From vertical farming to greenhouses and plant factories, Controlled Environmental Agriculture could help address the global challenge to produce more food with less environmental impact. But a state-of-the-industry study reveals proponents are concerned...
Israeli start-up Clarifruit wants to swap out ‘subjective, inconsistent, and slow’ manual quality control processes in the fresh produce supply chain for an AI-powered digital alternative.
In the UK, beef cattle are wearing ‘Fitbits for cows’, in Germany, an independent certification scheme is improving animal welfare for pork and poultry, and in Bulgaria, Big Data is serving to differentiate local products from imported competition. FoodNavigator...
On a long-term mission to become the world's leading food solutions group, HelloFresh continues to register strong year-over-year growth in revenue and in key performance metrics including order rates, and active customer acquisition.
The ag tech revolution is real and a host of solutions are becoming available that promise to help food manufacturers deliver more sustainable products. But there’s a catch: who pays?
Traceability data is notoriously complex and difficult to handle. Start-up TrusTrace says its 'unique' approach leaves it positioned to become the ‘mission-critical’ operating platform for food brands solving sustainability and transparency...
Brands in the health and nutrition space are failing to make use of the oldest marketing tool in the book - word of mouth - and in this era of social media that opportunity is bigger than ever.
Developments in food and ag tech have the potential to upend how food is produced. But the bigger picture issues around economic, social and environmental questions must be considered to deliver ‘meaningful benefits’, according to Sagentia Innovation.
End-to-end traceability is coming to be viewed as central to advancing food safety, quality and sustainability. Transparency is also an increasingly important tool to build trust. We look at how this is impacting the supply chain.
What we eat is contributing to some of the greatest challenges facing the world, from climate change to global health crises. Can a shift in consumption also be part of the solution?
SMARTCHAIN, a three-year EU-funded project, is developing a roadmap to support the extension of Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs). This will deliver a number of ‘socio-economic benefits’, the researchers claim.
Danone has sponsored a report that uses ‘deep social listening’ tools to track conversations about food. The research charts attitudes to personal and planetary health, as well as growing demand for a ‘fairer’ food system coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic....
Mondelēz International has launched a food transparency programme in North America, which gives consumers insight into the journey of the white-winter wheat used in its Triscuit crackers from a coop of farmers’ fields in Michigan to where the crackers...
COVID-19 changed how consumers eat and shop. But as much of the world unlocks and we emerge into the ‘new normal’ of a post-COVID era, what trends will stick?
Olam Food Ingredients aims to improve the sustainability of its cashew supply chain. A key lever for the supplier is farmer incomes. “We want to do more for the livelihoods of farmers,” MD and CEO of edible nuts, Ashok Krishen explained.
Researchers have analysed the profitability and business model of food home delivery platforms such as Just Eat, Glovo and Deliveroo in Barcelona, to discover the sustainability of these business models is based on attracting users and on complementary...
Unilever Food Solutions (UFS), the arm of Unilever that supplies the catering sector, is supporting the growth of so-called ‘ghost kitchens’. FoodNavigator examines what the company is doing in the space and asks why UFS expects ghost kitchens to be an...
The European Commission has set out an ambitious agenda as it works to move food production to a more sustainable footing. However, there is a pressing need to move from target-setting to engagement and achievement.
Royal DSM has launched a ‘first-of-its-kind’ intelligent sustainability service to deliver ‘accurate, simple and actionable’ farm-level solutions that it says will help improve both the environmental footprint and profitability of animal protein production.
Food safety is a business-critical issue. People worry about food safety and security as much as global warming, pollution and poverty, research from confectionery giant Mars reveals. FoodNavigator hears from Dr Guangtao Zhang, director of the Mars Global...
Brands with heavy, bulky and perishable products that are difficult or expensive to ship direct-to-consumer need not write-off e-commerce as cost prohibitive or lag behind competitors in other consumer categories when it comes to online sales penetration,...
The ‘fragility’ of the food system has been exposed by rising hunger levels, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. At an event staged ahead of the UN’s Sustainable Food Summit, the Food and Agriculture Organization and Members of the European Parliament...
Swiss food giant Nestlé has a carbon footprint that is twice the size of Switzerland’s emissions linked to fossil fuel use. The company has a target to reach net zero by 2050 – and it believes that the regenerative potential of agriculture and forestry...
PepsiCo R&D Fellows are a ‘select’ group of innovation specialists with ‘exceptional expertise’ and a proven track record of ‘significant technical innovation’. FoodNavigator speaks to Chief Medical Officer and executive program sponsor, Antonio...
Dairy cooperative Arla has developed Climate Checks, a programme that leverages the power of big data to support a transition to low-carbon production. Climate Checks offer ‘a proof point that there can be a sustainable future for dairy’, Chairman Jan...
The ups and downs suffered by The Pished Fish, a UK brand that makes Scandinavian-inspired alcohol- and botanical- infused smoked salmon, illustrate the shift in consumer behaviour towards online shopping and the new food categories created by the pandemic.
Turing AI is a food tech start-up that is exiting stealth mode. The company is already working with some of the world’s largest CPGs and retailers to address a food industry ‘bottleneck’: NPD. FoodNavigator speaks to founder and CEO Manmit Shrimali.
As product safety worries, sustainability and traceability have all been placed firmly under the microscope, COVID-19 has accelerated our local shopping and sourcing habits. Now, we ask: What does the future hold for staying local?
Unilever has some ambitious goals on food waste. The multinational wants to halve waste from its direct operations by 2025 and is working with suppliers and customers to reduce waste across the food chain. It also hopes to tackle one of the trickiest...
Oddbox is a UK online delivery platform on a mission to fight food waste. The company, launched in 2016, recently underwent a brand overhaul as it works to grow its community and build on the momentum built-up during COVID lockdowns. FoodNavigator caught...
Global food and farming is set for a ‘corporate tidal wave’, warns think tank IPES-Food and non-profit ETC Group, who believe a business-as-usual approach could accelerate environmental breakdown and jeopardize food security.
Confectionery giant Mars Wrigley UK is attempting to digitise taste through a partnership with Google Cloud, which has resulted in the first ever Maltesers cake developed by artificial intelligence.
The Swiss flavours and fragrances company is launching a digital sensory tool to help crowdsource preference for ‘flavour first’ products, whereby the aroma from flavour helps to drive purchasing decision, Rahul Siva, research investigator, Taste &...
Tate & Lyle PLC, a global provider of food and beverage ingredients and solutions, has launched the Tate & Lyle Nutrition Centre, a new digital hub providing access to science on ingredients that can help address public health challenges.
Nestlé continues to lean into the direct-to-consumer (D2C) channel as part of its portfolio transformation strategy. This week, the Swiss food giant snapped up UK recipe kit company SimplyCook. With the changes ushered in by COVID expected to leave a...
Nestlé reported ‘strong’ growth of its plant-based brands when it delivered its full year results. But, CEO Mark Schneider stressed, the opportunity is much bigger than meat-free burgers or bangers.
Givaudan’s flavour business, Givaudan Taste & Wellness, is launching a new tool that leverages artificial intelligence for the ‘next generation’ of product development. “Success comes from combining the output of the tools with the sensitivity and...
As the pandemic nears the one-year mark, food and beverage companies face increased pressure to maintain new consumers gained during the pandemic while also engaging additional shoppers over record household penetration increases in the last year – a...
Danone is coming under increasing investor pressure to invigorate its brands – an effort that requires innovation and investment. The group’s International CEO, Véronique Penchienati-Bosetta, says that the company’s new ‘Local First’ strategy will deliver...
Sales of organic and Fairtrade certified products continued to shine in 2020 as concerns over the climate impact of food production and the COVID-19 crisis put ethical consumerism in the spotlight.
In the UK, 2020 saw frozen fish sales surge in retail, while premium seafood struggled to find its way onto restaurant diners’ plates. What do experts predict for the post-COVID ‘new normal’? And how can brands make the most of this changing retail landscape?...
Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) is an internationally recognised method of identifying and managing food safety risk. In an area that is both strictly regulated and highly complex, setting up an HACCP system requires a ’great knowledge’...
To celebrate its 20th anniversary, UK artisan chocolate brand Montezuma’s commissioned food anthropologist Caroline Hobkinson to predict food industry trends over the next two decades with a specific focus on chocolate.
SwissDeCode has closed its first venture round. The funds will be used to accelerate development of its technology for real-time certification of food authenticity and quality. We caught up with the start-up’s co-founders to learn about the company’s...
Quantis is launching geoFootprint, a digital tool that the company describes as the ‘first’ to use satellite technology to map the environmental impact of food production on an interactive map. The innovation holds the key to ‘smarter, science-driven...