Weekly Food Industry Insights - August 11, 2023

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THE BULLSEYE

#FoodNotPhones Launch

This week we announced a brand new initiative, along with our partners, the?FMI Foundation’s Family Meals Movement, Acosta Group, Hy-Vee and The Association of Retail & Consumer Professionals?–?National Food Not Phones Day.Check it out at?https://www.foodnotphones.com/take-action/?and join us.

We want to encourage you and/or your business to join this cause that we hope will?inspire JOY and COMMUNITY! Signing up just means that you are supporting the cause, and hopefully, trying it out on?September 19th, 2023, by enjoying your mealtimes without using your phone for?National Food Not Phones Day.?We want to see what people gain from this experience and how we can do a better job promoting healthy eating habits as it relates to screens.?

Our Surgeon General this year released a public letter regarding?an epidemic of loneliness and social isolation in our country. This is a public health crisis.?There's no better way to bring people together than by sharing meals -- something that is universally recognized across all cultures as a healthy activity good for the mind and body.?

Please join us here. And we also would love to have you follow our?@foodnotphones?social media profiles on?Facebook?and?Instagram.?

Thanks for being a part of our effort! Help us spread the word, so we can lift our friends and family out of loneliness and potentially enjoy some surprising benefits!?FULL STORY.

Plants & Gut Health

Nestle has decided that they want to learn more about our microbiome and the reason for that is gut health, certainly over the past few years when we've talked a lot about gut health is so important for human health. It protects us from pathogens, contributes to our immune system development, helps food digestion.??FULL STORY

Mr. Beast Update

Mr. Beast is suing his food delivery partner over low quality food. He filed the lawsuit against Virtual Dining Concepts, claiming the company damages his reputation by serving customers low quality and, at times, inedible food..??FULL STORY

Mushroom Mania

Mushrooms have been very hot in probably the past two or three years. A lot of that has to do with the work of the?Mushroom Council, and now we're seeing what's being called, at least by some publications, mushroom mania. The problem with mushrooms is that the industry hasn't been able to keep up with the production,??FULL STORY

WIC Changes

Back in 2009, the USDA made changes to the WIC food program. The changes, which included more whole fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lower fat milk, were the first comprehensive revisions to WIC since the nutrition program began in the 1970s.?And now research is showing that these changes have had an important impact on dietary habits.?FULL STORY

Food at Starbucks

A report just came out?from Starbucks that found that two in every five customers added food to their orders in the latest quarter. That's up over 25% over five years ago, and they've now brought the average check to an all-time high in the quarter.??FULL STORY