Unilever and Nestlé say Oxfam missed an opportunity for a wider and more comprehensive debate about food ethics after the NGO published a damning report on the supply chains of the world’s biggest food firms this week.
Associated British Foods – worst-in-class in an Oxfam report critical of 10 food giants for essentially operating under a corporate social responsibility (CSR) “veil of secrecy” – has hit back, slamming the report ‘s findings as “ridiculous”.
Dispatches from the 6th International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition
People following an energy unrestricted plant-based diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts can reduce their risk of a major cardiovascular event by 30% compared with people following a purely low-fat diet, according to a “landmark” new...
Dispatches from the 6th International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition
People on a plant-based diet are consistently slimmer and healthier than meat eaters, with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes, according to research unveiled at the 6th International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition (ICVN).
Focusing on eating ‘better’ meat could attract broader acceptance than a simple ‘eat less meat’ message and benefit the environment, people’s health and animal welfare, according to a new report from WWF-UK and the Food Ethics Council.
Herbal Papaya, a company founded on the health benefits of the fruit, will launch a complete line of food, beverage and supplement products at the Expo West trade show in March. A key part of the company’s message is that all of its products are non...
Fresh juices and foods subjected to high pressure processing (HPP); protein - especially at breakfast; cage-free hen eggs; premium private label; fermented foods; culinary botanicals; and edible packaging could all be hot trends this year, predicts trend...
A longstanding diagnostic tool called Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) is increasingly being used to look at the sustainability bona fides of food products, according to a leading third-party certifier. Using the tool can help quantify all of the inputs that...
Sales of natural products featuring third party certifications surged in 2012, according to new data from SPINS, with non-GMO project verified products leading the charge (+18%), followed by Fair Trade USA (+17%), Certified Gluten Free (+17%), and Certified...
Barry Callebaut has announced that it is switching to Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certified palm oil for compounds and filling at most plants.
Special edition: Protein-rich foods… the next generation
Protein has never been hotter - at least that’s what the market researchers tell us - and vegetarian proteins in particular are top of the pops right now.
The chocolate industry is behind in tackling some cocoa supply issues and must work more closely to avert shortages, according to Mars’ head of sustainability.
Increased use of phosphorus in food products since the 1960s is now putting pressure on the sustainable supply of the essential mineral, warn researchers.
A proliferation of eco-labels could have adverse consequences, as food manufacturers question the value of certification schemes in light of a fragmented market and multiple fees, according to Organic Monitor.
The boss of AquaBounty Technologies - which has spent years waiting for the FDA to decide whether to approve its genetically engineered (GE) salmon - says the tortuous process “has already had a chilling effect on research and investment in this field...
Big interview: Ryan Black, founder and CEO, Sambazon
Want a dictionary definition of 'high-achiever'? Meet Ryan Black, a former NFL player and surfer who went on holiday to Brazil in his early 20s in search of waves and came back with the germ of a business idea that is now worth more than $100m...
Can we feed nine billion people by 2050? Only if we embrace the principles of open innovation, says Jeff Bellairs, senior director of the General Mills Worldwide Innovation Network (G-WIN), in this exclusive article for Foodnavigator-USA.com and FoodNavigator.com.
The Hershey Company has joined the advisory council of a new non-profit organization – the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) - that aims to develop industry-wide standards on sustainability.
The economics of supplying plant-based foods and beverages over dairy will become increasingly compelling “because the cow is a relatively inefficient converter of grain into protein”, says the chief executive of WhiteWave Foods.
Coca-Cola has to "think and act like a lean start-up company" if it wants to stay ahead of the pack, using its Venturing and Emerging Brands (VEB) arm to make "more, earlier bets" to find the next big thing in beverages, says its procurement...
Palm oil producers who use fire to clear land for plantations should be named and shamed, urged Professor Tommy Koh, ambassador-at-large for Singapore’s ministry of foreign affairs and keynote speaker at the RSPO meeting in Singapore this week.
Cambodian villagers who claim they were illegally evicted from their land to make way for a sugar plantation that supplies American Sugar Refining (Domino Sugar), have filed a complaint with a US government office that handles alleged breaches of OECD...
A group* of palm oil growers, millers and environmental organizations has called on all members of the Round Table on Sustainable Palm oil (RSPO) to support the GreenPalm certificate trading scheme until they can use 100% physical, sustainable palm.
Walmart will expand the use of an index enabling buyers to evaluate the sustainability of products to cover 200 product categories by the end of this year, bosses have revealed.
The entrepreneur behind Cweet - a natural high-intensity sweetener from a protein called brazzein- says he expects to secure regulatory approval to sell it in the US in one to two years.
The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo and other firms riding the convergence wave marrying soft drinks to dairy face massive future commodity sourcing challenges.
Food manufacturers are increasingly seeing stevia as a way to “reinvent the regular” by helping them deliver incremental calorie reductions in everyday foods, rather than simply serving as a replacement for artificial sweeteners in ‘diet’ products, says...
Open innovation - or collaborating with others to get more innovative new products to market more quickly - is starting to do for the food industry what open source computing has done for the IT industry, says the new president of the IFT.
The Hershey Company has told this site that it plans to work with multiple organizations to meet its recent pledge to use only certified cocoa by 2020, and will communicate progress in annual reports.
Big Interview: Dave McLaughlin, World Wildlife Fund
Food manufacturers are beginning to realize that buying more GreenPalm certificates now might be the only way to stimulate enough production of sustainable palm oil to make fully traceable products economically viable in future, says the World Wildlife...
Walmart says it is confident it will reach its goal of using sustainably sourced palm oil for all of its private label products by the end of 2015, although it won’t give any details about how much progress it has made to date in North America.
There is a “unique opportunity for high purity EPA as a standalone ingredient” as the omega-3 market becomes more sophisticated, says algal omega-3 specialist Aurora Algae as it prepares to break ground on a commercial-scale production site it claims...
We’ve heard from the branding experts and the market researchers. But what do ingredients firms working with some of the biggest names in food, beverages and supplements think about how to target Millennials?
Foodservice giant Sodexo has pledged to switch the sourcing of all of the 39 million shelled eggs that it uses each year to cage-free hens by July 2014.
About 40% of all food produced in the United States goes to waste – an amount worth about $165bn, according to a new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
With fish consumption rates soaring and wild fishing stagnating, efforts must be pumped into the sustainable growth of aquaculture, a new report suggests.
Most Canadians try to buy locally produced food – and many are willing to pay a significant premium for it, according to the results of a new Bank of Montreal (BMO) survey.
High demand for environmentally friendly goods is providing the food industry with growing opportunities to create a new and unique supply chain system that offers advantages for everybody, according to new research.
The total market for analogs and meat free products is set to rise by 4.4%, from €2.85bn to €3.54bn, in the next five years, according to exclusive data from market analyst RTS Resource.
How many options do vegetarians and flexitarians (meat reducers) have when they go out to eat (if they are not in the mood for bean burgers and Margherita pizza)?
Back in the early ‘80s when his tempeh business was getting off the ground, the meat alternatives category was not exactly brimming with mouth-watering options, says Tofurky creator Seth Tibbott.
Fairtrade product sales rose 12% worldwide in 2011 due to ethical sourcing commitments from the food and drink industry and increased consumer awareness.
Big interview: Rod Sowders, CEO and president, Synergy Flavors
Synergy Flavors aims to move all of its product development, marketing, commercial and admin functions to a new flavor innovation and manufacturing campus less than a mile from its current facility in Wauconda, Illinois, by the end of August.
Sales of natural flavours in Western Europe are set to be overtaken by sales in the Asia-Pacific market within the next three years, according to market research firm RTS.
