The natural and organic food segment is booming and big box stores are taking notice. According to Packaged Facts, Target recently informed its top suppliers—such as Campbell Soup, General Mills, and Kellogg—that the retailer intends to deemphasize popular processed brands in favor of products more in line with consumer demands, specifically healthier foods.
As the recent trend among food companies to strip themselves of additives and excess ingredients under consumer pressure, Taco Bell has become the latest company to pledge a commitment to offering more options with simpler ingredients and fewer additives.
As more consumers gravitate towards purchasing more natural and organic products, the Sterling-Rice Group has identified the top nine trends in this segment that are meeting consumer needs in 2015.
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced nearly $12 million in organic certification assistance is available through the department in order to make certification more affordable for organic producers and handlers in the US.
Vegan hot fudge from Seattle, Wagyu beef jerky from New Mexico, and Grilled Olives from central Italy, are just a few of the 125 products named as finalists in the 43rd annual Specialty Foods Association’s sofi—“Specialty Outstanding Food Innovation”—Awards which will honor the most outstanding specialty foods and beverages of 2015.
The chocolate flavors market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5 percent to be valued at more than $350 million by 2019, according to a recent report from market analyst MarketsandMarkets.
Kraft Foods Group, Inc. announced it’s changing the recipe of one of the company’s most iconic products, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, which will no longer be made with artificial preservatives or synthetic colors in the US by the end of 2016. Kraft Dinner (KD) in Canada will make the same changes by the end of next year in Kraft Dinner Original.
The organic industry continues to show rapid growth both domestically and globally with 19,474 certified organic operations in the US and a total of 27,814 certified organic operations around the world, according to USDA.