Brenda Barnes, who had high profile as powerful Pepsi exec in 1990s before leaving to devote more time to her 3 young kids, passed away last weekend from stroke at age 63. As Wall St Jnl noted, her 1997 departure from post running North Amer bevs at Pepsi sparked broad debate about work/life balance for women, tho Barnes herself insisted move only reflected her personal priority. But she remained on Sears and Avon boards and returned to corporate fray in 2004 as prexy/coo of Sara Lee, rising to ceo within a year, before her career was derailed by first stroke. Tho she managed significant recovery, it was never enough to return to Sara Lee post. She leaves behind those children, Erin, Jeff and Brian.

NatureWise, online health supplement co founded by couple who've long operated spiritual non-profit out of Ashland, Ore, is ready to head to retail, starting with canned line of Whole Body Vitality Drinks employing hefty dose of ashwaganda.

New ingredient trends are bubbling up from indie coffee channel at dizzying pace these days. We recently discussed cascara bevs using outside husk of coffee berry, which just got imprimatur of Starbucks via its new Cascara Latte (BBI, Jan 6). Now Tasting Table foodie blog is highlighting house-made nut milks employed in vegan lattes such as cashew-pepita, almond tahini and coconut cream blends conjured up by Nicaraguan-born founder of NY roaster/shop Café Integral. (Founder, Cesar Vega, also operates Charleston's Feathertop, whose version of cashew-pepita blends in coconut water.) Among pioneers of trend highlighted by Tasting Table is LA's Charles Babinski, who offered almond-macadamia lattes to customers of Go Get Em Tiger and G&B Coffee as far back as 2013. Some of baristas initially were prompted to explore recipes by backlash vs one-time vegan latte mainstay, soymilk, but trend has since moved well beyond that. Article can be found here:

The year 2016 brought another record in food/bev transactions, with researcher Zenith Int'l tracking 614 deals globally via its bevblog.net M&A database, up a tad from 2015 total of 596 deals. Deal activity has been climbing steadily from 2013 (481 deals) and 2014 (580 deals). The most active segments were soft drinks (excluding bottled water), with 74 deals; packaging, with 64 deals; dairy, with 58 deals, and ingredients, with 51 deals. That's followed by alc-bev segments: wine (49), spirits (41) and beer (37). Biggest increases were scored by soft drinks (+60%), spirits (+46%) and dairy (+41%). Bottled-water deals dipped from 17 deals to 15.

Noting 50%-off holiday-period promo behind home cold-pressed juice maker Juicero, we'd wondered whether LA-based co wasn't encountering some price resistance even among well-heeled, nutritionally conscious demo it's targeting (BBI, Nov 28). Apparently it was, judging by email blast to potential users this week that flags price drop to $399 from the $699 price that had been in place since 31-lb countertop appliance launched last spring. Citing the "zillion insights" into consumers gained since launch in Calif and more recent addition of Nev and Ariz, co wrote: "Inspired by your love of Juicero and with our eyes on a mission to power the plant-based revolution, we decided to lower the price of our Press." The pouches for producing raw, organic juice - which don't represent discount to buying cold-pressed juice at retail - seem to be unchanged.

Soymilk? Almondmilk? Cashewmilk? The feds shouldn't allow producers to call those milks, per new measure dubbed the Dairy Pride Act that's been intro'd by Sen Tammy Baldwin, Democrat from dairy state of Wis. Bill targets non-dairy items labeled as milk, yogurt and cheese, requiring that any such items must come from dairy animals. It also requires FDA to issue enforcement guidance within 90 days and report back to Congress 2 years after enactment. Measure has been endorsed by Int'l Dairy Foods Assn and Natl Milk Producers Federation, whose prexy Jim Mulhern said, "For too long, the FDA has turned a blind eye to the misbranding of imitation dairy products, despite the decades-old federal law that milk comes from animals, not vegetables or nuts." Added IDFA prexy/ceo Michael Dykes: "These plant-based products are imitations, but they are not substitutes for the comprehensive nutrient package offered by real milk." Bipartisan coalition including 34 legislators from dairy states like Idaho and Vt already had called on FDA to more aggressively police matter. Proponents of new bill note that other countries like Canada and UK don't permit use of terms like "almondmilk" on labels. Of course, nut- and plant-based milks have been making major headway, not just targeting lactose-intolerant consumers but also those concerned about global warming and other environmental impacts of cattle herds.

Winter edition of Specialty Food Assn's Fancy Food Show opens at SF's Moscone Center this Sun for usual 3-day run thru following Tues. Tho show's timing and narrower audience sometimes convinces exhibitors to hold off on new-product intros until bigger Natural Products Expo West in Mar in Anaheim, Calif, there are signs this FF may offer richer crop of innovation. As reported, Numi Tea will unveil fruits of RTD collaboration with minority investor and strategic partner JM Smucker (BBI, Jan 10). And coconut water innovator Harmless Harvest will enter booming probiotic realm with cultured coconut line it's calling Harmless Coconut Probiotics that melds coconut water, coconut meat, active probiotic cultures and organic fruits, sans added thickeners, stabilizers or artificial flavors. As usual, BBI hopes to offer extensive coverage from show. Info at

Tio Gazpacho, the NY-based marketer of HPP drinkable soups that's riding last year's $1.25 mil Series A round from General Mills venture fund, continues to test the limits of where gazpacho style can go, adding Maiz and Fresa varieties to its existing lineup of 4 styles. The Maiz flavor melds corn, roasted poblano chilis and lime, while Fresa blends strawberry, basil and romaine lettuce. It joins lineup comprised of Clasico, De Sol, Verde and Rosado flavors. Like the other sku's, the new flavors go out at $4.99 per 10-oz bottle, entering regional chains like Fairway, King's and Balducci as well as local Whole Foods stores. A coupla months earlier, founder Austin Allan had teamed with Miami-based celeb chef Jose Andres and his ThinkFoodGroup to collaborate on new products.