Search results: Cereal

That’s my question when I see what food companies are trying to do to reduce the content of sugar and salt in their ultra-processed junk food products.

To put it another way, does making an ultra-processed food or beverage slightly better for you convert it to a good choice?

We can argue about this, but companies really are trying hard, as this collection of articles from FoodNavigator.com indicates.

Special Edition: Nutrition and reformulation strategies

Most shoppers say they want to reduce consumption of products that are high in fat, salt and sugar. But many struggle to cut HFSS foods and beverages from their diets and reformulation efforts often face the headwind of perceived quality issues. Meanwhile, the fortified food market in Europe is expected to see a CAGR of 5.2% through to 2025. While reformulation efforts take out the ‘baddies’ is there also an opportunity to add positive nutrients through fortification?

• What reformulation really looks like in 2021: ‘Reformulated products need to be better nutritionally and equally tasty, if not tastier’: With calls to reformulate food and drink products to reduce fat, sugar and salt, we explore: What influences prompt brands to reformulate? What does the process really entail? And can it be done successfully during a global pandemic?.. Read
• ‘No added sugar’: Fibre and stevia predicted to ‘shake up’ sugar reduction:  Fibre and next-generation stevia are expected to play key roles in sugar reduction as a growing number of manufacturers seek out ‘no added sugar’ claims, according to Mintel… Read
• How UK brands are reformulating to avoid the HFSS ad ban:  UK food brands are currently digesting planned government legislation coming next year which will prevent marketing and advertising of HFSS being shown on TV (pre-9pm) and online from 2022 and limit where these products can be placed in bricks and mortar stores… Read
• What does the future hold for reformulation?  With the impending publication of part two of the National Food Strategy in the UK, IGD convened major retailers, manufacturers, food service companies and members of the National Food Strategy team to discuss reformulation, the challenges, and opportunities. Here Hannah Pearse, Head of Nutrition and Scientific Affairs at IGD, shares an overview of the conversations from a series of roundtable discussions… Read
• Kellogg cuts sugar and salt across Europe and UK: ‘The process is trial and error’:  The Kellogg Company has pledged to remove at least 10% of sugars and 20% of salt from its children’s cereals across European and UK brands… Read
• Does the UK’s proposed junk food ad ban reduce the motivation to reformulate?  The Food and Drink Federation says UK plans to restrict in-store promotions of foods high in fat, salt and sugar will deter companies from developing lower sugar and fat alternatives… Read
• Cereal Partners Worldwide talks breakfast renovation: ‘Innovation can be less, rather than more’:  The joint venture between Nestlé and General Mills is taking a ‘dual strategy’ approach to cereal renovation that is ‘both reductionist and increasing’, says Gharry Eccles, Vice President UK and Oceania of Cereal Partners Worldwide… Read
• Snack sector looks to lentils, beans and insects as ‘health by stealth’ hits limit:  As the snack sector reaches its technological limits in cutting salt and fat from products, European manufacturers are accelerating reformulating efforts using lentils, beans, other vegetables — and even insects — as a way of meeting consumer demand for healthier snacking options… Read

I’ve written previously about the alarming findings of toxic heavy metals in baby foods.  These toxins are in all foods, but are particularly harmful to infants and young children, a situation that calls for immediate FDA action to set limits on the amounts these foods contain.

The FDA has a Q and A on this issue.  It has also issued previous guidance.

• Metals and Your Food
• What FDA is Doing to Protect Consumers from Toxic Metals in Foods
• What You Can Do to Limit Exposure to Arsenic
• Arsenic in Food and Dietary Supplements
• FDA Makes Available Results from Testing of Infant Rice Cereal for Inorganic Arsenic

In response to many complaints, the FDA has now issued a plan for action:  “Closer to Zero.”

Translation: the agency will propose action levels (limits on allowable amounts), consult with stakeholders, finalize the limits, and then evaluate how the whole thing works to reduce intake levels.

Timeline: It plans to do this starting now, with the aim of finishing the process by 2025.

The FDA must not consider limiting toxic metals in baby food to be urgent.

No wonder some members of Congress have introduced la bill to force the FDA to set limits for the most common toxic metals within a year.  It suggests what those limits should be: 10 parts per billion for inorganic arsenic in baby food (15 ppb for cereal); 5 ppb for both cadmium and lead (10 ppb for cereal); and 2 ppb for mercury.

While all this is going on, what are parents to do?

Suggestions from Harvard Health

The FDA is working on doing better monitoring and regulation of heavy metals in commercial baby foods. In the meantime, it’s nearly impossible to know which are completely safe and which aren’t. Babies don’t need solid foods until 6 months of age. At that time it’s perfectly fine to give them soft table foods instead of baby foods. You can also make your own baby food, using steamed or naturally soft foods and a blender. (Storage tip: you can pour a homemade puree into an ice cube tray and freeze it, and then just grab the cubes you need each time.)

Suggestions from Healthy Children

• Give your child a wide variety of different foods (the more natural colors, the better).
• Vary the grains. As mentioned above, it’s best to limit rice and rice products (check labels — rice is in a lot of foods marketed for babies, like “puffs”). Try barley, oats, and other grains. When cooking rice, it’s best to cook it in extra water and drain that water off, and to use white basmati and sushi rice, which have less arsenic.
• Check your water. Old pipes can contain lead, which can leach into drinking water.
• Avoid fruit juices. Not only can they increase the risk of cavities and obesity, but many commercial juices also contain heavy metals.
• Make healthy fish choices. Fish contains nutrients that are very healthy for the developing brain, but some fish can contain unhealthy amounts of mercury. Stay clear of big, predatory, long-living fish like swordfish, shark, or albacore tuna; it’s better to choose fish like cod, light tuna, salmon, or pollock.

In the meantime…

• The lawsuits!  At least 69 had been filed as of April 29.
• The New York Attorney General is also looking into this.

The big news in food politics last week: revelations about toxic metals in baby foods.

This is not a new topic, as I’ve discussed previously with respect to arsenic in rice cereal.  Babies should be eating the healthy foods parents eat, just mashed or cut to size so they don’t choke.  Commercial baby food is a convenience for sure, but not at the price of babies’ health.

What’s new are these revelations:

• Arsenic, led, cadmium, and mercury are present in commercial baby foods at levels much higher than considered safe.
• Their sources: foods raised on contaminated soil and water, and vitamin/mineral pre-mixes.
• Baby food companies set their own safety standards for toxic metals.
• The FDA knows baby foods have high levels of toxic metals but isn’t doing anything about it.
• Some baby food companies refused to share data on this topic.

This news comes from, of all places, the House of Representatives Oversight and Reform Committee in a report titled Baby Foods Are Tainted with Dangerous Levels of Arsenic, Lead, Cadmium, and Mercury

The Food and Drug Administration has set the maximum allowable levels in bottled water at 10 ppb inorganic arsenic, 5 ppb lead, and 5 ppb cadmium, and the Environmental Protection Agency has capped the allowable level of mercury in drinking water at 2 ppb. The test results of baby foods and their ingredients eclipse those levels: including results up to 91 times the arsenic level, up to 177 times the lead level, up to 69 times the cadmium level, and up to 5 times the mercury level.

Furthermore,

The Subcommittee has grave concerns about baby food products manufactured by Walmart (Parent’s Choice), Sprout Organic Foods, and Campbell (Plum Organics). These companies refused to cooperate with the Subcommittee’s investigation.

The Subcommittee complains:

• Contaminated baby foods do not carry warning labels
• Manufacturers do not have to test for heavy metals.
• The FDA has only one standard for heavy metals in baby food—a 100 ppb inorganic arsenic standard for infant rice cereal.  Even this is too high.

The Subcommittee recommends:

• Mandatory testing of baby foods for heavy metals
• Mandatory labeling of toxic heavy metals
• Voluntary phase-out of toxic ingredients (rice, for example, is high in arsenic)
• Mandatory FDA standards for maximum levels of toxic metals in baby foods
• Parental vigilance: Avoid commercial baby foods containing toxic heavy metals.

Consumer Reports, which has been complaining about this problem for years (see CR’s 2019 testing of fruit juices and CR’s 2014 tests) , explains:

Heavy metals all are part of the earth’s crust, so they are naturally found in the environment. But most of the heavy metals in food come from soil or water that has been contaminated through either farming and manufacturing practices (such as pesticide application, mining, and smelting) or pollution (such as the use of leaded gasoline).

Its recommendations for parents and caretakers:

• Ease up on fruit juice
• Consider making your own
• Minimize baby food snacks
• Vary the foods you feed your child

Its recommendations for the FDA:

• Establish aggressive targets
• Create and enforce benchmarks
• Finalize existing proposed guidelines

Comment: This is a scandal and an emergency.  Parents should be warned off  baby foods that test high in any of these heavy metals.  Now.

Press accounts:

• Washington Post: Worth reading for its account of previous reports by Healthy Babies Bright Futures
• New York Times: See its account of secret meetings
• FoodNavigator: How should the food industry respond?

Update, February 16: the FDA’s response to the congressional report

A report to the Family Farm Action Alliance, “THE FOOD SYSTEM: CONCENTRATION AND ITS IMPACT,” shows just how monopolistic this industry has become.

The CR4 metric is the percentage of the particular industry owned by the top 4 companies.  The top 4 beef processing companies control 73% of all beef processing.  The top 4 soft drink companies control 82%.  The top 3 cereal companies control 80%.  Anything over about 50% is considered to be highly concentrated.

What’s wrong with a high CR4 index?

Agrifood consolidation reduces farmer autonomy and redistributes costs and benefits across the food chain, squeezing farmer incomes. In 2018, farmers whose primary occupation was farming but with sales of less than $350,000 had a median net income of -$1,524. An agriculture system without people has depopulated rural communities causing a collapse in social relationships. Communities of color bear a disproportionate burden of exposure to excessive pesticide use or large animal confinement operations.

What is to be done?

At the heart of this analysis is a focus on power – both economic and political. Ultimately American political democracy rests on economic democracy and vice versa (Wu 2018). Thus, our laser focus in scholarship, praxis and policy must be on democratizing the agrifood system through a multitude of strategies at local, state, regional and national scales.

Foods marketed to kids are an enormously profitable enterprise, but most foods marketed to kids are ultraprocessed junk foods.  Companies are scrambling to come up with profitable food items for kids that might actually be good for them.  Hence: “healthy” kids food.

By the way, kids don’t need special foods designed for them; they are perfectly capable of eating anything that adults eat, cut or smashed to size and in smaller portions, of course.

This collection of articles is from FoodNavigator.com, an industry newsletter that I find highly informative.

Special Edition: Healthy kids food

From fussy eaters, to early years nutrition, allergies and healthy snacks for kids, we take a look at the latest developments in children’s food and profile innovation for the next generation.

• Danone talks early life nutrition: The first 1,000 days can influence health for a lifetime:  Early life nutrition – from pregnancy to around two years – is a ‘critical period’ that can ‘positively influence health for a lifetime’, Danone Senior Medical Affairs Manager of Specialised Nutrition UK & Ireland, Zoe Ellis, tells FoodNavigator. What research, trends and opportunities does the French food giant believe will shape future innovation?.. Read
• Fruit snacks under fire: Is Action on Sugar’s call for ‘honest labelling’ justified?  Action on Sugar wants a ban on the use of claims such as ‘one of your five a day’, ‘naturally occurring sugars’ or ‘made from real fruit’ on fruit snacks for children that can contain the equivalent of five teaspoons of sugar. Are these misleading or truthful statements?.. Read
• Bite-sized NPD: The latest in kids snacking to hit UK shelves:  How can brands encourage children to eat ‘healthier’ snacks? Nestlé’s approach is to create breakfast cereal in the shape of a bear, Cadbury is shrinking its portion sizes to cut calories, and Kellogg is personalising covers on Corn Flakes and Rice Krispies. Swipe through the photo gallery for the latest innovations in bite-sized NPD… Display
• Children with food allergies face ‘staggering’ lack of choice:  With one in 40 kids suffering from cow’s milk allergy alone, and with food allergies more prevalent in children than adults, food companies are way behind in servicing the demand for healthy free-from children’s products, says the founder of UK dairy-free children’s brand Little Bandits… Read
• Challenger baby food brand spots gap for ‘truly organic’ premium baby formula:  Piccolo is countering falling baby food sales in the UK as a whole by successfully tapping into the desire for ‘truly organic’ baby products from consumers prepared to pay a premium for it… Read
• Baby food sector is neglecting infants’ nutritional needs, says start-up:  Little Tummy hopes to disrupt the UK baby food sector with paediatrician-developed meals with more micronutrients and less sugar than other brands on the market… Read
• Milking it? Free school milk under fire from plant-based backers:  A group of UK doctors has hit out at the provision of milk in schools arguing dairy is ‘not an essential part of school nutrition’. But do their claims about health and sustainability stack up – or would children lose out?.. Read
• Kids most exposed to junk food advertising in France, finds public health agency:  A fresh study has revealed that children in France are most exposed to advertising for products with a Nutri-Score ranking of D and E – meaning foods of lower nutritional quality. The findings, says Santé Publique France, support the need for food marketing restrictions… Read
• Study: Kids’ ‘pester power’ can promote healthy family eating habits:  Could children’s pester power (the influence kids have over their family’s eating behaviors) be a force for promoting positive and healthy eating behaviors at home?.. Read
• Children and adolescents are ‘less sensitive’ to sweet taste: study:  Children and adolescents are less sensitive to sweet taste than adults, new research finds… Read
• Pester power: ‘Peppa Pig, Disney, and Star Wars have no place on unhealthy food and drink’:  The association of cartoon characters with HFSS food and drink must end, according to a fresh report out of the UK which has called on parents to share their view on child-friendly marketing… Read

And while we are on the subject of “healthy” kids foods, what about what General Mills is doing?

General Mills is bringing back its classic recipes for four of its cereals: Cocoa Puffs, Golden Grahams, Cookie Crisp and Trix, according to a release. This reformulation back to retro ’80s recipes is permanent and is now available at retailers nationwide.

Just what kids do not need.  Sigh.

From the New York Times

Does food transmit Coronavirus?  

• Basically no (with some cautions).  See yesterday’s post for details.

Keeping up Coronoavirus  

• Healthroid has a summary.  The maps are updated daily
• Food Policy Watch: This weekly newsletter does a terrific job of keeping up with news reports, especially those explaining how to cope with what’s happening.

How to survive working at home (watch out for junk food) 

• Washington Post cartoonist Ann Telnaes has some suggestions

How to take action

• Beautiful Trouble has a guide to action against COVID-19: support your neighbors, change the system

Advice for the food industry

• US lays out new COVID-19 guidelines for food industry  The Trump Administration released a set of coronavirus guidelines for all Americans, with special provisions for critical infrastructure industries like food and beverage. Brands have been adapting this week to the new reality, while keeping employee safety a top priority…. Read more

What’s happening with supermarkets and supply chains?

• Empty shelves will soon be ‘a thing of the past,’ says grocery supply expert: As the novel coronavirus spreads, many people have stocked up on pantry items and paper products in anticipation of hunkering down at home for an extended period, creating temporary shortages of certain products. To better understand the grocery supply chain and how stores are stocked, FERN turned to Dr. Ananth Iyer, a professor of supply chain management at Purdue University and director of the university’s Global Supply Chain Management Initiative.
• Food chain tackles panic buying surge: Coronavirus concerns, sparking panic buying have forced manufacturers, distributors and retailers into special measures to manage the spending surge… Read
• Food delivery curfews relaxed to supermarkets: The Government is to relax food delivery hours to supermarkets and other retailers to help the supply chain cope with demand due to the Coronavirus COVID-19… Read
•  Grocers ‘have a viable supply chain’ & ‘are not shutting down,’ but product mix may change, FMI says:  The bare grocery shelves that many consumers have encountered over the last few days due to Covid-19-related stockpiling are not a harbinger of long-term shortages or a precursor to store closures, but they could signal a shift in the types of products retailers stock and manufacturers produce, according to FMI, the food industry association…. Read more 
• A Brooklyn co-op hustles as food demand spikes: Like other grocery stores in New York City, the Park Slope Food Co-op, in Brooklyn, is out of hand sanitizer. But even with 17,000 members and weekly sales of $1.23 million, shelves at one of the nation’s oldest and largest food co-ops are nearly full. “We got the hang of it very quickly after the initial enormous jolt of extra purchases hit 15 days ago,” Joe Holtz, the co-op’s general manager and co-founder, said late last week.
• Retailers, officials insist the food supply is strong as grocery stores are emptied:  A recent surge of demand has emptied some grocery store shelves of staples, as shoppers concerned about the spread of the novel coronavirus prepare to self-isolate at home. But the U.S. has plenty of food and Americans should not panic, urged food retailers, producers, and the federal government over the weekend.
• Cocoa disruption expected on markets as coronavirus continues to spread:  ‘During risk-off periods in markets, the prices of all products tend to move lower. When price carnage hits markets, rationality takes a holiday,’ said analyst Andrew Hecht…. Read more
• What will happen to the produce industry after coronavirus shut down visa processing?  The policy shift to limit the virus’ spread is likely to hamper this season’s planting and harvesting since fruit and vegetable growers heavily rely on foreign workers.

What to avoid: dubious schemes for immune boosting

• Coronavirus sparks ‘staggering growth’ in online searches for foods with functional benefits: report:  What foods are consumers looking to during coronavirus?…Read more
• Panic buying of immune products causes shortfalls; greater supply gaps loom in months ahead:  A pulse of supply and production issues caused by the COVID-19 crisis is making its way through the dietary supplement industry. Inventories of botanical ingredients continue to hold up, but unprecedented demand for immunity boosting products is causing some strain…. Read more
• Fight COVID-19 with dairy: China industry associations issue consumption guidelines to ‘build immune resistance’:  Four major dairy industry associations in China have formed a set of guidelines for dairy and dairy product consumption for local residents in hopes of strengthening public immune resistance to combat the recent COVID-19 novel coronavirus outbreak…. Read more
• COVID-19: Opportunities for health supplement firms to communicate immune-boosting role of micronutrients:  A panel of science researchers has put up a list of key findings on the role of micronutrients in supporting the immune system, which firms can tap on to educate the consumers in light of the coronavirus outbreak…. Read more
• COVID-19 brings strong China online sales for ANZ’s Comvita and AuMake:  Australia and New Zealand health foods companies are seeing strong online sales of immune boosting supplements from the China market…. Read more

Who profits from this?

• Could coronavirus hasten high times for CBD?  We’ve seen a run on toilet rolls, hand sanitizer and pasta. What about other foods and ingredients? Which might be set to be boosted by coronavirus?… Read more
• Trump encourages fast food brands to keep drive-thru open: so says QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) magazine.
• The ripple effects of COVID-19: A look into global dairy:  Rabobank assesses how the ‘corona hangover’ will impact global dairy markets in its latest report. Demand in China is already starting to bounce back after its virus exposure seems to have peaked, while the US will suffer in the coming months as cases rise…. Read more  
• Coronavirus concerns drive huge sales growth for pantry staples:  As U.S. consumers prepare for long isolation periods to slow the spread of the virus, Nielsen says the nation is in a potentially transformative pattern.
• ‘The change in consumer behaviour are the likes of which we have never seen’: Coronavirus-demand toys with General Mills’ bottom line:  The Cheerios and Nature’s Valley maker has raised its forecast for 2020, as social distancing efforts aimed at slowing the rapid spread of COVID-19 is causing consumers to stockpile, boosting demand for eat-at-home products like cereals and boredom-busting treats like snack bars…. Read more
• The TTB has authorized distilleries to make hand sanitizers: Due to the Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the Acting Administrator of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) has found that it is necessary or desirable to waive provisions of internal revenue law with regard to distilled spirits, and therefore is providing certain exemptions and authorizations to distilled spirits permittees who wish to produce ethanol-based hand sanitizers to address the demand for such products during this emergency.

What else?

• Canadian red meat industry donates $50,000 to coronavirus effort in China:  The Canadian red meat industry has made a $50,000 donation to the Canadian Red Cross to support work with the Red Cross Society of China and its efforts in responding to the coronavirus outbreak….

The FDA released its final guidance on the new food labeling rules late in December.

I have a collection of Kellogg Froot Loop cereal boxes (or facsimiles) going back to its first year.  I’ve been tracking it closely and have just started seeing the new label in stores.

The Spanish translation is optional, but I’m for it.

Industry groups are still complaining that they need more time.  

Really?  Let’s review the history.

• Between 1993 and 2013: FDA receives 12 citizen petitions calling for changes to the Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts labels.
• 2003 to 2007: FDA issues 3 advance notices of proposed rulemaking seeking public comment on issues relevant to updating the Nutrition Facts label.
• 2014: FDA issues proposed rules.
• 2015: FDA issues supplemental proposed rule covering added sugars, DV, and footnote text.
• 2016: FDA issues final rules, expects all companies to comply by 2019.
• 2017: FDA delays compliance date until 2020.
• 2019: FDA issues final rules; FDA says it will give six-month leeway for compliance.

I say it’s about time.  Yes!

I don’t know about you but I am having a hard time keeping up with what’s happening in the market for plant-based meat and dairy substitutes.

For one thing, they are under attack from meat producers.  Here’s the latest on the politics.

Why the attack.  Just take a look at what I’ve collected on this topic in the past couple of weeks.  You can see at a glance why this trend is taking off.  Everyone wants to get into this act in every way they can.

• • • • Could yeast be a viable alternative to soy and pea protein? ‘It has all the essential amino acids, is readily available and affordable’:  Israeli start-up FFW is championing yeast as a ‘major protein source’ – offering an alternative to soy and pea protein in the plant-based space, founder Leonardo Marcovitz tells FoodNavigator… Read
      • Walnuts: The next big thing in plant-based meat in foodservice?  Foodservice operators bored of textured soy protein for meat-free tacos, filled pasta, bruschetta and other dishes are experimenting with a new plant-based meat alternative from walnuts that “mimics the taste and texture of ground beef,” says the California Walnut Board… Read
      • Disrupting the meat industry: Global Food Industries ready to launch plant-based burgers:  UAE food firm Global Food Industries (GFI) has announced plans to launch its plant-based ‘not-chicken and not-beef burgers’ in November.— 
      • Introducing the NaSu Burger: ‘The basic idea is totally different to Impossible or Beyond’:  FoodSolutionsTeam (FST) is a company built around the mission to tackle food waste through the development of natural and sustainable products. With so much interest in vegan product development, the company is bringing out the NaSu Burger – a clean label and sustainable alternative for finished product manufacturers… Read
      • Foodservice an underveloped channel for plant-based cheese, says new Daiya Foods CEO:  ‘Next-generation’ plant-based burgers are rapidly gaining traction in fast casual restaurants. But they don’t all come with plant-based cheese (yet), highlighting a key area of opportunity for Daiya Foods, one of the early pioneers in dairy-free, says new CEO Michael Watt… Read
      • Sacha Inchi: A super seed ready for prime time? Amazon Health Products debuts Starseed brand:  Sacha Inchi could be the next hot plant-based superfood, but how much is known about its nutrient content? And can the supply keep up with future demand as the ingredient takes off in popularity?.. Read
      • Oatly developers ready for repeat success with patented quinoa milk: ‘We can do it again with Quiny’:  The business developer behind Oatly and a team of Bolivian scientists have developed Quiny, a patent-protected and naturally sweet quinoa powder for plant-based milks, and are gearing up for a Latin American launch… Read
      • Survey: A rising generation of food consumers embrace new food technologies:  As new food technologies emerge, such as cell-cultured meat and new fermentation-based ingredients, younger generations such as Gen Z and millennials are more open and quicker to embrace these new advancements, according to a consumer perception survey conducted by global communications consultancy firm Ketchum… Read more
      • Plant-based protein bar with less than seven ingredients targets female consumers:  Japanese natural snacks subscription service company Snaq Me has launched its second-generation plant-based protein bar, CLR Bar, nationwide. Read more
      • The next fake meat? Pork (Bloomberg): Impossible Foods, the maker of plant-based faux meat, is looking to expand into pork, and hopes to move into the Chinese market.
      • Nestlé to develop plant-based products from microalgae:  Global food giant Nestlé is partnering with ingredients firm Corbion to explore the use of microalgae in plant-based products… Read
      • Chobani goes all oat with new yogurt and milk launches:  After disrupting the category 12 years ago with its Greek offering, the company is now using the cereal grain to strengthen its market dominance, while adding milk and a dairy creamer.
      • Disrupting the meat industry: Global Food Industries ready to launch plant-based burgers: UAE food firm Global Food Industries (GFI) has announced plans to launch its plant-based ‘not-chicken and not-beef burgers’ in November.  Read more 
      • Introducing the NaSu Burger: ‘The basic idea is totally different to Impossible or Beyond’:  FoodSolutionsTeam (FST) is a company built around the mission to tackle food waste through the development of natural and sustainable products. With so much interest in vegan product development, the company is bringing out the NaSu Burger – a clean label and sustainable alternative for finished product manufacturers… Read  
      • Plant-based protein bar with less than seven ingredients targets female consumers:  Japanese natural snacks subscription service company Snaq Me has launched its second-generation plant-based protein bar, CLR Bar, nationwide. Read more  
      • BLC taps palm and shea fat to mimic ‘palate-appealing’ behaviour of meat:  Bunge Loders Crocklaan is expanding into the vegetarian burger category with a range of plant-based offerings – made from shea and palm fat – to help bring texture, bite, appearance, and flavour closer to the ‘real thing’….Read more  
      • There’s a cadre of highly trained flavorists trying to make plant-based meats taste like meat. The Washington Posts has the intel.