Headlines

Frozen food company Counter is building its brand around macro-friendly meals by tapping into the community of content creators who follow the trend for both recipe development and investment.

Appropriately named Actual Veggies has flipped a portion of its burgers over to frozen this month, landing in Whole Foods stores nationwide. That shift – from its original fridge case placement to the freezer aisle – also comes with an updated brand identity and a box format better suited for the frozen set.

Following a limited test, Kraft Heinz is starting the nationwide rollout of its first Philadelphia brand plant-based spread in Original, Strawberry and Chive & Onion varieties.

Pasta Rummo, which touts itself as the first pasta worldwide with a third-party “al dente” certification, has gone national with Whole Foods Market. Consumers can now find the brand’s 11 classic and gluten-free pastas at the retailer, including its Shells and Mezzi Rigatoni, which are exclusive to WFM through the end of this year.

In this week’s notable new products roundup, Goodles celebrates National IPA Day with a new flavor launch, One Stripe Chai Co. introduces its first coffee product and Confetti Snacks unveils new mandarin orange “chips.”

Venture firm Brynwood Partners announced today it has entered into an agreement to acquire the Marie’s salad dressing brand and Dean’s Dip businesses from Ventura Foods, LLC, as well as the Thornton, Illinois facility where the products are manufactured. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

This week on the NOSH Podcast, the co-founders of Every Body Eat discuss inclusivity in snacking and food manufacturing. Also, the team discusses THC-infused snack brand knockoffs, CPG food products cashing in on popular entertainment properties and the WHO’s ruling on artificial sweetener aspartame.

Our daily newsletter got an upgrade! Say hello to The Daily Briefing, where you’ll find headlines and story recaps from the latest food-industry news on NOSH.com.

Nearly every grocery category has seen a bit of better-for-you reinvention, but the croutons aisle is, largely, still about as stale as it gets. Kooshy wants to revive the salad-adjacent set with a lineup of non-GMO, sourdough-based crispy bread bites now available at all Whole Foods locations.

Popular sweetener aspartame has been dubbed a “possible carcinogen” by global health standards, but domestic experts don’t believe it’s cause enough to begin reformulating just yet.