Cooperative economy fosters growth for The Wedge

Wedge Community Co-op, affectionately dubbed “the Wedge,” has been a Minneapolis staple for more than four decades. Started in an apartment basement by a group of health- and sustainability-minded neighbors, it has flourished into a thriving store, distribution company and catering service, still invested in supporting local food and the local economy.

Josh Resnik, a longtime Wedge shopper, came on board as CEO a few years back. Merging his business acumen, passion for local and vision for the future with the committed Wedge team has yielded many exciting new opportunities for the co-op. NFM caught up with him to see what’s popping.

What got you interested in food?
Josh Resnik: I grew up in Connecticut, about an hour from New York City, and was always around food. We were the type of family who’d be eating one meal but talking about the next. We’d often drive into the city to check out these tiny Ukrainian or Ethiopian places, so I’ve always had a passion for exploring new tastes. Even when I moved to Northfield, Minnesota, for college, we’d drive up to Minneapolis to try new restaurants. Then after graduating from business school, I came back to work for General Mills.

Wow, so you first worked in mass food?
JR: There was this big dichotomy between my professional and personal life. At work I’d be figuring out the next microwavable dessert for Betty Crocker or the next yogurt in a tube. But I shopped at farmers markets and the Wedge, supported local restaurants and got involved in Midtown Global Market and other nonprofits. I remember walking through the farmers market and thinking how much I loved building connections with farmers—it was kind of like my church. I realized I’d love to meld my professional background with my passions, so that started my path. I ran a small company that sold grassfed bison meat for a few years, and then the Wedge opportunity came about in late 2012.

What were your main initiatives as CEO?
JR: I felt like we needed to expand, so we crafted a three-part plan. First we built an offsite commissary kitchen on Nicollet Avenue. Our store was so cramped and we wanted more space to serve prepared foods because that’s where the market is going. Now with the offsite space, we’re ready to serve more than one store. We also have a catering business that grew 72 percent last year. That location now also has a mini-market, café and community space. In total, it’s 15,000 square feet with 4,000 square feet of retail.

What’s phase two?
JR: Now we’re in the midst of remodeling the Lyndale store—the first remodel since 1997. One component is updating freezers, HVAC and the roof—unsexy upgrades that needed to get done so we can run more efficiently. The other piece is reconfiguring the store to relieve congestion and make it flow better. Everyone talks about creating more perimeter space because that’s where you can really differentiate yourself. That was a conundrum for us, so we moved the registers to the center and put seating at the very front so people looking in from the street can see the action. We’re also adding amenities that have become basics in grocery retail, such as a full-service cheese area, our own sliced deli meats, a hot bar and a salad bar.

And phase three?
JR: Phase three has changed course. We set out to open a second complete store. We are vertically integrated with food production and warehousing, so we recognized there would be definite efficiencies of having more retail outlets. Plus, people are shopping closer to home these days, so we want to be in more neighborhoods than one. But now, instead of a new store, we’re exploring consolidation with Eastside Food Co-Op and Linden Hills Co-Op. Minneapolis is a unique market because there are so many independent co-ops, all sharing similar values and working toward the same ends. We’re in discussions now, and our members will have to pass it by a two-thirds majority.

Given Minnesota’s short growing season, is it tough to find local products outside of summer?
JR: Three or four months is the heart of local, but we have some local storage crops through the end of year. However, along with having close relationship with farms here, we promote the idea of buying "like local" year-round. Through our distribution arm, Co-Op Partners Warehouse, we support small organic farmers in other regions rather than buying from big industrial players. So when customers want broccoli or strawberries out of season, they’re getting them from small organic farmers in growing regions. We have amazing buying through CPW, and as a smaller retailer and warehouse, we can be more nimble than a big natural chain.

Does CPW just service the Wedge?
JR: It’s owned by Wedge, but it’s a separate business unit that sells to 450 outlets in the upper Midwest. Twenty-three of our 25 biggest customers are other co-ops, but we also sell to restaurants focused on natural foods. That has been the fastest growing part of our business. It allows us to aggregate everything and bring it to partners on one truck, which takes trucks off the road and lets our 116 farmers focus on farming instead of deliveries. We never actually own the food—we get a small fee, but it’s a direct transaction between retailers and our local farms.

5@5: Second-largest chicken producer acquires organic, antibiotic-free line | Price isn't the only barrier to healthier food

Pilgrim's Pride to acquire organic chicken line in $350 million deal

The world's second-biggest chicken producer will boost its organic and antibiotic-free offerings through the acquisition of GNP Company and its Just Bare brand, which places a code on each package that consumers can use to trace the chicken to where it was raised. Read more at Reuters...

 

Is nutritious food really pricier, and, if so, is that really the problem?

Yes, it is—the cost per calorie of vegetables and fruits is more than grains, sugar and vegetable oil. But healthy staples like eggs, brown rice, black beans and peanut butter all cost less than 10 cents per 100 calories. Thus, the root of the problem with America's unhealthy diets isn't just affordability—it's access, time and education. Read more at The Washington Post...

 

Clif Bar’s former CEO opens up about the emotional toll of entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs are increasingly discussing their depression and other emotional afflictions. Yet, in her new book, Sheryl O’Loughlin, cofounder of Plum Organics, former chief executive of Clif Bar and current CEO of Rebbl, says that this dark side needs to be addressed even more openly. Read more in Fortune...

 

2016 Food Safety Survey Report

New data from FDA, USDA and FSIS reveals high consumer awareness of foodborne pathogens Salmonella and E. coli, and most respondents are more worried about getting food poisoning from meat than vegetables. Read more at FDA...

 

More data against fresh, raw sprouts

According to FDA’s Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation Network, from 1996 to August 2016, there were 48 outbreaks of illness were associated with fresh sprouts, the researchers found. Alfalfa sprouts most often caused outbreaks. Read more at Food Safety News…

The rising demands of producing safe food products

In an age that’s reached an all-time high of product innovation, on a parallel path, federal regulations for product food safety have equally reached their highest level of rigor. A sustainable and effective food safety strategy is sometimes referred to as cultivating a positive and empowering food safety culture within an organization. This food culture is one that is implemented from the top down and is proactive rather than reactive. A comprehensive food safety plan requires real-time input from all key players within the business for ongoing effectiveness.

The most modern set of regulations that have launched nationally are part of the Food Safety Modernization Act, set forth by the Food & Drug Administration. FSMA was signed by President Obama in 2011 and poses new requirements for food manufacturers across the nation. According to FDA, it "aims to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the focus from responding to contamination to preventing it." As food industry folks, it is important for us to stay abreast with these evolving federal regulations.

Below are several tips for keeping your food business up-to-date and educated with these rising demands for manufacturing safe products. Adherence is mandated by various deadlines, depending on the size of your organization.

Stay up to date. Since the food industry is a constantly evolving field, it is critical for food business to stay up-to-date on these regulatory standards. Especially if your role is within quality assurance, you are the group of individuals who most commonly lead your team in the enforcement of this federal legislation. To keep updated with all FDA updates, subscribe to updates on its website here. Additionally, subscribing to organizations focused around food safety like Food Safety News can help in making sure you stay updated with current events in the industry.

Know your training options. Certification bodies, which help support enforcing the Global Food Safety Initiative schemes, provide a various range of trainings for food manufacturers. A handful of certification bodies have expanded their training offerings to include FSMA updates. These certification bodies are a great resource for trainings. SCS Global, SAI Global as well as Eurofins Scientific, to name a few, are providing several workshops to support the education and implementation of FSMA.

Have a plan. To have a successful transition into these new standards, it will most certainly take an entire team! That team may include key players within your organization such as upper management, QA, sanitation, operations, maintenance, supply chain and many more. Set S-M-A-R-T goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. Get buy-in from your team and remember to split up the work within the organization. Hold weekly meetings to cover updates, modifications and any findings that may affect other departments, and remember to keep it positive and smile along the way!

---

Catch Natalie Ohanessian at Natural Products Expo West
What: An Introduction to Modern Food Safety & Quality Management Techniques
When: Wednesday, March 8, 2017

 

Webrooming vs. showrooming: Ecommerce shopping styles and trends broken down [infographic]

Today’s customer shops with the web at hand, whether at home or in your store aisles. She may be “webrooming”—researching and shopping online before heading to a brick-and-mortar store to purchase. Or he could be “showrooming”—using your aisles to touch, test and compare before buying on the web.

Koeppel Direct, a direct response advertising agency, breaks down the two styles and how customers use ecommerce today in the infographic below.

Interestingly, the company reports that shoppers—even those digital native millennials—prefer webrooming. They want to buy in-store. Baby boomers prefer webrooming (30 percent) to showrooming (18 percent). Millennials also choose webrooming (46 percent) to showrooming (32 percent). Gen Z is another story.

Stores and brands that use advertising campaigns to actively connect with consumers and entice them to buy in-store can attract these shoppers, Koeppel Direct suggests, particularly with in-store-only discounts, online price matching and special in-store events.

5@5: Soda taxes spread | Monsanto-Bayer merger could ease | Cadbury move not Fairtrade

As soda taxes gain wider acceptance, your bottle may be next

This month, voters in San Francisco, Oakland and Albany, Calif., as well as Boulder, Colo., stunned the industry by approving ballot measures in favor of soda taxes. Cook County, Ill., followed a few days later, bringing a soft-drink tax to Chicago and surrounding areas. They are joining Berkeley, Calif., which passed a tax two years ago, and Philadelphia, which passed one in June, bringing to seven the number of American communities with soda taxes.

With that public momentum, a soda tax may be coming to a city near you. Read more at the New York Times ...

 

Cadbury accused of fudge as it pulls out of Fairtrade

When Cadbury’s announced seven years ago that its leading brand, Dairy Milk, would be made from Fairtrade cocoa it was hailed as a milestone and a return to the ideals of its Quaker founders.

But now the company is facing criticism after pulling out of Fairtrade chocolate in favour of its own “sustainability programme”. Read more at the Telegraph ...

 

Food and ag science will shape our future

What if I told you a scientist had recently discovered a way to remove up to 98% of the allergens in peanuts without affecting the flavor, thereby diminishing a severe health threat to some 2.8 million Americans who suffer from peanut allergies?

Or that a small family business is working on a project that could quench the thirst of billions of people around the world with technology that’s capable of taking water from any source and making it safe to drink?

If that sounds a little like science fiction to you, you wouldn’t be alone. But both examples exist today as part of the hundreds of scientific breakthroughs made by USDA and USDA-supported scientists since the start of the Obama Administration. Tom Vilsack breaks it down on Medium ...

 

Trump’s attorney general could smooth way for Monsanto-Bayer merger, says report

Jeff Sessions, a Republican Alabama senator and Trump's nominee for attorney general, could boost the odds of a Monsanto-Bayer merger earning congressional approval, according to Investopedia. Read more at Modern Farmer ...

 

Who invented agriculture first? It sure wasn't humans

You may think of ants as picnic pilferers. After all, who hasn't had to ward off ants stealing crumbs from picnic tables or hoarding tiny pieces of food from kitchens? But a new study shows that they're in fact hard working farmers. Or at least one species of ants is. It lives in Fiji and has been farming plants for some 3 million years. Read more at NPR ...

How 4 Campbell's employees launched a mission-based food company

While much of Big Food’s growth and innovation is coming through the acquisition of smaller, mission-based brands, this new company and its parent company have a different story to tell.

It starts with four colleagues who were working on innovation initiatives at Campbell Soup Company. In their work, they saw firsthand how low-income families were struggling to put food on the table—and how the food those families could afford was making them sick. So they vowed to do something about it.

Megan Shea, Chip Heim, Maria Gamble and Lisa Schipsi quietly assembled and created The Soulfull Project—now its own public benefit corporation funded by Campbell’s—based on a buy-one-give-one model that empowers shoppers to do good in their communities. Consumers buy their non-GMO hot cereal cups, and the company donates a serving of hot cereal to a local food bank.

Cofounder and head of business and operations Megan Shea shared The Soulfull Project's mission with us.

Can you share how you all came up with the idea for the Soulfull Project?

Megan Shea: The project came out of personal experiences that we had, individually and together, meeting low-income families struggling to put food on the table, and then the food they were able to afford was making them sick, and they knew it. They watch Dr. Oz and knew about ingredients like kale and quinoa and chia and all of these aspirational ingredients that just felt very out of reach for them. So we made a personal promise to ourselves that we were going to do something more to help them—more than just send them extra food and extra money.

So the mission came before the product?

MS: The mission completely came first. We knew we wanted something that had the giving model and that could help people in our own community and other communities as we expanded. It was about putting a mission and purpose behind your purchases—the belief that you can buy something that you feel really good about for yourself and know that it lives on and helps someone else through a buy-one-give-one business model. What we’re giving [to the food banks] is the same quality food, and that was really important to us because we really wanted to make sure that the people who were struggling were getting really nutrient-dense ingredients.

Why hot cereal? And what kind of nutritional attributes did you focus on when developing the product?

MS: Breakfast is really a pain point for so many people, regardless of how much money or time you have. It informs someone’s whole day—if they make a bad choice at breakfast, a lot of times by 8 a.m. they think the whole day is shot.

We specifically picked these hot cereals because we knew it was a great way to bring whole grains, really nutrient-dense ingredients in, and do it in a clean way. We focused on making sure that it was accessible to all of us. We wanted to use ingredients and flavors that felt very familiar—brown sugar pecan, blueberry almond—and include ingredients that most of us struggle to fit into our lifestyles, like chia, flax and quinoa.

When we developed the product that we actually give, we did that hand-in-hand with our food bank partners. We took the cup SKUs that we had to the food banks, and they told us that for their beneficiaries, they wanted an unflavored and unsweetened version. So we developed the four grains, family size and, hearty grains and seeds varieties with the food banks, making sure that there’s no sugar added, because it’s really important when you think about the prevalence of diabetes with people who are using food banks. We also made sure it could be customized to their liking.

I know you’re in Wegmans now—with this local-focused mission, is there ability (or desire) to scale?

MS: We built it from day one to be scalable. We wanted to start really small to make sure we could deliver on the promises we were making. We picked our giving partners first: the Food Bank of South Jersey, Community Food Bank of New Jersey and Philabundance, and then we picked stores with Wegmans to surround those giving partners. Right now we’re just in 14 stores that line up with regions that our giving partners are in.

We are looking at scaling with Wegmans over the next few months and years, because hunger and food insecurity is unfortunately affecting every community within the U.S.

What is Campbell's role here?

MS: We’re a wholly owned subsidiary. We were working for Campbell’s as a team and as friends, and when we came up with the idea, we worked on it on the side. We took it to the food banks before we even took it to the leadership at Campbell’s. Once we had a product and a business plan, we took it to the leadership team, and they agreed to fund it. We left our roles and are now operating a public benefit company funded by Campbell Soup Company.

I want to talk a little about the public benefit corporation aspect of your business. Why did you go that route?

MS: We chose the public benefit corporation as a constant reminder of our mission. We didn’t want our mission to be diluted as we grew, so by going with public benefit corporation, our mission is part of our corporate charter. Our mission and our business don’t exist without each other. We use it as a promise and a daily reminder to ourselves that we have to make decisions looking at both.

How do you convey your mission to consumers?

MS: We set really small goals for ourselves initially—for instance, we had hoped to have maybe 500 to 1,000 people on Facebook by the end of our first three months, but we’re actually approaching 19,000. As part of living into our mission, we launched the Soulfull 100, which was 100 volunteer events performed by the team in 100 days with our three giving partners. If you can imagine, trying to start a company and volunteer every day, it was pretty overwhelming, but we did it. We were posting about each event, and what it did was allow us to bring our mission front and center. So by going out and volunteering with our giving partners, showing and highlighting the people that make take time to volunteer every day, we saw that the response from consumers all around the country has been overwhelming, because people want to get involved more. There’s this amazing hunger to learn more about organizations and how people are helping others in their communities.

5@5: Whole Foods prices remain high | Teens drink tubs full of sugary drinks

Whole Foods lives up to whole paycheck nickname this Thanksgiving

You’ve probably heard the popular nickname for Whole Foods Market: whole paycheck. The retailer will have a tough time shaking that this year. A price study conducted this week showed that the 20 ingredients commonly used to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner rose 7.6 percent to $94.63 this year, despite 10 straight months of food deflation which has been lowering grocery store prices nationwide. Read more at Bloomberg...

 

Teenagers are consuming ‘bathtubs full’ of sugary drinks every year

A new study from Cancer Research UK concluded that British teenagers down 234 cans of sugary drinks every year, which is enough to fill an entire bathtub. The researcher found that soft drinks were the main source of added sugar in teens’ diets. The British government announced plans for a sugar tax back in March. Read more at Munchies...

 

Natural foods company reaches non-prosecution agreement in immigration case

Mary’s Gone Crackers, Inc., a local natural food company in Butte County, has reached a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California, which includes a $1.5 payout and the creation of a corporate compliance program. This comes after an investigation on the immigration status of undocumented immigrant employees of the company. Read more at Northern California Record...

 

Donkey cheese is being touted as the new health food - but at £880 per kilo, would you eat it?

Donkey cheese might not sound appetizing, but the high-protein, calcium- and omega-3-rich cheese may be the next big thing in healthy eating. The cheese is said to taste similar to Manchego and is the most expensive in the world, likely from the fact that it’s only produced by one rural farm in Serbia. Read more at Evening Standard...

 

Appeals court knocks down Hawaii’s local prohibitions on GMO seed industry

Monsanto and Syngenta have long made Hawaii a center for their seed production and a San Francisco appeals court has secured 1,000 industry jobs on the islands. The appellate court found that Hawaii’s pesticide laws are sufficiently comprehensive and preclude counties from regulating either pesticides or GMOs, despite the efforts of some anti-GMO activists. Read more at Food Safety News...

FDA's New Dietary Ingredient guidance challenges industry

To hear some corners of the dietary supplement industry these days, the FDA’s newly-released NDI guidance spells the end of life as we know it.

I choose to take another view. Five years after the FDA issued its first draft of the guidance, it’s clear to me that the agency has listened to the comments it received. No, the industry didn’t get everything it wanted, but I see signs of a “thawing” at the FDA and an effort to engage with stakeholders to develop a meaningful, but reasonable, framework around new ingredients. Let’s not forget that the requirement that new ingredients must be notified to the FDA 75 days in advance is not a creation of the agency; it is enshrined in DSHEA—a provision the industry’s negotiators agreed to back in 1994 as a trade-off to protect existing ingredients already in the market and allow the FDA to review the safety of novel ingredients and formulations.

In addition, this industry looks nothing like it did back in 1994. After 22 years, we need to work with our regulators. We are a $39 billion dollar industry that wants to continue to attract new consumers with growth rates that are the envy of other consumer goods. With that comes responsibility. Otherwise, we leave ourselves open to the justifiable criticism that dietary supplement producers are a recalcitrant, unmanageable bunch who resist any effort to put guard rails around the industry for the safety of the consumer. That’s a reputation we can’t afford.

So, let’s consider some of the “wins” we already obtained in this latest draft of the guidance:

• FDA has agreed to collaborate with industry to create an official “safe harbor” list of grandfathered ingredients—five years ago, it refused.
• FDA now acknowledges that its literal reading of what is a chemical alteration of a food ingredient was too broad, and the list in the legislative history was illustrative only, not exhaustive. That’s progress.
• The agency listened to the industry’s recommendation that it recognize “master files” and “umbrella notifications” for NDIs that allow ingredient manufacturers to protect their investments in safety research and reduce duplicative filings by each of their customers.

Significant issues of dispute still exist however. The disagreement of whether synthetic copies of botanical constituents should be lawful dietary ingredients persists, and it will likely not be resolved in this forum; the courts or even Congress may eventually dictate the answer. The FDA’s version of when a manufacturing change triggers an old ingredient to become a new one still appears too expansive and would stifle innovation. And the FDA is silent on how the industry might transition to these new interpretations of the statute by offering enforcement discretion while companies identify “new” ingredients already on the market that were previously assumed to be “old.”

So there is still work to be done; but, for me, the larger question is whether the responsible industry enters a constructive dialogue or runs to its corner and refuses to engage. When we declare that the statutory obligations we agreed to 22 years ago will now bankrupt the industry, it hardly looks like we are extending an olive branch. And it plays into our critics' hands.

So I would offer some “truths” that every manufacturer and marketer needs to ponder:

• FDA must regulate for the worst as well as the best. For every innovative manufacturing breakthrough that produces purer, more bio-available, more sustainable ingredients, there is a fringe player looking to slip a synthetic stimulant into its products without any assurance of safety and without being noticed. We have to figure out how to allow the FDA to protect against the worst without stifling the innovation of the best.
• Not every step toward a workable pre-market notification regime is a march toward pre-market approval. Conspiracy theorists abound who see full-blown, pharma-like, pre-market approval behind every rock. The law expressly gives the FDA the responsibility to protect public safety with a limited review of safety data for new dietary ingredients (and for the finished supplements that contain them). This does not confer the power to review (and to bless) every new formulation to enter the market, but it requires the FDA to insist that new ingredients are reasonably expected to be safe.
• As time moves on, it is inescapable that more and more new ingredients will appear and will account for a larger and larger share of the supplement aisle. Old ingredients will become passé. So we need to resolve these issues now before the market is so full of un-notified new ingredients, and the stakes become too high, to ever go back and get this one right.
• Dietary supplements are food; the law says so. And food should be assumed to have a wide margin of safety. That means supplement marketers should not be forced into an endless cycle of innovate, file, wait, innovate, file, wait… The solution lies in finding a balance which assures that the FDA can effectively prevent unsafe products from ever reaching consumers. It entails accepting that ingredient change is a continuous cycle, not an easy dichotomy, so the answers may be ingredient-specific.

When one considers what’s at stake, the best course is to meet the FDA at the negotiation table. It calls for moderation and a genuine understanding of the motivations and concerns of both sides. These things can’t occur when we perceive the draft guidance as the precipice that bankrupts the industry. Let’s put down the hyperbole and reach for the middle ground. That would be a remarkably new ingredient for success.

Steve Mister is the president/CEO of the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), the leading trade association for the dietary supplement and functional food industry.

Feasting on good works

When a movement forms and grows, it cries for understanding; demands for change often falling on deaf ears. When change finally occurs, positive impact exponentially rippling through society, it’s easy to lose perspective on what’s shifted and be wary of those joining the march. Natural foods, a movement-turned-industry, has set a profound shift into motion and a growing audience is listening carefully.

As I approach my first anniversary at New Hope I find myself filled with gratitude. I get to come to work each day and lend my voice to the most important force on the planet.

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mathieu Senard, one of the founders of Alter Eco, a company doing remarkable good works in every step of their process. In that interview, Senard said that business is “the greatest force on the planet right now.”

I had great respect for Alter Eco, but I thought Senard must be delusional on this point. Greater planetary forces than business? Gravity came to mind. So did gulf streams, tides, weather patterns and the plants of the earth breathing in the endless cycle of carbon and oxygen.

Yet, it’s true. Senard was spot on. As we sit squarely in the geological age now identified as the Anthropocene, humans indeed hold the reins—intentionally or otherwise—of vast planetary systems. Industry is certainly the human force that put us in the driver’s seat, and our hunger for more, cheaper, warmer, faster, cooler, out of season, has kept the engines of destruction churning and the gears grinding loudly enough to drown out even the climate debate.

Business is indeed the greatest force on the planet, and it is therefore the greatest human opportunity for positive change (a satisfying thought in the autumn of our political discontent). I’ll even take it a step further than Senard did in that interview: The food business is the most significant opportunity for positive planetary change. There, I said it. Why? Because, while second to energy in terms of climate impact, agriculture holds the profound possibility to not just halt the destruction, but to reverse the damage.

* * *

When I started in the aisles of a Cambridge, Massachusetts natural foods store in 1990, I enjoyed the pulse of activism that coursed through the veins of our industry. And in that activism was an us and them awareness. Us: small independent retailers and producers preaching the gospel of the forgotten glory of whole foods. Them: the giants of the cheap, processed food I'd grown up on.

Fast forward a decade and the processed food machine began to gobble up natural foods companies: sell outs, every one of them. Or so we believed.

Fast forward another decade or so, and conglomeration is the name of the game. Paraphrasing Justin’s founder Justin Gold, This is not about the independent brands selling out, it's about the big brands buying in. Gold is, admittedly, biased. But I think he’s right.

Are the giants of processed food still processing junk? Yes. Do we have far to go? Yes. But we’ve come a very long way and we’ve reached a tipping point. It remains difficult to fully trust the motives and outcomes of conglomeration, but it is clear that the industry is changing. McDonald's adding healthier menu options and moving to cage-free eggs may not fully satisfy, but it demonstrates the positive ripples. Big business is listening, small business is leading and consumers are hungry.

In this week of feasting and gratitude, I am grateful to be involved in the single greatest force on the planet. I’m grateful for the pioneers of natural foods who created this industry a few decades ago and I’m grateful for today’s disruptors who continue to change the way the world sees food. Most of all, I'm grateful for the consumers, the ever-broadening audience that is opening their eyes, ears, mouths and wallets to demand a brighter, richer, more nutritious—and much yummier!—food future.

Thank you, congratulations and Happy Thanksgiving.

News judgment: A tale of two Times stories

A headline like “Studies Show Little Benefit in Supplements” in The New York Times, might make you think the same old criticisms are coming, with “supplements aren’t regulated” near the top of the list.

But when you read a little farther into the story that ran on Nov. 14, you might also think the headline writer and the reporter haven’t spoken in years.

If you read yesterday’s follow-up story—“Which Supplements, if Any, May Be Worth Your Money”—you might be even more confused. You might start to wonder what’s going on at the Times.

Last week’s story, by health reporter Jane Brody, took up the Journal of the American Medical Association study released last month that reported supplement purchasing habits remaining basically static between 1999 and 2012. It was a fairly “so what?” study and we wrote about it on Oct. 12 only to take issue with the accompanying editorial by supplements critic Pieter Cohen who sees a soapbox around every corner.

Brody does suggest supplements “are often of questionable value,” and she goes on to explain the basics of DSHEA and the charge that some supplements have been found “no better than a placebo.”

But then she does something that might be surprising to see in the same newspaper that broke the story of the New York attorney general investigation into herbal supplements and trends decidedly negative in its coverage of the industry.

She talks about the supplements she takes.

And why she takes them.

“Some supplement users distrust evidence suggesting they have no benefit, which is why I still take glucosamine/chondroitin despite the results of the best study to date that found it offered no relief from knee arthritis. My arthritis has progressed minimally in the decades I’ve been on it, and having experienced no side effects, I’m unwilling to argue with apparent success.”

She even pulls out the few positive statements Cohen makes in the editorial, including his admission that “Certain combinations of nutrients can help some medical conditions.”

And she ends with the same statement that every responsible person in the industry would say. That caution is wise and talking to your doctor is important.

But back to that headline.

The only “news” in the story is really the JAMA study, and the researchers weren’t really looking at efficacy. The study isn’t mentioned until the fourth paragraph, which raises the question of why the story was written at all. It’s not like the Times is lacking for negative coverage of supplements.

One can imagine any number of storylines that resulted in the headline and Brody’s piece, perhaps the most plausible being that Brody thought the study was worth covering but her editor pushed her to find a negative slant. Perhaps it got rewritten after she went home.

That’s where the news judgment raises questions. If a study says purchasing habits are largely stable, despite the negative news coverage and scientific questioning, then explore the “why” of that. The why probably isn’t too different from what Brody explains of her own habits.  Supplements work for people. That’s why they buy them. That’s why they keep buying them.

That’s why the editor who wrote the headline should have read the story.

Which takes us to this week when, once again, we wish we could listen in on whatever debate is occurring in the newsroom. In the Nov. 21 story, “Which Supplements, if Any, May Be Worth Your Money,” Brody wades back into the matter with more of her personal attitude—“I am not immune to wishful thinking that an over-the-counter vitamin, mineral or herb may help to keep me healthy or relieve some distress without having to see a doctor”—and fills us in on her use of melatonin, magnesium, glucosamine-chondroitin and fish oil.  

Brody goes through the standard study vs. study rundown for a number of ingredients before returning again to the word “caution,” a word that nobody on the supplement industry side of the public debate would argue against. But again, the story brings us back to the what Brody stated in the first article. Studies aside, these products seem to work for some people. She notes that studies can’t prove that magnesium supplements help with muscle and leg cramps but adds “they seem to have helped me and a friend of mine.” She notes that there is insufficient evidence on turmeric but talks about a friend who used it to combat plantar fasciitis “enabling her to once again jog and play tennis.”

Two weeks in a row, Brody Appears to have inserted balance into a Times story about supplements, but it almost feels like she had to work to slip it in. In the end, she tells the story that consumers tell over and over again: that the products work for them and that medicine, science and nutrition are not one-science-fits-all propositions.

5@5: Pepsi to buy KeVita | FDA issues guidelines for sunscreen makers

Pepsi to Buy Organic Drink Maker KeVita

PepsiCo announced it will buy KeVita, a maker of probiotic and kombucha drinks, for an undisclosed price. This acquisition is a boost to PepsiCo’s effort to grow its line of health and wellness products. Read more at TheStreet...

 

FDA outlines data needed for over-the-counter sunscreen additives

The Food and Drug Administration issued guidelines for sunscreen makers that will require them to provide data to prove the ingredients in the products are safe. The guidelines laid out chemical and human studies manufacturers will need to conduct to get approval for any new ingredient in over-the-counter sunscreens. Read more at Reuters...

 

Patagonia will donate 100% of its Black Friday sales

The outdoor clothing retailer is used to bringing in millions of dollars on Black Friday. But this year it’s doing something a little different. The company will be donating 100 percent of its sales to grassroots environmental groups that protect vital natural resources like water, air and soil. Read more at CNNMoney...

 

Why your doctor might start grocery shopping with you

Healthcare systems are waking up to the fact that people’s regular eating and exercise habits have a much bigger effect on their health than the time spent at the doctor’s office. So some hospitals are taking a more proactive approach to improving the health of their communities—including grocery trips. Read more at The Los Angeles Times...

 

Green and Black's stops using all organic chocolate

The chocolate brand, founded in 1991 and bought by Cadbury in 2005, will no longer have the word ‘organic’ printed on the label for its U.S. products. However, the U.K. products will continue to be organic. Green & Blacks was founded by Craig Sams and Josephine Fairley as a small, organic brand, which was awarded Britain's first Fairtrade mark. Read more at The Independent...

Be prepared for changes to overtime rules and minimum wage

Changes to the FLSA rules on exempt status are likely to impact your business. Taking a proactive approach and conducting an internal audit of your salaried/exempt positions now will position you to respond effectively. If you haven't already prepared, do so now.

What can you do to be prepared?

• Review the job responsibilities for all salaried/exempt positions to ensure each meets the duties test for exempt status. If you have positions that are border line, you might consider changing their status to non-exempt/hourly.
• Additionally, look at the salary level for each salaried/exempt position. Those that are under $50,440 per year should be flagged for further review and analysis.

Once you have identified the positions that do not meet the guidelines, you can begin to analyze the impact of making changes. Again, you will need to consider whether it makes more sense to change the status of the position, or to raise the salary level.

It’s important to consider the impact of these changes to your store’s bottom line. Here are some key questions to consider as you begin the analysis:

• How will it impact the bottom line if you raise the salary level to $50,440?
• Is it reasonable to accomplish the responsibilities of the position in 40 hours per week, thereby avoiding overtime if the position status is changed to hourly/non-exempt?
• How will changing the status of certain (potentially key) positions to hourly/non-exempt impact employee morale and overall workplace culture?

Minimum wage

And while you are conducting this compensation audit, you might want to map out the impact of an increased minimum wage at the same time. Exploring the impact of paying all entry-level employees at least $15 an hour is less stressful while it’s theoretical. A relatively simple spreadsheet will allow you to play around with various scenarios and easily analyze the impact of pay increases to the labor line. While the minimum wage in your state may not increase to $15 an hour, it is likely to increase more quickly in the future than it has in the past. It’s better to be prepared than to be caught off guard.

Compensation philosophy

If you don’t already have one, developing a compensation philosophy now will enable you to better communicate changes down the road. Be transparent with your employees by sharing as much information as you can about the compensation philosophy of your business. Remember, they are reading the news everyday just like you are. Helping them to better understand how these changes will impact the business as well as their paychecks will benefit everyone in the end.

5@5: Farmers, seeds and data | How Gaia grew into a $50M business

As crop prices fall, farmers focus on seeds

While some farmers return to old-fashioned seeds that aren't genetically engineered to meet demand in a tough farming environment, others are joining subscription services that use data collected from members to determine which seeds and pesticides will work best on their fields. The cost of seeds has nearly quadrupled over the last two decades, while prices for major crops have fallen three years in a row. Read more at The Wall Street Journal...

 

How this 30-year-old farm used turmeric and poppies to build a $50 million business

Retailers say Gaia Herbs, which grows some of its ingredients on a 250-acre farm in Brevard, North Carolina, is a hit with customers because of its background, mission and science. But it also has a rich history—Ric Scalzo spent less than $2,000 of his own money to start the company 30 years ago with seven elixirs, and he came up with a mechanism to use fresh herbs instead of dried. Here's a look at how it's continued to innovate. Read more at Inc...

 

Beer fans will love the new ingredient in area Whole Foods' bread

It's spent grain from Fegley's Brew Works in eastern Pennsylvania, and rolls and breads from the byproduct of the beer brewing process have already proven to be a hit at area Whole Foods stores. Read more at Lehigh Valley Live...

 

Plant breeders take cues from consumers to improve kale

Vegetable breeders at Cornell University are working to identify different culinary and aesthetic qualities of the leafy green that consumers favor, and breed for those traits. "The natural genetic diversity available in the species provides opportunities to further develop and promote a nutritionally important crop," the university says. Read more at Cornell Chronicle...

 

Nutrition for sale: How Kellogg worked with 'independent experts' to tout cereal

An Associated Press investigation turned up documents showing that Kellogg paid "independent experts" thousands of dollars a year to engage in "nutrition influencer outreach" on social media and with colleagues. Its so-called Breakfast Council also published an academic paper on breakfast and taught a continuing education class for dietitians. But critics say the company and its experts haven't always made it so clear that their work was sponsored. Read more at Chicago Tribune...

American-grown quinoa helps meet growing demand

Quinoa has taken the natural products industry by storm likely because the celebrated traditional South American grain seems like the perfect food: gluten free, high in protein, plenty of fiber, the works. And while South America brought quinoa to the world, U.S. farmers now grow the grain with nationwide reach.

Kevin Murphy, Washington State University assistant professor and quinoa breeder, said California, particularly Humboldt County, grows a large bulk of domestic quinoa, but it’s also grown in parts of Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Colorado. He and others have bred different varieties of quinoa that grow well in local conditions, and he says about five to seven varieties are grown at scale around the country today—and just about all of it is sold simply as packaged, ready-to-cook quinoa. He estimates that like imported quinoa, about two-thirds of the U.S.-grown crop is organic. So where to find it?

Lundberg Family Farms has managed to source its entire quinoa line from the U.S., working with farmers in California, Oregon and Washington. Lundberg sells two varieties of quinoa, tri-color and antique white, in branded packaging as well as in bulk sections at Whole Foods Market, Sprouts Farmers Market, Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage and other retailers and coops. Lundberg’s Todd Kluger said its quinoa is expanding to other channels as the ancient grain gains acceptance and popularity. And Idaho-based Clark Seed Co. has been ramping up its quinoa business, which is built on production in Idaho.

Murphy knows of no brands using domestic quinoa in processed foods, but that could change. He said there are 28 existing varieties that could be grown here—and he emphasizes that a key goal is to not only expand production but diversify the varieties grown, with some bred for specialized end uses. While there are all kinds of varieties of wheat for different end products, such as soft white for bread or durum for pasta, “that’s not really known in quinoa,” he said. “As we release these varieties, we’ll tell growers what they’re best suited for in the end use market for consumers or maybe for processors.” 

He projects that in about two years, his team may be ready to release four to six new varieties that are adapted to different areas and have different characteristics—some better for fresh eating, for example, while others will be better for processing, and there’s even a sticky quinoa in development, a quinoa equivalent to sushi rice.

The USDA’s Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative recently awarded a nearly $2 million grant to Murphy and colleagues to study quinoa for another four years, focusing on crop yield assessment and pricing and helping growers turn a profit.

The Chinese supply game

We begin this analysis of China’s supply chain with a story of price fixing. Citing the conflict between “China’s strong interest in its protectionist economic policies” and the “antitrust enforcement interests” of the United States, judge Peter Hall of the 2nd US Court of Appeals in New York recently overturned a $148 million verdict in a vitamin C price-fixing case dating back to 2001. Remember that one? When vitamin C out of China rose from $2.50 per kilogram to $15, US manufacturers filed suit and won the battle, but apparently not the war.

Sources for this story downplayed the relevance of this ruling as old news, but the matter warrants a second look. “This ruling suggests that the laws and culture of China can outweigh our antitrust laws,” says Scott Steinford of Trust Transparency Consulting. “It may not seem important, but in many cases, even outside our industry, this could be a very important decision. It could all but green-light the opportunity for collusion.”

Such is the path toward progress, forged in fits and starts. The legacy of cheap ingredients out of China at inferior levels of quality is changing, according to many sources, but never fast enough. Steinford’s expertise in CoQ10 illustrates the point. “Fifteen years ago, there were three Japanese manufacturers of CoQ10, and today that number is zero. Ninety percent of the market is Chinese. I don’t think there’s a problem there, but it is harder to have direct dialogue with China. The culture doesn’t support or promote it.” In an era of increasing demand for trust and transparency among consumers, that open dialogue throughout the value chain matters. “When commodity pricing prevails, science and education suffer the most, and that’s a shame,” says Steinford. “The industry does not grow with the commodity game, it grows through science and education.”

The new game

Dachao Zhang, Secretary General of China Health Care Association sees changes afoot. “It is correct to say that Chinese manufacturers have tended to focus on cheap bulk raw material for export, but we are seeing more of a shift to develop innovative ingredients with clinical trials,” says Zhang. “The economic growth in China has raised the costs of manufacture in recent years, so the ingredient exporters are losing profit and many are closing. Those that survive this change have shifted their attentions to proprietary ingredients with proven clinical trials.” If the domestic economy of China itself shifts away from the commodity model, perhaps that indicates lasting change that could benefit quality globally.

Some of the innovation that Zhang speaks of has less to do with the ingredients themselves and more to do with how they’re made. “There are a number of Chinese companies gaining in sophistication, especially with processes that enhance efficiency,” says Larry Kolb, President of TSI USA. “Glucosamine is a great example. We’ve invested in a new direct fermentation. We think traditional shellfish production—that game of high volumes, tight margins—is a process of the past. We’re moving toward cleaner, more efficient, patented processes in our Chinese facilities.” Kolb says such evolution is inevitable. “China is really leading the world in process technologies. When you’re in these commodities for this long, it’s a natural phenomenon to achieve these kinds of innovation.”

But that’s not all of the news out of TSI, as supply chain risks persist. To make sure upstream raw materials were not adulterated, TSI acquired its own 1,000-acre ginkgo plantation in China to grow its own leaves and ensure the feedstock is fully verified. “That’s really the only way to ensure a commonly adulterated botanical is not adulterated,” says Kolb. “Buying ground leaf through commerce is just too uncertain. There is still economic adulteration in China. The ginkgo crackdown last year was based on widespread adulteration that found its way into China’s domestic pharmaceutical market, with ripples into the US market. This impacted the whole botanical sector. Ginkgo was implicated in the New York Attorney General’s investigation, so it’s all tied together.”

Again, progress comes in fits and starts. Sources spoke to NBJ of longstanding concerns that still remain with Chinese supply of chondroitin sulfate, bilberry, and St. John’s wort.

Across the border

The big news in China of late has to be the growth in e-commerce—70% annually—as a selling channel for US brands. E-commerce is moving the market out to second- and third-tier cities where consumers don’t have access to stores or computers, but they do have phones. This is the way many US supplements have entered the market, as Chinese consumers continue to prefer foreign brands in higher-risk categories like milk powders, infant formula, and pet food. Merchants need authorizations to sell on the larger platforms, and this adds a further level of confidence for the online shopper.

Depending on definition and source, the domestic market for supplements in China sits around $25 billion, which pales in comparison to the levels of commerce happening on popular web storefronts like Alibaba Tmall. Alibaba has reported single-day sales across all product categories of $14.3 billion—more than ten times an average day for WalMart—and supplements are the second-best seller for cross-border commerce in China.

Entirely new industries have developed with the advance of e-commerce. The Financial Times reports that the “suitcase trade” of daigou—buyers on behalf of others—reached upwards of $7.5 billion in 2015. Driven by the craze for foreign-made products, the daigou phenomenon got so out of hand that leading Australian grocers like Coles and Wentworth imposed quantity limits on individual shoppers for infant formula. Sources also suggest that GNC effectively left the Chinese market due to pressure from this gray market of professional shoppers. Daigou can charge markups reaching 50% off the shelf with luxury goods and health products in the greatest demand.

The jig might be up. “There’s tremendous activity coming into the country for foreign-made supplements through cross-border trade,” says Kolb. “It was a boom for several countries—Australia, Japan, the US—but a legal gray area, and the Chinese government imposed further restrictions earlier this year that may bring this to a screeching halt.”

Indeed, free-trade zones, where commerce occurs without the intervention of customs authorities, came out in April, but supplements didn’t make the list. Taxes approaching 15% ensued, and some free-trade zones froze commerce overnight. A one-year grace period came to the rescue, but that ends in May 2017 with little suggestion of any extension, and many of the larger players in cross-border commerce have set up warehouses in Hong Kong to operate outside of Chinese jurisdiction. According to the Financial Times, Swisse estimates that its daigou shoppers have fallen from a high of 100,000 to 20,000 since the taxes and legal restrictions.

In addition, experts see stronger food safety laws coming online next year that will require foreign companies to obtain further certifications from the Chinese government in order to continue selling on cross-border commerce sites. “A lot of foreign companies choose to sell this way, and it’s not only Alibaba and jd.com,” says Zhang of the online channel. “But real success in China still comes from understanding the regulatory system. You have to get registration first to move any large volume of business from online to offline, and to invest in your marketing in China. Large companies are starting to do this—Schiff, Swisse, Blackmores—and they are seeing success.”

Changes on the regulatory front remain a challenge. Companies should expect two systems going forward. The blue hat registration, the China FDA’s version of premarket approval, will continue, to the great consternation of US manufacturers, with costs that can run as high as $150k for a single supplement and a timeline that can stretch to three years. E-commerce complicates the decision further. An investment in blue hat is really an investment in distribution inside China, a presence in market, but products on the shelf are expensive in comparison to Alibaba deals.

The Chinese government has announced a second path to market, with a new recording system—think notification—on common letter vitamins and minerals, but the actual process is still being developed. “I don’t see any big changes over the next 10 years,” says Zhang. “The Chinese government has started to loosen regulations on the vitamins and minerals side to adopt a new filing system, but the system of technical requirements still remains the same.”

Buying spree

Given the necessity and complexity of understanding Chinese regulations to achieve lasting success, is it any surprise to see China’s largest companies go on a buying spree for foreign brands? The buyer brings an essential toehold in a market less fraught with protectionist obstacles, and the brand brings quality—an ideal match.

“There has been lots of M&A activity in China over the past two years,” says Zhang, “with Chinese companies actively looking for Australian and US companies to acquire. I expect to see more deals very soon.” Few would argue with that summation. Financial wires lit up at press time with news of GNC in talks with potential Chinese acquirers. If the deal happens, it could hit $4 billion, with the list of suitors that includes Fosun Group, ZZ Capital, and Chinese pharmaceutical companies.

This would be the biggest deal since June of this year, when Xiwang Foodstuffs bought Iovate Health Sciences for $730 million to introduce popular sports nutrition brands to the Chinese consumer. In late 2015, Swisse also went to Hong Kong-based Biostime for $1.67 billion.

Feet on the ground

“More and more Chinese companies understand the nature of the business now,” says Zhang. “They have started to develop their own products with clinical trials. The large overseas manufacturers are not the only ones anymore. I do hear concerns that most of the clinical trials are not on Chinese populations, so this is an opportunity. Companies serious about the Chinese market should consider trials there, in country, with a Chinese demographic.” Smart companies might focus on digestion, as that growth market in the United States begins to catch wind in China. Companies beginning to focus their science on China include collagen players like Gelita and Rousselout as well as Dupont Danisco.

The future of supply in China begins to look more like US supply, with movement away from commodity pricing toward a stronger domestic base of science and proprietary ingredients. Might we see branded ingredients as well? Not as likely, say most of our sources, since “Brand China” does not instill the confidence of “Brand USA” and, more importantly, the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine limits the appeal overseas. The likelihood of Chinese companies entering the US market is also less likely as the domestic market is so large, and TCM products have yet to catch in the US mainstream. “A change here will come from the spread of TCM culture in the U.S.,” says Zhang.

Here’s another tip for doing smart business with China in the years to come—drop the middleman. “Supply contracts are important,” says Steinford. “The pricing trends are likely to start reversing and, if more education and science do come into play, that passes along to the consumer. Supply contracts with distributors are almost useless—they have no control over supply, only perceived control. The only enforceable contract is between the ingredient manufacturer and the purchaser. That’s why contracts are not as utilized in China, but they should be.”

Most agree those prices will go up. The commodity game is losing favor inside the Chinese economy, and the world is waking up to the sustainability challenges in China. “There is greater expectation and pressure on environmental responsibility, and a recognition that addressing this in China impacts the entire world,” says Steinford. “China is beginning to mandate this, and that will impact pricing.”

Kitchen staples get a healthy upgrade

Whether it be a forecasted hurricane-of-the-century or a winter storm that prompts Twitter users to use the hashtag #snowpocalypse, when harsh weather is predicted, consumers flock to grocery stores in droves to stock up on three storm essentials: milk, bread and eggs.

From New York to New Mexico, this holy trinity of hunker-down food (and perhaps a few bottles of cabernet sauvignon) is widely considered to be necessary sustenance for waiting out squalls of all ilk. But are staples like milk, bread and eggs—along with meat and conventional snacks—being replaced by better-for-you alternatives?

The answer is a resounding “yes!” Consciously sourced proteins and meat replacements. Better-for-you dairy. Paleo-friendly baking mixes. Whole-food snacks. These are the new staples, the foods that are weaseling their way onto weekly grocery lists, and appearing in consumers’ pantries and fridges again and again.

Food choices are no longer being made just by special diet constraints. Now, consumers are consistently buying foods that boast vegan, grain-free or gluten-free ingredients—even if they do not eat this way all the time. Take vegan “ice cream” brand Jawea, which blends coconut cream, organic cane sugar and globally inspired flavors into creamy frozen desserts, for example. While founder Mike Rosenthal originally created Jawea because he was lactose intolerant, he says those without diagnosed allergies or ethical reasons to avoid dairy also enjoy the vegan product. “Most of the people that are buying and loving Jawea are consumers who choose to cut dairy out of their diet for health purposes related to how it makes them feel,” says Rosenthal. “People will tell me that eating Jawea makes them feel way better than ice cream. It makes them feel less heavy, less lethargic and with no guilt.”

No guilt. Perhaps this is the best explanation for such shifting food forces.

Innovation in stalwart categories now gives us permission to eat dairy without the regret, tuna without the fish (see, Vegan Toona!), bread without the carbs and snacks without the empty calories. The following natural brands are different from their conventional counterparts because they are asking the right questions—not, “How do we increase sales?” but “How can we do better business for the environment, for our consumers and, yes, also for our economic sustainability?”

Shoppers support companies that seek answers to these questions, and if their stomachs don’t ache afterwards, all the better.

Dairy improvements

Califia Nitro Cold Brew Latte
Nitro taps are hot in the craft beer scene. But in the vegan category? Not so much. Califia brings this supercool technology into the fold with a nitro-packed cold-brewed coffee from Colombia and Central America, which also contains the brand’s signature almond and macadamia milk. Superfine, velvety bubbles and a bitterless taste will prompt even hard-to-impress hipsters to shrug their appreciation for this new beverage. SRP: $4.99

The a2 Milk Company a2 Milk 2% Reduced Fat Milk
One in 4 people have trouble digesting conventional milk. The a2 Milk Company (and ample studies) say this is caused by a protein called a1. A2 milk—derived from cows that produce only the a2 protein (about 30 percent of a herd)—does not yield the ill effects some experience after drinking milk. The company partners with sustainable family farmers who never give their cows growth hormones, antibiotics or rBST. SRP: $3.69

Kite Hill Artisan Almond Milk Yogurt Vanilla
Also available in a Plain Unsweetened variety, Kite Hill’s almond milk-based non-dairy, soy-free yogurt is notable because it’s fermented with live active cultures—just like traditional dairy-based varieties. The vanilla flavor is a smooth snack infused with real flecks of vanilla bean and a touch of cane sugar. Also available in a larger, multiserving tub, which is perfect for adding a dollop or two into smoothies or atop desserts. SRP: $1.79-$1.99

Organic Valley Grassmilk Plain Whole Milk Yogurt
Just three ingredients—whole organic milk, organic nonfat milk and live active cultures—are in this tangy, smooth yogurt, now available in single-serve 6-ounce cups. For its grassmilk products, Organic Valley sources milk from cows fed only grass their entire lives—in the summer they receive organic pasture, alfalfa and clover; in the winter they eat dried grasses and legumes, along with supplemental minerals and vitamins. SRP: $1.69

Jawea Frozen Desserts Dairy-Free Mango Chili
Coconut cream, organic cane sugar, organic tapioca syrup and guar and xanthan gums churn into a ridiculously buttery frozen dessert. Then, this (vegan!) creamy concoction is flavored with Alphonso mango puree, lime juice, sea salt and an ultrasmoky, ultraspicy blend of ancho and Thai chilies. Each 150-calorie, ½-cup serving of this icy treat is like a fresh mango lassi—that somehow still makes you sweat. SRP: $6.99

New carbs

Otto’s 100% Natural Cassava Flour
You’ve likely heard of yucca chips, but what about yucca flour? Also known as cassava, this starchy root is a unique grain- and gluten-free wheat flour swap because it’s also free from nuts, a common allergen. Made from the whole cassava root, Otto’s cassava flour is peeled, dried and ground into a fine powder perfect for replacing wheat flour in recipes that require wheat in a 1:1 ratio (unless you’re trying to make a yeast-based bread—you’ll need some recipe tweaks). SRP: $17.99

Pamela’s Grain and Gluten-Free Nut Flour Blend
Made with almond flour, organic coconut flour, pecan flour and walnut flour, there’s beauty in the simplicity of this brown-flecked blend. The gluten-free mavens at Pamela’s recently expanded their line to include a paleo-friendly option perfect for crafting better-for-you pizza crusts, fiber-boosted smoothies and even grain-free meatballs. This blend also boasts 4 grams protein per serving and zero sugar. SRP: $11.99

Sherpa Foods Cherry Almond Cranberry Tsampa Sprouted & Roasted Barley Cereal
For centuries, people living in the Himalayas relied on tsampa, sprouted and roasted barley, for long-lasting energy and supercharged nutrition. Now, Sherpa Foods brings this ingredient to the United States in palatable formats, such as this fruit-filled cereal. Made with organic whole-grain barley, organic almonds, dried tart cherries, cranberries and sweetened with organic coconut sugar, Tsampa is a hearty morning meal. SRP: $7.99

Barely Bread 100% Grain-Free Sliced Loaf
Grain-free bread that doesn’t taste like sawdust seems like an oxymoron, but Barely Bread truly delivers. Made with a paleo-friendly blend of eggs, unsweetened applesauce, almond flour, psyllium husk, coconut oil, coconut flour, sweet potato flour, flaxseed meal, almond butter, hazelnut flour, honey and more, now grain-free eaters can enjoy toast, sandwiches, croutons … you name it. Plus, each slice contains just 90 calories, 1 gram of sugar and 6 grams of carbs. SRP: $14.99

King Arthur Flour Essential Goodness Everyone’s Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix
This employee-owned company recently launched a line of classic baking mixes that make the quintessential version of coffeecake, pancakes, lemon bars, muffins, cheesecake bars and a gooey, pretty much perfect non-GMO chocolate chip cookie. But we love this product because for every purchase, King Arthur will donate one meal to Feeding America, the nation’s largest nonprofit that fights domestic hunger. SRP: $4.95

Cleaner center-of-the-plate

Beyond Meat The Beyond Burger
When outfitted with all the fixin’s—special sauce, lettuce, (vegan) cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun—the Beyond Burger is a satisfying meal that provides 20 grams protein per patty. While it resembles meat in appearance more than any other vegan burger, it isn’t an exact replica of the beef burgers of backyard grills. What Beyond Burger does do, however, is awaken a primal, dormant instinct that craves a protein-dense sandwich, hewn by flames and smoke. SRP: $5.99

Wild Planet Organic Roasted Chicken Breast
The first and (for now only) non-seafood item in Wild Planet’s line, this canned and roasted chicken contains just USDA Organic chicken and sea salt—that’s it! Perfect for adding atop salads, sandwiches, burrito bowls and more, we love this product for its simplicity, convenience and sustainable mission to source food consciously from both the land and the sea. Bonus: This product is also shelf stable. SRP: $5.49

The Jackfruit Company Curry Jackfruit
Stewed jackfruit, a Southeast Asian fruit is gaining tons of attention for its ability to replace beef, lamb or pork with a fiber-rich, vegan alternative. Here, young jackfruit is blended with spices like garam masala, coriander, turmeric, onion and cinnamon. Pour this ready-to-eat pouch over rice, noodles or vegetables, and you have a whole-food dish that seems nearly identical to meat. SRP: $4.99-$5.99

Lightlife Smart Menu Meatless Veggie Meatballs
Meatless meatballs have a bad reputation. But with 13 grams protein per three-ball serving, Lightlife’s new vegan option conjures memories of your Italian grandmother. Certified Vegan and Non-GMO Project Verified, a blend of textured soy protein concentrate, Sicilian tomato sauce, wheat flour, soy protein isolate and a bunch of veggies comprise this comfort-food staple—meatball hoagie, anyone?SRP: $4.99

Sophie’s Kitchen Vegan Toona Sea Salt
Vegans and vegetarians alike lament the ease that canned tuna offers while preparing meals. Need a savory, protein add-in to your grilled cheese? Boom, it’s a tuna melt. Now, vegans can make nutritious meals in a hurry with Vegan Toona, a pea protein and konjac root-based blend lightly sweetened with agave syrup and spices. Full disclosure: Vegan Toona isn’t a dead ringer for actual tuna, but it’s a passable alternative when incorporated into dishes. SRP: $3.99

Meaningful snacks

Imlak’esh Organics Sacha Inchi
Ultrahigh in healthy fats like omega-3s and omega-9s, these USDA Organic sacha inchi seeds are sustainably grown in the rainforest regions of Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. Imlak’esh, a company dedicated to working directly with farmers and cooperatives, aims to bridge the divide between local agricultural communities and the global market for improved socio-economic opportunities in impoverished regions. SRP: $13.99

Green Mustache Mustache Munchies Cheddarish
Baked into the cute, unmistakable shape of a mustache, these vegan crackers contain a savory blend of organic yeast extract, onion powder, rice vinegar, garlic and annatto to develop a delightful “cheesy” flavor. Thanks to a base of garbanzo flour, potato starch, organic rice flour and pea protein, the cracker itself is gluten-free, too. Kale and chia up the nutrition, making them parent-approved. SRP: $5.49

Sol Simple Organic Bananas
These soft, Nicaraguan-grown USDA Organic bananas are the real deal. Fair Trade USA certified, Sol Simple’s products are made with integrity. The bananas are grown on mountainous coffee farms rather than on specific banana plantations, so their leaves provide shade for organic coffee. The company also excels in their social practices by hiring single mothers in marginalized communities to support their families. SRP: $12.98

Our Little Rebell!on PopCorners Cinema Style
This new snack brand innovates in the category by offering a gluten-free, popped nosh made with Non-GMO Project Verified ingredients. Super craveable, these triangle-shaped “PopCorners” are made with yellow corn, sunflower oil, organic whey, maltodextrin, organic butter powder and organic nonfat dry milk, making them a satisfying afterschool or late-night snack. Just 120 calories per serving. SRP: $3.29

Soul Sprout Almond Crackers Sprouted Jive’N Chive & Onion
Now with cool, updated branding, Soul Sprout’s (formerly Two Moms In The Raw) almond-based crackers are paleo- and gluten-free snacks that are just as good topped with cheese or hummus as they are eaten directly out of the bag. USDA Organic sprouted raw almonds and flaxseeds comprise the majority of this cracker, and onion, chives, garlic and black pepper add flavor. SRP: $7.00

Innovation in Norway furthering efforts for sustainable seas

Extraction by putrefaction has a certain ring to it. A ring that will have older consumers recalling the gagging flavor of their grandmother’s cod liver oil. Allowing vats of discarded cod livers to rot and thereby separate from their fat, however, was the primary process for cod liver oil production for centuries.

The method was largely discarded as more sophisticated extraction methods were introduced in the mid-1900s. Today, fish oils are highly concentrated, near flavorless and often presented in emulsions that include smoothie-ready fruit flavors.

Visiting Norway earlier this year, I experienced an omega-complex oil whose flavor profile conjured anything but putrefied fish. Around a meeting table in Pharma Marine’s facility near the idyllic city of Alesund, Norway, chef Mindor Klauset prepared tapenade, guacamole, pesto and other recipes, featuring a prototypical fish oil product that is uniquely poised to get omegas out of soft gels and expand the functional foods realm beyond smoothies. Pharma Marine is a leading manufacturer of fish oil products in Norway’s Møre region.

But the story I saw in Norway didn’t end at tastier fish oils, and it wasn’t just new formats and flavors. The story of innovation in Norway isn’t as much about new products as it is about getting the most nutrition with the least impact.

Sustainable, Norway style

The northwestern coast of Norway is a collection of verdant, mountainous, finger-like peninsulas that elongate the miles of coastline to a distance greater than the length of the equator. Marine areas seven times the Nation’s land mass are home to 200 different species of fish and shellfish. Proximity to the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea gives Norwegian fishermen easy access to large shoals. The Norwegian Seafood Federation claims the country is responsible for some 21 million meals served in over 100 countries each day.

The fjords, or waterways between the peninsulas, are home to one of the oldest fishing cultures in the world. Stone-age depictions suggest Vikings have fished these waters for millennia. This history and economic dependency on the catch may be responsible for Norway’s position as a global leader in sustainably harvested seafood, with over 70 percent of their fisheries certified by the Marine Stewardship Council.

Sustainable fisheries start and end with the management of fish stocks—something carefully dictated by the U.N. and calling on extensive cooperation between the multiple nations sharing the waters. Universities and research organizations consistently rank Norway as the most responsible country for fisheries management, says Dr. Manfred Klinkhardt, a Hamburg, Germany-based biologist and author specializing in fisheries, aquaculture and fish processing. “First place, in front of USA, Canada, Australia and Iceland,” Klinkhardt notes.

One reason for the high ranking, Klinkhardt continues, “is Norway’s ecosystem approach in its fisheries management.” Past approaches managed fish stocks as individual species. “This method has shortcomings because it does not sufficiently take into account interaction between the species and the influence of environmental factors,” says Klinkhardt. “Today, Norway’s fisheries management tries to observe the consequences of fishing on the entire ecosystem.” Under such management, harvests increase and stocks grow, inviting even more opportunity from the sea.

This focus carries over into the manufacture of dietary supplements. “Norway has a culture of doing things right,” says Todd Parker, VP of sales at Marine Ingredients, another top manufacturer of omega-3 fatty acids, also in the Møre region. “There is no cutting of corners here. Norwegian industry is heavily regulated so quality assurance, product safety, employee rights, and the environmental protection are all enforced and adhered to.”

A refined history

The history of cod liver oil in Norway is nearly as long as that of fishing, also dating back to the Vikings who consumed the oil as part of their diet and traded it around the Baltic region as lamp oil. “The evolution of production methods started with separating the oil by little more than putrefaction,” says Parker, “followed by steam extraction, then more modern rendering methods. Presently, nearly all of the cod liver oil available on the market is distilled, winterized, deodorized and bleached.”

The bleaching is a process of organic filtration via the temporary addition of clay to the oil.  “That will absorb some color components and purify the oils,” says Leif Gjendemsjø, executive chairman of Pharma Marine. “But most of the time you do this you will also remove some of the vitamins. Vitamin A and D especially.” Therefore, Gjendemsjø says, “you have to add vitamins back into the product.” It’s a tradeoff in order to reduce odors and taste.

Other procedures, like winterization, that brings the oil to a desirable consistency by removing the congealed layer that appears at low temperatures, and deodorization also address the aesthetics of the finished product.

The high refinement process isn’t just about taste, however. “Something you didn’t have 100 years ago was contaminants,” says Gjendemsjø. “We are polluting every day, and unfortunately many of these contaminants go into the ocean and into the food chain and fish are eating it and it’s accumulated. I would say most fish will contain contaminants and many of them are fat soluble. It’s very important to remove these.” Molecular distillation, used in marketable oils since the late 1980s, does just that.

Still, Gjendemsjø clarifies, “the main reason for distillation is to separate fatty acids … to increase the amount of EPA/DHA.” And it’s exactly these clean, highly concentrated oils that make possible the oil’s move out of the capsule and into smoothies and eventually the dinner table in the form of salad-grade oils like those I sampled in Norway.

While no product is currently on the market, the dishes shared by chef Klauset in the Pharma Marine meeting room foretell an exciting culinary future for fish oils. The oils we sampled consisted of double-concentrated fish oil that was then cut with herb-infused olive oil, the latter producing the dominant flavor profile. These oils thereby had amounts of EPA/DHA typical to fish oils, but with the palatability of extra virgin olive oil—tasty enough to be taken plain or drizzled on a baguette.

Shelf stability, affecting storage time and temperature of oils, may pose a marketing challenge in the release of oils like these, but the challenge is likely worthwhile, given the possibility to broaden the omega-3 market and open avenues of functional foods deployment of the oils.

Over at Marine Ingredients, Parker confirms the expected continued rise of highly concentrated oils but also identifies an opposite trend toward more natural, minimally processed ingredients. “The Paleo Diet movement is one example of this trend,” Parker says. “For this group of consumers the pendulum may be swinging back to offerings such as natural cod liver oil. Marine Ingredients presently offers cod oil sourced from Alaska that maintains naturally formed vitamins D and A and intrinsic omega-3 fatty acid levels.”

Fish flavor has its place

The intersection of food and fortified function is growing across food segments, and the seafood industry has cast its net for market share, too. Firmenich, a global flavor and fragrance company, committed to sustainability and innovation, acquired the Norwegian company Bjørge Biomarine in 2002, and has since expanded their development of seafood-based flavorings (think: powdered cod for soup broths). The company is also active in developing flavorings for snacks and beverages that help reduce salt and sugar intake.

The first flavor house to obtain MSC certification for its seafood ingredients, Firmenich sees health and sustainability as key stimulators for innovation. Their development of new marine ingredients is driven both by the efficiencies of increased utilization during processing and by the broader goals of meeting the protein needs of a growing population in a way that is affordable, healthy and good for the environment.

In such, the company is working on solutions to extract more nutritional and health value from bio-marine sources. It is well positioned to do this, too, as the company processes 10,000 tons of seafood each year at its Norway location. “We are a flavor house, but now look to leverage our knowledge, resources and expertise to develop specific solutions in the area of dietary nutrition,” says Nicoletta Beatrice, Director Commercialization, Health & Nutrition. One of these opportunities is in the development of marine peptides, or marine protein hydrolysates. While they are not yet commercially available, these protein hydrolysates will be produced from the high quality muscle protein of MSC-certified Atlantic cod—a side-stream of the traditional filleting process.

The company has not disclosed when and how these ingredients will hit the market, but in their Norway facility’s tasting lab I sampled a beverage infused with marine peptides, and chips imbued with a mild and pleasant seafood flavor. It seems that marine-boosted protein snacks and energy drinks could be an emerging market for hydrolysates.      

With every new product or production tweak, the Norwegians are proving that innovation can drive growth while also preserving the resource that makes both possible.

Seas the day

Meeting the dietary needs of a growing population is an opportunity for the entire marine industry—especially one with an eye on sustainability. At least that’s how Norway’s biomarine industry sees it. A growing sector there is seizing that opportunity, not just through sustainable fisheries but through increased utilization and ocean farming.

“Aquaculture in Norway is equal to fishing,” says Klinkhardt, “and it is mostly focused on salmonids.” As a result, Norway is the world’s largest producer of salmon. “Norway is driving the development of aquaculture with great professionalism; all areas are constantly being developed.” Few countries have such modern and efficient fish farming technologies, he continues, with a strict legal framework for aquaculture, “so that their economic, environmental and social responsibilities are met.”

Viewing sustainability beyond just environmental responsibility is not to be ignored, Klinkhardt continues. “An intact environment alone cannot be a desirable objective if people go hungry … Real sustainability is only possible in a balanced coexistence of natural, human and economic concerns.”

Macroalgae is another area for the development of marine nutrients, and Norwegian organizations are developing this beyond kelp. These sea farms boast low input, nutrient-rich systems that are carbon sinks. More superfood supplements and dietary opportunities are likely to emerge as this industry grows.

Then comes utilization. “When we are harvesting from nature we have to utilize 100% of what we are harvesting,” Gjendemsjø says. “We cannot only take the fish and make a fillet and throw the rest back to the sea.” Fewer scraps overboard means more raw materials for the ever-broadening ingredient formats—which brings us back to fish oils. “Norway has a very long tradition in utilizing trimmings,” says Gjendemsjø, whose company currently makes Calamarine and Lipidmarine, utilizing fats from squid byproduct and a variety of fish, in addition to their core Codmarine line, meeting the needs of a dynamic market in addition to addressing sustainability concerns.

“I would say that the fish oil market is bifurcated,” Parker says. “For one group of consumers, price is everything. Conversely, there is a large and growing group of consumers who are highly quality oriented, especially the younger consumers. This group is interested in attributes such as country of origin, sustainable sourcing, and supply chain transparency. So for companies targeting higher end consumers there is more information that needs to be brought into the selling proposition, which can help to differentiate the product but also requires extra effort and due diligence.” 

“Traceability is becoming more and more important, and consumers want to know where the materials are coming from,” Gjendemsjø agrees. The bottom line, he believes, is that transparent sustainable practices will only become more important in the marketplace. “That we really are managing our fisheries and our ocean biomass in a sustainable and good way,” he says, will be a driving force. At least for Norway.

More products, more nutrition, more hungry people and a limited marine resource protected like no other: in a world of supply chains stretched to the breaking point, Norwegians are proving that the right ideas, executed the right way, can hold the equation together.