Category: Innovation

November 28, 2020

Celebrate Small Businesses & Support Emerging Brands This Holiday Season

We’re proud to share the 2020 Emerge Holiday Gift & Entertaining Guide! Featuring many of the small, growing consumer packaged goods (CPG) teams who are part of the Emerge learning and networking community, this guide is full of innovative and better-for-you products that can compliment your holiday entertaining and gift-giving needs! Each of these small, […]

February 10, 2020

What is Key To a Safe Food Supply? Collaboration.

Selling safe and wholesome food is a top industry priority. To maintain consumer trust and protect public health, retailers can build stronger food safety coalitions that work toward preventing contamination throughout the supply chain.

The Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) invited FMI to a meeting to develop data-driven goals for the Healthy People 2030 initiative, a national effort that sets objectives to improve the health and well-being of all people in the United States. This meeting brought together food safety professionals to support these Healthy People objectives in order to reduce infections caused by major foodborne pathogens, reduce severe allergic reactions and increase the proportion of consumers who follow key food safety practices.

Stakeholders from public health and regulatory departments, consumer groups, academia and industry participated in numerous workshops to identify areas of shared food safety responsibility. It is through this shared responsibility that food safety professionals can coordinate strategies for reducing foodborne illness.

In a presentation titled, “Industry Led Intervention Strategies,” FMI highlighted the efforts food retailers are taking to protect public health. Participants learned how FMI resources:

Reduce food safety risk factors.
Strengthen cleaning and sanitation practices.
Improve food safety training and certification programs.
Reduce pathogenic E. coli and Salmonella contamination in leafy greens.
Mitigate Listeria, Norovirus, and Hepatitis A contamination.
Over the next decade, food retailers will play an important role in achieving the 2030 Healthy People objectives to reduce foodborne illness. While technological advancements are revolutionizing outbreak investigations and responses, sustaining strategic partnerships with regulators and consumers will be key to improving food safety behaviors and practices.

February 6, 2020

FMI reports address future of food, consumers

See the full story by Andy Nelson on  Supermarketperimeter.com The recently rebranded FMI – The Food Industry Association has partnered with Accenture and Ernst & Young  on two studies aimed at predicting future food industry and consumer trends. Accenture focused on the new marketplace and how best to prepare for future consumer needs. The report, Tomorrow’s Food Marketplace […]

February 4, 2020

Plant-Based Food Trend Insights

In a highly innovative, yet continuously developing market, comes the need for direction in how to follow changing consumer behaviors and best capture buyer dollars seeking plant-based alternatives. To achieve that goal, FMI produced a three-part webinar series on the plant-based topic that offers an in-depth analysis of the booming plant-based industry.

January 10, 2020

Sustainability leads off five trends for 2020

Sustainability and choices that can lessen an individual’s environmental impact are top-of-mind for many of us as we move into the new decade. Many of these choices have to do with food purchasing decisions, as supply chain aspects such as food production, packaging, and water use can lead to degradation when done without sustainability in mind.   According to this blog post by Food Business News, “sustainability and climate change make […]

December 18, 2019

KeHE’s Product Innovation Gurus Unveil Their Trend Picks for the New Year

FMI Emerge has a great collaboration with KeHe so sharing their  2020 Trends to Watch.

Get ready to boost your brainpower, guide your gut health, improve Fido’s food, protect the planet, and read the next chapter of CBD in 2020 according to KeHE’s Product Innovation Gurus. Our trend experts have been keeping an ear to the ground and foraging for new products in order to predict the top five trends that you’ll be talking about in 2020. Here’s what you can expect to see in your neighborhood grocery store and #trending with your friends:

December 14, 2019

2019 Emerge Smarter Available Content

As we finish out 2019, we are pleased with the valuable education content we hosted and have available for subscribers.

You can dive into recorded thought leadership on fiancing, e-commerce, co-manufacturing/production, packaging, distribution and more. 

2019 Emerge Smarter Available Recordings for Emerge Subscribers
e-Commerce Insights – What are Upcoming Changes with Selling on Amazon
What Retailers Desire in Emerging Brands
Finding Finance for Growth
Packaging & Design Strategy
Working with Distributors
Exploring Food Service as a Channel
Retail Strategy for Growth

November 25, 2019

FMI Emerge Subscriber Companies are Finalists in the Good Food Awards

We are excited to share that two companies from Maine, who are part of the FMI Emerge program, are finalists for this year’s 2020 Good Food Awards! Maine Grains is a finalist within the ‘Grains’ category for their Organic Corn Polenta and Organic Pearled Farro. Maine Grains’ mission is to “provide a strong, positive community […]

November 20, 2019

The Surge of Plant-Based Foods

FMI’s 2019 U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends report finds a rising number of households (33%) have at least one member following a non-medically prescribed diet such as vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian or flexitarian. Increased demand for personalization is challenging the food shopping experience, and a growing number of shoppers are turning to plant-based proteins to help meet their unique household needs. The Power of Meat 2019 report finds plant-based meat alternative sales increased 19.2% last year and account for $878 million in annual sales.

So what does this all mean for retailers and CPG manufacturers? It’s clear that consumers across the board have a growing interest in plant-based foods, including plant-based protein – and they are buying more of these items.

November 18, 2019

The Future of Food Retail – The Omnichannel Approach

The future of food retail is the omnichannel approach. The food retail industry is constantly experiencing shifts in consumer behaviors and trends with online food retail. Traditional grocers have a unique opportunity to take advantage of this behavioral shift and lead the unification of an in-person and online grocery shopping experience. Innovation in productivity, convenience, […]