• 👎 When Consumer Confusion Creates Controversy
• 🦠 Meet Algae Cooking Club
• ❤️ Beyond Crumbles ‘Meat’ Heart-Healthy Criteria
• 😜 April Fools, Allulose and Alternatives to Ozempic

They say there’s no time like the present, and that sentiment will hold true for investment in new product development (NPD) this year, according to TraceGains’ 2024 NPD Report. Of the 261 surveyed food and beverage leaders, 76% said they plan to up their R&D spend in 2024, a 12% jump from 2023. 

🤔 Multiple factors are fueling the rise in product development, but 52% of respondents identified competitive pressure as the most common driver. That aligns well with other responses which cited a need to meet evolving consumer preferences as social media has provided consumers with greater access to information. 

🛑 Brands are ready to act, but are they prepared? Despite the shared enthusiasm for NPD, many brands remain troubled by macroeconomic factors beyond their control, including the availability of ingredients and materials (46%), fluctuating demand and commodity pricing (53%), and rising production and labor costs (58%). 

📈 To address those hurdles, more than half of respondents are actively searching for ways to reduce ingredient or production costs. In 2024, R&D teams will play an increasingly important role in both top-line revenue and bottom-line profitability. 

💭 “Our research reveals a clear imperative for brands to invest in product innovation as numerous transformative shifts coalesce across the industry forcing them to act. While it’s evident that brands require robust tools and solutions to navigate these challenges, a significant gap still exists in internal resources,” said Paul Bradley, TraceGains senior director of product marketing, in a statement. 

🤫 Despite the overall gap in internal resources, many brands are opting to keep portions of the R&D process in-house to protect recipe formulations and intellectual property (IP), including product concept ideation (70%), recipe formulations (74%) and ingredient selections (70%). 

👀 Conversely, traceability remains both an important topic and a vexing issue for the food and beverage industry as a whole. According to the report, multiple regulatory themes are beginning to converge with requirements for supply chain traceability and food safety initiatives.

📦 Following a rising focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG), 48% believe sustainable packaging will be a large innovation driver in months to come. However, these efforts are lagging behind in the U.S. compared to the EU.

How do you respond when consumers mix up your brand for another? What about when those other products are the center of an ongoing debate? Apparently, that’s the situation for both treat maker GoodPop and budget retailer Aldi.

🧑‍⚖️ During Expo West, GoodPop was confronted with questions about a pending class action suit that alleged products were misrepresented as being low in sugar. However, the case isn’t against GoodPop, but rather competitor JohnnyPops.

🍓The company published a statement to clear the air and rounded out its response with a new initiative: GoodPop is now working to help connect U.S. consumers with independent registered dieticians free of charge.

🥓 Elsewhere, and in a very different aisle, discount grocer Aldi found its Appleton Farms store brand bacon embroiled in a debate around alternative proteins. Consumers believed the product came from Canadian alt-protein startup Appleton Meats.

❌ The issue took off on social media where consumer warned against Aldi’s alleged “cell-grown” bacon despite the fact that all reports claim Appleton Meats is still in the R&D phase… not to mention no affiliation exists between the similarly named Appletons. 

Algae Cooking Club immediately began making waves when it introduced the first cooking oil made from algae in early February. But what is so different about the oil, how did the concept come to fruition and who is behind it? We have all the details. 

◼️ The brand was incubated by venture firm Squared Circles; Kasra Saidi, the firm's former head of incubation serves as founder and CEO and the brand itself remains closely tied to the incubation studio and accelerator. 

🔥 Here’s a rundown of the oils attributes: it has a high smoke point of 535°F, a complete set of omega-9 fats and is made from microalgae which is grown via fermentation for three days before harvesting. That means, compared to other cooking oils its environmental footprint is minimal. 

🧑‍🍳 The oil has also gained the interest of Eleven Madison Park chef Daniel Humm who joined as the brand’s club culinary officer; Humm has transitioned the three Michelin star restaurant’s kitchen to ACC’s oil and will help guide the brand’s future innovations.

Read the full story on Nosh to learn how it all started and who is financing the novel endeavor.

Beyond Meat announced today its newly renovated and expanded Beyond Crumbles line meets the nutrition criteria for the American Heart Association’s Heart-Check Food Certification program and the American Diabetes Association’s Better Choices for Life program. 

💪 The frozen plant-based crumbles, available in Original, Feisty and Italian-Style, have 12 grams of protein and less than 1 gram of saturated fat per serving with no cholesterol. The products are made with pea protein, rice protein, faba bean protein and canola oil, among other ingredients.

🍔 The relaunched product line follows the recent rollout of the Beyond IV platform, the fourth-generation Beyond Burger and Beyond Beef products “with significant advancements across taste, health and clean label,” according to the company.

On this episode of CPG Week, Nosh managing editor Monica Watrous tests the knowledge of senior reporters Brad Avery and Lukas Southard on real and fake food and beverage products as April Fool’s Day approaches. 

🍩 Monica shares how allulose has become a hot topic in food and beverage as some brands position the ingredient as a natural alternative to GLP-1 weight loss drugs. But it’s banned at Whole Foods and not permitted in Canada or Europe.

🤔 Brad points out the controversy surrounding erythritol, and Lukas highlights an example of a brand removing sucralose from its formulation. Even plain old sugar is problematic, when considering the harsh conditions for producers in India, per a New York Times investigation.

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