CPG companies with more diverse leadership and which intentionally engage a consumer base that more accurately reflects the racial composition of the US population are attracting shoppers and growing faster than brands that over-index among white shoppers,...
The drop in US sales growth of natural and organic products following the 10% pantry-stocking surge early in the pandemic will linger well into 2023 – dropping to less than 4% before starting to climb again slowly to about 5% in 2024, according to analysis...
By now, we are all familiar with the recent topline 'problem' in retail plant-based meat. The slow-down is visible in Beyond Meat's latest earnings call itself. Foodservice and international sales are driving all of the brand's growth....
For the father and son behind start-up Planet Based Foods, declining sales of meat alternatives that closely mimic animal products is not a harbinger of dwindling consumer interest in plant-based options, but rather a natural evolution of the trend that...
Two more high-profile players in the alt meat space are clashing over IP, with Impossible Foods accusing Motif FoodWorks of infringing a patent it secured in 2020 covering the use of its flagship ‘heme’ ingredient in meat substitutes.
Kroger has teamed up with Impossible Foods and Denver-based Custom Made Meals, which manufactures entrees and appetizers for Kroger’s Home Chef brand, to develop plant-based protein products, although it has not provided details about the scope of the...
Consumers’ ongoing efforts to kick the sugar habit and select better-for-you, nutrient-dense foods and beverages unexpectedly may be helping to fuel a rise in Asian-inspired flavors, beverages and dishes across categories, according to recent research...
While scientists are still unlocking the secrets of the gut microbiome, consumers increasingly understand that what we feed the armies of microbes that line our digestive tracts may be intimately connected to our physical – and mental - wellbeing. So...
Plant-based proteins continue to dominate the so-called ‘alternative protein’ category, but will this still be the case in 10 years’ time? And which emerging plant proteins – from canola, barley and hemp to Pongamia, lupin, and chickpeas – will become...
A legal dispute* between two high-profile startups deploying fermentation to produce fungi-based meat alternatives is heating up with Meati Foods accusing The Better Meat Co of intellectual property theft, and The Better Meat Co accusing Meati of sowing...
Coca-Cola is reinvigorating growth in its once-stale core sparkling beverage portfolio and earning accolades from investment analysts by leveraging consumer-led innovation, revenue growth management and personalized marketing.
Buyers of US wheat and other grain commodities could find themselves in a “Katy bar the door” moment if growing conditions in the Midwest don’t improve and if buyers who typically source from Russia and Ukraine are forced by the escalating war to find...
JM Smucker continues to be dogged by inflation, supply chain constraints, labor and transportation challenges, prompting the maker of Jif peanut butter and Café Bustelo coffee to lower its earnings and revenue outlook for the year at the close of its...
A much-needed economic boost during the pandemic that helped reverse US agriculture’s multi-year downward financial slide likely will hold through at least 2022, although beneficial conditions likely won’t be “quite at the same level” as the past two...
UPDATED: An SEC filing from key shareholders at Lifeway Foods suggests all is not well at the top of the Illinois-based kefir company, with feuding members of the family that created it seeking the removal of CEO Julie Smolyansky and urging the board...
Several international food and beverage companies have temporarily shut down operations in Ukraine following Russia's invasion to ensure the safety of employees while bracing for the long-term economic impact that skyrocketing commodity prices and...
While skeptics maintain cell-cultured meat faces “intractable technical challenges at food scale,” and Impossible Foods CEO Dr Pat Brown dismisses it as ‘vaporware,’ Wildtype has just persuaded investors to part with a cool $100m to help it scale up its...
The draw of industrial biotechnology is compelling: beef without the cow, eggs without the chicken, almost every animal-based product that society has relied on for centuries having a non-animal replacement in the works. Maybe it’s just me, but with...
The food industry, already grappling with high inflation, supply chain constraints and transportation challenges related to the pandemic, could see surging prices of key commodities, fuel and energy following what chief of the NATO alliance described...
The hemp/CBD market is going through a reckoning but ultimately will emerge in a stronger position, said the head of one of few publicly traded companies in the sector.
New research shows that US consumers are less familiar with the concept of regenerative agriculture than other food production methods, and most are not willing to pay premium for brands making these claims.
General Mills continues to hunt aggressively for acquisitions to build out its five core platforms, including cereal, ice cream, snack bars, Mexican food and pet food, and to consider strategic divestitures as part of a broader strategy to reshape its...
Pre-harvest spraying of glyphosate-based weedkillers to dry crops is “leading to the mass contamination of essential foods that form the base of our diet,” alleges a new report from The Detox Project, which highlights glyphosate residues on everything...
Fresh Street is responding to the consumer shift towards e-commerce with the inauguration of Chicago’s first grocery built exclusively for click and collect shopping.
Nearly nine in ten consumers snack daily, but according to new research from Mondelēz International, what they reach for and when has evolved significantly during the pandemic – requiring brands to rethink their product offerings, marketing strategies...
It might fit squarely in the ‘niche’ segment of the plant-based protein category right now, but the speed with which Chocho – a protein-packed variety of lupin that grows in the Andes – has gained traction online and in Erewhon stores in southern California,...
Fungi-fueled Meati Foods – which raised some eyebrows in December after its new president (ex-General Mills president Scott Tassani) suggested the startup could generate a cool $1bn in sales by 2025 from mycelium-based meat alternatives – has seen a surge...
Which tools and strategies employed to combat deforestation in palm oil supply chains can be leveraged for other commodities? Should we be wary of taking a ‘cookie cutter’ approach? Experts weigh in.
Frustrated by market share performance in the US despite household penetration and repeat rate gains in 2021, Kraft Heinz is adopting “new game plans” that will lean heavily on renovating and repositioning of iconic brands, innovating to better meet consumer...
What up-and-coming plant proteins are the most exciting? Chickpeas? Hemp? Canola? Barley? Pongamia? What do we really know about the best overall dietary pattern to support a healthy gut microbiome? And how do we educate consumers about the benefits...
Tiny Organics has launched its Tiny Beginnings non-puree baby food line for 4- to 7-month-olds, targeting the narrow window of babies' feeding journey where they are most open to trying and developing a preference for bitter vegetables and other...
Consumers grappling with skyrocketing grocery prices due to fast-rising inflation may take cold comfort knowing that the increases are not as dramatic as other sectors or as high as in past economically difficult periods in part because of industry’s...
Right now, the pricier components of growth media – the nutrient-rich broth used to feed cells that will turn into cultivated meat – are typically produced by armies of microbes engineered to churn out recombinant proteins in big steel bioreactors. But...
Unilever’s CEO has shrugged off speculation that the group could still dispose of its nutrition or ice cream businesses after its failed move for the GSK Consumer Health business, which would have been funded by a likely IPO of Unilever’s food interests.
Food innovations fueled by the pandemic will answer consumer demand for snacks, immunity and comfort, but beware of nutrition misinformation shared on social media, says the 10th annual What’s Trending in Nutrition survey.
An influx of refrigerated plant-based meat alternatives in the past two years may have helped the category generate consumer buzz and drive initial trial early in the pandemic, but a steady slowdown in sales growth in the back half of 2021 suggests a...
Nestlé has launched an initiative that promises to help bridge the living income gap for cocoa farmers in its supply chain. With a focus on productivity, resilience, diversification and access to education the company is more than tripling its current...
Ingredion has made an equity investment (of an undisclosed sum) in Israeli firm InnovoPro, which has developed a suite of highly functional chickpea ingredients including protein concentrates, textured vegetable proteins, and most recently, egg replacements.
Former better-for-you frozen food brand Luvo’s mission to make eating nutritious meals easy and delicious lives on under new leadership in the recently rebranded and repositioned Performance Kitchen, but with a narrower focus – for now – on the insurance...
NewClimate Institute has released a report accusing big companies like Nestlé and Unilever of putting out ‘ambitious sounding’ carbon goals that have ‘very low integrity’. The food giants – both of whom have made net zero pledges – reject this conclusion.
Tyson Foods’ strong double-digit sales and profit in the first-quarter reported yesterday could intensify the Biden Administration’s scrutiny and criticism of what he calls the meat-packing industry’s anti-competitiveness.
While some of the initial challenges that food and beverage startups experienced when the pandemic began have subsided, like restrictions on sampling and freezes on category resets, others remain and new ones have emerged – complicating the path to market...
The Department of Justice’s bid to block a sugar industry mega-deal - US Sugar’s proposed acquisition of rival Imperial Sugar - is “based on a static, contrived, and internally inconsistent view of how competition for the sale of refined sugar occurs...
Hain Celestial is singing the same tune as many other CPG companies reporting quarterly earnings in the past month, and that is the back half of the year will be better than the first thanks to pricing increases to alleviate higher costs, increased inventory...
As waves of COVID-19 and its variants ebb and flow they are creating an unpredictable tug-of-war between restaurants and grocery retailers that one industry insider predicts will continue to complicate inventory management long after the current supply...
The adoption of four production technologies for steviol glycosides by the international food standards authority Codex Alimentarius earlier this month opens doors for industry to produce and source at scale and more sustainably less-common versions of...
After discovering online grocery retailers fail to consistently provide key nutritional and allergen information for products on their websites, researchers are calling on FDA, USDA and FTC to close online labeling “gaps” by requiring ecommerce sites...
As demand for plant-based products rises, large players looking for a piece of the action likely will continue to buy their way in, but one market analyst predicts that the checks they will cut and stakes they will take in innovators in the space will...
Nearly a third of Americans plan to drop or reduce animal-based products in their diet this month in favor of vegan options as part of Veganuary – a well-established global movement that may still be relatively new in the US, but which still is shining...
