News On French Fries and Potato Specialties from the Americas

Thin cut French Fries of Kenji Lopez-Alt in Serious Eats

May 28, 2010

How to make perfect McDonald's style french fries at home

The picture above is from a blog about how to make McDonald's style french fries at home. The average blog on french fries does not make it to our news section, but this blog is in no way average! First of all you will admire the length this blogger...

North American Potato Market News (NAPMN)

May 28, 2010

Canada's export of potato products down 11% in first quarter

Canada exported 14.0 million cwt of potatoes and potato products during the January-March quarter. According to the editor of North American Potato Market News (NAPMN), Bruce Huffaker, that fell 1.7 million cwt short of the 2009 pace, a 10.7% decline. ...

May 27, 2010

Heinz Reports Strong Fiscal 2010 Results;US Ore-Ida sales increased

H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ) today reported excellent full-year and fourth-quarter results for Fiscal 2010 as the Company delivered dynamic double-digit organic sales growth in Emerging Markets. For the full year, sales grew 4.8% to a record $10.5 bi...

May 25, 2010

Spin fryer sheds oil, reduces calorie content

Entire fast-food empires have been built around the french fry. But companies still continue to pursue perfection -- as in, a better-for-you fry. The immodestly named Perfect Fry company, out of Calgary, claims to have nailed it. At the National Res...

May 24, 2010

Conagra tries to reengineer the sweet potato

ConAgra Foods hopes to make the sweet potato a modern-day equivalent of its stepbrother, the russet potato. In the mid-1940s, entrepreneur J. R. Simplot developed the frozen French fry, thus elevating the russet from kitchen staple to multibillion-doll...

May 17, 2010

April Potato Processing in Idaho and Malheur County Up 5.5 Percent from Last Year

Processors in Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon used 6.90 million cwt of 2009 crop raw potatoes during April, up 5.5 percent from April 2009. Processors in Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon have used 56.1 million cwt of 2009 crop raw potatoes to May 1, ...

May 14, 2010

Simplot study: Ring fries beat straight cut French fries on health and taste

Frying potato rings rather than straight strips produces fries with less oil, lower levels of acrylamide, less salt, and better taste, says a new study from the US. “Our findings provide justification for a partial replacement of French fries with ring...

May 12, 2010

Manitoba Potato Growers reach deal with McCain Foods

Growers of processing potatoes in Manitoba have approved a deal with McCain Foods which will see production drop by 12 percent, with prices down around 15 percent. Gary Sloik, general manager of the Keystone Potato Producers Association, says growers w...

May 09, 2010

Cavendish Farms Appeals PEI Arbitration and Mediation regulation for potatoes

The Prince Edward Island Potato Board said it is disappointed that Cavendish Farms is appealing a new mediation and arbitration rule put in place this year. Under the Potato Board order, contracts must be worked out between Island potato processing p...

May 08, 2010

McCain lays off 10% of Portage La Prairie workforce, cuts price offered to farmers

McCain Foods is laying off about 10 per cent of its workforce in Portage la Prairie this fall and Manitoba potato producers are expecting a leaner crop year.About 40 people out of a workforce of about 400 at McCain's in Portage are expected to be laid ...

May 06, 2010

PEI Potato growers supplying McCain Foods get better price after arbitration

Potato farmers selling potatoes to McCain Foods have seen their contract improved after going to arbitration.The farmers had complained McCain's offer price was not even close to what Cavendish Farms is giving its farmers. The issue went to arbitration...

May 06, 2010

Manitoba Potato Growers still without contracts

In Manitoba, the potato crop is off to a record start - over half the potato acreage has been planted -, but that does not mean potato growers are pleased with how the spring has progressed. Growers of processing potatoes are still without price cont...

May 06, 2010

McCain Foods cuts shift at PEI Borden French Fry factory

McCain Foods is permanently reducing the number of production shifts from 3 to 2 at its Borden-Carleton, P.E.I., plant this fall, leading to the layoff of 35 people.Calla Farn, vice-president of government and public relations and corporate affairs for...

April 28, 2010

Conagra sustainable Development Awards: Park Rapids and Quincy Lamb Weston facilities recognized

ConAgra Foods announced today the winners of its 2010 Sustainable Development Awards, an internal awards program created to recognize outstanding achievements integrating sustainability into business practices while also sharing best practices across the company.

April 24, 2010

Idaho potato growers plant potatoes without deal

Idaho potato growers are taking to the field this spring without a collective agreement with major processors. The collective bargaining process broke down in Idaho last year following a dispute with ConAgra Foods. Growers blamed ConAgra, and the compa...

April 23, 2010

American Frozen Food Institute elects Wyman’s Edward R. Flanagan as Chairman

The American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) today announced the election of Edward R. Flanagan of Jasper Wyman &Son, Inc. to be chairman of the AFFI Board of Directors. "The American Frozen Food Institute is fortunate to have such a strong leade...

April 22, 2010

US Potatoes 2010: Processing down 6%, Spring Production Up

Production of winter and spring potatoes is estimated at 25.6 million hundredweight(cwt) in 2010, a 3-percent increase over 2009 and the highest level since 2004. (As of 2010, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service includes California winter ...

April 15, 2010

PEI Potato Farmers reject McCain contract

Prince Edward Island potato farmers have rejected a contract offered by McCain Foods, arguing the proposal was less than one accepted last week from a rival company.The farmers voted Tuesday night against what they called a disappointing price offered ...