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.

November 13, 2018

2 Min Read
5@5: FDA to disclose sesame warning on food labels | Banned palm oil ad goes viral
Thinkstock/AlexPro9500

FDA considers making food labels disclose sesame to help allergy sufferers

Even though an estimated 300,000 Americans currently suffer from a crippling allergy to sesame, the food is not one of the eight major allergens that food labels must disclose. After a teenage girl died in 2016 due to unlabeled sesame content in a sandwich, the danger of hiding the product behind the ingredient label “spices” or “natural flavorings” became widely realized. Now, the FDA may include sesame to the list of allergens that packaged food labels must disclose. Read more at The Wall Street Journal ...

 

Banned supermarket ad about palm oil becomes online hit

A petition on Change.org has over 600,000 signatures for reinstating a politically controversial ad about the ramifications of palm oil back on the air. The ad, originally a Greenpeace short film, was released after Iceland became the first major UK supermarket to ban palm oil from its own products. Read more at Mashable 

 

Beverage brands see increase in sugar-free soda sales

Zevia, the No. 3 brand in dollar growth within conventional grocery stores, is a soda made entirely with alternative sweetener stevia. Stevia gained traction many years ago in South America and Asia but has only recently exploded in popularity in the U.S., where sugar-free diets are on the rise. The brand now makes roughly $200 million in annual sales and even ranks above soda behemoth Pepsi in online sales. Read more at Forbes  …

 

North Coast wineries bullish on organic grapes to drive growth

The wine industry’s looking to expand its space in the growing $50 billion U.S. organic food market but has been hindered by the fact that “the wine market is already segmented beyond organic, where grapes are grown on the vines without artificial chemicals in fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides.” This means there are many certifications that wineries can obtain above and beyond organic—and these can get confusing for consumers. Many experienced vintners, however, feel as though the ethically made, organic wine category is only going to get more saturated from here. Read more at Press Democrat …

 

Pets or people, big food faces the same supermarket battle

The saturated pet food market is showing signs of strain after pet owners who previously were willing to pay a premium for their pet’s treats and food are now focusing on having children and owning a home. This has caused pet food spending to grow by just 5 percent from 2010 to 2017, in stark contrast with the 30 percent rise from 2006 to 2010. Additionally, there are “more affordable all-natural” pet food options on the market that won’t cause consumers to break the bank. Read more at The Wall Street Journal …

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