Vermont Creamery, based in Websterville, VT, has been awarded for the second time with a Good Food Award for its flagship goat cheese, Bonne Bouche. From 2,059 entries, Vermont Creamery was one of only 193 winners who passed vigorous vetting to confirm the award’s standards of sound agricultural practices, sourcing transparency and good animal husbandry. “It’s a tremendous honor to be a Good Food Award recipient,” said Allison Hooper, co-founder of Vermont Creamery. “It is a true testament to our entire team’s commitment to transparency and innovation as we continue to grow our business and perfect our craft.”
Fair Lawn, NJ-based B-Tea Kombucha, a line of shelf stable, raw and organic Kombucha, signed an exclusive distribution deal with Maspeth NY-based Big Geyser which services New York City, Long Island, Westchester and Putnam County in New York State. The distributor’s current lineup of beverage brands includes Core Organics, Honest Tea and Zico Coconut Water to name a few.
A class action lawsuit against Blue Diamondhas reached a $9 million dollar settlement for advertising its Almond Breeze and other products as being “all natural” or “natural”. The lawsuit is also challenging how many almonds are used to make Almond Breeze since the product is advertised as being made from almonds but only a small portion, roughly 2 percent, of the ingredients are actually nuts. Although Blue Diamond has admitted to no wrongdoing, the company has agreed to change the current advertising and packaging. Anyone who purchased Blue Diamond Almond Breeze and/or Blue Diamond Nut-Thins products from May 28, 2009 to Nov. 18, 2016 may be reimbursed as a portion of the settlement is being set aside for this purpose.
Published in WholeFoods Magazine March 2017
