• 📲 MAHA Tech Support
• 🧑‍⚖️ Conagra Hit On ‘Naturals’ Claim
• 💰 SBA Installs New Grant Program
• ⏪ How CPGs Navigate Uncertainty
• 🔀 Monday Moves

The debate over how to build consumer awareness for upcycled brands (and, in turn, lift sales and drive widespread adoption) continues to simmer. 

The Upcycled Food Association (UFA) remains the most vocal advocate for reducing food waste. But, brands remain apprehensive about tying themselves to the trend outright. 

First, it’s a cost issue:

• Labeling often means shelling out for the Upcycled Certification (acquired by Where Food Comes From in January 2024).
• Third-party verification costs $1,500 upfront, with an annual $1,250 fee to maintain the seal. 

While the certification calls out to sustainability-minded consumers and retail buyers. The question remains: Are enough people listening?

The answer is “yes,” according to the UFA, with upcycled product dollar sales rising in recent years. The global upcycled food market is valued at about $54.3 billion and projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.6% to $74.8 billion by 2029, per a recent report from BCC Research.

Strategies are changing: Some early upcycled adopters have moved out of the branded space altogether and realigned their business model to ingredient provider roles instead. 

Others have moved away from sustainability-related marketing positions in favor of other value propositions.

That latter approach has guided recently launched B-Sides, which introduced upcycled oat and corn puffs in January. The New York-based brand was developed around upcycling’s core tenets, but founder and CEO Yousuf Ahmed said he doesn’t want B-Sides to “rubber-stamp or virtue signal.”

His goal is to “use upcycling as a tool in the toolkit rather than hanging my hat on it.” Ahmed has decided to forgo UCC and downplay the upcycling on the brand’s packaging. Similar to Trashy (formerly Pulp Pantry), B-Sides is banking on health over sustainability to spark consumer interest. 

Insiders can learn more about B-Sides in the full story on Nosh.

No, don’t worry, not that guy. Meet Yuka, a French mobile app that has captured MAHA-aligned consumer interests, per a recent report in the Wall Street Journal. To note, Yuka’s CEO said it is not affiliated with the MAHA movement.

🤳 Yuka allows shoppers to scan product bar codes for immediate access to a nutritional quality score, breakdown of the item’s additives and insight on whether or not it's organic. The rating system is based on the European Nutri-Score system, as well as expert recommendations. 

🧪 The technology could set off a wave of change within the industry as consumers become more aware of specific SKUs with unfavorable ingredients and rally manufacturers to reformulate.

🔀 Companies including Campbell’s and Chobani have already made product changes – removing synthetic additives like dipotassium phosphate – in response to such requests, the article states.

🛒 Its impact has been swift within the ecosystem of Intermarche, a French supermarket  that has reformulated over 1,100 products and removed about 140 additives from its products since 2019.

Go Deeper: MAHA’s First 100 Days

Orville Redenbacher’s better-for-you popcorn offerings may be faux naturale, at least according to a proposed class action lawsuit filed against Conagra Brands claiming the brand’s line of “Naturals” popcorn contains a synthetic preservative.

🍿 The complaint alleges that Orville Redenbacher Naturals products claim to contain only “real ingredients,” but still includes mixed tocopherols, which it calls a synthetic ingredient made from vegetable oils.

🔀 It’s worth noting that there are mixed tocopherols on the ingredient market that claim to be naturally-sourced and are allowed in organic certified products – Cargill is one such supplier.

💡 That distinction may be important. In recent years, a court threw out a similar proposed class action against Conagra that accused it of using a synthetic preservative in the form of citric acid in its Chef Boyardee pastas.

Catch Up: Conagra To Sell Chef Boyardee For $600M

The Small Business Administration (SBA) opened applications for a new $1.1 million grant program as part of its Made in America Manufacturing Initiative.

• Funds will be allocated to three organizations for training and technical assistance purposes
• The grants fall under SBA’s Empower to Grow Program, originally known as the 7(j) Management and Technical Assistance Program
• Applications are open until May 12; Businesses must be at least three years old and have regional or national manufacturing experience. 

🤔 The news comes as the SBA upped fees and rolled back underwriting standards on all 7(a) loans allocated through the agency, ended hardship extensions for the controversial EIDL program and cut 43% of its 5,931 full-time employee headcount. 

Go Deeper: SBA Cancels EIDL Loan Hardship Accommodation Program

🥨 The Hershey Co.’s North American Salty Snacks segment sales helped softened broader declines across its portfolio in Q1. 

• Though salty snacks were the star, the Reese’s and KitKat maker is encouraged by the recovery of the 2024/2025 cocoa crop and is looking forward to the “beginning of a multi-year growth cycle in cocoa supply.” 

🥛  Oatly CEO John Christophe Flatin predicts the Swedish oatmilk company will have its first year of profitable growth since going public in 2021, highlighting significant improvements to supply chain and overhead structure. 

• The company will focus on combating consumer “preconceptions on taste” and “misinformation on health” around plant-based milk in North America and expanding its distribution footprint.

🧀  Multinational food company Kraft Heinz plans to “play offense with discipline” after downgrading its full-year sales outlook due to weakened consumer demand and looming tariffs. 

• CEO Carlos Abrams-Rivera claims the company is doing everything possible to minimize the need for price increases, while eyeing reformulations and stepping up productivity. 

Insiders can access the full earnings recaps on Nosh for more.

Here’s a taste of the people and products moving around the industry to start off your week. 

👔 The J.M. Smucker Co. added president to COO John Brase’s title where he will participate in external engagements and industry associations to “[broaden] the company’s influence with its constituents.” 

📲 App-based marketplace Flashfood named Jordan Schenck CEO. She has served as the company’s president and COO since October 2024. 

🌱 Lentil-based meal maker Lentiful has taken five SKUs national with Whole Foods Market,. The expansion comes less than one year after Lentiful first landed on Whole Foods shelves in the NorCal and Pacific Northwest regions. 

🛒 Mojave Mallows made its grocery debut at Erewhon where the Los Angeles-based grocer will carry three flavors: Vanilla Bean, Cocoa Dipped and Speckled S’More. 

💕 Refrigerated mochi bite brand Mochi Love is now available in 200 grocery stores nationwide, including Nugget Markets and Smith’s. 

Get more distribution updates on Nosh.