• ⚠️🍎FDA: Elevated Lead Levels in Applesauce Pouches Linked to 22 Illnesses
• 🚫New Hope Follows CA Additives Ban With Prohibited Ingredient List
• 🌱 🍗 TiNDLE Makes Moves Into Retail
• 🆕 Blue Bottle and Pocket’s Chocolates Team Up on NOLA-Inspired Nuts
• 🎣 Alternative Seafood Brands Launch Industry Association

For the maker of Cheetos, Fritos, Funyuns and Lays, reducing sodium levels and bringing more nutritious and sustainable ingredients into product formulations is a big goal, but today, PepsiCo got ambitious. The CPG giant announced two new initiatives as it strategizes to meet portfolio-wide nutrition goals originally set forth in its PepsiCo Positive (pep+) strategy in 2021.

Sodium Reduction: First, the company set a target for 75% of its global convenient foods portfolio (by volume) to meet or be below category sodium standards by 2030. 

• How will they do it? Starting with the classics: Lay’s Classic Potato chips. PepsiCo aims to cut the product’s salt contents by 15% to 140 mg per 28 gram serving. The product-specific targets were informed by guidance from public health experts like the World Health Organization (WHO). 

Diversified Ingredients: The second initiative entails an overhaul of both new and existing food formulations to incorporate more sustainable and nutrient-dense ingredients – with a focus on chickpeas, plant-based proteins and whole grains. 

• What does this look like to PepsiCo? A product portfolio that delivers “145 billion portions of diverse ingredients” every year and every portion contains 10% of the suggested daily amount of said diverse ingredient.

Considering PepsiCo purchases over 4 billion pounds of potatoes and 13 million bushels of corn per year, it seems there’s plenty to be done on the diverse ingredients front. (Could Off The Eaten Path – made with rice, peas, chickpeas and beans – become PepsiCo’s next ‘Golden Child?’)

💭"Consumers enjoy our products more than one billion times a day, which provides an opportunity – and the privilege – to have an impact,” said René Lammers, EVP and chief science officer for PepsiCo. “We set a high bar to improve the nutritional profile of our products, and these new goals reaffirm our ambitions."

Will the food and beverage giant be able to meet those goals? The company has announced a range of initiatives under Pep+ including Net Zero, regenerative agriculture and packaging waste reduction goals. But a new report last week found that only 4% of the top 2,000 publicly-traded corporations that have made net zero and other climate-related commitments actually have feasible plans to accomplish those objectives. 

Read more about PepsiCo’s recent sustainability commitments on NOSH.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday announced there have been 22 reports of illnesses spanning 14 states potentially linked to applesauce pouches recently recalled for containing elevated levels of lead. An investigation into the contamination remains ongoing. 

• As part of the investigation, the FDA and state partners are collecting and analyzing additional product samples of fruit puree and applesauce pouches. Elevated levels of lead have not been found in any non-recalled products.
• WanaBana LLC first issued a voluntary recall of all its Apple Cinnamon Fruit Puree Pouches on Oct. 31. On November 9, the recall was expanded to include Schnucks and Weis cinnamon applesauce products. 
• The recall also impacts markets outside of the U.S., as information provided by WanaBana shows that recalled products were distributed to Cuba and the United Arab Emirates.  

New Hope Network is growing its list of prohibited ingredients at its shows to include potassium bromate as well as additives like BHA/BHT, EDTA, TBHQ, mono- and di-glycerides, DATEM, esters of fatty acids and azodicarbonamide. The ban will go into effect ahead of the upcoming Natural Products Expo West in March 2024.

• Ingredients including titanium dioxide, carrageenan, propylparaben and brominated vegetable oil have also been flagged by the updated guidelines and will not be allowed to be marketed as “natural.” These ingredients may be prohibited in the future, New Hope said. 
• The new regulations come after the state of California banned four food additives in September including brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, and red dye No. 3; that law, however, doesn’t go into effect until 2027.

“By offering these guidelines, New Hope Network encourages product creators to choose ingredients that resonate with the growing demand for healthier, cleaner, and more transparent options, fostering innovation and positive change within the natural products industry,” said Deirdre Lawlor, a standards specialist and food scientist at New Hope.

Alt-meat maker TiNDLE wants to reach shoppers IRL and today announced its first launch into grocery retail. 

• The brand’s “chicken” products – which include Patties, Tenders, Nuggets, Popcorn Chicken and Wings – will now be sold in Giant Eagle, online at FreshDirect, and in regional independent players including Berkeley Bowl, Besties Vegan Paradise and Orchard Grocery. 
• TiNDLE first debuted in the U.S. in 2022. So far this year it has expanded into U.K and German retailers and released its first U.S.-designed product, TiNDLE Breakfast Sausages.

Until now, TiNDLE has only been available in the U.S. online at PlantX or Goldbelly, or via foodservice placements, but according to a brand spokesperson – stay tuned for a nationwide rollout in 2024.

Want to know more about TiNDLE? Read more on its expansion into the U.S. on NOSH. 

After tweaking its name to help expand beyond coffee, Pocket’s Chocolates (formerly Pocket Latte) has turned back to the barista counter for its latest innovation.

☕Capitalizing on the interest in “third-wave” coffee, the brand has partnered with Blue Bottle to make NOLA coffee coated almonds that will be sold in Blue Bottle cafes nationwide. 

🧑‍🎨 Pocket’s Chocolates went for a more “minimal” design for the snack packs, CEO Chris Young said (the brand is actually absent from the front-of-pack). 

🌟Despite this specific product keeping with the older, coffeehouse theme, Young said, the rebrand as a whole has been extremely successful, with buyers and consumers no longer confused about caffeine inclusions across the line (Pocket’s original chocolate bars contain 100-150mg of caffeine per bar). 

✍️ “I would [suggest brands] certainly steer away from brand names that narrow [you] to a particular attribute or subcategory, unless [you are] fully convinced that it's a far-reaching and value-adding component,” Young said.

Future Oceans Foods (FOF) has launched with a coalition of plant-based, cell-cultured and fermented alt-seafood companies intended on organizing and lobbying for the industry.

• FOF is composed of 40 alt-seafood makers from around the world including North American brands like AKUA, Koncious Foods, Wicked Kitchen, Good Catch, The Plant Based Seafood Co. and Current Foods among others.
• The organization aims to educate consumers on the need for sustainable seafood that does not diminish global fisheries or contribute to global warming.
• Entrepreneur and foodtech advisor Marissa Bronfman will lead the organization as founder and executive director.