Adrianne DeLuca

Despite a rising consumer interest (+40%) in meat, dairy and seafood alternatives, a new report released by the Food Industry Association (FMI) last week – titled The Power of Plant-based Food and Beverage – revealed that shoppers are still confused about what products are considered plant-based.

In this week’s Checkout: Giant Foods brings with circular waste platform Loop to D.C.-area stores; Stone’s Throw Foods announces its acquisition of Swapples; Morningstar Farms factory workers file to unionize; Shinsegae Foods invests $6 million into U.S. subsidiary Better Foods; and Ginkgo Bioworks and Bayer expand AgBio partnership.

Global food giant Kraft Heinz reported a 10% increase in organic net sales this quarter, despite retail volumes decreasing approximately 4%. During a call with investors this morning, CEO Miguel Patrico attributed the performance to three core pillars – GROW brands, Foodservice and Emerging Markets – “hitting on all cylinders.”

The protein-packed legume has roots that date back thousands of years and served as a key protein source for indigenous populations spanning from ancient Egypt to the Andes Mountains. So why is the CPG world now giving this ancient legume a second look?

Plant-based cheese maker formerly known as Conscious Cultures announced today it has dropped its former moniker in favor of the more “playful” name Bandit, in an attempt to better highlight its scrappy origin, said founder and CEO Bo Babaki.

Less than two years after its opening, organic frozen food company Amy’s Kitchen has shut down its production plant in San Jose, California according to multiple reports this week. Paperwork filed with the state indicates that manufacturing operations stopped on July 18, but the factory will not officially cease operations until September 16, eliminating 331 jobs.

In this week’s Checkout: Catalina publishes report on post-pandemic consumer trends, SPINS partners with Naturally Network, Talenti supports Black Food Folks fellowship for third year running and FDA issues a review of human foods programs.

Plant-based meat maker Meati has added another $150 million to its war chest to expand production capacity and increase accessibility to its mushroom-root alternative meat product. The company had previously raised a total of $127 million and today’s announcement nearly doubles that, bringing its total funding to approximately $277 million to-date.

One month after initiating a recall, Daily Harvest announced it has identified tara flour as the ingredient that caused reported cases of gastrointestinal illness and liver dysfunction in nearly 200 consumers who ate its French Lentil + Leek alt-meat crumble product.

Plant-based meat maker Meati is making its retail debut at three Colorado-area Sprouts Farmers Market stores this week as it sets its sights on a national, omni-channel rollout by next year. The brand launched direct-to-consumers in March and also announced it has expanded its foodservice presence to all nine locations of fast casual chain Birdcall today.