News On Ingredients from Northern America

September 28, 2010

Six new mega-trends and market challenges are demanding product developers’ attention.

Consumers are demanding dramatic changes in the way that food companies formulate, process, and even flavor foods as they continue to look to the food industry for more natural health solutions and increasingly convenient meal options.

September 16, 2010

ARS is breeding more heart healthy (high oleic) soybean lines

Products made from soy oil stand to benefit from two new germplasm lines that produce high levels of oleic acid, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and university scientists.

September 13, 2010

Sunflower oil prices increasing

News of a possible Russian ban on sunflower exports sent the European sunflower oil market $50 per MT higher last week.

August 27, 2010

Desalting the Food grid

Product developers are responding to public health concerns about the sodium content of processed foods. What sodium-reduction tactics are they using?The methods food companies use to reduce sodium vary. Some plan simply to reduce the amount of salt in...

August 19, 2010

Frito-Lay on 'loud' SunChips biodegradable chip package: 'That's what change sounds like'

The world’s first 100 percent biodegradable chip packet – designed by Frito-Lay for its SunChips brand – has come in for criticism from Facebook members, with more than 30,000 agreeing the new packaging is too loud.

July 29, 2010

Federal Task Force presents plan to cut Canada’s salt intake

A federal task force has delivered a plan to cut Canada’s salt habit to a teaspoon a day – a change that could save tens of thousands of lives a year – but insiders fear it has only tepid support from government and the food industry.The long-awaited r...

July 28, 2010

Starchology? National Starch's new buzzword for its science and art in starch

National Starch has a new word for the driving force behind all the technologies, capabilities and ingredient solutions the company provides customers: STARCHOLOGY.STARCHOLOGY is the centerpiece of a new identity that National Starch presented at the ...

July 19, 2010

ConAgra Foods Completes Sale of Its Gilroy Foods & Flavors Dehydrated and Vegetable Product Operations

ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) announced today the completion of the sale of its Gilroy Foods &FlavorsTM dehydrated and vegetable product operations to Olam International for before-tax proceeds of $250 million in cash, net of transaction costs a...

July 16, 2010

Fast Food Using Less Trans Fats

Trans fats have been showing up less often in fast-food restaurant meals.Research from the University of Minnesota's Nutrition Coordinating Center has shows major chains have significantly reduced their use of oils that contain trans fat in French frie...

July 07, 2010

Mashed potato in foodservice on the rise

Mashed potatoes in foodservice operations are up 29% in the past four years. In Q1 2006, the top 350 chain restaurant menus listed 1,749 mashed potato menu items. In Q1 2010, there were 2,256. This is an important and positive trend for potatoes in foo...

June 30, 2010

Biotech Start-up shows acrylamide reductions with special yeast

Functional Technologies Corp (TSX-V: FEB), a world leader in yeast research and development, today announced initial test results for bread made with its acrylamide-preventing yeast demonstrated reductions of acrylamide of approximately 90%.

June 28, 2010

Frito-Lay introduces lower sodium Ruffles and Fritos

PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay North America business unit announced the introduction of two new Lightly Salted varieties of chips. Fritos Lightly Salted corn chips and Ruffles Lightly Salted potato chips join Lay’s Lightly Salted potato chips, which were launche...

June 21, 2010

National Starch acquired by Corn Products International

Corn Products International, Inc. (NYSE:CPO), a leading global provider of ingredient solutions for diversified industries, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire National Starch, a New Jersey-based global provider o...

June 15, 2010

BASF Opens New Nutrition Ingredients Innovation Laboratory

BASF plans to strengthen its support services for the food and beverage industry and has established a new Nutrition Ingredients Innovation Laboratory at its technical center in Tarrytown, New York. BASF closed its existing laboratory in Ledgewood, New...

June 07, 2010

ConAgra Foods to Sell Gilroy Foods & Flavors' Dehydrated & Vegetable Product Operations to Olam International

ConAgra Foods, Inc., announced today that it has reached an agreement to sell its Gilroy Foods &Flavors dehydrated and vegetable product operations to Olam International for $250 million, subject to final working capital adjustments. The seasoning ...

May 28, 2010

Trans Fats replaced by Healthier Fats, Study Finds

Fears that removing harmful trans fats from foods would open the door for manufacturers and restaurants to add other harmful fats to foods seem to be unfounded, a new study finds. A team from Harvard School of Public Health analyzed 83 reformulated p...

May 25, 2010

Spin fryer sheds oil, reduces calorie content

Entire fast-food empires have been built around the french fry. But companies still continue to pursue perfection -- as in, a better-for-you fry. The immodestly named Perfect Fry company, out of Calgary, claims to have nailed it. At the National Res...

May 03, 2010

HVP recall continues – but far smaller than feared

Two more products have been recalled due to the possibility that they may contain salmonella-tainted hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) from Basic Food Flavors – but fears of a large-scale recall have proved unfounded.At the beginning of March, Food an...