The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered the way people dine, both at home and in public. The overwhelming fear of contamination that was once the domain of germophobes has become commonplace. As the world starts to open back up as vaccinations expand, restaurants face the challenge of customers who have spent more than a year thinking about the sanitary practices behind the production, handling, and consumption of food. Is the “sanitarian” customer the new vegetarian?
April 29, 2021Suppliers of fresh, frozen, and processed meat and poultry are facing increased competition from producers of meat substitutes. Manufacturers of such products include Beyond Meat, Kellogg Company’s MorningStar Farms, and Impossible Foods. As these companies continue to improve the taste and texture (e.g., ability to sizzle on a grill) of plant-based patties and other meat substitutes, more individuals are experimenting with these products. The increased availability of meat substitutes on restaurant menus and grocery store shelves is also spurring sales.
January 21, 2019The canned food industry seems to have opened a can of worms. Long a staple of consumer diets, canned food has fallen out of favor with consumers, with more consumers valuing fresh, healthy food made without packaging. For example, several major canned food companies saw revenues decline in the first half of 2018. Furthermore, Campbell canned its CEO due to a precipitous drop in sales. So what happened? How did canned food get left off of consumers’ plates? And what are companies doing to respond?
October 15, 2018The battle over the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the US food supply has raged on for years. The fight pits advocacy groups, such as Just Label It and The Center for Food Safety, against major crop and food producers such as Monsanto and PepsiCo. Advocacy groups argue that consumers have a right to know. Industry groups opine that two decades of research has suggested GMOs are safe and thus labels are unnecessary and will scare consumers.
September 18, 2018Gluten has been in the news frequently in the past few years, and people increasingly avoid it due to allergies and various dietary trends that seek to limit gluten intake. A new breakthrough has been made in cracking the wheat genome – a code over five times more complex than the human genome. Can the development help fulfill consumer desires for better-tasting, better-for-you wheat products, including gluten-free options?
September 18, 2018The versatile tortilla is on a roll, breaking out of the Tex-Mex stereotype and finding its way into all sorts of meals and snacks. That said, the increasing popularity of Mexican cuisine hasn’t hurt either.
September 17, 2018Millennials have built up quite a list of industries and businesses for which they are responsible for “killing” over the past few years – from restaurant chains and mass-produced beer to starter homes and napkins. Finally, it seems millennials have redeemed themselves in what is arguably the last place one might expect: the frozen food aisle.
June 22, 2018Due to the advent of ketogenic and gluten-free diets, consumers want healthy grain-based foods – and they’re willing to pay more for them. One segment of the industry that has benefited is small start-up baking companies. They’ve boosted revenues by offering healthy grain-based products inside the healthy eating niche in the market. However, the major food manufacturers are responding through acquisition of many of these small health-focused food brands to diversify their portfolio.
June 18, 2018Demand for soybean products is projected to reach 45.9 million tons in 2022. Amid a sea of regulations impacting the use of soybean products in applications ranging from food to fuel, suppliers have begun to develop crops with specific traits in order to produce soybeans and soybean products with more desirable attributes suitable for specific roles.
May 7, 2018Investments in branding, marketing, and distribution help to explain the growing popularity of pistachios.
May 7, 2018