Fresh Bowl, the New York City-based food technology company that has introduced chef-created vending machines using a “closed loop” reusable container program — has received $2.1 million in a round of seed funding led by venture capital companies, Betaworks and Ground Ventures, with participation from Tuesday and Mana Capital. Venture fund Bling Capital led the company’s first pre-seed… read more

During a Christmas past, one of my daughters received a knitting kit with several rolls of yarn and needles accompanied with knitting directions. This daughter was actually quite intrigued by the thought of making herself an attractive scarf for the approaching cold, windy months in Chicago. Shortly after opening, she began reading the directions but… read more

It’s that time when most controllers and leadership teams scramble to collect data and negotiate a spending budget for next year. This is also the opportunity for sanitation and quality professionals to plan for available hours and a budget, both capital and expense. This should include the creation of a 52-week work plan to capture… read more

The Food and Drug Administration continues to assert that soy leghemoglobin remains safe for use as a color additive in ground beef analogue products, which includes plant-based Impossible Burgers. The F.D.A. on Dec. 17 said it concluded objections raised by the Center for Food Safety did not justify a hearing or provide a basis for… read more

Safe and clean has become a mantra in the ready-to-eat (R.-T.-E.) meat space. Preservatives are added to R.-T.-E. meats to maintain food safety and extend shelf life by retarding oxidation, but they also must meet consumer expectations. Clean ingredients have become a requirement to draw and hold the attention of label-conscious consumers. “Future of food,”… read more

Leading consumer packaged goods companies are continuing to reformulate food and beverage products with an eye toward appealing to consumer interest in foodstuffs that are perceived as “clean” or “authentic.” The trend is now emanating out of the center-of-the-store, shelf-stable product categories to processed meat items. A challenge many processed meat product formulators face is… read more

Clean label concerns may ebb and flow. Perhaps a sharp consumer focus may switch from avoiding azodicarbonamide to avoiding aspartame. Yet one category keeps riding a constant wave of sales growth. U.S. organic food sales reached $45.2 billion in 2017, a 6.4% increase from 2016, according to the Organic Trade Association, Washington. U.S. organic food… read more

The definition of clean label may vary from consumer to consumer, as well as from food company to food company and from retailer to retailer. Among the range of definitions, certain characteristics remain constant: products void of artificial preservatives, colors or flavors. Ingredient suppliers responding to this trend continue to offer innovations in natural alternatives,… read more

Safe and clean has become a mantra in the ready-to-eat (R.-T.-E.) meat space. Preservatives are added to R.-T.-E. meats to maintain food safety and extend shelf life by retarding oxidation, but they also must meet consumer expectations. Clean ingredients have become a requirement to draw and hold the attention of label-conscious consumers. “Future of food,”… read more