Food Industry News, Insights, and Education for the CPG Community

In this People Moves: No Evil cofounder Sadrah Schadel takes the lead as CEO, Imperfect Foods adds three new exec team members, Dream Pops brings on new Head of Sales, Gopuff names Maria Renz SVP of North America, Maxine’s Heavenly appoints new VP of Finance and New Culture names Josh Kittelson VP of Biology.

This week’s notable new products saw brands delving deeper into plant-based protein options, launching better-for-you versions of indulgent treats and celebrating birthdays with cake-flavored spreads. Check out this gallery for new items from Hodo and Oat Haus as well as the first products to come from newly launched brands Mooski and Green Fork.

During The Good Food Institute’s State of the Industry presentation on fermentation-enabled meat, seafood, eggs, and dairy yesterday, panelists broke down multiple areas of interest including investments, tech innovations and regulatory progress while highlighting its potential to create viable climate solutions over the long term.

In this week’s The Checkout: Nowadays raises $7 million to scale plant-based chicken nugget tech; Gerber launches new baby food line with a focus on plant-based protein; functional food category see new entry, Adapto Foods; and Halo Top reformulates and adds new flavor.

In this episode of Category Closeup, NOSH editor Carol Ortenberg sits down with a panel of CPG founders, executives and experts to take a look at food and beverage trends in the allergen-friendly (or free-from) category.

As it looks to a commercial rollout of cultivated chicken later this year, pending regulatory review, cell-grown meat, poultry and seafood brand UPSIDE Foods announced $400 million in new funding, bringing its total capital raised to-date to over $1 billion.

Market research firm IRI hosted a webinar yesterday, titled “Solving the Seesaw State of U.S. Snacking,” that broke down how inflation, consumer interests, supply chain disruptions, channel opportunities and innovation continue to bring new obstacles and opportunities into the segment.

gmgn supply co. Launches with Crypto-Inspired Cereal As major CPG conglomerates dip their toes into the web3 sector through NFT drops and other crypto-inspired marketing campaigns, a new DAO, gmgn supply co., launched this month with the lofty goal to “take on General Mills, Nestle and Unilever” through a decentralized business model. – and it… Read more »

Gold House, a nonprofit group of Asian & Pacific Islander (API) founders, creatives, and executives, announced today the launch of Gold House Ventures (GHV), a $30 million fund that will place capital in API helmed brands and companies.

This week, we sat down with the co-founders of Vail-based private equity firm Manna Tree Partners and the founders of three portfolio companies, Verde Farms, Health-Ade and Gotham Greens, to explore the relationship between investor and entrepreneur. The discussions revealed how their personal friendship established a baseline for trust and helped create positive outcomes for all involved.

The Food and Drug Administration is now soliciting public comments to evaluate the importance of guidance on food allergens not named in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). The final guidance aims to identify and rank allergens capable of inducing anaphylaxis.

In this distribution roundup: Mason Dixie Foods partners with Marriott Select Brand Hotels, Rob’s Backstage Popcorn rolls out at retail, Klimon debuts at Walmart, Meli’s Cookies launch at Costco and more.

We’re featuring interviews with Seth Goldman of Honest Tea and Eat the Change – one of the best-known recidivist brand maniacs out there – as well as Parker Olson of Forij (he lives in the Forij van!) and Zack and Delisa Harper of Funky Mello (they met, made marshmallow fluff, and got married!).

The Very Good Food Company (VGFC) shared its plans for moving forward following the departure of the company’s two co-founders, Mitchell Scott (CEO) and James Davison, chief R&D officer, during its Q4 2021 earnings call on Thursday.