Marrying convenience, saying “no” to food wastage and ‘ugly’ food and art is what FoodTech start-up ANINA Culinary Art’s release of ‘meal-in-a-pod’ varieties aim to show. Using so-called ‘ugly’ vegetables, the pod offers a single-size meal portion that can be cooked on the stovetop or in a microwave. Each disc-shaped container holds two full cups of vegetables—40% of an adult’s daily nutritional requirements—and is ideal for consumers seeking a fast nutritious and delicious meal solution at work or home. Launched in Israel, the range consists of: ● Pasta Primavera — vegetables, Italian herbs ..read more

No longer considered niche, the growth of plant-based alternatives has been fuelled by rising consumer desire for food products that are healthier and have less impact on the planet. To meet the demand both in volume and in desired product characteristics, constant innovation and new technologies are necessary. A research by Givaudan and the University of Berkeley, California, takes a future perspective, highlighting the benefits of emerging 3D printing technology, the ‘near future’ techniques of cultured meat, and Mycelium biomass fermentation producing fungi-derived protein. The company’s fo ..read more

Digital transformation is a topic well overdone. But little is actually understood of the topic, especially when contextualized within the food and beverage (F&B) industry. What exactly does the term mean for food producers, manufacturers, and factories, for instance? Perhaps it is less about the age of the McDigital and digitalization of food products themselves, but rethinking, transforming and supersizing our food industries with technology to address new challenges and opportunities within the sector. For one, we are seeing increasing regulation in the F&B space, with manufacturers ..read more

New Zealand seafood company Sealord has selected Infor CloudSuite Food & Beverage (F&B) and Infor Supply Chain Planning (SCP) in an initial seven-year, multi-tenant software as a service, SaaS, agreement. The partnership will help the sustainable seafood distributor enhance productivity, improve forecasting, and better measure sustainability across its processes and operations. Infor will be implementing an operational cloud-based platform that provides day-one functionality gains, as well as continuing to adapt and improve into the future. As an asset-intensive business, Sealord is al ..read more

Plastic straw ban will have disruptive, albeit short-term impact on India soft drinks industry, says GlobalData. India is all set to ban the production, import, stocking, distribution, sales, and use of an array of single-use plastic products including straws from 1 July 2022, says Global Data. Against this backdrop, the ban on plastic straws will temporarily disrupt the sales of small packs of soft drinks, which are popular among the Indian masses. An analysis of GlobalData’s Market Analyzers reveals that the margins on small packs in India are low as they typically retail at INR 10–INR 30 (U ..read more

Givaudan and biomanufacturer Manus Bio launch BioNootkatone, a clean-label citrus flavour using Manus Bio’s BioAssemblyLine Cell Factory engineering platform. The ingredient uses a non-GMO sugar source as the starting material and is made without using any citrus ingredient. It is reportedly the most cost-effective and sustainable natural nootkatone available on the market. With a proprietary biomanufacturing and downstream process, Manus Bio and Givaudan can deliver a consistent high-quality product. Further, BioNootkatone is less impactful for climate change than nootkatone derived from citr ..read more

MycoTechnology’s FermentIQ PTP protein powder – produced by mycelial fermentation of a pea and rice protein blend – was found to deliver significantly better amino acid absorption than the unfermented protein blend. This finding was reported in a new scientific study published in the journal Food Science and Technology. This suggests that MycoTechnology’s protein could be as complete and nutritious as animal proteins. The researchers, based at the University of Illinois and Cornell University, also found that transforming the plant-based proteins with MycoTechnology’s patented fermentation pro ..read more

Ingredion EMEA has launched ‘Taste Sweet Liberation’, a campaign that showcases how its sweeteners and texturisers enable food and beverage formulators to create reduced-sugar products, improve Nutri-Score and align with government health initiatives such as HFSS, all without compromising on taste or texture. The campaign hub invites manufacturers to request a tasting kit to sample reduced-sugar products containing solutions from its sweeteners and texturisers with the same sweet taste and indulgent textures but with less sugar and fewer calories. The interactive hub also contains engaging and ..read more

US consumers’ attitudes and behavior around health and wellness are shifting from diets and “can’t haves” into whole-body health and lifestyle changes they feel will be long-lasting, reports The NPD Group. At the start of Covid-19, stress and disorientation drove many consumers to indulge. As the pandemic went on, consumers became more focused on health and wellness, according to NPD’s recently released America’s Health Pulse: Closing the Gap Between Wants and Needs. Dieting today for many consumers is not always about weight loss. To many, it’s about good nutrition and their well-being. About ..read more

The growing trend towards home-cooked meals amid the COVID-19 pandemic has fueled the demand for seasonings and sauces. Subsequently, India’s seasonings, dressings and sauces market is projected to grow from INR217 billion (US$2.9 billion) in 2021 to INR290.6 billion (US$3.4 billion) in 2026, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.0%, says GlobalData. The report finds that the market growth is mainly driven by the dressings category, which is forecast to register the fastest value CAGR of 11.2% during 2021–2026. The dressings category is followed by the wet cooking sauces category, which ..read more