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

The FDA on Friday released temporary guidance to allow food manufacturers to change ingredients without updating product labels, a move aimed at preventing supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, company and industry leaders are speaking up to promote consumer safety.

For more than a decade BevNET and NOSH have brought the entrepreneurial food and beverage ecosystem together during in-person conferences. Now, it’s time to bring the community together online. It’s time to connect, even in isolation. It’s time to share knowledge, even when the schools are out. On June 23 and 24, let’s take some time together to reset, boarding a platform made by the coalesced entrepreneurial community, taking a break from our widespread separation.

O’Dang wants to bring the “health halo” of hummus into center store. The brand, the majority of which is owned by Keen Growth Capital, has rolled out a new line of mayonnaise, reformulated its existing dressings and rebranded under new CEO Eric Hintz.

The thirteenth round of Elevator Talk Livestream features leaders from Brami, Nomz, Oomph Cooking Blends, Vegan Heavenly Delights, Positively Plantain and more. This week’s special co-host is Nicole Dawes, the founder of Late July and Nixie Sparkling Water.

Brendan Brazier, co-founder of pioneering plant-based protein brand Vega and “hard” cold-pressed juice brand Pulp Culture, spoke about how his passion for plant-based nutrition culminated in Vega, why the company embraced the saying “ignorance is our only competition,” how he assessed the opportunity for a better-for-you alcoholic beverages and his perspective on the evolution of plant-based foods.

On this week’s Office Hours, Jordan Gaspar, managing partner at AF Ventures and Ben Mand, CEO of Harmless Harvest field questions from food and beverage industry entrepreneurs about investor and brand relationships and how they can evolve in a crisis climate.

The plant-based meat category was already growing before the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, many plant-based brands have seen huge sales upticks since pantry loading began in March. Now, they need to figure out what comes next.

KIND Snacks has launched the Frontline Impact Project, a centralized platform where healthcare workers and other organizations on the frontlines can request and receive necessary food, lodging and transportation assistance.

As many states begin to reopen businesses, IRI reflected on the 2008 recession to help brands prepare for the months ahead, while the FDA and USDA announced plans for supply chain management collaboration. Here’s the latest COVID-19 news from around the industry this week.

Sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make a plant-based omelette. When JUST — then known as Hampton Creek — started up roughly a decade ago, founder Josh Tetrick wanted to shake up the food industry. While his goal has remained the same, the path has changed. The company has expanded its strategy beyond its own branded products to form strategic partnerships with a focus on ingredients as the way forward. To start, the company announced this week a new food service partnership with Michael Foods, a subsidiary of Post Holdings and one of the largest processors of egg products in the world.

Office Hours, BevNET and NOSH’s weekly live call-in show, returns Tuesday, May 26 at 3 p.m. ET. Jordan Gaspar, managing partner at AF Ventures and Ben Mand, CEO of Harmless Harvest will field questions from food and beverage industry entrepreneurs about investor and brand relationships and how they can evolve in a crisis climate.

Rebellyous Foods has more than a nugget’s worth of plans. With a new plant-based chicken nugget launching into limited retail this week, the company hopes its proprietary technology will eventually be adapted by other manufacturers.

The twelfth round of Elevator Talk Livestream features leaders from This Saves Lives, Mighty Gum, Rowe of Venice, Novel Plant Foods and more. This week’s special co-host is Sebastian Dreher of Doehler Ventures, who will share his thoughts, questions and feedback with the participants.

Over the past decade, consumer interest in immunity boosting products and ingredients has been steadily on the rise. But the outbreak of the coronavirus has pushed that into overdrive: Between January and April, social posts mentioning “immunity” increased 134%, according to flavor provider FONA International.