LEADERSHIP -
In the wake of the signing of the historic global climate agreement on Earth Day, more than a half-dozen leading food and beverage companies converged on Capitol Hill last week to press U.S. House lawmakers for federal action on climate change.
LEADERSHIP -
Earlier this month, plant-based food and beverages brand Silk announced a year-long sponsored research initiative with the Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHGE) at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, to investigate the perceptions of food industry challenges, including efforts to create a healthy and sustainable food supply for the estimated 9.6 billion people that will inhabit the planet by 2050.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
We had a very interesting finding from our Eco Pulse 2015 study that took us by surprise: the percentage of people who said they had stopped buying a product based on the environmental reputation of a manufacturer increased dramatically from 11% to 33%. That’s pretty significant, especially when you consider this same question has been asked for nearly a decade and the percentage has always been around 12%, give or take a few percentage points.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Our 2016 SB Innovation Open, hosted by Target is approaching fast, and our latest crop of disruptive, purpose-driven startups are among our most exciting yet. From edible beer to sustainable farming solutions, here’s a closer look at who will be joining us in San Diego in just two short weeks.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Leading seafood brands, major UK retail chains and some of the world’s largest fishing companies have struck a groundbreaking deal to protect a key Arctic region from industrial fishing for cod.
WASTE NOT -
Award-winning chefs from across the country, including ‘Top Chef’ head judge Tom Colicchio, gathered in Washington, D.C. on May 25 to advocate for food waste reduction in the American food system. In hopes of educating lawmakers on the severity of the issue, the group met with 22 Senate and House offices in tandem with a first-of-its-kind House Agriculture Full Committee hearing assessing food waste from farm to table.
WASTE NOT -
France and the United Kingdom have been leaders in the fight against food waste: French retailer Intermarché’s “Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables” campaign paved the way for “ugly” produce around the globe, including UK grocery giant Asda’s successful “Wonky Veg” campaign, for example.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Genetically engineered crops may be completely safe for human consumption – but they also are an unlikely solution to world hunger. A comprehensive new analysis found that genetically engineered (GE) crops, often called genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or biotech crops, do not appear to pose health risks, nor have they accelerated increases in yield.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
From a veg-loving hip-hop family from Atlanta, to butchers who support ‘Meatless Mondays,’ the new docu-series The Veg EffectTM features five unique, personal stories from across the United States. Through the series, frozen veggie foods brand Morningstar Farms aims to demonstrate how people making small changes to their eating habits “can lead to a world of difference.”
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Starbucks Corporation announced on Monday that it completed the underwriting of an initial public offering of senior notes, including its first-ever U.S. Corporate Sustainability Bond.
WASTE NOT -
The most in-depth examination of the grocery supply chain in the United Kingdom was released yesterday by the waste reduction experts at WRAP. The organization estimates that 1.9 million tonnes of food is wasted by UK grocery retailers and food manufacturers every year, and for the first time, broke down the overall avoidable food waste figures into manufacturing sub-sectors such as meat and dairy. According to the report, action to increase prevention of food waste could save businesses £300 million a year.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Plastic has many benefits ranging from reducing food waste by providing packaging to cutting transport pollution due to its light weight. However, waste plastic is undervalued by the economy due to externalization of environmental costs. In a new discussion paper, Trucost estimates that scaling up companies’ use of sustainable plastic could deliver environmental savings of $3.5 billion.
WASTE NOT -
On Wednesday, May 18th, a one-day food festival will offer free meals to 5,000 people at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. The event is designed to educate the public on the problem of food waste, and to elevate the conversation around food and sustainability policy.
Recent research estimates that the U.S. alone spends $218 billion a year growing, processing and transporting food that is never eaten, with up to 63 million tons of perfectly edible food ending up in American landfills each year, while roughly 49 million Americans live in food-insecure households.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
According to the USDA, consumer demand for organic foods has grown by double-digits every year since the 1990s — but organic acreage has not kept up. Today, only about one percent of US farmland is organic and farmers looking to transition to organic face real barriers, including shouldering financial uncertainty during the three year transition period required to be eligible for USDA Organic certification.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Roughly a year ago, KIND Snacks CEO Daniel Lubetzky received a letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about his products. Among other nutrition claims, the FDA took issue with the use of the word “healthy” on KIND snack bar labels. Now, the FDA has not only affirmed that KIND can use “healthy” on its labels again, but also confirmed that it intends to reevaluate the regulatory definition of the term.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Waitrose has joined Tesco as the latest UK retailer to take seafood giant John West to task over its fishing practices, threatening to remove its canned tuna from store shelves if it does not follow through on its promise to improve.
The decision will pile pressure on the embattled tuna company — which is Britain’s most popular tuna brand, accounting for a third of the UK market — following last week’s announcement by Tesco that John West would be banned if it continued using harmful fishing practices.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Scientists in the United Kingdom are using spinach leaves and carrots to investigate selective formation of metallic nanoparticles in plastics. The researchers are working to form conductive circuits and create antimicrobial surfaces by accelerating the production of metals already embedded in treated plastic materials using chemicals from the plants. If successful, the practical applications include smart prosthetics, medical devices for hospitals, mobile phones, and other ‘smart’ surfaces.
CLEANTECH -
The Arandas, Mexico-based Tequila Cazadores distillery has become a shining example of Bacardi’s “Good Spirited” corporate responsibility program. The facility is now 100 percent biomass-fueled thanks to a recently-installed biomass boiler, and about 60 percent of its biofuel comes from spent agave fibers from the distillation process.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Robots farmers; intelligent crop monitoring; vertical city farms; algae- or lupine-based ingredients; and sustainable methods for growing, nutrient extraction and waste valorization – if the latest crop of F&A Next finalists is any indication, all of these could be revolutionary new components of our food and agriculture systems in the near future.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The local food movement has thrived in recent years, bolstered by consumers’ growing concerns over what is in their food and where it came from – and startups are jumping at the opportunities it presents. From California to New York, a host of apps and business models are connecting growers, buyers, sellers and eaters. At the same time, many small farmers are still struggling.