Why Big Food is reformulating growth not just recipes
From halted breakups to billion-dollar buyouts, the world’s biggest food groups aren’t just tweaking products, they’re rethinking how growth works
General Mills
Oreo, Lucky Charms and Barbie lead a new wave of celebration-driven launches
From Nutella pastries and Marvel cookies to Barbie smoothies and Irish oats, brands are rolling out limited-time products designed to turn everyday eating occasions into something special
Ingredients Compendium No 3: Resistant Starch
The ingredient blurring the line between starch and fibre
As manufacturers push fibre levels higher while cutting sugar and protecting texture, resistant starch is emerging as one of the most practical tools in modern food reformulation
Dole Whip, Lucky Charms, Cookie Pop and SuperPretzel kick off March’s spring snack surge
From tropical frozen desserts to stadium-style pretzel bites, brands are leaning into brighter flavours, playful formats and seasonal moments.
Baking NPD: Protein muffins, pistachio nostalgia and cookie culture
Smaller households, impulse occasions and better-for-you cues are driving a new wave of baking innovation
General Mills lowers sales expectations but expands its playbook to win back consumers
The packaged food giant is banking on bolder taste, functional nutrition and smarter packaging to offset weak cereal and snack demand
World’s biggest snack companies: who’s really got the crunch in 2026
In a near-$700bn global market, a handful of companies now decide what scales, what sticks and what survives, and in 2026, the power gap is only widening
The 3 nutrients quietly shaping mainstream snacks
Fiber, protein and whole grains aren’t new ideas but in 2026 they’re doing more than any superfood to reshape snack portfolios
World’s biggest bakery companies: who’s really got the proof in 2026
Bakery looks like a steady, staple business, until you follow the money. In 2026, a small group of companies controls an outsized share of the world’s bread, buns and baked goods, and the distance between the leaders and the rest is still growing
Slack-fill suit puts cereal packaging practices in the legal spotlight
A class action filed in California in December accuses General Mills of selling air-heavy cereal boxes, dragging a familiar packaging gripe back into court
Oreo goes zero sugar, General Mills goes playful and January gets interesting
From Oreo’s first zero sugar sandwich cookie and General Mills’ breakfast reset to £2 pie pop-ups, protein-packed cereals and Burns Night limited editions, January’s launches show how brands are using comfort, culture and clever marketing
Sugar, stocks and scrutiny: Mondelez, Kraft and General Mills caught in Trump’s nutrition reset
The market reaction to Donald Trump’s dietary overhaul isn’t about kale versus cookies – it’s about whether Washington has finally decided the packaged food sector needs firmer rules, not friendlier guidance
From Shredded Wheat to second chances: Why the UK cereal aisle isn’t done yet
After declaring breakfast cereal a category in decline, Cereal Partners UK is quietly placing a £67m bet on its future and exposing how Britain’s morning habits are evolving faster than the flakes
From kings’ cake to crunchy corn: Comfort snacks get a smarter glow-up for 2026
Indulgent treats aren’t being replaced – they’re being refined. This latest wave of NPD upgrades familiar formats with cleaner labels, global flavor cues and subtle functional gains
Scandals, shockwaves & shakeups: 12 of 2025’s most standout moments
From billion-dollar brinkmanship to red-dye revolts and zero-gravity corn chips, 2025 proved nothing in bakery and snacks is too big, too weird or too controversial to make headlines
General Mills says price cuts are working
Cutting prices on about two‑thirds of its North America retail lineup helped General Mills beat Q2 estimates and flatten volume declines
Festive, fabulous and gone in a flash: The LTOs everyone should be chasing
This year’s festive one-offs range from a cult trifle to resurrected ‘80s snacks and a Christmas sandwich that thinks it’s royalty
San Francisco sues Kellogg, General Mills, PepsiCo, Mondelez and more over ‘engineered’ foods
City officials say some of America’s biggest brands helped shape eating habits that are now coming back to haunt public health budgets
General Mills, WK Kellogg & Ferrero spark a fresh fight for the breakfast bowl
Once the poster child for easy mornings, breakfast cereal has been losing shelf swagger. Now a new wave of innovation, investment and protein-packed reinvention is pushing the category back into the spotlight
NPD: Feel-good snacking gets serious as brands go big on nostalgia, kindness & chaos
From colorless chips to collectible crisps and gooey skillet cookies, this season’s launches show how playful storytelling is reshaping what shoppers expect from a simple snack
The snackdown: The great UPF witch hunt
When the food industry finds itself smeared as guilty by association – it’s not just the definition of ‘processing’ that’s under fire – it’s the entire business model
General Mills bets big on overlooked consumers to drive next wave of growth
The CPG giant is adapting products, pack sizes and marketing to place aging consumers, GLP-1 users and Hispanic shoppers at the center of its fiscal 2026 plans
Fright club: Halloween 2025 NPD gets bold, boozy and baked
Halloween spending is set to smash records this year, and brands are responding with limited edition launches designed to thrill. From eerie éclairs to glow-in-the-dark Goldfish, 2025’s NPD lineup is frightfully inventive
Opinion
The snackdown: Trump calls ESG a scam – why snack giants call it survival
ESG’s under political fire in Washington, but the snack giants keep flexing. From Oreos to Doritos, their reports show that in today’s food industry, trust’s as valuable as profit.
How Gen Z made Free From the flavor of modern wellness
Forget bland gluten-free loaves and chalky sugar-free chocolate. For Gen Z, Free From is culture, not compromise and it’s rewriting what health and indulgence look like
From Oreos to Ozempic: Inside the $100bn Free From race
Gluten-free cookies, sugar-free chocolate and GLP-1 diets are colliding. The world’s biggest food makers are scrambling to stay relevant
Why General Mills is cheering on the GLP-1 boom
Weight-loss drugs threaten to cut calorie consumption, but General Mills sees opportunity in a leaner consumer, betting big on protein, fiber and smarter supply chains
General Mills’ turnaround play balances short-term price cuts with long-term ‘remarkability’
Despite steep sales and profit declines in the first quarter, the Cheerios maker says price cuts, increased advertising and innovation are winning over budget-conscious consumers and laying the groundwork for a volume-driven rebound in fiscal year 2026
Sustainable September
The ingredient squeeze: How wheat and cocoa could rewrite the food chain
At first glance food trends seem led by flavor, convenience and price – but sustainability, climate change and cleaner supply chains are now the real drivers
From field to aisle: Regenerative won’t work without supply chain buy-in
Heartland Craft Grains’ pact with Grown Climate Smart proves regenerative certification is becoming a supply-chain movement
The UPF lawsuit that fizzled – and why the next one might not
A US judge tossed the first big UPF lawsuit, but with mounting science and regulators circling, bakery, snack and cereal brands shouldn’t breathe easy just yet
Rise and shine, it’s breakfast time: NPD to start the day right
From buttery croissants to protein biscuits and playful pancake mixes, breakfast is getting a fresh wave of innovation
The snackdown
Snacklash: Why Big Food’s boldest deals are being rethought
As scrutiny mounts over Bimbo’s stalled bid for Wickbold, Mars’ frozen takeover of Kellanova and Smucker’s costly Hostess misfire, the M&A playbook in bakery and snacks is under serious pressure - from regulators, consumers and the market itself
Synthetic dyes are out. Here’s who’s in and how they’re achieving it
Major food companies like General Mills, Kraft Heinz, Conagra and Smucker are leading a sweeping shift away from synthetic colours. Here’s where the US food industry stands right now
Wimbledon bakes, Bastille bites & Fourth of July fuel: This summer’s snack calendar
Big flavours are landing in sync with summer’s biggest moments, from Centre Court drama to fireworks and French flair
General Mills profits slide but bets on pets for 2026 win
The FMCG major has a positive outlook despite a negative end to the year
General Mills and Kraft Heinz plan to remove artificial dyes from US products by end of 2027
The US food industry is under significant pressure from federal regulators, state legislators and an outspoken and active subset of consumers to remove artificial dyes from products, although FDA has yet to take official action banning petroleum-based colors
Bonuts, crookies & duffins: The bakery hybrid trend that keeps evolving
Why settle for just a croissant or a cookie when you can have both in one bite? From Paris to Toronto, bakers are doubling down on unexpected mashups that have moved beyond gimmick and into the mainstream
Smart brands are cleaning up their clean labels
Clean label used to be the goal. Now it’s just the baseline and the smartest brands are going further, stripping out the fluff, tightening the science and telling a clearer story
Hue got it: The colour psychology behind top snacks
Before we even take a bite, colour tells our brain what to crave. And it’s not just the frosting that’s doing the talking – it’s psychology, marketing and a bit of regulatory drama
General Mills under fire for ‘healthy’ claims as dye controversy heats up
General Mills is increasingly feeling the pressure on all sides, facing backlash over petroleum-based dyes in its cereals, consumer boycotts and weaker-than-expected earnings
Global reformulation snapshot: Who’s actually making bakery & snacks healthier
From soft sugar cuts to bold sodium slashes, the push to make baked goods and snacks better for us is heating up but progress depends on where you look
The dye is cast: Industry reacts to FDA’s food colour ban
The Trump Administration’s crackdown on artificial colours has manufacturers split: some gearing up for reformulation; others pushing back hard. Will industry cooperation or confrontation shape the future of food colour?
General Mills boycott reflects rising tide of consumer discontent
As protests over diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) rollbacks ripple across Corporate America, the General Mills boycott is charting its own path and potentially opening a new front in the consumer protest movement
Why is Smucker’s hitching Hostess’ comeback to cannabis culture?
To celebrate 4/20 - the unofficial cannabis holiday - JM Smucker is giving Hostess a puff of cultural relevance by cozying up to cannabis fans
RFK Jr tightens dye ban deadline: ‘The writing’s on the wall’
US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has accelerated the timeline for food manufacturers to eliminate synthetic dyes such as Red 40, setting a firm two-year deadline during a recent interview
Why Americans are boycotting Big Food brands like Walmart, PepsiCo and General Mills
Major US brands like Walmart and PepsiCo are facing a wave of consumer boycotts over rollbacks to their DEI commitments, while General Mills is under fire for allegedly selling overpriced, chemical-laden foods and contributing to worsening food insecurity
Plastic is poisoning profits and putting bakery & snack makers under fire
Food safety failures linked to plastic contamination are triggering recalls, damaging reputations and shaking consumer trust in even the most established brands. Are you doing enough to keep your products - and profits - clean?
From mochi to muffins: Vanilla takes the lead in 2025 NPD
World Vanilla Day is back on 10 April and brands are celebrating with a wave of bold, creamy, vanilla-forward innovations
9 breakfast breakouts you’ll want to wake up for
From quick-grab oat cakes to indulgent chocolatey cereal clusters, breakfast is having a serious glow-up in 2025