LaCroix sparkling water owner National Beverage has been unable to stem a stock price decline spurred by flagging sales, negative publicity, and increased competition. The stock has fallen...

BD attended the Natural Products Expo West show last week at the Anaheim Convention Center & Arena outside Los Angeles. The event has become a showcase for products capitalizing on consumer health trends, which often evolve to mainstream appeal and drive acquisitions by large consumer products companies. Food and beverage offerings as usual dominated the show, which included more than 3,500 exhibitors spread across the equivalent of almost 10 football fields. Here’s an analysis of beverage themes and trends that emerged from this year’s show:

The Philadelphia sweetened beverage tax championed by Mayor Jim Kenney in 2016 has figured into a 116-count federal indictment against a local union boss and a city councilman, among others. According to the indictment unveiled on Jan. 30, John Dougherty, who ran the Local 98 chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, allegedly used