03 Oct 2018 --- The edible insect industry is growing rapidly with many new healthier and sustainable products appearing on our shelves. The makers of processed food containing bugs mostly use crickets and mealworms from farms in Canada, US, Netherlands and Thailand. Until now, only Bugsolutely has considered the potential of silkworms and the company has launched the first silkworm snack in China, called Bella Pupa.
26 Sep 2018 --- Avebe is increasing the advance payment for potatoes to €67 a ton to mitigate the impact of extreme drought and high temperatures. The Dutch potato starch manufacturer is bracing itself for a substantially lower than usual harvest this season as drought and high temperatures have battered potato yields all over Europe which will lead to a decline in the availability of potato products.
17 Sep 2018 --- Compostable and renewable packaging film specialists Futamura grabbed headlines at Packaging Innovations 2018 in London with its 100 percent plastic-free, compostable crisp bag made from barrier film NatureFlex. The bag is the first of its kind on the European market, originally launched in Germany. Futamura collaborated with packaging manufacturer Bio4Pack to create the pack for German organic crisps producer, myCHIPSBOX. The bag was displayed on the Packaging Innovations Showcase as well as the Futamura stand.
17 Aug 2018 --- PepsiCo Mexico has cut down on sugar and salt across its snacks portfolio by 24 percent as part of a long-term reformulation strategy designed to reduce added sugars and sodium across products.
30 Jul 2018 --- Almonds continue to lead new product introductions worldwide, according to new data from Innova Market Insights. The Global New Products Report from Innova Market Insights found that almond introductions grew in four out of the five key categories for almonds worldwide, including confectionery (22 percent), snacks (19 percent) and bakery (17 percent), as well as bars (16 percent) and cereal (8 percent). This growth helped almonds maintain their long-held position as the top nut in global new product introductions.
18 Jul 2018 --- Nuts and their health benefits are widely understood. Green & Gold Macadamias has reported a 60 percent rise in global tree nut consumption, which is a testament to the fact that people are eating more and more of them. As a result of this, the market value for macadamias is up by 72 percent, according to Green & Gold Macadamias, who believe that macadamias will be seen more predominantly in milk, butters, nut-based beverages and vegan cheeses, as well as a host of other new products.
28 May 2018 --- PepsiCo, Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Bare Foods Co. (doing business as Bare Snacks), a US-based maker of baked fruit and vegetable snacks. The transaction will expand the company's snacking portfolio and further deliver on its Performance with Purpose vision to offer consumers more positive nutrition options.
25 Apr 2018 --- Indulgence has long been known as a key driver for chocolate NPD, but nowadays consumers are looking for a healthier chocolate experience. According to Innova Market Insights, 11 percent of global chocolate products have an indulgent and premium positioning in 2017 and globally, 23 percent of all chocolate launches tracked in 2017 carry a texture claim. Social eating occasions are driving the trend for sharing bags and easy to share formats across the confectionery, bakery and snacking segments.
28 Mar 2018 --- Campbell Soup Company recently announced the completion of the acquisition of Snyder’s-Lance, Inc. for US$50 per share in an all-cash transaction. The acquisition, which represents an enterprise value of approximately $6.1 billion, is a strategic acquisition for Campbell, creating a US$10 billion company with almost half of annual net sales in the fast-growing snacking category, called Campbell’s Snacks.
27 Mar 2018 --- Kraft Heinz Ingredients (KHI) is planning to roll out new nut snacks based on prototypes introduced at the recent Snaxpo in Atlanta, US. Kraft's Senior Associate Brand Manager James Clinton Francis said that nuts offer a “new path forward for snacking” driven by the growing health and wellness trend.
19 Mar 2018 --- Most Westerners shudder at the prospect of eating insects, but attitudes towards them vary dramatically across the globe. In fact, around two billion people already eat bugs as part of their diet. As the global population continues to rise, more and more people are looking for insect protein as a sustainable food source. Not only do many insects, including crickets, contain all nine essential amino acids, this type of protein is also sustainable, especially in comparison to traditional meat sources. It takes one gallon of water to produce one pound of insect protein. Almost two thousand gallons of water, by contrast, are poured into every pound of beef that lands on a plate. US-based start-up Chirps Chips is on a mission to educate Western society on the benefits of insect protein in a corn snack.
13 Mar 2018 --- This week is Salt Awareness Week (March 12-18) and GoodMills Innovation is enabling salt reduction in pretzel décor without the consumer noticing any visible difference. When it comes to pretzels or salt sticks, the visual contrast between a dark crust and a rich salt décor is a mark of quality for most consumers and according to GoodMills Innovation, their new Slow Milling Pretzel Salt SG has the answer.
26 Feb 2018 --- The demand for healthy snacks for children is a market in itself and Dutch-based startup Fruitfunk saw that there was an increasing need for an alternative to sweets snacks. In 2014, the company decided to do something about it. As a fairly young startup, Fruitfunk were daring enough to develop a completely responsible products range, something which the company believes big confectionery players might be hesitant to do.
14 Feb 2018 --- Valio has announced its nutrition agreement for improving the health and well-being of consumers. The ambitious targets for reducing salt and sugar content in Valio’s products by 2020 are part of the United Nations sustainability program and continued efforts to improve public health.
19 Dec 2017 --- The Campbell Soup Company has now made it official by announcing the US$4.87bn acquisition of Snyder's-Lance, in a deal said to be the soup company's largest ever in its 148-year history. Traditional companies like Campbell have been struggling against a backdrop of shifting food preferences in markets all over the world, however, Campbell’s is hoping the addition of Snyder’s snacks brands will shore up its position in-store.
28 Nov 2017 --- Consumers are increasingly taking a more holistic view when choosing what to eat, something that is becoming a major driver in their purchasing decisions. According to new research by Innova Market Insights, concerns around products that are “good for me, good for the planet” are increasing, providing opportunities for ingredients that can support sustainability and ethics claims in relation to humans, animals and the environment.
13 Oct 2017 --- Symrise Flavors has announced the findings from an in-depth study on children's snacking that spans preschool to high school age subjects. A wide range of issues were explored and, using the information gathered, Symrise was able to conceptualize new solutions to address consumer needs.
12 Oct 2017 --- Popcorn is one of the smaller snacks sub-categories but one that has seen consistent growth in recent years, mainly as a result of the promotion of ready-to-eat popcorn as a convenient, tasty and better-for-you snack option, suitable for in-home consumption, particularly sharing social occasions, and for on-the-go snacks, as well as its more traditional popularity at cinemas and sporting events.
09 Oct 2017 --- Not only did new product activity in the snacks market continue to forge ahead in 2016 and the first part of 2017, but the growth rate actually increased slightly. Innova Market Insights recorded a rise of 10 percent in overall global launch numbers in the 12 months to the end of May 2017, upon a still impressive near-9 percent in the previous 12-month period. The category, as defined by Innova Market Insights, includes not only traditional savory or salty snacks and snack nuts & seeds, but also products such as meat snacks, popcorn and fruit-based snacks, as well as finger foods and hors-d'oeuvres.
27 Sep 2017 --- Clean Label, snackification, child-friendly products, and seeds are current trends in the food industry that are likely to become even more important in the future. Hamburg-based ingredient specialist Bösch Boden Spies has investigated these trends and is presenting suitable application solutions based on natural fruit and nut ingredients at Food Ingredients Europe in Frankfurt (28-30 November).
