News on Chips and Snacks from the Americas

Chips and Snacks manufacturer Shearer’s Foods announced the following appointments: Michael Parks has been named Shearer’s Vice President of Manufacturing. Mike is providing leadership and direction to Shearer’s five manufacturing facilities as well ...

Diamond Foods, Inc. (Nasdaq:DMND) today reported record financial results for its fiscal 2011 fourth quarter and full year. For the three months ended July 31, 2011, the first full comparable quarter since the acquisition of Kettle Foods, non-GAAP net...

PepsiCo is combining product sampling with storytelling in Argentina in an unusual vending machine that appears to manufacture Lay's potato chips before your eyes after a real potato, rather than coins, is dropped in a slot. The Lay's machine, which w...

US potato and product exports were a record $1,350,213,480 and 1,366,649 metric tons for the July 2010–June 2011 fiscal year. This is a 15 percent increase in value and 11 percent increase in volume. On a fresh weight equivalent basis, this represents ...

The Charlotte, N.C., site of Snyder's-Lance began operations in the 1960s and was expanded twice since to more than 1 million sq. ft. In August 2008, Greg Flickinger left General Mills after nine years to become director of manufacturing for Charlott...

“An expanding customer base meant we needed to make more product, and to do that we needed a new plant.” With that succinct summation, CEO Bob Shearer of Shearer’s Foods explains the background behind the Millennium Manufacturing Facility, a 110,000-sq...

PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE: PEP) today announced its inclusion in the 2011 Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI). PepsiCo is ranked as the number one company in the DJSI Food and Beverage Supersector, the only company based in the United States to earn a t...

ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG), one of North America's leading packaged food companies, today announced that it will be added for the first time to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America. One of the world's most recognizable sustain...

PACK EXPO Las Vegas 2011 (Sept. 26–28, Las Vegas Convention Center) is collaborating with several industry associations to add even more value to the most comprehensive processing and packaging event taking place in North America. “While brand owners ...

PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay North America division is taking spicy snacking to the next level with the introduction of new Doritos and Cheetos Fiery Fusion snacks. Now available in convenience stores across the U.S., Fiery Fusion snacks are the latest evolutio...

If you think a Hot Dog flavored potato chip is not going to work, think again... It looks like 7-Eleven Big Bite Hot Dog Potato Chips have the flavor and the buzz. This is what the Huffington Post writes about them: "When we at HuffPost Food rea...

Shippers say consumers like the convenience of picking up bagged sweet potatoes, and the 3-pound bag seems to be just the right size. Sales of bagged sweet potatoes are picking up, said George Wooten, president and partner, Wayne E. Bailey Produce Co....

This new snack, Cherkees are a blend of two delicious snack foods;beef jerky and potato chips. These are NOT beef jerky flavored potato chips. Cherkees are real beef jerky AND potato chips at the same time! Lean beef and crispy potato are finally com...

Saratoga Specialties Company is excited to announce that Saratoga Springs Mayor Scott T. Johnson will proclaim that August 24th is “Saratoga Specialties Original Saratoga Chip Day”. A presentation is set to be made on the steps of City Hall in Saratog...

The USPB is pleased to deliver the industry’s sales and utilization estimates for calendar year 2010. The full report is attached following this story.

US-based snack food company Snyder's-Lance has reported $3.84m loss for the second quarter ended 2 July 2011, compared to a $12.4m profit during the same period last year. The prior year results were reported by only Lance prior to its merger with Sny...

Snyder's-Lance, Inc. (Nasdaq-GS: LNCE), acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of George Greer Company, Inc. ("Greer"), a snack food distributor serving Rhode Island, eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire markets. This strategi...

Scientists of the Texas A&M University, writing in the Journal of Food Process Engineering, report that short frying time and/or longer centrifuging time combinations would maximize oil removal from the chip's surface during vacuum frying. Accord...