MorningStar Farms

Kellogg Co. chairman and CEO Steven Cahillane told investors and analysts during an earnings call today that the company had reassessed its outlook on its Morningstar Farms brand.

The Kellogg Company reported Thursday morning $4.1 billion in organic net sales and raised its full-year 2022 guidance on the back of its strong snack category growth during its third quarter earnings report.

In this week’s Checkout: Giant Foods brings with circular waste platform Loop to D.C.-area stores; Stone’s Throw Foods announces its acquisition of Swapples; Morningstar Farms factory workers file to unionize; Shinsegae Foods invests $6 million into U.S. subsidiary Better Foods; and Ginkgo Bioworks and Bayer expand AgBio partnership.

Snack sales, emerging market growth and positive price realization helped Kellogg’s overcome cereal inventory issues to score a 4% increase in organic net sales during Q1 2022.

In this courtroom roundup: Kellogg’s fight against misleading veggie claims returns, Beyond Meat and Dunkin’ sued by Philadelphia plant-based meat company over trademark infringement, Motif challenges Impossible’s heme-tech patent and more.

For the second year, financial services firm Barclays held a virtual edition of its annual Global Consumer Staples Conference, inviting companies to share their business strategies and updates. During the event, which consisted of three days of presentations and Q&A sessions, executives addressed changing consumer behaviors post-pandemic and inflationary pressures, while also discussing their innovation plans to reshape their portfolios.

Kellogg’s and The Kraft Heinz Company today both reported spikes in sales during the first quarter from consumers pantry loading during the second half of March. After retail shopping slowed in April, the companies each revealed predictions — coupled with great uncertainty — for upcoming consumer behavior during an economic recession.

A federal court yesterday blocked the state of Arkansas from enforcing a meat label censorship law against meat-alternative brand The Tofurky Company. Additionally, the Plant-based Foods Association (PBFA) created a set of labeling guidelines for the industry.

In outlining plans to build around better-for-you and plant-based products during recent quarterly earnings calls, several prominent CPG brands signaled they expect both trends to continue gaining steam.

FDA advises on upcoming labeling changes, Hershey talks protein plays in its Q3 earnings call, Beyond Sausage hits Pizza Hut and more in this week’s Checkout.

MorningStar Farms has announced its commitment to convert the entire portfolio to be 100 percent plant-based (vegan) by 2021, further increasing the accessibility of great-tasting plant-based offerings and reducing the use of over 300 million egg whites annually.

A long-standing leader in the plant-protein category, the brand is known for its extensive variety of flavorful veggie options, including a full line of Chik’N offerings.