Actual Veggies has closed a $2.3M round of funding from Electric Feel Ventures, the venture arm of Post Malone's management team, run by Austin Rosen; Big Idea Ventures; Rose Street Capital; former Arsenal and current Inter Miami CF defender, Kieran Gibbs, and other strategic investors. Combined with its previous funding round from Big Idea Ventures and angel contributions, Actual Veggies has secured $2.8M in funding to date.

Our Best New Refrigerated Retail Products Contest is officially live, where you can vote for one of 25 refrigerated food finalists. Just click here to view all the products, and cast your vote! You can vote once a day for any of the finalists through Friday, September 3.

More than 2,000 food and beverage professionals from 60 countries participated in HPP Innovation Week 2021, an online conference on High Pressure Processing (HPP). The five-day event was organized by Hiperbaric, the global leader in manufacturing high pressure processing equipment.

Nasoya announced an expansion of its Plantspired line, with two new protein-packed products busy consumers can enjoy in just minutes. As more families look to add convenient, plant-based options to their routines, Plantspired’s tasty new Sweet BBQ TofuBaked and Breakfast Scramble Superfood Skillets help make mealtime easy.

Actual Veggies, the first veggie-only burger, is launching in the refrigerated section at more than 360 Sprouts Farmers Market locations, online at HungryRoot, Imperfect Foods, FreshDirect, and direct-to-consumer through the Actual Veggies website.

New Mexico Fresh Foods will open the first HPP tolling facility in the Southwest on Thursday, June 17, in Albuquerque. 

We are now accepting entries for our 2021 Best New Refrigerated Retail Products Contest. Similar to our recent frozen foods contest, we'll select 25 finalists for daily voting throughout the month of August on our website. The top-five with the most votes will be highlighted in a special section of our December magazine, and the overall winner will also be featured on an episode of our Cold Corner podcast.

Hiperbaric, a global leader in High Pressure Processing (HPP) technology, presents HPP Innovation Week, June 14-18. The online conference will bring together manufacturers, retailers, food service and packaging companies, regulatory, academic leaders, and others in the HPP industry to discuss the latest trends and innovations. The event will provide a forum for education, networking, and collaboration while demonstrating how HPP positively impacts the food and beverage industry, as well as cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology.

Raised & Rooted, Tyson Foods’ brand of plant protein products, is expanding its offerings with three new products to meet the increased demand for plant-based protein options. The new plant-based burger patties, Bratwurst and Italian sausages, and ground are available in the refrigerated section of grocery stores nationally.

On our latest Cold Corner Podcast, Lauren Edmonds, newly elected president of the Refrigerated Foods Association (RFA) joins Editor-in-Chief Michael Costa to discuss the RFA’s plans for the coming year, plus how the pandemic is still affecting the refrigerated foods industry through price hikes and shortages on ingredients, a shrinking labor pool, and more. They also discuss Edmonds’ company, St. Clair Foods, and their move to an automated production facility.