News on Food Trends from the United States

On November 18, 2015 Conagra Foods announced plans to spin off Lamb Weston and mentioned during the presentation of their latest financial results that the separation is on track. Now rumors surface that Conagra Foods has met with Post Holdings to discuss a potential merger of Post and Lamb Weston.

Repeated serious safety violations have resulted in a serious workplace injury and in a large fine for the Washington Potato Company, a potato processing company in Warden, Washington.

A former executive with a Pennsylvania potato chip and snack food company and a vendor have been charged and agreed to plead guilty to defrauding the company out of roughly $1.4 million.

Potatoes USA announced earlier this month that nominations are now open for new Board Members for the 2017-2020 term.

McDonald’s Corp. today announced the move of its corporate headquarters to downtown Chicago by the spring of 2018.

ConAgra Foods, Inc. and Platinum Equity, a private equity firm, announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for Platinum Equity to acquire ConAgra Foods’ JM Swank business, a national food ingredient sourcing and distribution company

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration found an Idaho frozen food manufacturer failed to safeguard employees and was unprepared to respond to a potentially lethal release of 1,300 lbs. of anhydrous ammonia on Dec. 1, 2015.

ConAgra Foods, Inc. today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Spicetec Flavors & Seasonings business to Givaudan for approximately $340 million.

Purple potatoes might not be the first thing that comes to mind when trying to increase vitamin, mineral and antioxidant intake. However, a group of researchers from CSU have recently developed potato varieties that satisfy these nutritional needs and could act as a preventive measure to several diseases.

ConAgra Foods brand Alexia announced that all of the brand's offerings will be non-GMO by the end of 2016.

There is good research, not so good research, bad research and occasionally there is research that significantly raises my blood pressure. A recent study on the link between potatoes and high blood pressure falls in the latter category.

Investigadores del Hospital Brigham de Mujeres (BWH, por sus siglas en inglés) y la Escuela T. H. Chan de Salud Pública de la Universidad de Harvard, en Estados Unidos, han analizado qué ocurre cuando se supera el consumo moderado y han descubierto que una ingesta elevada de patatas y patatas fritas puede estar asociada con un mayor riesgo de presión arterial alta (hipertensión) de adultos. Su trabajo se detalla en un artículo publicado este martes en 'British Medical Journal'.

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Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is phasing out its Wild Oats organic food brand, according to people familiar with the matter, dropping a line of products introduced two years ago to bring inexpensive organics to the masses.

Boulder Canyon Authentic Foods® underscores its position as category innovators with the introduction of three new uniquely-flavored potato chip offerings cooked in premium, better-for-you oils.

Congress is pushing the Agriculture Department to exempt groups such as Potatoes USA (formerly known as the United States Potato Board) from public scrutiny of their internal operations (Freedom of Information Act).

A new flavor of French fries – Gilroy Garlic Fries – are currently being tested in McDonald's restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Snyder's of Hanover® – the No. 1 pretzel brand in the United States – is bringing swagger back to the pretzel category on National Pretzel Day. On April 26, they're giving away thousands of bags of boldly-flavored Pretzel Pieces near baseball stadiums in eight cities around the country.

Entomologist Ada Szczepaniec at Texas A&M AgriLife Research is addressing the concern of growing resistance of potato psyllids to the neonicotinoid classification of insecticides.