Meagan McGinnes

The yogurt aisle is getting a makeover in the wake of major strategic changes by three of the category’s biggest companies. The shift comes at a time when these players are not only trying to steal market share from each other, but also bring back growth to a category whose once fast sales are now slowing.

Many industry leaders are adding new titles and companies to their resumes after a stint of hiring sprees the past few months. Here’s the lowdown on these execs’ new gigs and what they are doing there.

During the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City this week, LeAnn Chuboff, the VP of Technical Affairs for the Safe Quality Food (SQF) Institute, and Robert Garfield, the chief food safety assessment officer and SVP for Food Marketing Institute, spoke about food safety’s newest trends and technology during a presentation at the newly debuted Level Up Experience. Here are four takeaways from the panel to keep your food safety nightmare from turning into a reality.

Lots of money changed hands this month across the food industry. From convenient meal kits to a premium pasta sauce line with history, here’s what some of CPG’s biggest companies and players are betting on.

At first, few suppliers weren’t sure what to make of the deal, with numerous food and beverage companies reserving their comments. Now, after more than a week’s reflection, many have told NOSH they are excited about the potential sales opportunities the partnership could provide, expressing enthusiasm for how it will maintain or even enhance Whole Foods’ reputation as a launching pad for small brands.

In previously scheduled appearances, Sprouts CFO Brad Lukow presented at the Jefferies 2017 Global Consumer Conference Tuesday and Kroger CFO Michael Schlotman addressed investors at the Oppenheimer Annual Consumer Conference Wednesday. Schlotman addressed investors again during Thursday’s annual shareholders meeting. Though their talks didn’t focus on Amazon’s Friday announcement that the online retailer is acquiring Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, that didn’t keep the elephant out of the room.

June has been quite a month for Small Axe Peppers, the makers of Bronx Hot Sauce. Last week the mission-driven hot sauce brand won the second annual Project NOSH Pitch Slam, and now the company announced that it’s extending its community garden business model to a new borough: Queens.

During Tuesday’s BevNET Live Expo in at Metropolitan West in New York City, suppliers and flavoring companies took over the conference floor to showcase their latest innovations. The NOSH team walked the floor to survey exhibitors on what they think are the top trends of the flavor world right now.

During the Cincinnati-based retailer’s Q1 earnings call on Thursday, before the Whole Foods sale was announced, Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen said earnings would be about nine percent lower than initially forecast due to new investments in pricing and service, as well as margin pressure. The retailer’s stock price plunged 19 percent on Thursday as a result of the struggles, then — similar to other retailers– fell another 13 percent Friday once the Whole Foods deal was done. The market slowly began rebounding late Monday morning.