In industry news this week, global ingredients solution company Ingredion unveiled a range of pea and fava bean concentrates, while The Coca-Cola Company brought out a digital smart dispenser with “green” properties. In other developments, Duas Rodas launched its portfolio of carrier-free botanicals from Latin America.

In brief: Business moves
Ingredion launched Vitessence Prista, a new range of pea and fava bean concentrates designed to help new product developers build the right taste, nutritional profile and consumer-preferred natural, non-soy based products. According to the company, the concentrate does not have a plant flavor, bitter taste or uncontrolled microbial levels, often inherent in dry-milled pulse products.

Duas Rodas launched its portfolio of carrier-free botanicals from Latin America, which presents powdered ingredients for various F&B categories. The introduction meets demand for health, well-being and food transparency, says the company. Duas Rodas’s carrier-free ingredients boost health claims in F&B formulas and provide clean label exposure for products.

Coca-Cola launched an eco-friendly smart dispenser, the New Compact Freestyle, an appliance that enables direct digital consumer interaction, with options for consumers to personalize temperature and carbonation levels to their taste. There are 40 beverage choices on offer, using reusable cups. The first trials will take place at a range of at-work and on-the-go outlets in France and Belgium, in partnership with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners. Trials in the UK will begin shortly thereafter, while additional European customers will be added to the trials throughout 2022.

Plant-based chicken brand Haofood forged a new partnership with Chinese convenience store Lawson to allow greater consumer access to its products. The company’s satay nugget on a stick will retail at 2,300 Lawson stores.

Caribbean rum provider Spiribam launched Rhum J.M: The Edden Project to mark its progress as a global spirits producer in sustainability. In the last ten years, J.M has made a series of systematic developments to its sugarcane rum distillery, improving production quality to diminish its impact on the environment, claims the company.

In brief: SustainabilityBoochcraft is a plant-based organic hard kombucha made with fresh-pressed fruit, natural ingredients and live cultures. 
The Cibus funds, specializing in sustainable food and agriculture investments, has acquired a majority stake in Australian vegetable seedlings business, Withcott Seedlings, through their Cibus Fund II LP. This is expected to enhance the use of automation technology and robotics to improve production efficiency. The Cibus funds have raised US$769 million investing globally across developed countries via the private equity Cibus strategy and the Cibus Enterprise strategy.

Plant-based, organic hard kombucha company Boochcraft became a Certified Benefit Corporation, a label awarded to companies that voluntarily meet high social and environmental performance standards. Boochcraft is the first hard-kombucha brand to achieve B-Corp status.

Roquette has made a renewed public commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2030 and has launched an upgraded digital sustainability platform Life and Nature. The move will serve as an opportunity to upgrade its annual sustainability reporting. 

In brief: Industry developmentsThe countertop dispenser joins the Coca-Cola Freestyle portfolio offering consumers more choice and personalization. 
The FAO Regional Conference for Europe (ERC33) convened to discuss the implications of the war in Ukraine on global agri-food systems and world food security. Ministers and representatives also discussed ways of accelerating efforts to transform agri-food systems to assure inclusive and environmentally-friendly development and achieve better nutrition, both regionally and further afield. The situation in Ukraine was a primary focus, with a session dedicated to the impacts of the war on agriculture, including global food and fertilizer prices, arising from the hampered access to specific commodities and inputs. 

Arla Foods Ingredients has secured a positive opinion on its Novel Food application for Bovine Milk Osteopontin ingredient Lacprodan OPN-10. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published an opinion that Bovine Milk Osteopontin (OPN) is safe for use in infant formula (IF), follow-on formula and ready-to-eat dairy-based meals for children. When this process is complete, Lacprodan OPN-10 will become Arla Foods Ingredients’ first product for infant nutrition approved under the new Novel Food Regulation (EU) 2015/2283. Products containing Lacprodan OPN-10 will be authorized for sale in Europe toward the end of 2022 or early 2023.

The Access to Nutrition Initiative (ATNI), in partnership with ShareAction, published the first comprehensive assessment of food retailers’ contribution to consumer health anywher in the world. The findings show that Tesco leads the pack, with Iceland and Ocado in toe. Performance is poor across the board, with an average score of just 3.3 out of 10. The UK Retailer Index 2022 compares the performance of 11 major UK food retailers across eight topics critical to consumer health including product formulation, in-store promotion, pricing and placement, media and on-pack advertising, labeling, infant and young child nutrition, and stakeholder engagement. 

In brief: Other highlightsHaofood is available across 2,300 Lawson stores in China.
The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, the New York Dairy Promotion Order Advisory Board, and VentureFuel launched this year’s MilkLaunch start-up competition. The program focuses on accelerating product innovation for dairy products in New York with a new theme of products targeting Generation Z consumers, 10 to 23 years old, with a focus on sustainability. 

Ben & Jerry’s, Straus Family Creamery and Clover Sonoma have signed deals to roll out its natural seaweed supplement for Blue Ocean Barns cows to cut greenhouse gas footprint of farm operations. According to peer-reviewed publications, the supplement, Brominata, is a dehydrated form of red seaweed that is proven to safely cut cows’ methane emissions from burps by more than 80% without changing the taste of milk or meat. The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has authorized commercial use of Brominata as a digestive aid for cattle.