Page 3 – ESSFeed

Kraft Heinz Cuts Senior Leadership, Consolidates Into Three Global Regions in Latest Turnaround Move

The Heinz ketchup and Kraft Mac & Cheese maker is collapsing four operating regions into three and merging procurement with supply chain, as CEO Steve Cahillane presses ahead with a volume-led recovery plan. Kraft Heinz Cuts Senior Leadership and is restructuring its global operations for the second time in under six months under CEO Steve Cahillane, announcing a leaner regional model effective July 1, 2026, alongside the departure of two senior executives. The move is the latest signal that Cahillane, who took over as CEO on January 1, is willing to make rapid structural changes as he works to reverse

Produce Packaging in 2026: How Labels and Bags Became the Silent Salesperson at Shelf

Sustainability mandates, QR-driven traceability, and a wave of state-level EPR laws are forcing growers, packers, and retailers to treat the humble produce bag as a strategic asset rather than an afterthought The fresh produce bag has quietly become one of the most consequential pieces of real estate in the grocery store. It is often the only direct, physical touchpoint between a brand and a shopper at the point of sale — and in 2026, that small surface area is being asked to do far more work than ever before: sell the product, prove its sustainability credentials, satisfy a growing patchwork

US Winter Wheat Crop Falls to 69-Year Low as Plains Drought Reshapes 2026 Global Supply Outlook

US Winter Wheat Crop output drops to its smallest harvest since 1957/58, tightening global trade flows just as US-Iran de-escalation and a weaker dollar reshape grain demand The 2026 US winter wheat harvest is confirming what agronomists feared back in spring: a crop that looked promising at planting has turned into one of the weakest in nearly seven decades. The latest USDA figures show hard red winter (HRW) wheat production at its lowest level since the 1957/58 marketing year, with drought across the Southern Plains doing the bulk of the damage between dormancy break and harvest. For the global food

Logistics, Transport, Storage & Shipping

Logistics & Freight Market Weekly Intelligence Brief — Week of 14–20 June 2026 This brief compiles the week’s most material developments across ocean freight, trucking, rail, cold storage/warehousing, and the Strait of Hormuz situation as it bears on global logistics. Sourcing spans Freightos, Lloyd’s List, Seatrade Maritime News, FreightWaves, Marine Log, CNBC, Reuters-sourced wire coverage, Transport Topics, C.H. Robinson, J.B. Hunt, and Surface Transportation Board filings. THE WEEK IN ONE LINE: Logistics markets are absorbing two simultaneous shocks — the Strait of Hormuz reopening is proving far messier in practice than the headline MOU suggested, with mine-clearance operations potentially taking

Foodservice & Retail: Industry News and Market Update

Foodservice & Retail Weekly Intelligence Brief — Week of 14–20 June 2026 This brief compiles the week’s most material developments across foodservice (QSR, fast casual, full service, convenience) and retail (grocery, mass, e-commerce). Sourcing spans Restaurant Dive, CNBC, SEC filings, Supermarket News, Grocery Dive, C-Store Dive, CSP Daily News, American Recruiters’ Global Foodservice News, Total Food Service, CSIS, and BSI Group trade policy analysis. THE WEEK IN ONE LINE: Trade policy looms largest this cycle — the USMCA’s mandatory six-year joint review opens 1 July, and the National Restaurant Association is treating its preservation as existential given the industry’s reliance

Food & Beverage Packaging, Equipment & Ingredients

Weekly Intelligence Brief — Week of 14–20 June 2026 This brief compiles the week’s most material developments across F&B packaging, processing equipment/automation, and ingredients. Sourcing spans Packaging Dive, Packaging Digest, Plastics News, PlasticsToday, FoodDive, FoodNavigator, FoodIngredientsFirst, NutritionInsight, DairyReporter, FoodProcessing.com, OPB, NBC News, and law-firm regulatory alerts (Faegre Drinker, Proskauer, O’Melveny, Holland & Knight). THE WEEK IN ONE LINE: The packaging sector is absorbing both tragedy and consolidation — the Longview, Washington paper mill implosion (11 dead, the deadliest Washington industrial disaster since 1930) is rippling through liquid packaging board supply chains just as Berlin Packaging’s O.Berk acquisition and a wave

Animal Protein Market Report: Beef, Pork, Poultry, Seafood, Plant-Based & Cultivated Meat

Animal Protein Market Report Weekly Intelligence Brief — Week of 14–20 June 2026 This brief compiles the week’s most material developments across the global animal protein value chain — cattle/beef, pork, poultry, seafood and aquaculture, plant-based meat, and cultivated/lab-grown meat. Sourcing spans USDA AMS Livestock & Grain Market News, Meatingplace (Daily Livestock Report), Drovers, NPR, Texas Tribune, CDC/APHIS, SeafoodSource, Undercurrent News, S&P Global, FoodBusinessNews, GFI’s State of the Industry report, FoodNavigator, and SEC filings. THE WEEK IN ONE LINE: US cattle markets face a dual shock — record-high beef prices from the smallest herd in 75 years are now compounded

Crops & Produce: Nuts, Herbs, Pulses, Legumes, Spices & Ingredients

Crops & Produce Weekly Intelligence Brief — Week of 14–20 June 2026 This brief compiles the week’s most material developments across the global crops and produce value chain — fresh fruit and vegetables, tree nuts, pulses and legumes, spices, culinary herbs, and adjacent soft-commodity ingredients (cocoa, coffee). Sourcing spans USDA AMS Market News, FreshPlaza, The Western Producer, Farm Progress/AgWeb, FoodIngredientsFirst, IFPRI, CFR, Reuters-sourced wire coverage, South African trade press (IOL Business Report, Milling Middle East & Africa), and commodity market data providers (Barchart, Statista, ICCO). THE WEEK IN ONE LINE: Geopolitics dominates: the US–Iran memorandum of understanding to reopen the Strait

THE GLOBAL PROTEIN INDUSTRY 2026

A Comprehensive Farm-to-Fork Analysis Across All GLOBAL PROTEIN INDUSTRY 2026 Sectors ESSFeed Intelligence Report Poultry • Beef & Red Meat • Pork • Dairy • Seafood & Aquaculture • Plant-Based • Cultivated Meat • Precision Fermentation Executive Summary The global protein industry stands at an unprecedented inflection point in 2026. Three forces — a pharmaceutical revolution driven by GLP-1 weight-loss medications, a structural supply crisis in whey protein, and a fundamental shift in what consumers expect protein to do for them — are converging simultaneously, reshaping a sector worth well over USD 133 billion. This report delivers a comprehensive farm-to-fork

Food And Beverage Shipping: What the Strait of Hormuz Reopening Really Means for Cold Chain and Container Rates

For nearly four months, one of the world’s most important shipping arteries sat effectively closed. Now it’s reopening — but for food and beverage shipping, that headline is doing a lot less work than it sounds like it should. The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway separating Iran from Oman, has been the chokepoint at the centre of the most disruptive period for global container shipping since the pandemic. A framework agreement between the United States and Iran, announced in mid-June, set the stage for a phased reopening. Industry voices are already cautioning that this will be a trickle, not