CHi Foods, a 2022 NEXTY Award Finalist, Launches the World’s First Certified Organic and Regenerative, Plant-based Pork Products at Natural Products Expo West
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CHi Foods, a 2022 NEXTY Award Finalist, Launches the World’s First Certified Organic and Regenerative, Plant-based Pork Products at Natural Products Expo West
Made from nutrient-dense Sacha Inchi nuts, NEXTY judges said it could become the “other, other white meat!” Visit CHi Foods at Natural Products Expo West, Hot Products Hall, Booth #N1643.
SANTA BARBARA, CA (March 3, 2022) — CHi Foods, a new brand of organic plant-based proteins, will debut its products at the upcoming Natural Products Expo West, the world’s leading natural and organic products trade show, held March 8 – 12, 2022 in Anaheim, CA. The brand will launch four SKUs, including Original, Italian Herb, Chirizo and Maple Breakfast.
Launched earlier this year, CHi Foods company founders state their new CHi Organic Plant-Based Ground Pork is the world’s first line of Certified Organic plant-based pork. The company’s product was selected as a finalist for the 2022 Natural Products Expo West NEXTY Award for ‘Best New Product Supporting A Plant-Based Lifestyle’. The NEXTY awards recognize the most progressive, impactful and trustworthy products in the natural products industry.
CHi Foods is backed by an impressive slate of CPG industry veterans including Ahmed Rahim (Numi Tea), David Bronner (Dr. Bronner’s) and David Karr and Don Miguel (Guayaki). The company has additional funding from Conservation International and Amazonia Impact Ventures.
CHi meat is made from highly nutritious sacha inchi nuts, also known as CHi nuts. Grown in the tropics, sacha inchi nuts contain eight times the omega-3 content as salmon, and four times as much protein as macadamia nuts and zero net carbohydrates. The product, which tastes delicious and has the look, taste and texture of pork, took nearly a decade of research and development to create, say its founders.
Product Attributes:
USDA Certified Organic
Soy & Gluten Free
Top 9 Allergen Free
Keto & Paleo
Powered by regenerative proteins - CHi Nuts & Protein
Ethically Sourced, Certified Organic and Committed to Regenerative Agriculture
CHi Foods offers a line of plant-based meat products made from ethically sourced organic and regenerative ingredients from BIPOC farmers around the world. Co-founders Philip Matthew and Tucker Garrison created the company to bring integrity to plant-based meat and restore trust with consumers in the category. CHi Foods is an LGBTQ Certified diverse owned business.
Garrison, CHi Foods’ CEO/CFO, is an avid regenerative agriculture practitioner (and surfer), who has managed a 40-acre organic avocado ranch and has lived among indigenous communities in Bali, Guatemala and Peru. Philip Matthew, the brand’s CMO, is a technology integrations and marketing design expert, as well as a devoted cyclist.
A decade ago, the pair launched Imlak’esh Organics, a company and national brand that curates plant-based, keto, paleo and immunity-boosting functional snacks through ethical supply chains that benefit diverse small farmers around the world. Leading natural products distributor KeHE Foods recently selected Imlak’esh Organics to participate in the KeHE CAREtrade Program that recognizes and promotes mission-based brands that “advance a higher purpose, giving back to communities worldwide and working to truly make the world a better place.”
Like Imlak’esh products, CHi Foods products are USDA Certified Organic and made with ingredients grown with regenerative agriculture practices. All CHi Foods products are soy and gluten free, free of the top nine allergens, non-GMO, and keto and paleo. The company supports indigenous communities and working with a diverse supply chain, including BIPOC farmers in Thailand, Ecuador and Peru.
Lauded as the “Other, Other White Meat”
CHi Foods is debuting Four SKUS at Natural Products Expo West 2022, including:
Original - Lightly Seasoned
Chirizo
Italian Herb
Maple Breakfast
“Finally, a product that makes us want to see how the sausage is made,” wrote the NEXTY judges. “This food disruptor proves that technology can work in tandem with organic, regenerative supply chains… We see real potential for this product to become the other, other white meat,” they said in recognizing the most progressive, impactful and trustworthy products in the natural products industry.
Natural products industry experts highlighted CHimeat Organic Plant-Based Ground Pork as a hot product to watch during a recent webinar “Navigating Expo: The Hottest Trends and Products.” Plant-based foods, organic, diverse-owned companies and climate-friendly are among the trends SPINS and New Hope Network identified as driving growth in the natural products industry. CHi Foods products check all of these boxes.
Visit CHi Foods at Natural Products Expo West, Hot Products Hall, Booth #N1643.
For wholesale inquiries and to schedule a meeting at Natural Products Expo West, contact Tucker Garrison, CEO and Co-founder, CHi Foods, tucker@chifoods.us, 805.244.1750
About CHi Foods
We are CHi Foods, a revolutionary crew on a journey to transform plant-based meat from soil to shelf. As modern-day “Plant Hunters,” we journey to the rainforest to bring you nutritious, ethically sourced, whole food ingredients. We craft delicious, Certified Organic plant-based meats with bold heritage flavors to delight you and your community! Learn more at www.chifoods.us/
Media Contact
Evan Tompros, Compass Natural, evan@compasnaturalmarketing.com
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Hemp Industry Shifts from CBD to Food and Fiber, According to New Report
Photo: Pexels
This article originally appeared in Presence Marketing’s February 2022 Industry Newsletter
By Steve Hoffman
Look for the industrial hemp market to continue to grow in 2022, in spite of a few handicaps caused by continued regulatory uncertainty from the FDA and supply chain bottlenecks, according to the new Hemp Industry 2022 Opportunities Report published by Let’s Talk Hemp Media. The executive-level report provides an overview of the trends and potential strategies ahead in the growing industrial hemp sector, after hemp has been legalized in more than 65 countries this year.
Two things holding the hemp industry back in the U.S. are supply-chain bottlenecks and regulatory uncertainty, said report contributor Beau Whitney of Portland, OR-based Whitney Economics. “Once the market begins to mature, the future looks bright for the hemp industry,” Whitney noted.
The pandemic and a glut in biomass supply saw farmers turn away from hemp last year. Licensed acreage in 2021 dropped by 55% year-over-year to levels seen before the 2018 Farm Bill, according to the report. CBD market prices fell below production costs, due to a glut of product, as well.
However, a “bright spot was the supply and demand for fibers and grain,” the report said. Expect a “pivot” in the hemp industry as more farmers see the potential (albeit less profitable) of hemp fibers and grains, which are predicted to exceed acreage planted for CBD by 2024-25, Whitney projected.
Regulatory uncertainty in the U.S. has hampered the cannabinoid hemp industry because the FDA to date has refused to approve CBD as an ingredient for food and beverage or dietary supplements. However, CBD remains popular with consumers, and recently passed legislation in California sets health guidelines for hemp-derived CBD in food, beverages and cosmetics. That could be the green light for large multinational food companies waiting for FDA approval to add CBD to consumer products, experts believe.
In addition, hemp seed is viewed today as a superfood containing complete protein and omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids. Hemp protein is poised to become a staple ingredient in new plant-protein foods and is expected to grow to $109 billion by 2050, the report predicts.
The Hemp Industry 2022 Opportunities Report is available at LetsTalkHemp.com. The report is published by the producer of the 8th Annual NoCo Hemp Expo, the hemp industry’s most comprehensive trade show and conference, scheduled for March 23-25, 2022, in Denver, CO.
California Set to Launch Largest Food Waste Recycling Program in the U.S.
Photo: Pexels
This article originally appeared in Presence Marketing’s January 2022 Industry Newsletter
By Steve Hoffman
Beginning January 1, Californians are now required to separate organic material such as unused food, coffee grounds, egg shells, fruit and vegetable scraps, and other food waste into compost bins used for green waste including lawn and garden clippings, leaves and other organic debris, Yale Environment 360 reported in December.
Under California’s Senate Bill 1383, now in effect, the state’s waste disposal services will now divert the organic material away from traditional landfills to facilities that will manufacture compost, mulch and other products, reported the Los Angeles Times in December. According to the Times, individuals and business that don’t adequately separate their organic waste can face fines of up to $500 per day. Cities that are found in noncompliance could pay up to $10,000 per violation.
According to CalRecycle, the state agency overseeing the transition, over 50% of all trash produced by Californians is organic materials, such as kitchen scraps and garden waste. “The goal of the new state law is to reprocess 75% of the green waste by 2025. That means redirecting 17.7 million tons of organic material away from disposal, equivalent to the weight of more than 9.5 million cars,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
The new recycling law was originally passed in 2016 under former Governor Jerry Brown’s administration, with the goal of reducing waste in landfills and returning organics to the land to improve soil quality, increase drought resistance and reduce production of methane and other greenhouse gases. “This is the biggest change to trash since recycling started in the 1980s,” Rachel Wagoner, Director of the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, told the Associated Press. It…“is the single easiest and fastest thing that every single person can do to affect climate change,” she said.
Could California Pass the Most Regressive CBD Regulations in the Country?
This article originally appeared on LetsTalkHemp.com.
By Steven Hoffman
The CBD/hemp industry learned only this past week of a piece of legislation drafted for stakeholder review by the California state administration that would prohibit interstate commerce of hemp extract and ban the sale of hemp products to individuals under 21 years of age in the Golden State. Hemp industry leaders are calling the draft language “draconian” and fear it could hamper the work that Assembly Members Cecilia Aguiar-Curry and Buffy Wicks have done to advance good legislation for hemp.
Editor’s Note: This article has been revised, based on subsequent input from a source for the story.
Hemp industry leaders were surprised this week when the California Governor’s office floated regressive language to regulate the hemp extract market to the point where interstate commerce would not be allowed, and where sale of CBD products including tinctures, dietary supplements, ingestible products and topicals would be prohibited to individuals under 21 years of age, enforced with criminal penalties.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons – Andre M.
Additionally, industry leaders expressed concern over this brand new language which has not been vetted. The concern here is that the CA legislature is only is session until August 31st, and the language coming out of the Governor’s office is completely different than the language shared with them for their feedback.
This could prohibit good language from being passed as early as next week before the state legislature takes its recess. Included among the draft regulations are rumored excessive fees to manufacturers and retailers, and overly broad authority to limit serving sizes, and to treat non-psychoactive hemp products as if they were alcohol, marijuana or tobacco.
“The challenge here is that the California General Assembly leaves town next week. We are running up against a deadline,” said Jonathan Miller, attorney with Frost Todd Brown in Lexington, KY, and director of the firm’s hemp practice, and general counsel for the U.S. Hemp Roundtable.
According to Miller, “There are three parties involved – the governor and his administration, including the California Department of Public Health, the state legislature, and the hemp industry. For two years, the Department of Public Health has said it is illegal to sell CBD as a dietary supplement or food additive, but they haven’t really enforced it across the board. However, we have seen enforcement actions against stores on a county level. We would like to see legislation passed that explicitly says cannabinoids can be sold. We are now negotiating with the governor’s office and are optimistic we can get a good bill passed, but we are running out of time. In some of the drafts, we’ve seen some things that we thought were poison pills. We either reach agreement over the weekend or we are going to fight. No bill is better than a bad bill,” Miller added.
According to one lobbyist working on the hemp language in California who declined to be named, if such language is eventually passed “It would give California the most restrictive law in the country. It’s also a matter of existing jobs in hemp and agriculture. Hopefully the administration and legislature will be mindful that some businesses will leave the state, and some will go bankrupt. And consumers may not understand that their access to hemp and CBD products could be cut off,” the individual said.
Chris Boucher, CEO of Farmtiva in Laguna Beach, CA, a longtime hemp advocate and entrepreneur, has been involved in six pieces of legislation in California, starting with the first in 1995, he said. Boucher encourages hemp industry associations to rally the farm community in California to write letters and make phone calls. He too, expressed concern about the lack of time to respond to restrictive draft legislation.
Boucher and other industry experts expressed support for California Assembly Members Cecilia Aguiar-Curry and Buffy Wicks for their work on legislation to advance the hemp products industry in the state – and also to contact Governor Gavin Newsom’s office to express support for the hemp industry.
“These days it seems everyone is reaping the benefits of CBD – except the State of California. Why? Because hemp-derived CBD isn’t legal here,” said California Assembly Member Buffy Wicks in a Tweet made on August 10. “That’s why I’ve joined Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry to fix this, so our farmers, retailers, consumers – and state coffers – can benefit.”
Attorney Jonathan Miller encourages hemp advocates that want to get involved to visit www.hempsupporter.com, hosted by the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, and sign up for free. “Once you get to the website, it allows you to easily send an email to the Governor’s office and to your state legislators. Once you are on our list, we’ll send out email alerts to all our hemp supporters to let them know of developments and to enlist them for support.”