New Nutrition Business Podcast

Oatly, probably the world’s best-known plant milk brand, has announced sales in the first nine months of 2021 up 55% compared to the same period in 2020. But every $1 of product it sells costs it $1.26 to produce and as a result its losses are also up – by 700%.

Beyond Meat, the California-based plant substitute maker which raised a billion dollars to fund its ambition to get consumers to switch away from meat, has reported falling retail sales in the key US market, a collapse in its gross margin and mounting losses. And this isn’t just a story of one brand failing – the much- hyped US plant-based meat alternative category started to decline in 2021, even...

Low-carb diets are gaining momentum among the mainstream, and they're even being recognised as a treatment for type 2 diabetes. In this episode we talk to a UK general practitioner that has successfully been using a low carb diet to help his patients put type 2 diabetes into remission and improve the health of those with prediabetes.

For most people today, the term “cholesterol-lowering food" doesn’t ring any bells, but its history provides food businesses valuable lessons. As we find ourselves in another cycle of big investors and food companies pouring millions of dollars into the belief that they can “disrupt the food system” and “change people’s food choices”, it's worth revisiting the story of cholesterol-lowering to remi...

From soy and pea, to duckweed and moringa, plant-based proteins are having a moment. Julian Mellentin and plant protein expert Paul Hart do a deep dive into this area, and discuss why yellow split pea is the ‘new soy’, how plant proteins measure up against animal-sourced proteins, why ‘chemical’ ingredient inventories run counter to consumers’ beliefs, and more.

Sales have grown, year-on-year, for Beyond Meat, maker of plant-based meat substitutes. But comparing one quarter to another, sales have stalled. Gross margin has slumped, and not only has Beyond not made a profit in any of its four years of trading, but its losses have worsened. Currently it is incurring $9 of costs for every $8 of sales. It’s little surprise that it is highlighting to the stock...

A major cheese snacking brand has taken a bold and innovative step which will either confound all sceptics and create a new category – or repeat a mistake that tens of companies have made before.

The UK is in the middle of an oat milk frenzy, its per capita consumption of oat milk even higher than that of the US. The frenzy has been driven by the success of Oatly, a brand which was among the fastest-growing brands in the UK supermarket in 2020. In this episode, we take a look at the brand's financial performance, marketing and communications.

Covid-19 has brought into relief the links between metabolic disease and food and nutrition. We discuss the implications with Tim Avila, president of LA-based Systems Bioscience, and a nutrition super-connector working with companies from the US to Norway and New Zealand to create science-based products that improve human health. He talks about dietary guidelines, whether they help make people hea...

Investors are pouring billions  of dollars into companies that hope to commercialise plant-based meat substitutes and cultured meats, produced by fermentation. They are many times hailed as a greener alternative to animal agriculture. But how exactly is cultured meat produced and how likely is to save the planet? NNB North American editor Dale Buss has been digging into this area and he discusses...

Most of you have heard in a presentation or seen in the media that plant milks are mainstream and that they are taking over from cows' milk. Today we take a short tour around some facts to show that none of these statements are true. We look at the secret history of the plant milk business, and how the US dairy industry got to compete so successfully that just a few years from now sales of lactose...

Everyone loves an innovation incubator! Since 2012, the corporate or investment fund that doesn't have involvement in an incubator has become a rare exception. The newest convert to the creed of innovation is Ocean Spray Cranberries, the 90-year-old farmer-owned cooperative. 

Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon, is investing in a Chilean start-up that uses machine learning to create vegan alternatives to animal-based products. It’s one of many similar “vegan” investments by investors with a background in Silicon Valley, and it’s fuelled by their belief they can disrupt existing categories. It’s a belief that rests on certain assumptions – and they are about t...

New Nutrition Business's market research manager Joana Maricato discusses how food & beverage companies can successfully connect to personalised nutrition with Josh Anthony. Josh is the CEO at Nlumn, where he is helping companies create personalised products with benefits that people want. He was also the founding chief science officer at the personalised nutrition company Habit. 

If meat and dairy are to be redeemed with consumers who suspect livestock husbandry and conventional farming are bad for the planet, so-called “regenerative” agriculture will play a key role. Already companies, including food industry giants, are experimenting with ways of moving away from “corporate agriculture” to farming in ways that “feed” the soil in the hope of meeting emerging consumer dema...