Potato News from Northern America

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.

Renaissance BioScience Corp. has announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has “no questions” in regards to Renaissance’s Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) notice for its non-GMO, acrylamide-reducing (AR) baker’s yeast strain (GRAS Notice No. GRN 000604).

The recently released U.S. International Trade Commission’s report on the potential economic impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) provides many examples of the benefits this free trade agreement would provide.

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.

Potato plants boost the chemical defenses in their leaves when Guatemalan tuber moth larvae feed on their tubers, report researchers at the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI).

Potatoes have been bred at Cornell for at least 50 years and 70% of the university’s breeding efforts are focused on developing new chip varieties. Walter De Jong reports.

Blue and White Chips, a team of two Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences student entrepreneurs who make and market naturally colorful blue-and-white potato chips to Penn State fans, won $7,500 and first place at the Ag Springboard student business pitch contest.

Inventure Foods, Inc. today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 26, 2016.

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.

For the first time in brand history, the Lay's brand asked Americans to help decide which Lay's flavors stay and which flavors go. The decided to pass on ALL of the new flavors and stick to the old ones

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.

Potato acres are expected to fall in Manitoba this spring, as french fry companies cut back on process potato contracts.

York has been working for three years to publicize the 50th anniversary of the invention of the Yukon Gold, a potato bred by Gary Johnston - researcher at the University of Guelph in 1966.

McDonald's Corporation announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016.