December 23, 2024
Portfolio changes, factory closures, food safety and initialisms like ESG and GLP-1 were among the topics on Just Food ’s news pages that caught your eye throughout the year.
Stories from Unilever's plan to offload its ice-cream arm, to the scrutiny of companies' sustainability efforts and to the rise of GLP-1 weight-loss medication proved especially popular during 2024.
Scroll down for a flavour of the stories that shaped the food-industry agenda over the last 12 months.
21 February
Investors suing Sweden’s Oatly have asked a federal judge to approve a $9.25m settlement, after accusing the oat dairy-alternative business of greenwashing.
11 October
Nestlé is set to launch a range of frozen meals in the US based on Asian and Mexican cuisines as it looks to tap into “new flavours and food options”.
4 April
PepsiCo is to permanently close a Quaker Oats factory in the US, local government officials have said.
20 February
UK competition officials are to examine the country’s infant formula market after finding prices in the sector had jumped in recent years.
22 February
Tony’s Chocolonely has been “forced” to change the colour of its packaging in Germany after legal action from Mondelez International .
31 May
Close to 30% of jobs are set to go at a PepsiCo Frito-Lay crisps manufacturing factory in Middletown, New York State.
8 February
Unilever will seek to address headwinds in its ice-cream business this year after a poor performance in 2023.
19 March
Kerry Dairy Consumer Foods has claimed a UK “category-first” with a new chilled brand, Smug Dairy, that blends oats and dairy.
9 April
Walmart has settled a class-action lawsuit that accused the US retail giant of overcharging for certain food items.
17 April
Areport claims Nestlé adds sugar and honey to certain brands of infant-formula and breakfast cereals in poorer countries, a practice not evident in Europe.
15 February
Loss-making Oatly has booked a hefty impairment charge related to last year’s decision not to proceed with the construction of three manufacturing plants.
7 March
PepsiCo has ended a partnership between its Doritos crisps brand and the Spanish transgender influencer Samantha Hudson.
8 January
Carrefour has also delisted PepsiCo products in Poland, the fifth country to feel the impact of the companies’ dispute over prices.
11 January
Bonduelle, Unilever and General Mills are among 11 food companies being fined for working to hide the presence or absence of bisphenol A (BPA) in their packaging, France’s official competition watchdog has confirmed.
12 January
French dairy giant Danone has confirmed it intends to shut its dairy and plant-based yogurts facility in Parets del Vallès, located north of Barcelona, Spain.
15 May
Lino Saputo Jr. will relinquish his role as CEO at the Canadian dairy company that bears his name in August, a position he has held for more than two decades.
11 March
JBS ‘s targets on emissions have been removed from the website of the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), sparking more questions about the meat giant’s efforts to make its business more environmentally sustainable.
21 May
Nestlé is set to launch a range of meals in the US designed as a “companion” for those taking GLP-1 weight-loss medication.
8 February
Cereal giant Kellanova today (8 February) set out plans to close two factories as part of efforts to drive efficiency and increase productivity.
12 February
US-based organic confectionery maker Ocho Candy has ceased operations after 14 years in business.
18 July
Plenty Unlimited plans to build five vertical farms in the UAE in partnership with a local investor to cultivate strawberries.
4 March
A major UK producer of salad items has gone into administration with some 200 employees being made redundant as a result.
19 November
McCain Foods and Lamb Weston Holdings are among a group of frozen-potato product suppliers facing US lawsuits linked to claims of price-fixing.
18 July
Two consumers in Canada have died after listeria infections linked to the recall of plant-based milk alternatives sold by Danone and Walmart .
"The top 24 news stories on Just Food in 2024" was originally created and published by Just Food , a GlobalData owned brand.
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