Vanilla is one of the most common flavours for sweet treats around the world. But is the farming of this much-loved spice sustainable? And, if not, should we be consuming it at all?
While the vanilla industry is seeing low prices and low demand this year, Virginia Dare’s partnerships with 1,300 growers in Madagascar are focused on fortifying communities’ livelihoods through social, environmental and economic initiatives that help...
Scientists have identified the key chemicals found in vanilla bean extract and combined this with sensory data to understand what consumers want from vanilla flavours.
A pioneering initiative by Barry Callebaut and Prova to improve the livelihoods of vanilla farmers in Madagascar has been expanded, the parties have announced.
Barry Callebaut Group has announced it is now fully sustainably sourcing its cocoa and vanilla to add to its other sustainable products available in North America.
By Robert Guite and Abby Meyer, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP
If your company sells any vanilla-flavored food or beverage product, then you are probably aware of the innumerable class action cases that have been filed over the last 18 months attacking these products – 67 cases by our count. Here, we trace the history...
By diversifying its vanilla sourcing to Uganda, Indonesia and India as well as developing alternative natural flavours, flavour giant Firmenich says it is weathering the impact of Madagascan cyclone Enawo.
Michigan family-run toffee brand Dave’s Sweet Tooth has reported a 300% sales growth along with a 2,500% e-commerce business increase in 2016 after launching a new website through the Shopify platform last year.
Introducing more cocoa farming to Madagascar is key for a sustainable vanilla market, say Barry Callebaut and Prova on the launch of their new partnership.
A ring-tailed lemur will be the new ringleader for Madécasse chocolate and vanilla, which will undergo a brand refresh this fall with new packaging designed to make the difficult-to-pronounce company’s products more accessible and memorable.
It’s the world’s most popular food flavour but less than 1% of global demand for vanilla can be met by the natural vanilla orchid – and this year’s supplies have been hit by a poor harvest in top producing country Madagascar, sending prices skyrocketing....
Cargill and Innova Market Insights have highlighted key trends for chocolate in 2015 including the rise of real fruit inclusions, texture claims and transparent ingredient labelling.
A German appeal court has ruled that Ritter Sport’s vanilla flavor in its whole hazelnut product is correctly labelled after consumer group Stiftung Warentest challenged it.
Ritter Sport has been granted an injunction preventing a German consumer group from claiming the chocolate firm is deceiving consumers with misleading natural flavor claims.
Chocolate makers are increasingly opting for dried fruit inclusions over sharper flavor additions like chilli and nuts because of their perceived healthy image and flavor enhancing properties, according to confectionery equipment supplier Egan Food Technologies...
Borregaard's vanillin and ethyl vanillin plant in Norway has acquired the food safety certification FSSC22000 to distinguish it from a rise in competitors.
Rhodia Aroma Performance has introduced a range of intense vanilla flavors that it claims allows manufacturers to differentiate products and mask off-notes.
Chocolate processors can boost their clean label and meet good for you indulgence trends with a new fresh fruit based ingredient range that is free from artificial additives, allergens and sugar and has a long shelf life, claims the Dutch supplier.
The political unrest in Madagascar, the world’s leading producer of vanilla, has highlighted the need for ingredients companies to diversify supply and eyes have turned to India as an alternative source.
A study into the origin of Tahitian vanilla has provided insight into opportunities for breeding new commercial varieties of the popular spice, claim scientists.
Food makers turn to wood-sourced vanillin as high oil prices
continue to put pressure on the price of petrochemical-based
vanilla alternatives, and natural vanilla stocks remain
vulnerable,writes Lindsey Partos.
Diversifying supplies and managing risk for the world's most
expensive, and popular, natural flavour, for the first time
ingredients giant Danisco receives a batch of sustainable organic
vanilla from an Indian monk, reports Lindsey...
Nearly half of the world's vanillin supplies are sourced from China
but since tighter production rules arrived there a few years ago
there are now only two major Chinese producers left in the country,
reports Lindsey Partos....
British flavours firm Synergy Flavours is bringing a new organic
vanilla extract to market, locking in suppliers from Madagascar to
help guarantee the source of a product rooted in a vulnerable
global crop.
The key ingredient in the most popular ice cream in the world faces
a rise in price, already at a 10 year high, as the worst cyclone in
two decades hits Madagascar, the leading producer of vanilla.
Proof that soaring price rises are not only branded in the hard
pushed natural vanilla market with the news this week that
Norwegian ingredients company Borregaard Synthesis has hiked up the
price for its line of synthetic vanillin...
When Cyclone Hudah struck the island of Madagascar in April 2000
destroying 15 per cent of the world's vanilla crop the news sent
prices rocketing for the peoples favourite ice cream ingredient.
The volatile vanilla market has seen food manufacturers turning to
synthetic substitutes as prices per kilo soar from double to treble
figures in recent years.
