Sustainability

In this week’s roundup: Brazi Bites launches an accelerator programs for Latino business owners, PepsiCo and ADM team up on a new regenerative agriculture initiative, Kroger consolidates its low-price private label lines and Barkley acquires Smiths Agency.

In the natural food world, where sustainability, sourcing practices and nutrient density have become key consumer interests, fresh seaweed is starting to surface.

Meat companies are making blended meat and vegetable burgers and sausages catering to the flexitarian lifestyle but the success of the niche category depends a lot on how brands strategize their marketing to health and sustainability-minded consumers.

Industry experts and plant-based meat leaders agree: achieving price parity with conventional proteins will be key to its success long term. But how, and when, will it get there?

Upcycled CPG companies are innovating supply chains and scaling production in order to bring costs down so the niche sustainability trend can become more widely adopted and reach a larger market.

Food and beverage company Tomorrow Farms announced today the closing of $8.5 million in funding aimed at supporting its first product launch this summer and attracting ingredient companies with which it can partner to bring its technologies to market.

Aiming to make single use cans and bottles a thing of the past, former “trend spotter” Max Luthy and event producer-turned-beverage entrepreneur Luke Montgomery-Smith have launched Plink!, a vintage-inspired brand of beverage tablets.

Plant-based food and beverage maker Laird Superfood introduced a new format to its portfolio with the goal of giving consumers a plastic-free approach to single-serve functional coffee. Today, the company announced the launch of Bright Cups, a proprietary Keurig-compatible pod format made from BPI-certified compostable materials and filled with Laird’s Focus Mushroom Coffee.

In this week’s Checkout: SnackMagic launches data platform CPGpulse, General Mills invests $15 million for minority and female entrepreneurs, Misfits Market launches private label line and Evol introduces carbon neutral frozen meal line.

According to a 2019 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the food system is responsible for about 21% to 37% of total greenhouse gas emissions — resulting from all parts of the production process from agriculture and land use to packaging, storage and transportation. Betting on consumers’ increased desire for transparency in the items they buy, some brands and marketplaces are working to help educate shoppers about the carbon impact of their purchases, providing clarity to a previously opaque part of the industry.