The associations between vitamin D status and COVID-19 risk continue to strengthen, with new data from Quest Diagnostics and Boston University indicating that people with deficiency in the sunshine vitamin may have a significantly higher positivity rate...
Consumers have grown accustomed to eating and cooking more meals at home due to the pandemic and will continue this behavior well into 2021, said Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen during the company's Q2 2020 earnings call.
Meat giant Smithfield Foods – the recipient of a citation from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for failing to protect employees from exposure to the coronavirus – says it is “wholly without merit and we plan to contest it.”
Driven by shifting shopper attitudes toward COVID-19, overall grocery delivery and pickup sales for August were down to $5.7bn from June’s peak of $7.2bn. However, some key performance indicators including average order value and intent to make a repeat...
Scientists at the University of Chicago are calling for clinical trials to investigate if vitamin D may reduce COVID-19 incidence after their retrospective study found a link between deficiency of the sunshine vitamin and the likelihood of becoming infected...
With more than 20,000 stores in its retail footprint, new packaging and products, and increased trend spend, a2 Milk Company is moving closer to reaching meaningful scale in the US since its launch in select California retailers five years ago, said CEO...
As lawmakers argue whether COVID-19 liability shields for employers should be built into the next stimulus package, Tyson Foods has told a court in Texas that it can’t be held liable for the death of one of its employees because his family can't...
Iconic brands from Heinz ketchup to Kraft Mac & Cheese are gaining ground with “higher income, younger, and more diverse parts of the population where we have historically under indexed,” the head of Kraft Heinz’s US business, Carlos Abrams-Rivera,...
Unilever has leveraged ‘agility’ to adapt its business to COVID-19. How does the company plan to cope with the global economic recession that now looks likely?
E-commerce sales at Conagra Brands surged by 89.7% in the year ending May 31 compared to same time last year, as more consumers opted for the convenience (and perceived safety) of click-and-collect and at-home grocery delivery services.
The US Food and Drug Administration says it will move actively to prevent the worldwide trade in dietary ingredients, food ingredients and whole foods from being restricted because of misplaced coronavirus infection concerns.
The importance of convenience in shopping has accelerated due to the pandemic with more than 50% of consumers spending more on contactless shopping, mobile payment usage, and buy-online-pick-up-in-store options, according to a Deloitte Insights report....
Recent research on vitamin D has made an even more compelling case for the critical importance of the nutrient, the founders of a supplement brand say.
As Americans tentatively emerge from lockdown, the industry is likely to face a very different consumer landscape. How might tighter household budgets change consumer priorities and behaviors? Will ‘Big Food’ really stage a comeback? Will habits (stress...
The prevalence of virus-treatment claims in the marketplace has made for both heightened enforcement from federal regulators and calls for even more action from an advocacy group regarding products sold on Amazon.
As stay-at-home restrictions ease across the US and Americans attempt to return to a post-pandemic normal way of life, the crisis and nationwide aid initiatives such as the Frontline Impact Project are far from over.
While not everyone is convinced that recent surging sales for some legacy food brands mean ‘Big Food’ is staging a comeback, some habits developed during the pandemic could be sustained, and brands such as Campbell Soup are well-placed to exploit them,...
Self-administered ‘smell tests’ supported by a digital health app could serve as an COVID-19 early detection system, especially for asymptomatic carriers that may be spreading the virus without knowing it, say researchers at Harvard Medical School and...
While many states emerge from several weeks of shelter-in-place mandates and businesses begin to reopen, many consumers feel their usual shopping behaviors won’t return to “normal” for some time, an Acosta report revealed.
Dutch nutrition research and innovation firm Nutricia has announced it will support a series of research projects taking place around to world over the following weeks to help define nutrition guidelines to help speed up the recovery of COVID-19 patients.
The uneven impact of the coronavirus on sales of food and beverage brands of different sizes has created an opportunity for smaller and emerging companies to drive consumer awareness by advertising on Amazon at a scale that previously would not have been...
Nearly a quarter (24%) of consumers have taken their grocery shopping online in the months of March and April 2020 compared to 6% in 2019 highlighting the need for retailers to provide a seamless shopper experience between in-store, pickup, and delivery...
Reports arguing high dose Vitamin D supplementation could treat COVID-19 are based on speculation and are a risk to public health, warns a team of scientists from across the globe.
Hormel Foods saw organic net sales increase 20% for its grocery products (SPAM, SKIPPY, Hormel chili, and Hormel Compleats microwave meals) and registered a 12% rise in net sales for Jennie-O Turkey products offsetting a decline in foodservice sales in...
Walmart US e-commerce sales grew 74% in the first quarter (13 weeks to May 1), driven by strong demand for its expanded grocery pickup and delivery services offered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The number of US households who reported shopping online for groceries rose dramatically in March when the pandemic hit, and stayed consistently high for the month of April, reveals new data from Brick Meets Click.
Energy drink manufacturer Celsius was able to quickly transition its marketing to online, streaming events which helped it to report a strong quarter, even as the face to face marketing it had relied on came to a hard stop.
While COVID-19 has upended the status quo for the entire food industry from growers and distributors, to retailers and consumers, it has also exposed the lack of resiliency within the food supply chain to handle something as disruptive as a global pandemic,...
Do essential businesses such as food manufacturers and retailers need some kind of liability shield to protect themselves from an anticipated wave of COVID-19-related personal injury litigation, or would this only encourage bad actors and deprive people...
Continued uncertainty over the regulatory status of hemp-derived CBD is a bigger roadblock for food and beverage brands than COVID-19 to market growth this year, say startups, but there are still opportunities to grow while they wait for the FDA to weigh...
As at-home food consumption remains at elevated levels, PepsiCo has launched two direct-to-consumer websites – PantryShop.com and Snacks.com – to meet the shift in demand where shoppers can order PepsiCo and Frito Lay products directly from the company.
The food industry faces rising pressure to tackle food insecurity in the wake of COVID-19. Rabobank shares six areas it expects to drive innovation in the ‘new normal’.
Global ingredient supplier Ingredion expects continued strong demand for ingredients that go into packaged foods through the first half of the year, partially offsetting volume declines the company is experiencing in foodservice, which represents between...
As more meat plants temporarily close or operate at reduced capacity as coronavirus spreads, plant-based brands “have a window of opportunity to present themselves as more reliable alternatives,” says Lux Research. But no production facilities are immune...
Emerging and regional brands with inventory and turnkey solutions could more easily win space on store shelves despite delayed category resets and formal reviews as retailers continue to grapple coronavirus-related disruptions and low fill rates from...
From fewer containers and reduced shift work at harbors to delays in planned maintenance in factories, the coronavirus pandemic is impacting global supply chains in myriad ways. FoodNavigator-USA (FNU) caught up with Jon Peters (JP), president at Beneo,...
Hormel Foods-owned Rochelle Foods is reopening its 400,000-square-foot plant in Illinois – which produces microwaveable and precooked bacon for foodservice and retail, deli hams, and Hormel Compleats microwaveable meals – after two weeks of temporary...
By Soup-To-Nuts Podcast: Navigating coronavirus’ uneven impact to chart a path forward for groceries
While some food and beverage brands have enjoyed tremendous growth following the coronavirus outbreak, others have been completely "pummeled" by government and consumer response to the virus – revealing a division that could provide a road map...
Kroger is purchasing 200,000 gallons of fluid milk from dairy farmers who have struggled to find new buyers to purchase their excess supply (much of which was originally destined for foodservice and schools before the pandemic hit). The milk will be redirected...
As tensions – and lawsuits – mount in the meat industry as plants balance the need to protect workers with pressure to maintain the nation’s food supplies, food trade associations have urged Congress to move to protect essential businesses from ‘unfounded’...
Echoing recent comments from the CEOs of Coca-Cola and Mondelēz International, Kraft Heinz CEO Miguel Patricio told analysts Thursday that he is focusing on core SKUs to deliver supply chain efficiencies and delaying new product launches, although it’s...
Driven by strong demand for its snacks products in North America, Mondelēz International reported 2.6% growth in net revenue to $6.7bn for Q1 2020, offsetting sales downturns in other areas of the business including world travel retail and away-from-home...
As Americans spend more time at home and are paying acute attention to health and wellbeing, their demands are shifting towards products with specific functional benefits, options to recreate restaurant experiences at home, and an intensified desire for...
While many Americans are trying to maintain diet and fitness regimes during the current crisis, and sales of vitamins and other ‘self-care’ products are up, three big CPG category winners in recent weeks are frozen pizza, ice cream, and liquor, which...
Coronavirus is impacting the lead time for natural color and flavor suppliers with some trying to process as much raw material as possible to build up inventory while others are transferring production to other factories.
While "banana bread is having a moment" during the lockdown, most consumers that didn't previously have great cooking skills are "not turning into gourmet chefs," and when it comes to dinnertime, they're looking for 'heat-and-eat'...
As measures designed to flatten the curve of the coronavirus pandemic continue to flatten the economy simultaneously, many companies are making tough decisions to survive, including whether to pull-back on expansion plans, lay off employees, rationalize...
Unlike many emerging brands, which have had to ramp up - on in some cases create from scratch - e-commerce capabilities during this pandemic, Magic Spoon has been a direct-to-consumer business from the outset, and sales are going through the roof, say...
Strong food & beverage brands with world class management teams will continue to attract funding, but valuations are “falling by the minute,” and the days of throwing money at emerging brands and seeing what sticks are over, at least for now, says...
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