Grocery stores get mostly mediocre scores on their food waste efforts

In an analysis of the 10 largest U.S. supermarkets’ practices for preventing and rescuing food waste, The Center for Biological Diversity and The Ugly Fruit and Veg Campaign found that only four of them have specific food waste reduction commitments. They gave Walmart the highest grade—a B—because of its efforts to reduce food waste in-store, standardize expiration labels, and donate and compost a lot of food waste. Kroger received a grade of C, and Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods Market and Costco got D’s. Only one retailer, Ahold Delhaize, publicly reports its total volume of food waste. Read more at NPR…

How this former lawyer and investor built a multimillion-dollar health food company that new sells to 10,000 stores

BetterBody Foods was started in 2007 by former lawyer and venture investor Stephen Richards, and initially was a distributor of agave products. Today it sells a variety of superfood products, including a popular peanut butter powder called PBfit. That product—its most successful—came about by the request of some of the company’s retail partners who found it challenging to work with other suppliers of similar products. “We’ve gotten ourselves into a position where the retailers we do business with really like us, know we’re responsive and deliver,” Richards said. Read more at Entrepreneur…

Related:Retail food waste solutions represent an $18B opportunity

How food brands find new fans with in-store sampling

For brands, in-store demos help raise awareness of products and boost sales. For retailers, they can add to a great in-store experience—one that shoppers can’t get by buying products online. Retailers like Dean’s are mixing things up by sampling interesting combinations of products, or sampling by the lines at the cash register. Read more at SmartBrief…

Why the color black continues to rule the food world

Activated charcoal, charred foods and squid ink impart a certain visual appeal that makes food even more Instagrammable—at least according to chefs who have seen hype build on social media for some of their black-colored menu items. Read more at Bloomberg Quint…

A grass-roots movement for healthy soil spreads among farmers

Soil talk and the word “regenerative” is no longer limited to organic farmers and the environmentally conscious crowd—several recent books discuss the importance of it, and at least some Big Food companies seem to be getting on board. Read more at NPR…