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Today consumer foods giant General Mills announced that it has acquired upstart meat snack company EPIC Provisions. The brand will operate under General Mills-owned Annie’s Organics. Both Taylor Collins, Epic’s co-founder, and John Haugen, General Mills’ VP & General Manager of 301 Inc, spoke with NOSH about the acquisition.

Quickly putting a recent $5 million investment round to use, the team at Tessemae’s All Natural is re-launching their line of salad dressings and condiments.

The Food and Drug Association has extended the comment period for use of the term “Natural.” by 90 days. Originally comments were due February 10th, but now have been moved to May 10th.

It’s that time of the year when marketing companies, flavor houses and research firms dust off their crystal balls, peer deeply into the future, analyze some data, and issue their predictions for what the next year will hold. We combed through the lists to bring readers what we think are some of the most unique, well thought out, and creative trends for 2016.

According to the website Pinterest, among the top food trends of the year, and what they’ll be watching in 2016, was “avocado oil.” Here are some of the avocado influenced products from 2015 that we’ll be watching.

Responsibility for the firm will now lie with Debbie Wildrick and Craig Fortin, currently MetaBrand’s chief strategy officer and President and chief operating officer, respectively.

As the year winds to a close, the wallets remain open, with a spate of high-profile distributor and supplier acquisitions announced in the past two weeks. Many of the companies acquired have a focus on “better-for-you,” fresh, and specialty, underscoring the ongoing importance of consumer interest in natural and unique products.

Last week, PepsiCo Inc. and the German dairy company Theo Müller Group announced the termination of their U.S. joint venture. Yet, as consumers have begun to favor smaller product lines, large strategic CPG companies have put more innovative brands on the market. So what should be instructive about the joint venture for other large strategics, like Hershey’s, Mars, and Heinz and French’s and where do smaller brands have the upper hand?

At this year’s BevNET Live, Scott LaPorta, the president of Campbell-owned Bolthouse Farms described the C-Fresh mission and growth strategy.

Not able to make it to Project NOSH LA? We’re pleased to announce that every speaker presentation, panel and discussion from our one day conference for food entrepreneurs is now available for viewing on YouTube.