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

Granola and hot cereal brand Purely Elizabeth today announced a $3 million investment by General Mills’ venture arm, 301 Inc. The investment marks 301’s eighth addition to its portfolio and eight-year-old Purely Elizabeth’s first outside investment.

On Thursday, the troops were rallied by Annie’s President John Foraker, who issued a call to defend beloved food activist Ron Finley, better known as the “Gangsta Gardener.” Foraker sent an email to his large list of industry contacts and posted an open letter on LinkedIn urging members of the food industry to help Finley’s Los Angeles-based inner city garden avoid eviction, which he faces as a result of his previous landlord’s default on the property.

From conventional grocery to national coffee chains, natural brands are expanding their reach — and it’s still early in 2017. Here are some of the players making notable distribution growth.

An annual health and wellness progress report conducted by Consumer Goods Forum found that 66 percent of reporting companies reformulated products in 2016. But of those companies, roughly 27 percent made their policies regarding nutrition and product formulation public.

Land O’Lakes made hay while the sun shone today, acquiring venerable artisanal cheese maker Vermont Creamery. Founded in 1984, Vermont Creamery operate as an independently operated subsidiary of the Minnesota-based dairy giant.

Earlier this month, State Senator Bob Wieckowski, a Democrat, introduced California SB 504, a bill that would require warning labels on all food containing synthetic dyes, including those sold in restaurants. It’s an issue that may cause food manufacturers to reconsider their use of synthetic colors not just in California, but nationwide.

Along with record levels of funding from both private and corporate entities, the rise of plant-based protein and new products and services that combine convenience and health were identified as two of the major disruptive trends reshaping the food and beverage space during strategic data analytics firm CB Insights’ “Dining on Disruption” webinar on Tuesday.

Now under new ownership, but back to the same old purpose: Snikiddy, an 11-year-old healthy snacking brand for kids, sported a new look, new products, and a new focus on organic that have all come to fruition under Utz Quality Foods.

How the refrigerated bar category Perfect Bar pioneered is growing, despite supply chain challenges and shrinking shelf space.

For the musicians, working with the San Francisco-based company is an opportunity to eat healthy on the road. For the food brands, it’s a way to market themselves and get endorsements from groups with a similar mission and larger audience reach. But for Founder Scott Manning, it’s more personal.

While the once-staid cottage cheese category has gotten more crowded over the past year, there’s still a large segment of consumers for whom it signifies diets, rice cakes, and carrots. Jesse Merrill, the founder of Good Culture organic cottage cheese, wants to change that perception and teach consumers that cottage cheese can be the answer to their high-protein prayers. And he isn’t done spreading the gospel, as he showcased the company’s newest product, a natural line of cottage cheese that aims to reach even more consumers, at this year’s Natural Products Expo West.

Greyston Bakery is advocating for inclusivity with both its newest product offering, grab-and-go cookies, and its longstanding hiring policy. The main motivation for the new line is the opportunity it offers to expand the company’s Open Hiring Model, which provides jobs to individuals with barriers to employment — no questions asked.

Applied Food Sciences (AFS) is going “back to the very beginning” — the beginning of food before genetic modification, that is. In January, the Austin, Texas-based ingredient supplier opened a research and development center at the University of Iowa’s BioVentures Center to use plant-based science to examine how the evolution of food shapes the current and future food supply.

CPG collective Halen Brands has acquired plant-protein centric brand Only What You Need (OWYN). The brand debuted at Natural Products Expo West as part of Halen’s newly launched, allergen-friendly brand platform, Safe Allergen Friendly Environment (S.A.F.E.).