California Supreme Court OKs organic labeling lawsuits

Overturning a lower court decision, the state Supreme Court ruled that federal law does not trump consumers' rights to file lawsuits claiming that food products are falsely labeled "organic." The 2nd District Court of Appeals had previously ruled that only state and federal officials could police organic food violations. Read more at the Associated Press...

The sports-drink upstarts

Move over, neon-colored drinks. Organic foods and beverages are gaining popularity among endurance athletes as a means of re-fueling on the course. Even big players in the market like PowerBar and Gu Energy Labs are hoping to get it on the action. Read more at WSJ...

FDA sends warning letters to five supplement makers

DBM Nutrition, ECF International, Top Secret Nutrition, Applied Nutriceuticals and SDC Nutrition were served with warning letters regarding the use of the picmailon, an ingredient the agency says isn't approved as a dietary supplement. In October, the Oregon attorney general sued retailer GNC over concerns around the same ingredient. Read more at WSJ...

Ben & Jerry's commits to building non-GMO supply chains from scratch

The supply chain for non-GMO commodity crops is difficult because of the logistics infrastructure. For products to be non-GMO, they need to be transported and processed in a certain way. All of the plant-based ingredients that Ben & Jerry's uses are non-GMO, and now it is dealing with an even tougher challenge: building a non-GMO dairy supply chain. Read more at Forbes...

Analyzing the food chain

Many food producers are turning to cloud-based analytics to help their traceability and quality improvements. Read more at Automation World...