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

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.).

Brands and consumers are sweet on the mission of protecting the world’s declining pollinator population, which has fallen dramatically in recent years. Over the past two weeks, numerous brands, like General Mills, Justin’s, and Burt’s Bees have shared the buzz and set up campaigns about this environmental issue.

Schneider is a seasoned executive whose work thrives at the collision of brand, experience and product. He has deep roots in branding, mobile, content and events. Prior to BevNET, Schneider led major rebranding efforts for technology and consumer companies Skyhook and GasBuddy, and he was the CMO of Apptopia.

The competition in the snack set will see some sibling rivalry with today’s announcement that Conagra Brands, producer of DAVID seeds and Slim Jim, has entered into an agreement to acquire Thanasi Foods, maker of BIGS seeds and Duke’s meat snacks

During a public meeting on March 9, the agency was urged to consider both nutrient content and food type when defining the term ‘healthy” on labels. The FDA will consider all comments and written submissions during this public comment period to decide how best to update its guidelines.

Using ingredient data from Label Insight, Nielsen’s Product Insider tool found that the curly green vegetable has expanded beyond more traditional savory categories such as pasta sauce, prepared foods and side dishes to yogurt, breakfast and even frozen sweets. Some brands debuting new items during last week’s Natural Expo West in Anaheim, Calif., are chasing this leafy pot of gold.

At this year’s Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, Calif., Ruby Rockets and Brewla, two frozen novelty brands, showed off their new familial bonds.

Under the new policy, which will be fully enforced by January 2018, all canned tuna sold at Whole Foods must come from fisheries using only pole-and-line, troll, or handline catch methods, all of which take fish one by one. Fisheries must also attain sustainability certification from the Marine Stewardship Council or be rated green or yellow by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and The Safina Center. Suppliers must also use a traceability software, Trace Register, which tracks each lot of tuna at every point from vessel to can.

Organic high pressure processed (HPP) baby food company Pure Spoon may be focused on tot-sized consumers, but its business received a boost — and some advice — after closing a financing round earlier this month. The Texas-based company received substantial investment from both Keen Growth Capital and Veritas Family Partners.

Like so many aspiring brands, The Soulfull Project made its national debut at the Natural Products Expo West show last week. Though the company wore its social mission as a badge of pride, occupying a lower-rent space in the ballroom of the Hilton rather than on the more expensive floor of the Anaheim Convention Center, it did little to flaunt the roots of its founding team. The four-person company is actually a part of a CPG giant: The Campbell Soup Company.

Processed cheese — think “pasteurized processed cheese food,” like Velveeta — is coming to the natural channel. Calling it a clean label cheese solution, Kerry is allowing customers to remove all unrecognizable ingredients from their cheese products or menu items that offer the familiar appearance (i.e. light orange), aroma and taste of processed cheese products — without the artificial ingredients and coloring. Kerry showcased the product at Natural Expo West in Anaheim, Calif., last week.