The industry newsletter, FoodNavigator.com, which I follow for its thorough coverage of this industry, has collected a set of its articles on sweeteners in a “special edition.”

Reminder: We love sweet foods.  Sugars have calories and encourage us to eat more of sweet foods.  Food companies wish they had a reasonable alternative to sugars that tasted as good and didn’t cause health problems.

Good luck with that!  In the meantime…

Special Edition: Sweeteners and sugar reduction

Food and beverage manufacturers have a far wider range of sweetening options than ever before, from coconut sugar and date syrup to allulose, monk fruit and new stevia blends. We explore the latest market developments, formulation challenges, and consumer research.

• Consumer fear of sugar is mounting – but is it deserved and what alternatives will consumers accept?  Using tactics such as “sin taxes” and a new bold-faced call-out for added sugar on the revised Nutrition Facts panel, public health advocates and regulators have targeted sugar as a primary caloric contributor in the ongoing obesity epidemic in the US – and sales data shows that consumers are listening… Read
• FDA guidance could prompt surge of interest in low-cal, tooth-friendly, rare sugar allulose:  FDA draft guidance allowing allulose to be excluded from the total and added sugars declarations on the Nutrition Facts panel could generate a surge of interest in the rare sugar, predict formulators… Read
• SmartSweets to double store count in 2019: ‘We’re making candy cool again,’ says founder:  Low-sugar confectionery startup SmartSweets is primed for solid expansion into mass and grocery this year, a move its founder says should bring Gen Y and Z back to the candy aisle… Read
• Sweeteners in focus: Where next for allulose, stevia, isomaltulose?  Are sugar alcohols losing their luster, will allulose take off, and is stevia still hot? FoodNavigator-USA caught up with Icon Foods, Cargill and Beneo to explore formulation trends as brands come under increasing pressure to reduce sugar and keep labels clean… Read
• Are zero calorie sweeteners fueling, rather than fighting, the obesity epidemic?  Are zero calorie sweeteners fueling, rather than fighting, the obesity epidemic by meddling with our metabolism or negatively altering our gut bacteria, as some critics claims? Or do they remain invaluable – and exhaustively tested – tools in the formulator’s toolbox?.. Read
• KIND challenges snack makers to better disclose sugar & sweeteners in products with an ‘X-ray’ popup:  In response to the public’s growing aversion to sugar, manufacturers across categories have reformulated and launched products made with alternative sweeteners, but increasingly consumers don’t want those either – but they also can’t as easily identify them, suggests a recent survey conducted by KIND… Read
• Amyris bids for 30% slice of stevia market by 2022 with new Reb M sweetener: ‘On a quality basis, it’s a superior product. It simply tastes better’:  Synthetic biology specialist Amyris has embarked on a mission to capture 30% of the global stevia sweeteners market by 2022 with a Reb M sweetener produced from cane sugar by a modified yeast strain, that it claims gives it a clear competitive advantage over rivals on cost and quality… Read
• Russell Stover corrects ‘brand communication problem’, brings sales growth to sugar-free chocolate product:  Russell Stover enjoyed years of market dominance when it first launched its seemingly ‘too-good-to-be-true’ sugar-free chocolate line in the ’80s. But lately, its sugar-free chocolate sales have wavered as it fell out of favor with consumers who perceived the products to be at odds with a growing better-for-you lifestyle… Read
• Lily’s Sweets CEO: ‘It feels like a mainstream trend [reducing sugar] is being boosted by a micro-trend [keto]’:  Consumers often say that if they’re going to indulge, they’d rather eat a small portion of something made with ‘real’ or familiar ingredients (butter, cane sugar, whole milk) than a more ‘processed’ low calorie/sugar/fat alternative… Read
• Finding stevia ‘polarizing’, beverage brand Petal switches up its sweetener ahead of national retail launch this summer:  Sparkling botanical beverage brand Petal has had a busy first year as the company doubled its product line with three new flavors, underwent a reformulation (swapping out stevia and erythritol for organic agave), and is now primed for national distribution in the coming months, shared CEO and founder, Candice Crane… Read
• Changes to Nutrition Facts label to call out ‘added sugar’ could save millions of lives, study suggests:  Impending changes to the Nutrition Facts label that will require products to clearly label the grams and percent Daily Value of added sugar could prevent or postpone nearly 1 million cases of cardiometabolic disease and save billions in healthcare and societal costs over the next 20 years, according to a modeling study published this month in the journal Circulation… Read
• Yeast-based production process for tagatose could unlock low GI sweetener’s commercial potential, say researchers:  A newly-engineered strain of yeast that can efficiently metabolize lactose into tagatose (a low-calorie, low-glycemic sweetener) may be the key to unlocking commercial-scale availability of the sweetener, researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign believe… Read
• Sugar taxes: The global picture:  Sugar taxes continue to hit the headlines, but the introduction of new legislation is never straight-forward. We take a look at 20 countries around the globe where sugar taxes have been in the news… Read
• SweetLeaf Stevia CEO: The sugar substitutes category is flat, but stevia products were up 31% YOY in Q1:  If fat is back with a vengeance and protein remains on trend, sugar is now public enemy number one for many consumers, who want to cut down, but remain suspicious of the ‘natural’ credentials of some alternatives. FoodNavigator-USA caught up with Carol May (CM), CEO at Wisdom Natural Brands, maker of Sweetleaf Stevia, to find out what’s happening in the US sugar substitutes aisle… Read
  

BakeryandSnacks.com, an industry newsletter I subscribe to, occasionally collects its articles into special editions.  This one is on selling baked goods in China.  The effects of these trends on public health?  One can only guess.

Special Edition: China market report

Chinese appetites for bakery products continues to grow unheeded, despite a market saturated with Asian brands and the continued interest in European offerings.

Following Bakery China 2019 (May 6-9) held in Shanghai, BakeryandSnacks examines the world’s fastest growing sector, using information gleaned from the coalface [translation: real working conditions] and brand data from market researchers.

• China’s bakery market: Growing faster than the country’s GDP: Aligned with the exploding growth in China’s bakery sector, Bakery China has grown from relatively small beginnings in 1997 to an enormous trade event occupying more than 200,000m2 of the Shanghai New International Expo Center in China… Listen now
• China’s biscuit boom: Biscuit consumption is soaring in China, on the back that these intrinsic snacks offer pleasure and convenience, a boost of energy as well as satisfying hunger. They are also regarded as a well-heeled gift… Read
• Creating trends in China’s bakery market: Rich Products Corporation has been at the forefront of development in China’s bakery industry since its entry three decades ago and today is considered a trend originator… Watch now 
• French macarons: The symbol of premiumization in China:  The demand for Western style products in China has been increasing and French pastries are a hit, especially the taste for premium luxury goods like macarons, according to Daxue Consulting… Read
• Cream of the crop: The dairy boom in China’s bakery market: Irish dairy processor Glanbia is capitalizing on the Chinese consumer’s growing penchant for full-fat dairy creams – especially prevalent in raft of exquisitely decorated cream-topped cakes on show at Bakery China… Watch now
• A true breadwinner: The rise of sourdough in Asia Pacific:  Michael Bultel, head of Ingredients and Baking Center, Asia Pacific, for Lesaffre looks at the implications of the increasing appeal of artisanal bread in Asia Pacific… Read

As a former member of the editorial board of Gastronomica, I was invited by its new editorial collective to contribute to a compilation of letters to young people entering the still new field of food studies.

Here is my contribution:

Welcome to the world of food studies, a field we at NYU adopted in 1996.  That date may well be before you were born, but we view our programs as still young, hungry, ambitious, and striving to find their place in the world, just as you must be.  We designed them to respond to demands for deeper and more complex analyses of the role of food in culture and society, and of how food systems operate, in practice as well as in theory.  We hoped we would attract students who wanted to learn about—but also to act on–what our society needs to do to solve major food-system problems: food insecurity, chronic disease, and climate change.  And here you are, ready, we hope, to take them on.

Without question, they need taking on.  Food insecurity—lack of access to a reliable daily supply of adequate food—affects roughly fifteen percent of Americans and nearly a billion people worldwide.  At the same time, about two billion people consume so much food that they become overweight and at increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other leading causes of premature death and disability.  Furthermore, the way we typically produce and consume food depletes soil and water resources, pollutes streams, and generates unsustainable amounts of greenhouse gases–thereby affecting everyone on the planet.  The urgent need to solve these problems is the obvious response to the challenge, “why study food?”

I’m guessing you will hear this question often.  We certainly do.  To address it, we also point out that sales of food exceed a trillion dollars annually in the United States, that everyone eats, and that food is one of life’s greatest pleasures.  Food matters–physiologically, economically, socially, psychologically, and emotionally.

How to deal with all this?  Study hard.  Learn everything you can about everything you can.  Be curious.  Follow leads.  Dig deeply.  But never lose sight of the pleasure.  Delight in what you are learning about food and what it means, but also use what you learn to take even deeper pleasure in food itself.

–Marion Nestle, Emerita Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, New York University

I love the FDA’s qualified health claims for food products because they are so patently ridiculous.

These are health claims so poorly supported by science that the FDA insists on a disclaimer.

What’s their point?  Companies can use them for marketing and put the disclaimer in tiny print.

The latest is the FDA’s response to a petition from the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3s, which asked the FDA to approve these health claims:

• EPA and DHA help lower blood pressure in the general population.
• EPA and DHA reduce BP, a risk factor for CHD (coronary heart disease).
• EPA and DHA reduce the risk of CHD.
• Research shows that EPA and DHA may be beneficial for moderating BP, a risk factor for CHD.
• Convincing scientific evidence indicates that EPA and DHA help lower blood pressure in the general population, with comparable reductions to those achieved with other diet and lifestyle interventions.

Not a chance.

The FDA did its own review of the literature and quite sensibly concluded that evidence supporting such claims is too weak to take seriously.

Instead, the FDA said that

In light of the above considerations, FDA intends to consider the exercise of its enforcement discretion for the following qualified health claims [with my emphasis in red]:

• Consuming EPA and DHA combined may help lower blood pressure in the general population and reduce the risk of hypertension. However, FDA has concluded that the evidence is inconsistent and inconclusive. One serving of [name of the food or dietary supplement] provides [ ] gram(s) of EPA and DHA.
• Consuming EPA and DHA combined may reduce blood pressure and reduce the risk of hypertension, a risk factor for CHD (coronary heart disease). However, FDA has concluded that the evidence is inconsistent and inconclusive. One serving of [name of the food or dietary supplement] provides [ ] gram(s) of EPA and DHA.
• Consuming EPA and DHA combined may reduce the risk of CHD (coronary heart disease) by lowering blood pressure. However, FDA has concluded that the evidence is inconsistent and inconclusive. One serving of [name of the food or dietary supplement] provides [ ] gram(s) of EPA and DHA.
• Consuming EPA and DHA combined may reduce the risk of CHD (coronary heart disease) by reducing the risk of hypertension. However, FDA has concluded that the evidence is inconsistent and inconclusive. One serving of [name of the food or dietary supplement] provides [ ] gram(s) of EPA and DHA.
• Research shows that consuming EPA and DHA combined may be beneficial for moderating blood pressure, a risk factor for CHD (coronary heart disease). However, FDA has concluded that the evidence is inconsistent and inconclusive. One serving of [name of the food or dietary supplement] provides [ ] gram(s) of EPA and DHA.

In order to use these claims, the products would have to contain at least 0.8 g EPA and DHA (combined total).

Absurd as all this may seem, the approval of qualified claims is considered a win for the omega 3 industry.

Why does the FDA allow such claims?  Because Congress said it had to permit claims even if evidence was insufficient to back them up [but see below].

Sigh.

Correction: A Twitter correspondent, Ilene Heller (@foodcop819), reminds me that the courts, not Congress, forced the FDA to allow qualified health claims on First Amendment grounds.  In 1990, Congress forced the FDA to allow health claims in general as part of the nutrition labeling act.  In 1994, Congress passed the dietary supplement act that essentially deregulated these products and allowed “structure/function” claims for them.  Food companies wanted to use them too.  Whenever the FDA objected that science didn’t support the claims, supplement companies took the FDA to court.  In 2003, the FDA gave up: “We have lost 8 of 10 First Amendment decisions, and doing business the way we were doing it was unsustainable” (New York Times, July 6, 2003).  The so-called qualified health claims are the absurd result.

Estimation of Total Usual Dietary Intakes of Pregnant Women in the United States.  Regan L. Bailey, Susan G. Pac, Victor L. Fulgoni III, et al.  JAMA Network Open. 2019;2(6):e195967. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.5967 June 21, 2019

Question  How do the usual dietary intakes of pregnant US women compare with the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Dietary Reference Intakes for nutritional adequacy and excess?

Conclusions and Relevance.  This study suggests that a significant number of pregnant women are not meeting recommendations for vitamins D, C, A, B₆, K, and E, as well as folate, choline, iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and zinc even with the use of dietary supplements.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Bailey reported serving as a consultant to Nutrition Impact LLC, Nestle/Gerber, RTI International, and the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements. Dr Fulgoni, as Senior Vice President of Nutrition Impact LLC, reported performing consulting and database analyses for various food and beverage companies and related entities. Ms Pac and Dr Reidy reported being employees of Nestle Nutrition. No other disclosures were reported.

Funding/Support: This research was funded by Nestle Nutrition. Nestle Nutrition and Nutrition Impact had a financial agreement for completion of the statistical analysis. Drs Bailey and Catalano received an honorarium for the time contributed to manuscript development.

Role of the Funder/Sponsor: Nestle Nutrition had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Comment: It’s Nestlé, not Nestle, the company, not me.  Nestlé is the largest food and beverage company in the world, selling $94 billion worth of products in 2018.  This study is part of the company’s plan to focus on personalized nutrition—functional food products targeted to the personal nutritional needs of individuals.

We continue to invest in long-term innovation projects with the potential for high returns. Examples include infant and maternal nutrition, healthy aging, personalized nutrition, and understanding the microbiome.

It is in Nestlé’s corporate interests to demonstrate that pregnant women are deficient in essential nutrients as a basis for creating nutrient-supplemented products targeted to this group.  Are U.S. pregnant women really deficient in 13 nutrients as reported here?  This study’s conclusions are based on comparison of self-reported dietary intake to average daily nutrient intakes.  They are not based on laboratory or observed measurements of clinical signs of deficiency. To me, this looks like a typical industry-funded study with results favorable to the sponsor’s marketing interests, as I discuss in my book, Unsavory Truth.

I can hardly keep up with what’s happening with plant-based and cultured-meat products.  Here’s my latest collection from various newsletters and other sources.  Take a look at the ones that interest you.  This is a quick way to get a broad picture of where this industry is headed and how these products are viewed.

Bottom line: meat alternatives are big business.

• Your questions about fake meat, lab grown meat and clean meat answered.  Let’s start off this collection with an explanation of the issues from my former student Maggie Tauranac, now working at the Grace Foundation, and writing in Edible Manhattan. She says: Until we know more about the full impact of these products on humans and on the planet, the jury is still out on whether they will be celebrated, feared, avoided or ignored.
• Vandana Shiva’s take: Fake Food, Fake Meat: Big Food’s Desperate Attempt to Further the Industrialisation of Food:  The promotion of fake foods seems to have more to do with giving new life to failing GMO agriculture and the Junk Food Industry, and the threat from the rising consciousness that organic, local, fresh food is real food: that which regenerates the planet and our health.
• Lab-grown insect cells could be the planet-friendly “meat” of the future, according to Grist.
• Food Navigator reports on a survey by the International Food Information Council asking Americans whether almond milk contains cow’s milk.  16% are not sure, 9% say yes, and 75%, fortunately, say no.
• The New Food Economy reports that Tyson’s is getting into the plant-based meat product business.  Perdue Farms, Nestlé and Hormel Foods also plan to enter this market.  But note: Critics complain that the products are not really plant-based.
• $16B invested in plant-based and cell-cultured meat since 2009  The Good Food Institute noted in two reports that changing consumer attitudes and the boost in sales of meat alternatives are driving these funds.
• Impossible Burgers run short as manufacturer ‘spares no expense’ to double supply: Statements from the company confirm its production capacity and a steep incline in demand has caused the shortage, and sourcing ingredients is not the issue.
• From microalgae to 3D printed steak: ‘The future is meatless’  As the sustainability agenda rises in the food industry, innovators are increasingly looking at ways of swapping out meat for a plant-based counterpart. FoodNavigator explores three innovations in the sector: microalgae omega-3, scalable mycoprotein, and 3D printed steak… Read
• What does ‘plant-based eating’ really mean, and how can firms tap into the trend?  Next-generation meat, egg, and dairy alternatives have garnered a huge amount of press (and investment), but there are many other ways for brands to meet demand for plant-based foods, says a report from consultancy New Nutrition Business querying whether brands such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are overhyped and overvalued… Read
• Analysts: Cell-cultured and plant-based meat could be 10% of the market by 2029:  While wide distribution of lab-grown meat is likely years away, Barclays says plant-based products have garnered favorable consumer response and both sectors could be worth $140 billion.
• Plant-based and cell-cultured ‘meat’ labeling under attack in 25 states: Bills to prevent plant-based and/or cell-cultured products from being labeled as ‘meat’ or ‘beef’ have been introduced in 25 US states, and have already passed in states including Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Montana, South Carolina, North Dakota and South Dakota. But what, if anything, can opponents do to stop them?.. Read
• Water lentil milk… a new option in the plant-based dairy case?  A new option could soon be available in the burgeoning plant-based milk category utilizing the protein-packed ‘water lentil,’ a free-floating seed-producing micro aquatic plant (also known as duckweed and Lemna/Lemnaceae)… Read
• After exiting Beyond Meat, how will Tyson do with its own plant-based products?  In an earnings call this week, CEO Noel White said the company’s reach will allow it to move quickly into the marketplace this summer.
• Research article from Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems: Climate Impacts of Cultured Meat and Beef Cattle.   
• Beyond the burger: A look at the building blocks used to make better plant-based meat: As consumers hunger for options in the red-hot space, scientists are deepening their understanding of how to make the products even more like their animal-based alternatives.

FoodNavigator-USA.com, an industry newsletter, has a collection of articles about Kombucha, a drink that Wikipedia defines as:

A fermented, slightly alcoholic, lightly effervescent, sweetened black or green tea drink commonly intended as a functional beverage for its supposed health benefits. Sometimes the beverage is called kombucha tea to distinguish it from the culture of bacteria and yeast.  Juice, spices, or other flavorings are often added to enhance the taste of the beverage. The exact origins of kombucha are not known…Kombucha is produced by fermenting sugared tea using a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) commonly called a “mother” or “mushroom”…The living bacteria are said to be probiotic, one of the reasons for the drink’s popularity.

Slightly alcoholic?  No wonder it is so popular.

It’s obviously a major seller.  Here is the dedicated Kombucha display at the Wegmans upstate in Ithaca, New York.

The makers of kombucha want to sell more of it.  Here’s what they think the market issues are these days:

• Aqua ViTea: The kombucha industry has not dealt with its alcohol problem: <Raising the threshold above which kombucha would be classified as an alcoholic beverage from 0.5% to 1.25% abv, is not the way to deal with the industry’s alcohol problem, says Vermont-based kombucha brand Aqua ViTea, which utilizes spinning cone technology to remove most of the alcohol from its products before bottling… Read
• GT Dave backs kombucha standard of identity: ‘I hope this will encourage people to take the high road’: Defining what kombucha is – and just as importantly, what it isn’t – is mission critical if industry pioneers are to preserve the integrity of the category as more brands enter the segment, argues GT Dave, founder of market leader GT’s Living Foods… Read  
• WATCH: Bare Bucha and Stout Tanks unveil radical new approach to controlling alcohol in kombucha:  A novel approach to brewing kombucha in stackable rectangular trays could help dramatically speed up the fermentation process and keep alcohol levels consistently below 0.5% abv, solving a major technical challenge for the industry, according to kombucha brand Bare Bucha and craft brewery equipment supplier Stout Tanks… Watch now
• Kombucha and fermented beverage sales are up 21%, but velocities are down, says SPINS:  US retail sales of refrigerated kombucha and other fermented beverages (including hard kombucha) were up 21% to $728.8m in measured channels* in the year to February 24, 2019 driven by strong distribution gains. However, velocities were down fairly sharply, delegates at the 2019 KombuchaKon conference were told… Read
• What’s an ‘authentic’ kombucha? Let the market decide, say Rowdy Mermaid and Camellia Grove:  Trade association Kombucha Brewers International (KBI) wants lawmakers to raise the threshold above which kombucha would be classified as an alcoholic beverage from 0.5% to 1.25% abv, and is gearing up to publish a standard of identity for ‘authentic’ kombucha. But not everyone is on board… Read
• What is an ‘authentic’ kombucha? KBI gears up to publish definition:  As a wave of lawsuits has brought the debate over what kombucha is and how it is made into sharper focus, trade association Kombucha Brewers International (KBI) is putting the finishing touches on a standard it claims will help preserve the integrity of the category as it grows… Read

And here’s a later addition:

• The mojo behind MOJO: Coca-Cola’s recently acquired kombucha brand shares secrets of success: Australian firm MOJO Kombucha’s pledge to authenticity and no artificial sweeteners are what have helped it grow from a small family business to becoming a major name in the country, and recently being acquired by beverage giant Coca-Cola, according to a top company official…Read

I was interested to see what BakeryandSnacks.com had to say about PepsiCo’s investment in Mexico.

This company, which makes ultra-processed drinks and snacks, plans to invest $4 billion in Mexico over the next two years.

The $4 billion will be spent on “four strategic areas:”

• Improved supply chains for potatoes, corn, and sugar, purchased from small, medium and large producers ($1 billion).
• Improved nutrient profile of PepsiCo products (the total is unspecified but $13 million will go to reducing saturated fats).
• Reduced CO2 emissions and increased renewable energy (amount unspecified).
• Strengthened development programs focused on water, recycling, nutrition and the empowerment of women (> $7 million).

This is on top of the $5 billion Pepsi invested in Mexico in 2014 for “product innovation, brand consolidation, infrastructure, sourcing, and community outreach.”

Pepsi has a big operation in Mexico.  It claims the new investment will add 3000 jobs to the 80,000 it already employs there.

What is this about?  In 2017, Mexico’s $3.6 billion in sales represented nearly 6% of PepsiCo’s total global net revenues of $63.5 billion.

I’ll bet Pepsi sees plenty of room for growth.  I do too, but also in the prevalence of obesity and related chronic disease.