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,...
Becoming non-GMO certified can help brands attract new consumers and boost sales, but it also could alienate existing shoppers if manufacturers are not careful, cautions Asian sauce maker San-J.
Solazyme is aiming to launch the latest addition to its micro-algae-based ingredients portfolio in early 2016 - an algae butter - which it says could replace hard fats such as palm oil or partially hydrogenated oils in a variety of applications spanning...
WhiteWave Foods’ efforts to expand the plant-based dairy alternative category beyond beverage and outside of the natural channel already is paying off for the company, and it holds significant promise for the larger category’s and retailers’ future, executives...
Two relatively small, but high-profile snack categories are merging with the Nov. 4 launch of Exo’s savory meal bars with alternative protein from crickets.
KonaRed – the Hawaii-based company on a mission to make coffee fruit the next big thing in functional foods and beverages – has similar challenges to those POM Wonderful faced when it first got started, but has the potential to be equally successful,...
If you didn't make it to Chicago last week for the 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 facing small...
Media attention has focussed on the unsustainabilty of California's almond industry, with issues ranging from water overuse during drought and pesticide harm to bees during pollination - but this is unfair says the California Almond Board.
San Francisco-based microalgae pioneer Solazyme has expand its joint venture with oils expert Bunge to develop a “range of breakthrough oils for food and products for animal nutrition”.
With growth in fresh perimeter grocery departments outpacing that of the center of the store, Portland, OR-based The Better Bean Co. saw a void for a high-quality alternative to canned beans that could become part of people’s weekly cooking routines.
The time is here for sweet potatoes, according to industry newcomer Carolina Innovative Food Ingredients, Inc., which says ingredients from the vegetable can help manufacturers clean up labels, cut calories and sugar, tap into key consumer trends such...
Target has embarked on a multi-year collaboration with MIT’s Media Lab and design firm IDEO that will explore areas such as urban farming, food transparency and authenticity, supply chain and health.
In the hyper-competitive beverage world, it’s hard to imagine a brand pioneering a new beverage category using a mission-driven business model aimed at restoring the rainforest would still be around 20 years later, let alone growing at an average rate...
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has launched a probe into the way the American Egg Board handled the ‘threat’ of Hampton Creek – the San Francisco-based start-up behind the egg-free spread Just Mayo - amid claims it overstepped its mandate by...
Chocolate makers must pay double the market price for cocoa farmers to receive a living income, says the CEO of Fairtrade as the organization gears up to review pricing.
Chr Hansen has reported ‘very satisfactory’ overall growth of 10%, as stronger performances in cultures, enzymes, and nutrition balance out below per performance in natural colours.
The baking and snacks industry must explore innovations in grains to meet the challenges of a growing population, according to PepsiCo's global R&D head.
Blending is the way forward for plant based proteins in sports nutrition and their price stability can help manufacturers, says World Food Processing president Tyler Lorenzen.
VEGA Coffee is based on a simple – but surprisingly novel – concept, says founder Noushin Ketabi: What if the farmers who grow coffee, actually roasted and packaged it as well, and then sold their ‘farm-roasted’ product directly to US consumers via an...
Cargill conquered the technical challenges of bringing a fermented Reb D/Reb M stevia ingredient to market. Clearing the consumer acceptance hurdle was best handled by being as transparent as possible about the ingredient, a company executive said.
From savory yogurt and coffee fruit infusions, to switchel – apple cider vinegar-based concoctions that offer a modern twist on a centuries-old tradition - Sterling-Rice Group (SRG) highlights 10 culinary trends it predicts will inspire packaged foods...
Norwegian firm Arctic Nutrition AS has achieved market penetration with the formal launch in the US market of its Romega phospholipid omega-3 ingredient sourced from herring roe. The ingredient made its market splash at the Supply Side West trade show...
Impossible Foods, one of a new wave of Silicon Valley-backed companies promising to “transform the global food system”, has raised $108m in its latest round of financing, and says its first product – a plant-based burger that precisely replicates the...
'The Dietary Guidelines are not the appropriate vehicle for this important policy conversation about sustainability'
Sustainability will not factor into the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, say the US Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, prompting praise from the meat lobby and anger from environmental and consumer/health advocacy groups.
