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

Initially, it seemed like a perfect romance: the venture-backed producer of a protein-heavy flour made from renewable microscopic plants and an up-and-coming “meal disruptor” food and beverage brand meeting to create what could potentially be a monumentally hip “step toward sustainable food production.” But the breakup is real: the past month has found food and beverage producer/replacer Soylent and ingredient supplier TerraVia, engaged in finger-pointing over product problems that plagued Soylent and some of its consumers late last year.

More than 150 public and private companies took the stage during ICR’s investment conference this week — and among its presenters were some of the food industry’s most influential directors.

After five investments that have ranged from jerky to grass-fed dairy to pancake mixes, Sunrise Strategic is taking a bite of the youth-facing snack set with a minority investment in new brand Pure Growth Organic.

Here’s how brands and manufacturers, retailers, and entrepreneurs fit into the city’s vision for a more “inclusive, healthy, vibrant and resilient” Denver.

After launching in July 2016, eighteen94 capital, the venture arm of CPG giant Kellogg Company, has announced Kuli Kuli, a moringa-based brand of bars, powders and shots, as its first investment.

After six years helping develop nascent natural food and beverage brands in New York City, Michael Schwartz, founder of Organic Food Incubator (OFI), is hoping a recent move to a new location in northern New Jersey signals a new chapter for the company and its clients.

Today entrepreneur and investor Zubin Mehta announced the launch of Born Wild Brands. Mehta most recently served as CEO at Nourish Snacks, a better-for-you snack company founded by TODAY’s Joy Bauer.

Longtime Founder and CEO Keith Robbins sold Bubbies Homemade Ice Cream to Kenex Holdings, a Chicago-based investment company, after almost 32 years of business. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Today Ahold USA, parent company of Stop & Shop New England, Stop & Shop New York Metro, Giant Landover, Giant Carlisle and online grocery Peapod, announced a partnership with product discovery platform RangeMe. Ahold will use RangeMe for both inbound submissions as well as to scale its product discovery efforts.

The anonymous survey, conducted in September and October, asked participants to answer 15 questions about HPP safety, quality and efficacy, and to compare HPP to other pasteurization methods.

A recently published Innova Market Insights report found that global new product developments for fruit-based snacks more than doubled, from less than 8 percent to nearly 18 percent, over the past five years.

From gummies to goat milk to greens, the end of 2016 was a busy time for NOSH brands, with retail pickups across all categories.

In the first podcast of 2017, the podcast team is joined by joined by Project NOSH Editor Carol Ortenberg, BevNET Editor-in-Chief Jeff Klineman and Brewbound Editor Chris Furnari, each of whom offered their take on the most pertinent trends and issues within the industries they cover.

In May 2016, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) unveiled updates to the Nutrition Facts panel that appears on all food and beverage products. Now the agency is clarifying certain details of these changes in its draft guidance issued this week. Industry members have 60 days to submit comments before the final version is drafted.