PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Back to the Roots®, an Oakland, California startup spearheading a movement to reconnect people with food, announced today that it has completed a $5 million strategic seed financing round, led by Tony Robbins’ and Peter Guber’s startup accelerator, Agency of Trillions, along with additional new angel investors. Previous investors — TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie, Annie’s founder John Foraker, and Clif Bar CEO Kevin Cleary — also joined the round.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
For Chicken of the Sea, the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans give the right recommendation: People should eat more seafood, and it should replace of other protein foods for two meals per week. In response, the company launched the “Sea the Possibilities Challenge,” a behavior change campaign that encourages consumers to lead “happier, healthier, and more adventurous” lives, in part by increasing their seafood consumption.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Benefit corporation Singularity University (SU) is in ambitious pursuit of solutions for eleven “global grand challenges” that its experts have identified: environment, security, health, learning, energy, food, prosperity, water, space, disaster resilience, and governance. SU hopes to use technology to address these challenges with the support of its Developing Organization Partners and their expertise.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Every five years, the USDA releases updates to its dietary guidelines, aimed at helping improve American eating habits. The latest Iteration, the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), has left some brands hungry for more, and others perfectly satiated.The guidelines stayed pretty much the same, continuing to recommend Americans limit their intake of saturated fats, trans fats, added sugars and sodium, and incorporate a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy, oils and proteins into their diet. The most heated debates surround the language on added sugar intake, red and processed meat consumption, alcohol moderation, and sustainable food sourcing.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Since March, snack food company KIND Snacks has been facing scrutiny over the labeling of its products. The company has built its brand on its use of natural ingredients in healthy snack products, but according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), several of its bars shouldn’t be called “healthy” at all. KIND agreed to make changes to the labels in breach, but is also politely asking the FDA to update its rules.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Grocery stores in Europe and North America have slowly begun to target the food waste epidemic by showcasing “ugly” produce: French supermarket chain Intermarché led the pack in 2014 with its ingenious “Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables” campaign, UK-based Asda followed suit with its “Wonky Veg” campaign, and the trend came Stateside last summer when West Coast supermarket chain Raley’s partnered with Calif.-based startup Imperfect to pilot the “
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Whether or not you believe that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are safe for human consumption, the fact remains that the majority of American consumers support the labeling of GMO foods. Genetically engineered crops might be here to stay, but even so, it may be in the industry’s best interest to label products that contain them.
COLLABORATION -
Malnutrition remains a significant global problem despite corporate and charitable efforts to fight it. Malnourishment results in the deaths of an estimated 2.6 million children each year – about a third of global child deaths. An estimated 221 million people in India are chronically or acutely malnourished – over 17 percent of the country’s population. Nearly half of children in India are underweight and/or are too small for their age.
PRESS RELEASE -
Today Nestlé in the United States announced its support for the just released 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), which provides science-based advice on promoting health and reducing the risk of major chronic disease through a healthful eating pattern and regular physical activity. Since 1980 the DGA has served as nutrition guidance for the public, to inform the nutrition programs and policies of government agencies, and to influence product innovation, renovation, and other nutrition-related initiatives of food manufacturers like Nestlé.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Farmer-owned co-operative Organic Valley surpassed $1 billion in sales on December 22, 2015, making it the world’s first organic-only food company to surpass the billion-dollar milestone.
The company attributes a large part of its recent success to the introduction of two new product lines: In 2014, the company launched Organic Balance and Organic Fuel brand protein shakes; and in 2015 it launched Grassmilk premium yogurt, made with 100 percent grass-fed milk and no grain.
CLEANTECH -
In the era of personalization and connectivity, the way we interact with food could change drastically in the near future. With conceptual 3D printers for meat on the table and specialized accelerator programs for food-focused technology startups already running, changes are well underway. Professor Maged Boulos from the University of the Highlands and Islands in Scotland is considering how the ‘Internet of Things’ concept could be applied to food. How will technology and connectivity influence people’s diets?
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
In the past two years, over 300 filmmakers from around the world have entered the Real Food Media Contest — the world’s largest competition for short films on food, farming and sustainability. This fall, Real Food Media launched its third-annual Contest year with a call for submissions of super-short films on underreported issues, unique changemakers and creative solutions to foster a broad, public conversation about solving our global food system’s most intractable problems — from hunger to diet-related illnesses to environmental crises.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The future is uncertain — especially when it comes to food. As the need to transition to a more sustainable food system becomes apparent, many have speculated on what the future of food will hold. Will we consume crickets for protein, or stick with something more familiar, like drought-resistant beans and plant-based burgers?
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Dairy methane digesters are among the most cost-effective investments California can make to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help achieve its climate change prevention goals, according to a new study by Ramboll Environ.The study examines how cap and trade auction proceeds are being invested by the California Air Resources Board.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
Anheuser-Busch InBev today announced the launch of four Global Smart Drinking Goals, deepening its commitment to implement effective and collaborative solutions to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. The new goals, to be achieved by the end of 2025, demonstrate an evolution in the company’s approach to responsible drinking, from helping to raise awareness of alcohol responsibility to positively changing behavior by investing in longer-term, evidenced-based approaches to reduce harmful drinking, including underage drinking, binge drinking and drunk driving.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The United Kingdom wastes more food than any other European country; a 2014 House of Lords report estimated 15 million tonnes of food per year are wasted in the UK, at a cost of £5 billion, and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has estimated the average UK household with children spends £700 per year on food that could be eaten but is thrown away.
NEW METRICS -
Experts on the economics of climate change have revealed concerns that damages from climate change impacts will be larger and more immediate than previously estimated, according to a new survey from The Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law.The survey’s respondents were limited to those who have published an article about food production, climate adaptation, energy economics and other topics related to climate change in a highly ranked, peer-reviewed economics journal since 1994.
COLLABORATION -
Conservation International (CI), in partnership with Ceres and industry leaders such as Starbucks and Keurig Green Mountain, have announced a call to action to make coffee the first sustainably sourced agricultural product in the world.
The Sustainable Coffee Challenge, launched last week at COP21 in Paris, comes as ministers gather to write a new climate agreement and as momentum builds for businesses to take direct action to combat climate change.
WASTE NOT -
Heineken has become the first alcohol company member of the The Recycling Partnership, a national nonprofit committed to improving curbside residential recycling, according to a recent announcement.As a leading sponsor, the brewer will provide industry expertise to help improve consumer education, elevate the quality of curbside recycling and drive increased recovery of recyclable glass in communities nationwide.The Recycling Partnership works to improve recycling in communities across the country.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
A penguin and a cow walk into a bar. The cow says, "We have a problem. Every year cows emit so much methane into the atmosphere - the equivalent of fifty-times more CO2 than the entire country of Switzerland! It's killing our image. We don't know what to do." The penguin pondered for a moment and replied, "Maybe it's something you ate."