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Grocery delivery firm Imperfect Foods has raised $95m in a Series D round led by Insight Partners and Norwest Venture Partners as it transitions from a regional delivery service focused on âuglyâ produce, to a national full-service grocer.

President Joe Biden today is expected to take aim at the rising rate of food insecurity in the US during the ongoing pandemic by signing an executive order that will increase federal food assistance, including for those who currently receive the maximum Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and have been overlooked by more recent aid, and students who rely on school meals.

Closing out a fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth, US retail sales of organic produce were up 14.2% in 2020 compared to 2019, according to the Organic Produce Network's 2020 report.

The School Nutrition Association wants to permanently extend the US Department of Agricultureâs decision late last fall to offer all public-school students free breakfast and lunch through the end of the 2020-21 academic year âas an integral part of the educational experience.â

If high-tech reverse engineering has enabled a second generation of meat analogs that precisely mimic their animal-based counterparts, a third wave of plant-based innovation will meet demand for less processed, more culinary-inspired products featuring a wider array of plants, predicts the founder of Crafty Counter, who sells her lentil- and bean-based nuggets in retailers from Walmart to Central Market.

Private equity firm Vestar Capital Partners has made a majority growth investment into Dr. Praeger's Sensible Foods, which makes a range of frozen and refrigerated vegan and vegetarian burgers, sausages and nuggets, appetizers, and snacks.

Vancouver, Canada-based Eat Beyond Global Holdings has completed an investment in Above Food Inc.â a distributor of plant-based ingredients and finished products â adding the company to its publicly-traded portfolio of emerging alternative protein companies.

Israeli start-up Redefine Meat has pulled off the âworldâs largestâ blind taste test for its 3D printed meat alternative. The taste test targeted meat-eaters and the results are in. The company secured over a 90% acceptance rate.

While consumers will continue to seek comfort from familiar, nostalgic and often indulgent flavors as the pandemic drags on in the new year, they also will seek balance from functional ingredients offering health benefits and more adventurous flavors that push back against the monotony of living under health-related restrictions, predict experts with Kerry Taste & Nutrition.

Swiss biotech company Evolva is launching a natural sugar blocker for food and drink applications. L-arabinose is also a reducing sugar, the companyâs head of investor and corporate relations tells FoodNavigator.

Does âsorta sweetâ imply that a product is low in sugar? Or does it simply mean that it tastes âkind of sweetâ (as the maker of StraightUp Tea asserts in a bid to fend off a false advertising lawsuit)?

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joseph Simons announced his resignation yesterday, which begins the process of filling slots at the commission with Biden Administration appointees. A reformed FTC is likely to take a stronger line on consumer protection, industry observers say.

Tate & Lyle has received Non-GMO Project Verification for the crystalline form of its DOLCIA PRIMA Allulose sweetening ingredient.

Sparked by the health crisis of COVID-19, personalized and active nutrition will be at the forefront of consumers' daily and long-term health goals in 2021, according to a new report from FrieslandCampina Ingredients.

Leading Canadian organic baby food brand Baby Gourmet is eager to expand its manufacturing capacity and bring its organic meals and snacks for babies and toddlers into the US after joining Hero Groupâs âgoodness of natureâ portfolio, which also includes Beech-Nut and several other international brands.

Cell-based seafood startup BlueNalu â which is building a pilot plant, demo kitchen and new HQ at a 40,000 sq ft facility in San Diego â hopes to get its first product (mahi mahi) into a small number of US restaurants by the end of the year, assuming it gets the green light from the FDA.

Ajinomoto has defended the safety of flavor enhancer MSG against claims made in a citizen's petition filed by the nonprofit Truth in Labeling Campaign that urges the FDA to rescind the ingredient's GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) status.

PepsiCo has stepped up its carbon footprint targets, with the ambition to become carbon neutral by 2040. FoodNavigator speaks to European sustainability chief Chris Daly about why it is an âabsolutely aggressive challengeâ but also a timetable that is ânot for debateâ.

AppHarvest -- an indoor vertical farming ag tech company based in Morehead, Kentucky -- is shipping out its first harvest of beefsteak tomatoes to national and regional grocery store chains including Kroger, Publix, Walmart, Food City, and Meijer.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced the final rule regulating the production of hemp in the United States â well over a year after publishing draft regulations.