flagship egg-free spread ‘Just Mayo’, the FDA says Hampton Creek can now keep the ‘Just Mayo’ brand name - as long as it makes minor tweaks to...
The Organic Trade Association in 2016 will push forward several initiatives to help industry “turn the corner” on the supply shortages currently holding it back from meeting surging demand for organic products, the group’s CEO Laura Batcha says.
This is the season of repetitive themes: Christmas carols, holly garlands, inflatable Santas. So it comes as no surprise that DuPont protein experts sound a familiar strain, too: Plant proteins were big in 2015 and they’re going to be even bigger in...
Though the direct impact of rising temperatures on agricultural yields is widely known, researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) press that the processing and packaging steps of the global food system are crucial intervention points to...
PureCircle has developed a new family of stevia-based sweeteners designed to shine in low to zero-calorie formulations, an application area that has proved particularly challenging as formulators seek to retain a ‘clean, sugar-like’ taste at higher dosage...
VeganEgg - a novel 100% plant-based whole egg replacer utilizing algae as its core ingredient - has taken off like a rocketship, says brand owner Follow Your Heart, which is ramping up production for a wider roll-out in 2016.
Brands are blowing a major opportunity to communicate their sustainability initiatives to millions of consumers with social media updates that are “inane, safe and saccharinely artificial in their bonhomie”, says a report.
Juice in focus at BevNET Live: From V8 to Evolution Fresh, Suja & Bolthouse Farms
Brands, like celebrities and artists, have to stay true to their core essence to retain their integrity, but must also “change and shed personas” from time to time to stay relevant, says Campbell Soup’s beverage VP Kelli McCusker.
For Undone Chocolate, what is in a name is not as important as what is in its gourmet bars, which is why the startup is dropping individual product names in favor of umbrella branding and highlighting key ingredients.
Seaweed, full-fat dairy, floral flavors and mushrooms will all gain traction in 2016, according to the Specialty Food Association (SFA), which has released a list of 10 trends to watch in US food culture next year:
Parabel – a new entrant to the burgeoning plant-based protein market - has signed a lease for 450 acres of land in Fellsmere, Florida, where it plans to build a $10m production facility for its water-lentil-based proteins.
Small batch roaster Cameron’s Handcrafted Coffee believes in drinking coffee from a cup – not brewing from one, which is one of the many reasons its single serve coffee brews in a filter instead of the ubiquitous plastic cup made popular by Keurig.
Food and beverage manufacturers and suppliers are rising to meet the increasing consumer demand for humanely produced animal products – a trend which the American Humane Association celebrated last week on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Not so long ago, an organic beverage brand boasting ‘adaptogenic super-herbs’ would have had a fairly niche audience. Today, it’s a very different story, says Sheryl O’Loughlin, former CEO of Clif Bar and co-founder of Plum Organics, who has just moved...
The egg industry is undergoing a “renaissance” as consumers increasingly turn their backs to conventional eggs from caged hens and reach instead for those from chickens raised with space to move and access to outdoors, claims the co-owner of Handsome...
Not so long ago, pundits were predicting that the high-purity stevia extracts market would be worth a billion dollars as manufacturers ditched artificial sweeteners and embraced ‘all-natural’ alternatives.
Union Kitchen: Inside a food and beverage incubator
Fermented foods and beverages are growing in popularity as consumers learn more about their health benefits – in turn opening the door for entrepreneurs like The Sweet Farm, which sells fresh sauerkraut and is developing a line of cultured sodas and probiotic...
Pasta is a low fat, low-sodium, low glycemic, complex carbohydrate, and a good source of thiamin, folic acid, iron, riboflavin, and niacin. So why do many consumers – and some health professionals – still see it as a source of ‘empty carbs’ to be avoided,...
