Each day at 5 p.m. we collect the five top food and supplement headlines of the day, making it easy for you to catch up on today's most important natural products industry news.

August 18, 2017

2 Min Read
5@5: A big, significant probiotics study | How governments are taking action against food waste

At last, a big, successful trial of probiotics

The strains of probiotics we see in many commercial probiotic products were chosen because they’re easy to grow and manufacture, not necessarily because they colonize in the body. But the concept of probiotics is sound, according to science writer Ed Yong—it’s just a matter of finding the right strains. A team led by Pinaki Panigrahi of University of Nebraska Medical Center has made a breakthrough with a large clinical trial in India. They gave thousands of newborn babies a product they developed that contained a strain of Lactobacillus plantarum and sugar, and those who took were 40 percent less likely to develop sepsis, one of the biggest killers of newborn babies. Read more at The Atlantic…

 

Government efforts to reduce wasted food gaining traction

Increasing public awareness about food waste and its impacts on the economy and the environment are driving local and national governments around the world to take action. A new report from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future analyzed 93 plans developed by governments, including 72 from North America. More than two-thirds of the plans emphasized composting programs, but far fewer focused on strategies higher in the EPA Food Recovery Hierarchy.  Less than one quarter of the plans set targets for minimizing the amount of food wasted by a specific year. Read more at Center for a Livable Future…

 

Coca-Cola offering $1 million for sweetener innovations

In pursuit of new no- to low-calorie sweeteners, Coca-Cola issued two challenges—one for the science community to discover a naturally sourced, safe compound that creates the taste of sugar, and the other to members of the public to share their methods of naturally sweetening foods and beverages in their cultures or families.  Read more at Atlanta Business Chronicle…

 

What is AgriFood Tech?

A growing segment of the startup and investment universe aims to improve the global food and agriculture industry. While most entrepreneurs, investors and businesses think about the food and agriculture industries separately, some think the interconnectedness of the supply chain mandates a more holistic view. Read more at AgFunder News…

 

Alexa has a new skill to help you throw away less food (and money)

Thanks, Alexa. Amazon’s personal assistant has a new Save The Food skill that can tell users how to store food and how to tell if food is still good. Read more at Mashable…

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