Conagra benefits from sustained and elevated at-home demand in Q3 2021 Still benefiting from a sustained consumer shift to at-home eating over a year past the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Conagra has registered a nearly 10% increase in organic net sales for Q3 2021 compared to the same period last year.
The company experienced a 9.7% increase in organic net sales across its core retail segments refrigerated/frozen (12.1%), snacks (+13.1%), and staples (+15%) – driven by a 6.1% increase in volume and a favorable price/mix impact of 3.6%. Organic net sales were partly offset by a continued downturn to Conagra’s foodservice business, the company noted.
End the cage age: Unilever and Nestlé petition to phase out caged hens in Europe Nestlé, Unilever and Mondelēz International are among the food majors calling for an EU-wide ‘phase out’ of caged hens in farming.
An estimated 413 million laying hens are raised across the bloc, producing 6.9m tonnes of eggs or egg product per year. Average egg consumption is calculated at 12kg per capita per year.
While progress has been made to improve welfare standards for laying hens in recent years, notably via the European Commission’s banning of battery-caged eggs under Directive 1999/74/EC in 2012, many in the food sector believe more can be done.
Health campaigners call for ‘honest’ labelling on so-called healthy snacks Researchers at Action on Salt are demanding a restriction on the use of what it calls misleading nutrition claims on HFSS products after its new data revealed seemingly ‘healthy’ snacks contain often higher salt levels than crisps and flavoured nuts.
The group analysed 118 snacks including dried/roasted pulses and processed pulse snacks such as lentil curls, chickpea chips and puffs,
which are often perceived as healthy alternatives to the usual snacking options such as crisps and flavoured nuts.
Despite these products being on average lower in fat, saturated fat and calories, and higher in fibre compared to standard crisps and nuts, over one in three (43%) contained more than 1.5g/100g of salt – often more than that in crisps and nuts. KP salted peanuts contain 1.3g/100g salt, while Walkers Ready Salted crisps contain 0.35g of salt in a 25g bag.
Sustainable sourcing: food producers seeing the bigger picture in 2021 Sustainable sourcing of food packaging and ingredients has climbed its way to the top of the agenda for many companies in 2021, including some of the industry’s big players.
In February, for example, Greencore announced a range of measures, committing to 100% recyclable or reusable packaging by 2025 and the sustainable sourcing of all raw materials by 2030. Earlier in the month global bakery ingredients business Zeelandia made a pledge to make its use of palm oil 100% sustainable.
Initiatives such as these are well timed, according to Saskia Nuijten, head of public engagement at European innovation initiative EIT Food.
Not all processed foods should be demonised, say nutritionists What do canned baked beans, low fat fruit yogurt, ice cream, pre-packaged sliced bread, ready-made pasta sauces, and breakfast cereals with added sugar all have in common?
They are all classed as ultra-processed foods, according to the NOVA classification, which defines ultra-processed foods as those made by industrial processing and that often contain additives such as colours, flavours, emulsifiers or preservatives.
A new campaign from the British Nutrition Foundation warns that many healthy foods are being unfairly tarnished by the increased attention currently being placed on all things ‘ultra-processed’.
It is hammering home the message to consumers that, while high consumption of many ultra-processed foods - such as fizzy drinks and sugary cereals containing high levels of added sugar, fat, and/or salt, and lacking in vitamins and fibre - can include a higher risk of cardiova