A juice marketed by Coca-Cola as “Pomegranate Blueberry” actually contains very little juice from either of those fruits, according to the U.S. Supreme Court, which allowed a false advertising suit filed by juice maker Pom Wonderful to proceed. Coca-Cola’s advertising practices regarding the juice “allegedly mislead and trick consumers, all to the injury of competitors”. Coca-Cola’s juice blend is 99.4 percent apple and grape juices, 0.3 percent pomegranate juice and 0.2 percent blueberry juice, the court noted. At issue in the case was how to reconcile two federal laws, one allowing private lawsuits over misleading advertising and the other authorizing federal regulation of food labels. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the unanimous Court, ruled that the two laws had different purposes.

A Nestlé company health research unit has joined forces with a Massachusetts-based analytical technologies firm to research the possibility of creating “made-to-measure” vitamin combinations customized for individuals. The first phase of their research will develop tests that can accurately measure levels of vitamins and other nutrients in blood and urine. Current analytical techniques aren’t sensitive enough, Nestlé says, are too slow, and lack the ability to measure a wide variety of molecules. Nestlé and Waters Corporation hope to come up with technologies that measure nutrients “in a quick, accurate and robust way”.

Yet another snack/dessert mash-up was introduced to the world recently when fast-food eatery Carl’s Jr. unveiled the Bisnut, a hybrid biscuit-doughnut it is market-testing. The treats are basically doughnut-shaped biscuits covered with white or chocolate icing and rainbow sprinkles. The company is testing the new product in its Southern California outlets, priced at $0.99 each or two for $1.89. A company spokesman said the restaurants had the signature “Made from Scratch Biscuit” dough laying around anyway, so they “tried making donuts out of it, and they tasted great".

A 12-week clinical study subsidized by the U.S. beverage industry finds that drinking diet sodas helps people lose weight. The researchers, two of whom are paid consultants of the Coca-Cola Company, said that those who drank diet beverages during the study “lost more weight and reported feeling significantly less hungry” than participants who drank only water. The study among 303 people showed that people who drank diet sodas lost an average of 13 pounds – 44 percent more than the control group, which lost an average of nine pounds. Sixty-four percent of the diet soda group lost at least five percent of their body weight, compared with only 43 percent of the control group. Both diet soda and water groups saw reductions in waist circumference and blood pressure.

Add another cute character to the list of marketing icons McDonald’s has used to get its unhealthful food message across to kids. At least that’s how the anti-McDonald’s community sees it. The fast-food giant recently introduced Happy, the new mascot of the child-focused Happy Meal. According to the director of the Value the Meal campaign at Corporate Responsibility International, Happy – basically a red Happy Meals box with a toothy grin, bug eyes, a golden arches hat and spindly legs – is the company’s latest effort to “market an unhealthy brand to kids”. The aging clown Ronald McDonald, meanwhile, is apparently getting a makeover so he’ll remain “modern and relevant”, according to a company spokesman.

Turns out, eye contact – even from cartoon mascots on children’s cereal boxes and oatmeal canisters – is crucial to making connections with people and food products. Recent research into the importance of eye contact suggests that a lack of it in infancy may explain conditions as autism and schizophrenia. Eye contact makes people more socially aware and empathetic, and it can also lead to better health outcomes in doctor-patient relationships (if the doctor in fact looks at the patient rather than a laptop). It’s no surprise, then, that food brands that use characters – Aunt Jemima, Chef Boyardee, Uncle Ben, the Gerber baby, etc. – have been around a long time, while competitors without eye contact have vanished.

Canadian bread company A. C. Simmonds and Sons has acquired FoodCrafters Group Inc., a Toronto-based supplier of baked and gluten-free products to retailers and food manufacturers. FoodCrafters owns Breadko National Bakery and Plasticap, a supplier of caps and closures for the food, dairy and beverage industries. Breadko makes pita bread, flat bread, thin buns, panini and thin bagels under brand names Alwatan Pita, Zeus Flatbread and Tiranga Nan. Simmonds also announced the launch of Mozaic Brands Corp., which will consolidate the company’s food businesses, including recently-acquired Goudas Foods, under one roof.  Simmonds says the acquisitions and realignments position it to better serve the expected $12 billion ethnic market in Canada, which over the next decade will comprise immigrants from China, South Asia and Latin America.

A new joint venture involving three of the largest U.S. flour companies is set to begin operations soon following a nod from the U.S. Justice Dept. Flour miller Ardent Mills has somewhat complex parentage: it merges ConAgra Mills and Horizon Milling, itself a joint venture of Cargill-CHS joint venture formed in 2002. Ardent will focus on developing “innovative flour and grain products, services and solutions”, according to the companies. As a condition of the merger, DOJ required ConAgra and Cargill to sell four flour milling facilities to a U.S.-based subsidiary of Tokyo-based Nisshin Flour Milling Inc. Ardent Mills, now the nation's largest miller, will comprise 40 flour mills, three bakery mix facilities and a specialty bakery in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. The company headquarters will be in the Denver metro area.

A 12-week clinical study subsidized by the U.S. beverage industry finds that drinking diet sodas helps people lose weight. The researchers, two of whom are paid consultants of the Coca-Cola Company, said that those who drank diet beverages during the study “lost more weight and reported feeling significantly less hungry” than participants who drank only water. The study among 303 people showed that people who drank diet sodas lost an average of 13 pounds – 44 percent more than the control group, which lost an average of nine pounds. Sixty-four percent of the diet soda group lost at least five percent of their body weight, compared with only 43 percent of the control group. Both diet soda and water groups saw reductions in waist circumference and blood pressure.

The Wall Street Journal sees a threat to free speech, and an attempted Federal Trade Commission “power grab”, in a lawsuit now at the federal appellate level that seeks to restrict the advertising claims of a pomegranate juice manufacturer and, by extension, other food and beverage companies. The makers of Pom Wonderful allegedly overstepped the boundaries of truthful advertising when they said the juice would help consumers “cheat death”. The Journal says the FTC seeks to create a burdensome hurdle – findings from at least two clinical trials – for food companies to make health claims for a product.

Spicy is where it’s at these days, especially if you are a young, Hispanic or older consumer looking to sharpen your age-dampened sense of taste. Research has found – and food companies are responding to the fact – that people who like spicy foods for the endorphin-triggering experience tend to be loyal buyers. New mainstream products providing a spicy kick include Helper Bold from General Mills, a product line that includes flavors like Firehouse Chili Macaroni. Bumble Bee is selling canned tuna with chipotle or jalapeños, and Kraft is marketing sliced cheese laced with habanero peppers. Packaging for the spicy cheeses now includes a "heat scale" where five chili peppers warn of the level of spice: from mild (Smoky Chipotle) to extra fiery (Hot Habañero).

One of Burger King’s most popular ads over the last 10 years was the “Subservient Chicken”, a 2004 campaign based on the “Have it Your Way” theme that garnered more than a billion online views. Subservient Chicken was a man dressed up in a chicken suit that would respond to Web site visitor commands. In its new incarnation, the campaign has a broader target market – not just young men – and has a new twist: the chicken seems to be lost and the Web site provides visual clues as to where it might be. The campaign, tied to the Chicken Big King, includes newspapers, TV, and digital and social media.

Unilever acknowledged it is reviewing the sales performance of its SlimFast weight loss brand as well as its pasta sauces unit, which includes the Ragu brand. A company spokesman said the review could lead to a divestiture of the product lines, but “it doesn’t necessarily have to”. Purchased in 2000 for £1.4 billion, the SlimFast line was badly bruised by the rise of the Atkins low-carb products starting in 2003, and has recently felt the impact of Kellogg’s refocus of some of breakfast cereals as weight loss products. Industry experts say Unilever’s plan is to focus more tightly on its health and beauty businesses.

New York-based yogurt maker Chobani has secured a $750 million loan to fuel aggressive expansion plans, specifically to add new products and begin marketing internationally. Private equity firm TPG Capital is providing a second-lien loan, which puts the company behind banks that have financed Chobani since 2005 if there is a default. TPG is also receiving stock warrants tied to performance targets that could give it a 20 percent to 35 percent equity stake if the company performs well.

Fruit d'Or has introduced encapsulated cranberry powders with a fill weight of 500 mg of pure cranberry for urinary tract health. The company uses an advanced encapsulation technology involving a two-piece capsule without the use of lubricating agents. Capsules contain no fillers, chemicals, additives or excipients, and are easy to swallow. Fruit d'Or is the only cranberry company that plants, grows, harvests and dries its own cranberry product into nutraceutical powders. The company guarantees a standardized potency of its natural cranberry powders to contain a minimum of 10 percent PAC content.

Procter & Gamble is selling its pet food division to candymaker Mars Inc. for $2.9 billion in cash to focus more closely on its personal care and fabric care businesses. Market analysts said P&G is taking the step to boost stock value after several recalls of Salmonella-tainted pet food damaged the bottom line. Virginia-based Mars will keep 1,100  P&G employees in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area, and will acquire five pet food manufacturing sites in the U.S. P&G will retain ownership of the Cincinnati facilities, as well as two pet food factories that make other P&G products outside the U.S. P&G’s pet foods include the billion-dollar Iams brand, Eukanuba and Natura. Mars has a pet food division based in Belgium.

German contract chocolate maker HERZA Schokolade will introduce at the PLMA trade fair in Amsterdam new products in the functional bar category as well as in small chocolate pieces for muesli, baked goods and ice cream. New products will include Mini Clusters that can used as ingredients, as chocolate snacks, or in combination with cereal, nuts and fruit. The company is also debuting high-protein bars called Color-Snackers. HERZA can make the bars for customers in different formats, from 35 to 100 grams, in various lengths, widths and thicknesses. HERZA produces customized energy and protein bars for major brands in sports nutrition, diet food, and health and lifestyle products.

A federal investigation launched in 2011 over a 2007 recall of Salmonella-tainted Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter may result in criminal charges against the owner of the Sylvester, Ga., production plant, ConAgra Foods, Inc. The company said in a statement, however, that it was negotiating with the U.S. Department of Justice and it believes the outcome will be a “misdemeanor criminal disposition” of the case. The focus of the investigation was a damaged  roof that may have led to water-contamination of the production process. The tainted peanut butter purportedly caused 288 foodborne illnesses across 39 states.

Following a year-long attack by a hedge fund manager who accuses Herbalife Ltd. of being nothing more than a pyramid scheme, the Federal Trade Commission has launched an investigation into the company’s business. Herbalife’s stock took a beating following the FTC announcement, falling 17 percent on March 12. William Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management LP fired the first salvos in the battle in December 2012 when he spent three hours telling a Manhattan audience why he thinks the direct marketer is a pyramid scheme whose sales reps rely more for income on recruiting new reps than on selling product to the public. Herbalife has vigorously disputed Ackman's claims while posting strong earnings.

Candymaker Mars, Inc., announced it is committing to a fully sustainable and traceable palm oil chain by the end of 2014. The company has introduced a new sourcing charter that will require suppliers to have a fully sustainable and traceable palm oil supply across all operations by the end of 2015, or at least to have plans in place by the end of 2015. The policy aligns the company with global efforts to combat tropical deforestation because of rapid expansion of palm plantations. The enhanced pipeline traceability policy is designed to encourage suppliers to only source from companies whose plantations and farms are “responsibly run”.

Chiquita Brands, a global marketer of bananas, packaged salads and snacks, announced it will merge with Ireland’s Fyffes plc in an all stock transaction to create a new $4.8 billion fresh produce company. Fyffes markets and distributes tropical produce, including bananas, under a variety of brands including Fyffes and Sol. To be known as ChiquitaFyffes, the company will operate in more than 70 countries with a combined workforce of about 32,000 people. Under the agreement, Chiquita shareholders will own 50.7 percent of the new company, and Fyffes shareholders will own 49.3 percent.

Kraft’s Oscar Mayer brand, which has been marketing convenient lunch packs for kids as Lunchables for decades, has introduced what it calls P3 Portable Protein Packs for adults. The P3 packs contain meat, cheese and nuts, “designed for active consumers looking for a snack to help keep them going throughout the day”. The packs contain no artificial preservatives, 13 grams of protein, and little to no sugar. One example: applewood smoked turkey, marbled colby and  Monterey jack cheese, and dry roasted almonds. “To sell Lunchables to adults, Oscar Mayer needed to solve two problems, stigma and health,” writes Time food writer Samantha Grossman. “You deftly sidestep the health issue entirely by marketing them not as snack boxes but as energy packs.”

Warren Buffet, in a letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, said he expects recent acquisition H.J. Heinz Company to be a long-term investment. Buffet purchased Heinz with Brazilian investor 3G Capital last year, both parties paying $4.25 billion for common shares. But Berkshire  put in an additional $8 billion to acquire dividend-paying preferred shares. Noting that some 3G investors may be selling their shares in the near future, Buffett said in a letter to Berkshire investors that he would be interested in acquiring those shares, boosting his stake in the U.S. ketchup company for the long term.

Heineken is getting ready to open a $127 million brewery in a few months near Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, a country beset by drought, famine and a $100/month per capita income. Unilever is planning to open a factory in the same area to make detergents, and U.S.-based Yum! Brands, owner of KFC, is pondering building fast-food restaurants in the country, the second largest in Africa after Nigeria. Despite its considerable problems, Ethiopia is attractive to big multinationals because of economic growth that is averaging 9.3 percent annually over the past four years. Some, like Unilever, are taking a long-term investment position in the country. Yum, realizing that Ethiopians may not be able to afford fried chicken yet, is taking a wait and see position, hoping to find the right investment partner.

P&G has selected animal health care products distributor Harry Schein to be the exclusive purveyor of Iams therapeutic diet pet foods to veterinary practices in the U.S. The dog and cat food formulations are used to nutritionally manage health concerns such as digestive imbalance, skin and coat conditions, weight problems, and joint and urinary issues. According to P&G, pets, like humans, are living longer and need dietary changes as they age. Harry Schein distributes health care products and services to office-based dental, animal health and medical practitioners.

Kantar Retail analysts who surveyed 400 retailers about the quality of supply chain management among CPG (food and beverage only) companies found that General Mills was rated at the top, supplanting Procter & Gamble, which had been “slipping” for several years. P&G was picked as having one of the top three supply chains by 28.4 percent of respondents last year, down 6.9 points from 2011. General Mills surged from a 27.2 percent score in 2012 to 30.5 percent this year. Nestlé finished in third place with a score of 22.2 percent, up from 21.4 percent in 2012. Kraft Foods and Unilever finished out the top five.

Unilever has applied to the EU’s Food Safety Authority for permission to use a proprietary phytosterol – a plant sterol – as a cholesterol lowering ingredient in cooking, baking and liquid margarines. The FSA approved earlier Unilever applications to use the ingredient in its Flora pro.activ margarines and milk-type and yogurt-type foods. The company says that eating 1.5 to 2.5 g of plant sterols a day can lower blood cholesterol by seven to ten percent in two weeks. The new application may signal Unilever’s intention to broaden its Flora Cuisine cooking liquid product line under the pro.activ brand. Flora Cuisine is made from linseed, rapeseed and sunflower oils.

Canadians look for brand name products when shopping, according to a poll of 95,000 consumers. More than 70 percent of those surveyed by BrandSpark International said established trust in a brand is very important in the purchase decision. When shopping for food, Canadians trust top brands to offer quality and taste. The most trusted brands in this category are Kellogg’s and Maple Leaf (packaged meat). When choosing beverages, taste is most important (Tropicana juice). Health and beauty brands (Dove, Revlon, Nair) are trusted for quality, effectiveness and fair price; household brands (Febreze, Downy, Resolve) for effectiveness; and kids brands (Similac, Pampers, Colgate) for gentleness.

Reckitt Benckiser is entering the U.S. dietary supplement market with the launch of an omega-3 krill oil product. The company has hired British public relations agency GolinHarris London to introduce MegaRed Omega-3 Krill Oil to American consumers. It is the first time the agency has worked with RB. Celebrity brand ambassador will be Gabby Logan, supported by media doctor Ellie Cannon and celebrity fitness trainer James Daly. The theme of the campaign will be the role played by omega-3 fatty acids in heart health in women over age 45.

Sixty-four percent of grocery shoppers are organic “dabblers” who buy pricey organic foods only occasionally, mostly dairy for babies and toddlers, according to a consumer research firm.  Organic food companies want to turn those lukewarm organic buyers into committed customers by offering products that will appeal to older kids and adults. It’s a pressing issue: organic food sales have increased 11 percent a year since 2009, but sales are leveling off. So, to get people to buy organic milk – beyond toddlerhood – Organic Valley, for example, may try marketing "grab and go" milk in small bottles. Organic snack company Late July saw its sales triple when it added multigrain chips in adult flavors to its crackers and sandwich cookies line.