CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Polystyrene packaging and microbeads are no strangers to controversy; both materials harm marine life and can enter the food chain, which has prompted concern from consumers and advocacy groups. Cities such as San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. have gone so far as to ban polystyrene packaging – and now four London-based chefs are calling for the same in England’s capital.
COLLABORATION -
At SB’16 Cape Town in May, Tetra Pak, South African Airways (SAA) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) came together to share their views on the importance of building market demand from environmentally conscious consumers to move sustainable commodities further into the mainstream.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
Two surveys of consumers in the United Kingdom (UK) have highlighted their growing demand for food supply chain ethics.
Research from Globescan showed that the vast majority of shoppers believe that food companies and the government are responsible for ensuring long-term food production sustainability. 92 percent of shoppers put the onus on food companies, indicating they should focus their efforts on securing the future sustainability of food, while 85 percent believed the government should be held accountable.
WASTE NOT -
In the ongoing fight against food waste, startups continue to innovate to offer solutions: Renewal Mill is turning waste such as olive pits and grape skin into new food products, and apps are springing up around the world to help restaurants, bakeries and more sell their leftover food at a discount. Meanwhile, Electrolux has launched a new global competition looking for innovative ideas to inspire home cooking.
PRESS RELEASE -
Mark Hunter, President and CEO of Molson Coors, gives his perspective on the 2016 Corporate Responsibility Report released by Molson Coors this week:
The 2016 Corporate Responsibility Report details the progress we continue to make in growing our positive Beer Print and working toward our 2020 sustainability targets.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
Panera Bread today issued its Kids Meal Promise to express the company’s long-held beliefs about kids’ meals and commitments relative to its Panera Kids™ menu. The promise is meant to be a challenge to the restaurant industry and to all food manufacturers who offer kids food.
Panera is the first national restaurant company with a kids menu that meets all of five tenets of the Kids Meal Promise, including:
MARKETING AND COMMS -
The number of Americans with limited access to fruits and vegetables has climbed to nearly 30 million. In other words, the ‘food desert’ crisis affects roughly one in every ten people in the United States.
LEADERSHIP -
The latest food trend isn’t a particular cuisine or exotic ingredient; it’s sustainability. Nearly 75 percent of Americans think sustainability is important when deciding what food to buy. The food industry has noticed. In Britain, close to half of those surveyed across the food industry say their customers want more sustainable food options.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Action on food waste continues to result in innovative new materials and delightful culinary experiences. In this week’s round-up: a chemical firm has developed new packaging solutions to reduce food waste; a UK supermarket chain launched a new range with packaging made with waste peas and pulses;and a volunteer organization is hosting free dinners made with foods that have reached their sell-by date. Meanwhile, Belgian scientists are looking to use human waste “From Sewer to Brewer,” as a raw material for making beer.
PRESS RELEASE -
In food processing, lactic acid bacteria can be friend or foe. Kept in check, these organisms help produce fermented foods ranging from smooth yogurts to crunchy pickles – and can even be leveraged for probiotic purposes. But under low oxygen, low temperature and acidic conditions, the bacteria can cause spoilage, discoloration, bloated packages and textures, odors and flavors that displease customers, trigger recalls and cause food waste.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Growing consumer demand for healthy, responsibly produced food is leading more and more big food companies to embrace transparency, simplify their product formulas and highlight the integrity of their foods: Examples include Campbell’s and Chipotle, which both launched ‘what’s in my food’ campaigns in the past year; Panera,
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Canadian health charities are teaming up to battle the problem of childhood obesity in a way that the food and beverage industry is not going to like. More than ten organizations have joined the Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition, including some of Canada’s largest and most influential health charities, to campaign against advertising junk food to children. And to avoid the risk of unhealthy products pretending to be healthy – they’re pushing for a complete ban on all food and beverage advertising aimed at people age 16 and younger.
PRESS RELEASE -
The next time you reach for your favorite ice cream bar, you could be making a choice to support sustainability efforts globally.
Helping Canadians make a positive impact on the planet by actively choosing more sustainable brands and products is the idea behind U CAN, Unilever's Sustainable Living Plan in Canada. U CAN is a Canadian program, but it is part of a global sustainability initiative that touches brands and communities around the world.
For example, enjoying a Magnum ice cream bar might not seem like a way of helping the environment, but when you do, you support a larger sustainability effort here in Canada and around the world:
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Among the latest news in responsible food sourcing: The Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games will have the largest sustainable seafood offering to date of any Olympic or Paralympic Games; McDonald’s announced developments collectively impacting nearly half of its food menu in the United States; and Subway has enhanced its commitments for local sourcing of produce and other products.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Roughly a decade ago, Hamdi Ulukaya was just beginning his journey to popularize Greek yogurt in the United States as a healthier alternative to the sugar-loaded, artificial preservatives-filled cups and tubes of yogurt Americans were consuming. After 18 months of studying and recipe-testing, he launched Chobani in 2007. Now, the company is worth somewhere between $3 and 5 billion, and Greek yogurt makes up about half of the American yogurt market.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
News Deeply, in partnership with Sustainable Brands, has produced a series of profiles looking at how brands are tackling some of the world's biggest challenges. The goal is to examine trends and gather insights from a new wave of corporate citizenship – in an era when the private sector is increasingly expected to play a positive role in improving our lives and societies. This is the 3rd article in the series.
CLEANTECH -
Not only is chocolate ice cream one of the most popular flavors worldwide, it has now emerged as the most powerful flavor: A new partnership between the world’s third-largest ice cream manufacturer, R&R Ice Cream; resource management company, Veolia; and Iona Capital is turning inedible ice cream waste into biogas for the National Grid, with chocolate producing the most energy of any flavor.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
The food industry widely recognizes a looming mountain it must climb: By 2050, the world population will grow by more than 2 billion, which will require upward of a 70 percent increase in food production. Along with this rise in demand, companies in the food supply chain face increasing scrutiny on the environmental and social impacts of farm operations.
Here’s the fundamental challenge: increasing production while preempting regulations and minimizing environmental impact.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
New research commissioned by environmental non-profit Hubbub and consumer goods giant Unilever reveals that in the first week of the summer break, £12 million worth of food will be thrown away as UK families head off on holiday; more than half of people surveyed admitted to throwing away perfectly edible food before they went on holiday. This unfortunate statistic is in keeping with 2015 research from the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), which found the UK to be among the top food wasters in Europe.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Here are two innovations that give new meaning to the phrase "magic mushrooms": An Italian textile manufacturer has used a skin extracted from giant mushroom caps to create a leather-like material similar to suede; and a Colorado-based startup has found a way to use mycelium molecules to block bitter tastes on a person’s tongue as they eat, meaning they’ll only taste the other flavor profiles of the food.