News On French Fries and Potato Specialties from Northern America

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 ...

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 ...

Cavendish Farms process growers voted to accept the company’s 2010 contract offer with overwhelming support despite an agreed upon cut in the base price at the end of the season.About 100 growers cast ballots in the recent secret vote and the offer — c...

ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston and Agrian announced today that they have reached an agreement under which Agrian will develop the company’s sustainability data collection and reporting system utilizing the Agrian suite of data management tools. The software...

McCain Foods (Canada) and Food Banks Canada today announced a multi-year partnership that will assist the almost 800,000 Canadians who rely on local food banks every month. McCain will donate a minimum of $1 million in cash and food over the next thre...

ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) one of North America's leading food makers, today announced five aggressive sustainability goals to be achieved by 2015. The goals build on the company's sustainability accomplishments, which began in a company-wide fas...

New Brunswick potato growers are playing the waiting game as negotiations for their 2010 contracts continue with McCain Foods Ltd. In mid March, growers learned the Florenceville-based company will cut the amount of potatoes it buys from them for proc...

Today McCain Foods Limited announced the appointment of Dirk Van de Put as Chief Operating Officer, effective May 17th, 2010. In this new role, created as a result of the company’s succession planning efforts, Van de Put will have direct accountability...

ConAgra Lamb Weston will close its potato processing plant in Prosser, Wash., on May 30, fostering fears other potato processors in the state may close. ConAgra announced the closure to its 250 employees at the plant on March 24, citing a poor market a...

ConAgra Lamb Weston told 250 workers at its Prosser potato processing plant today that the plant will shut down on May 30. ConAgra spokesman Jeff Mochal said the decision is a reflection of the economy and a soft market for frozen potato products, in...

The USDA NASS Cold Storage report released yesterday indicates there was a total of 1,106,521,000 pounds of frozen potato products in storage in the United States on February 28 2010. This is down 7% from last year and slightly up from the amount in s...

McCain Foods USA today announced a voluntary recall of the McCain All American Roaster frozen potato product listed below which contains a pepper ingredient that could be contaminated with Salmonella. The recalled product contains black pepper which ...

Quite some time ago, I wrote about cooking a beautifully seared, perfectly rare steak without filling your neighborhood with smoke . It’s time for the other shoe to drop: the french fries.   In terms of outcome, there’s nothing  wrong with cooking thes...

Florenceville-based McCain Foods Ltd. is cutting its potato sourcing in New Brunswick by 20 to 30 per cent to respond to lower demand for french fries and other market issues.Weaker U.S. fry consumption, a high loonie, competition from low-priced Euro...

A delicate global balance in potato trading, and the changes tastes of fry-shy boomers, are hammering the Maritimes potato patch, industry experts say. “U.S. people are eating out less these days,” McCain’s Canada spokesperson Calla Farn told the Sta...

Joe Brennan and his fellow potato growers in New Brunswick are bracing for the fallout from the French fry meltdown.Mr. Brennan, who is also the chairman of Potatoes New Brunswick, the province's potato marketing board, says he will have no choice this...

A poster adorning the walls of KFC restaurants in California may just take your appetite away. Or at least make you consider giving up the fries. Here's what it says: "Cooked potatoes that have been browned, such as French fries, baked potatoes an...

Last week the European Commission approved cultivation and processing of the genetically modified starch potato Amflora. The request for authorisation was submitted by Amflora's developer BASF in August 1996, more than 13 years ago!

In North America, currently no genetically modified potatoes are commercially grown. But the GM potato has already a colorful history in the US and Canada