News On French Fries and Potato Specialties from the Americas

January 07, 2010

Countering lower consumption tops Potato Expo agenda

Buoyed by higher attendance, industry people participating in Potato Expo 2010 heard how they can work to reverse the trends of falling consumption.Nearly 1,200 participants from all sectors of the industry — fresh, frozen, chip and seed — attended the...

January 06, 2010

McCain Foods gets $24,000 grant for retraining PEI employees

The P.E.I. government approved a grant of more than $24,000 for McCain Foods Ltd., says the Minister of Innovation. The money was used to retrain 65 of the frozen food and potato processing giant's workers during a shutdown at the Borden-Carleton pla...

January 06, 2010

Wal-mart cambia su sistema de compras para bajar costos

Wal-mart está lanzando una campaña este año para recortar miles de millones de dólares de costos de su cadena de abastecimiento combinando las compras de sus tiendas a través de las fronteras nacionales. Será una nueva etapa en la globalización de su n...

January 06, 2010

CEO Interview With ConAgra's Gary Rodkin

It’s virtually impossible to get through a grocery store without buying one of Conagra Foods brands. Hebrew National hot dogs, Healthy Choice frozen foods, Orville Redenbacher popcorn—ConAgra makes those and about 1,500 other products found at the supe...

January 04, 2010

Walmart to cut supply chain costs by buying directly from suppliers

The Financial Times reports Walmart plans to cut billions of dollars of supply chain costs by combining its store purchasing across borders and to move towards more global sourcing.The effort forms part of plans by the world's largest retailer to incre...

December 31, 2009

Simplot, McDonald's Japan Recognize Top Five Washington Potato Growers

The JR Simplot Co. and McDonald's Japan have joined in recognizing the top five growers who supply high-quality raw product for the production of McDonald's french fries and hash browns for the Japanese market."The selection of these five growers ...

December 21, 2009

Twenty five years of New York Fries (by Thomas Hagey)

I remember hanging out with Jay Gould's family 25 years ago and hearing him talk about starting a business which would initially sell, skin-on french fries and Coca-Cola. I thought it was a bold move for someone who had cut his teeth on one of Canada...

December 21, 2009

Health Canada plan would put asparaginase in french fries, potato chips to fight acrylamide

Health Canada is proposing an unorthodox way of combatting acrylamide, a food ingredient suspected in some cancers: It wants to let manufacturers put small amounts of asparaginase - also used as a cancer-fighting drug - into potato chips and similar fo...

December 21, 2009

ConAgra Foods Reports Strong Second-Quarter EPS Driven by Excellent Consumer Foods Growth

ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) one of North America’s leading packaged food companies, today reported results for the fiscal 2010 second quarter ended Nov. 29, 2009. Diluted EPS from continuing operations was $0.55 compared with $0.38 a year ago. Cur...

December 21, 2009

Conagra Foods Q2 results: Lamb Weston Profits improved

We want to highlight the details on Conagra Foods Lamb Weston in the just published Q2 results of Conagra Foods:"Lamb Weston profits improved, reflecting the positive impacts of higher prices necessitated by increased input costs, as well as plant...

December 15, 2009

US Potato use for French Fries processing down 12%;Recovery in processing of Potato flakes

Potato processors in the 9 major potato processing States have used 60.9 million cwt of potatoes this season (harvest 2009), down 12 percent from the same period last year and down 17 percent from 2 years ago. Dehydrating usage accounted for 11.0 milli...

December 10, 2009

Simplot contribution saves Parma Research Center of University of Idaho

At a meeting today in Twin Falls, the University of Idaho Board of Regents heard details about a proposal between the University of Idaho and the J.R. Simplot Co. focused on the university's Parma Research and Extension Center that both preserves a vit...

December 08, 2009

McCain Foods eyes P.E.I. training funds

Officials with McCain Foods Ltd. have been talking to the P.E.I. government about training dollars for employees during an upcoming shutdown of their Borden-Carleton plant. Allan Campbell, the minister of innovation, said the frozen food and potato pr...

December 07, 2009

Corpoica y McCain lanzan variedad de papa para uso industrial;ideal para su transformación en bastones

Como resultado de siete años de investigación conjunta, la multinacional canadiense McCain, la Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria, CORPOICA y el Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP) lanzaron NOVA, la primera variedad de papa específi...

December 03, 2009

FAS/USDA: Global Export of Frozen Potato Products stalls

Over the past decade, world demand for frozen potato products (comprised mostly of frozen fries) has trended upward, expanding over 50 percent. However, the global economic crisis has stalled world demand. In marketing year (July-June) 2008/09, world ...

November 25, 2009

McCain Foods received award for fryer energy recovery system in Carberry

McCain Foods (Canada) was recognized for its environmental leadership and energy conservation achievements at an awards dinner in Toronto on Nov. 24. The company received the award for its energy recovery system at its potato processing plant in Carber...

November 25, 2009

Frozen Potato Institute behind acrylamide comment period extension

The Frozen Potato Institute [AFFI] whose members supply fast food chains with the raw material for french fries, succeeded in persuading FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition to extend its comment period on scientific data and information ...

November 19, 2009

American Frozen Food Institute Announces New Conferences Staff

American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) President and CEO Kraig R. Naasz today announced the addition of two new staff members to AFFI’s conferences department. Mary Becton joins AFFI as the new director of conferences, while Kristen Friend is the new ma...