News on Health and Nutrition from the Americas

The Prince Edward Island potato industry is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for recent tampering incidents involving sewing needles being embedded in fresh potatoes.

The world of snack foods is a Manichean struggle for the soul of your stomach. Do you reach for the tasty, high-calorie, additives-rich mozzarella sticks–or less processed, lower-calorie fruits and veggies?

Ottawa Police are warning residents to be careful handling food after the discovery of a needle in potatoes bought at a grocery store in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

A potato genetically engineered to reduce the amounts of a potentially harmful ingredient in French fries and potato chips has been approved for commercial planting, the Department of Agriculture announced on Friday.

The market for Prince Edward Island potatoes is holding strong despite the recent reports from six Atlantic Canadian locations of needles found in potato shipments from an Island grower.

McCain Foods (Canada) is voluntarily recalling McCain brand Hashbrowns from the marketplace due to possible plastic contamination

Maureen Storey, PhD, president and CEO of the Alliance for Potato Research and Education (APRE) today announced the formation of the APRE President’s Circle, a new membership category designed to strengthen industry value chain collaboration

Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Division is investigating how an employee at Oregon Potato Co. in Boardman severed four fingers on her right hand in a workplace accident

Another potato has been found with a sewing needle inside, the Prince Edward Island RCMP announced yesterday. This is the seventh sewing needle discovered in a potato.

RCMP says metal objects were intentionally placed. Police believe all affected fries at Cavendish Farms did not leave facility.

By contributing approximately 7% of dietary fiber to the U.S. food supply, new research from APRE found that white potatoes are an importance source of this nutrient for Americans.

In front of hundreds of associates, suppliers and nonprofit organizations at its Global Sustainability Milestone Meeting, Walmart announced its commitment to create a more sustainable food system.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is advising consumers of a possible food tampering situation involving potatoes harvested and packed by Linkletter Farms Ltd. of Summerside, PEI.

American adult waistlines are still spreading, a new study finds. While body mass index, a key measure for obesity, has stabilized, American bellies have increased an inch over the last decade.

Postmenopausal women who eat foods higher in potassium [such as potatoes; PotatoPro] are less likely to have strokes or to die from any cause than women who eat fewer potassium-rich foods, according to data from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI).

“Research released on sodium and cardiovascular disease in today’s [August 14] New England Journal of Medicine adds to the national discussion of sodium's role in the American diet,” says Snack Food Association (SFA) CEO Tom Dempsey.

After less than a year of being on the menu, Burger King is getting rid of its lower-calorie french fries, called Satisfries, at most of its restaurants.

Revenue from its Frito-Lay division increased 2 percent in North America, according to an earnings report released Wednesday, while beverage sales in the region remained flat.