Top 7 from 7: The key global food industry news of the past 7 days (Oct 15-22)
USA
1. Online grocery sales triple
Amazon is losing market share in the online grocery sector since it acquired Whole Foods, but the e-commerce giant together with Walmart account nearly 28% of online grocery sales, according to a recent report by market research firm Packaged Facts.
The report revealed that online groceries more than tripled between 2013 and 2018, but it still only accounts for 2% of total grocery spending.
Moving forward, Packaged Facts expects online grocery sales will more than quadruple between 2018 and 2023, as online options become more available and consumers become more open to trying online shopping.
“Three key factors have created a perfect environment for growth of the online grocery market in the U.S. over the last five years,” said David Sprinkle, research director for Packaged Facts.
“There’s been increased use of mobile phones and smartphones, interfaces for websites and mobile apps have improved, and there’s been a notable expansion of crowdsourced business models to shopping and delivery.”
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2. Duckweed could offer plant-based protein source
As interest in plant-based protein continues to grow, California-based Plantible Foods thinks the aquatic plant Lemna (also known as duckweed) offers benefits unmatched by other plant-based protein sources.
The plant-based food industry saw dollar sales grow 20% in 2018 compared to 2017, and reached $3.3bn, according to Plant Based Foods Association data commissioned from Nielsen.
Maurits van de Ven, Plantible Foods co-founder, told our US edition: “It [lemna] hasn’t been a crop that humans have been eating because in traditional agriculture, it’s always been harder to control the growth of duckweed so they’ve never been considered to be produced as food ingredients.
“However, now technology, especially in aquaculture, has advanced.”
Plantible Foods said it is developing a cultivation infrastructure and working towards an automated system to grow a sustainable supply of lemna for use in food industry formulations. The company uses a proprietary cold-press extraction process to extract the organic and white protein ingredient from the green lemna plant.
3. Making food labels easier to understand
Food labels and certifications can be confusing, so a new nonprofit project called FoodPrint.org is trying to help consumers make informed purchasing decisions at the grocery store.
The idea is to present information on how food items travel through the supply chain in its one-stop-shop website.
Jerusha Klemperer, program director of FoodPrint, explained: “This site is truly unique and we’re very excited about it because it really brings those two things together for visitor. It touches on how do you approach the issue of sustainable food in a daily pragmatic way, but also how to dig much deeper on those issues, and how to press for that larger change.”
On the website’s top bar, visitors can look for information sorted by ‘Issues’ (animal welfare, food and the environment, social justice and food production, public health, and more). Visitors can also sort information by occasion, such sustainable dining out, sustainable shopping, sustainable cooking, and more.
Europe
4. Roquette eyes potential of high-protein pea ingredients
First up this week is news from Europe that Roquette is working on a range of new protein ingredients using the high-protein pea variety developed by Equinom, which uses a proprietary software-based breeding program to develop seeds with improved traits through non-GMO techniques.
The pea variety that Roquette will scale up has 50% more protein than commercially available alternatives.
Pascal Leroy, vice president of Roquette’s pea and new protein business, said the investment and partnership would enable Roquette to position itself as “a pioneer” in the plant protein value chain by producing “responsible and sustainable” high-protein peas.
Equinom is also in the process of developing new varieties of mungbean, fava and lentils, and has already brought to market a split-proof sesame seed variety that allows for automatic, rather than manual, harvesting.
Asia
5. China’s booming e-booze market
China has become the largest online alcohol market in the world, according to a study by IWSR, which puts the Chinese e-commerce market for alcoholic drinks at US$ 6.1bn.
“This is four times the size of the US beverage alcohol ecommerce market, and three times the size of the next-largest markets of France and the UK,” said IWSR in a statement.
The majority of the sales occur via two of China’s e-commerce giants, Tmall and JD.com, which make up 70% of the online alcohol market. Over 50% of Chinese consumers make online purchases on a monthly or more frequent basis.
“Wine is the major alcoholic beverage category sold online, typically with 60% to 70% share of online beverage alcohol sales,” added IWSR.
The anticipated growth rate for the alcohol e-commerce market in China is 15% per year.
6. Nestlé India enters gourmet dips segment
Nestlé India has launched news dips and spreads under its Maggi brand. The products have a low-fat yoghurt base, containing ‘almost 80% yogurt with less than 3% fat’.
The company told our Asian edition that the products are currently only available in Delhi with two flavors formulated for local Indian tastes are available: Cheese Garlic and Jalapeno Salsa.
“Yoghurt based low fat MAGGI Dip & Spread is an entirely new category for us which will offer […] a whole new experience,” said Arvind Bhandari, Nestle India General Manager, Dairy.
“The increasing eating-out culture and aspiring India's growing appetite for global cuisines are leading to the trend of cooking unconventional and international dishes at home.
“We would like to tap this opportunity and emerge as a significant player in the segment with promise of convenience, health and exotic taste of dip and spread with different food types.”
7. Lact’Union eyes ambient drinking yogurt markets in 30 countries
French dairy producer Lact’Union will launch a new ambient drinking yogurt in more than 30 countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle-East.
The Halal-certified drinking yogurt will launch in November under the Promess brand. It will be available in a Tetra Prisma Aseptic 200ml carton which has a long shelf-life at ambient temperature, without added preservatives and addresses the rise of on-the-go consumption combined with healthy products.
“Part of Lactinov’s strategy is to expand in export markets with products made from our own milk collection such as plain or flavored milk,” explained Alexandre Zeitlin, export director, Lactinov. “We are happy to add some value-added products to this range, such as this ambient drinking yogurt.
“Partnerships with manufacturers such as Tetra Pak, enabled us to find the appropriate packaging to meet export demands.”
