General Mills prevails in false ad lawsuit over sugar content in cereals

General Mills prevails in false ad lawsuit over sugar content in cereals (Foodnavigator USA)

  • After a three-year long class-action lawsuit, the case accusing General Mills of falsely advertising its cereals as healthy when they contain high levels of sugar has been dismissed by a federal judge in California.
  • The judge noted there was no consensus on how much sugar is healthy (the FDA hasn’t updated their definition of the word since 1994 and also has no clear guidelines on how much sugar in a product is too much).
  • He further noted that “the actual ingredients were fully disclosed” on both the front and side panel of the company’s packaging and the plaintiffs therefore could not plausibly claim to be misled about the sugar content of their purchases.

Analysis and Comments

  • While the case was dismissed a few weeks ago, it’s still worth pointing out as it is not the only one of its kind; there are two similar lawsuits filed in 2016 against cereal makers involving the same law firm and some of the same plaintiffs which are still in play.
  • There’s also a class-action complaint claiming Kellogg overstated health claims on its cereals and cereal bars that  was recently referred to mediation.
  • Another lawsuit against Post is still in court, claiming that their packaging is allegedly misleading as it states that honey is the primary sweetener when according to the plaintiffs the cereal gets most of its flavour from cane and beet sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, malted barley syrup, and molasses rather than honey.
  • This issue is unlikely to go away anytime soon (even though the ruling may speed up the closing of some of these cases), as breakfast cereals are a major source of free sugars in children. Sales volumes are likely to continue to go down because of the consumer backlash at their high sugar content.
  • Currently, in the majority of countries it is mandatory to have nutritional information for food and most drinks. However, the problem is that for the average consumer the data is meaningless because of its complexity. In the long term, we think that there is a strong possibility that graphic health warnings and traffic light labelling could be used for high-fat sugar and salty (HFSS) food and drinks.

U.N. flags need to cut meat to curb land use impact on global warming

U.N. flags need to cut meat to curb land use impact on global warming (Reuters)

  • According to a recent report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global meat consumption must be reduced to curb global warming and alleviate strains on stretched land and water resources.
  • As human use directly affects more than 70% of the global ice-free land surface, plant-based foods and sustainable animal-sourced foods could free up several million square kilometres of land by 2050 and cut harmful emissions.
  • Last year’s report called for rapid changes across society to keep the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, while this year’s report states that “[t]he window for making these changes is closing fast. If there is further delay in reducing emissions, we will miss the opportunity to successfully manage the climate change transition in the land sector.”

Analysis and Comments

  • According to the report, agriculture, forestry and other land use activities accounted for 23% of total net man-made GHG emissions during 2007-2016 (excluding pre- and post-production activity in the food system).
  • While the IPCC stops short from actually telling people to go meat-free, it does advocate the benefits of a more plant-based alternative diet, which may be seen as a positive for players in this space (although this is not exactly news).
  • The Guardian published a highly critical response to the IPCC’s land and climate report (saying that it “irresponsibly understates the true carbon cost of our meat and dairy habits”), which includes a number of very interesting figures – well worth a read!  

Beyond Meat’s Share Price

U.N. flags need to cut meat to curb land use impact on global warming

U.N. flags need to cut meat to curb land use impact on global warming (Reuters)

  • According to a recent report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global meat consumption must be reduced to curb global warming and alleviate strains on stretched land and water resources.
  • As human use directly affects more than 70% of the global ice-free land surface, plant-based foods and sustainable animal-sourced foods could free up several million square kilometres of land by 2050 and cut harmful emissions.
  • Last year’s report called for rapid changes across society to keep the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, while this year’s report states that “[t]he window for making these changes is closing fast. If there is further delay in reducing emissions, we will miss the opportunity to successfully manage the climate change transition in the land sector.”

Analysis and Comments

  • According to the report, agriculture, forestry and other land use activities accounted for 23% of total net man-made GHG emissions during 2007-2016 (excluding pre- and post-production activity in the food system).
  • While the IPCC stops short from actually telling people to go meat-free, it does advocate the benefits of a more plant-based alternative diet, which may be seen as a positive for players in this space (although this is not exactly news).
  • The Guardian published a highly critical response to the IPCC’s land and climate report (saying that it “irresponsibly understates the true carbon cost of our meat and dairy habits”), which includes a number of very interesting figures – well worth a read!  

Beyond Meat’s Share Price

Nestle is betting on The “Healthy Food” and “Ecology” Trends !

Nestle
to sell a chocolate made without added sugar (CNBC)

  • Nestlé is about to launch a new 70% dark chocolate
    bar, the “Cacao Fruit Chocolate”, which does not include any added
    sugar
    .
  • It
    will be made from the cacao fruit only, with the white cacao pulp acting as a
    natural, more sustainable and healthy sweetener. The new product will be
    launched in Japan this autumn and is expected to be introduced globally by
    2020.
  • Another
    100% cacao fruit juice with lime granita will be commercialised end of this
    week at the KitKat Chocolatory Ginza Store. The two products will be sold at
    $3.7 and $6.93, respectively.
  • The company
    is looking to patent the pulp mixture process
    , which helps to reduce food waste, as it uses 31% of
    the pod vs. the current 22%.

Analysis and Comments

  • You should expect a continued increase in product reformulations and product innovations along the lines of Nestlé’s most recent launch.
  • This is largely driven by a combination of pressure coming from both the public as well as a growing number of governments and regulators, the latter of which are increasingly aware of the strain that obesity & diabetes is putting on global healthcare systems.
  • Already, diabetes care forms 10-15% of healthcare budgets, and Healthcare analysts expect a near doubling of the number of diabetes patients by 2025, which risks bankrupting publically funded healthcare programmes in Europe and making health insurance increasingly unaffordable.

Nestlé develops recyclable paper packaging for Yes snack bars (SupplyChainDive)

  • Nestlé
    has developed a high-speed flow
    packaging technology
    that allows paper to be used on a larger scale instead
    of plastic films and laminates. As a result, Nestlé will sell its Yes snack
    bars in a recyclable paper wrapper.
  • The
    packaging, made of water-based coating and sustainable sources, is available in
    13 countries and will be introduced in Europe and other locations going
    forward.
  • Nestlé
    has been committed to make all its
    product packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025
    , and other manufacturers
    (e.g. PepsiCo, Nestlé, Mars) have launched recyclable packaging programs as
    well.
  • According
    to Reuters, the company may also use paper packaging for its Kit Kat bars and
    other products, once it is able to
    supply sufficient amounts of the specially coated paper.

Analysis and Comments

  • As the article states, consumers’ demand for sustainable and environmental standards in the food industry has been increasing steadily, with a Nielsen survey from 2018 stating that 48% of U.S. consumers were likely to change their purchases to meet environmental standards.

Nestle Share Price

Garbage IPO of the Day: $NDLS

This series is simply being created to show that there is risk in ALL investale assets, not just altcoins and crypto. The recent trend by the government and regulators is that alt coins are exit scams that are being made to raise money and then stealing the hard worked coin from the moms and pops who do not do their do diligence. Well guess what? This is not an isolated incident. ALL INVESTABLE ASSETS HAVE RISK…even the regulated ones…

Noodles and Co.! What a garbage stock. This stock went public in June of 2013 and opened at the STRONG price

Garbage IPO of the Day: $APRN

Blue Apron folks. This is your garbage IPO if the day. This company went public in June and 2017 and within its first two years of trading it has lost investors…93.5% of their investment if they bought the opening print. This is a classic example of a garbage company, going public because it needed the money to stay in business. Remember folks there is one main factor that ANY company will go public.m, and that is because of the money, whether a need or a want. APRN is not trading at $0.65.

There are many IPOs that are like this