News on News on from Northern America

February 20, 2009

Northern Star Co. Initiates Recall of Retail Potato Products; No Foodservice Potato Products affected

Northern Star Co. today initiated a voluntary product recall of certain retail cut-and-bagged potato products. The recall is being initiated due to laboratory testing that showed a package of Simply Potatoes Southwest Style Hash Browns to contain Listeria monocytogenes bacteria.

February 19, 2009

Canadian government announces 5.3 million support for BioPotato Network

Yvan Pelletier and Helen Tai hope you'll never look at a potato the same way again. The agricultural scientists, who are co-leading a network to help expand the potato industry, are working to unleash the full potential of the humble tuber and creat...

February 19, 2009

Listeria Alert in Minnesota: MDA issues consumer advisory for Simply Potatoes Southwest Style Hash Browns

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) today issued a consumer advisory for certain refrigerated potato products after testing conducted by the MDA laboratory discovered a sample of Simply Potatoes Southwest Style Hash Browns containing Listeri...

January 14, 2009

Potato Donut a hit at Farm Show

Baked potatoes and French fries are some of the biggest sellers at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, and many are willing to wait in rather long lines at the food court to get them.However, those two items aren’t the only staple food products provided by the...

January 12, 2009

NYC baked potato shop 'Totally Baked' closes, the result of a failed concept

Jason Apfelbaum's Totally Baked—baked potato restaurant—on 18th Street—has closed. After spending a ton of cash, the successful catering entrepreneur has been forced to accept that his business model was flawed. According to numerous comments on the In...

January 03, 2009

USDA's Western Regional Research Center offers Potato Research ideas to Washington Potato Commission

Members of the Washington State Potato Commission's research committee recently returned from a trip to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Western Regional Research Center.Commission Research Director Andy Jensen said the reason for the trip to the A...

January 02, 2009

Canadian AAFC Scientists Consider Potato Starch for Nutritional and Industrial Applications

Most cooks are familiar with the thickening properties of corn starch, but potato starch is every bit as much up to the job, say scientists with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). They’re working on a project to further examine the structure and...

December 21, 2008

Record-breaking potato pancake

Here's something very Southern California about Hanukkah: Trying to make a world-record setting potato pancake in a solar-paneled oven. "With the new president [of the United States] coming in, the whole thing is about the environment,"said ...

November 21, 2008

Heinz’s Top 15 Brands Grew 8.5% on an Organic Basis;Ore-Ida Steam 'n Mash Potatoes successful

Heinz Reports 5.8% Organic Sales Growth, and a 22.5% Increase in EPS to $0.87 in Second Quarter. The second Quarter highlights: Total sales growth of 3.5%, driven by organic growth of 5.8%* Organic sales of Heinz’s Top 15 brands grew 8.5%* Net inc...

November 07, 2008

Consumer panel evaluates Ore-Ida Steam and Mash Potatoes

A consumer panel of the Florida Times Union evaluated Ore-Ida's Steam and Mash.This product is one members of the Times-Union Consumer Panel really like.They say Ore-Ida Steam n' Mash is not only easy to prepare but tastes homemade too.The frozen potat...

October 08, 2008

Potatoes from Alaska used for New Permafrost brand vodka

Alaska entrepreneur Toby Foster hopes Fields wasn't far from the mark with his theory and that vodka connoisseurs from all over will appreciate a new potato vodka blend he has created called "Permafrost - Alaskan Vodka."A lifelong commercial ...

September 16, 2008

Steam n' Mash: Ore-Ida® Takes the Hassle Out of Homemade Mashed Potatoes

Steam n' Mash from Ore-Ida makes homemade mashed potatoes easy:Thanks to a new innovation from the Ore-Ida brand, known as Steam n' Mash potatoes, one of America’s favorite comfort foods is now easy enough to make every day in just 15 minutes or less!

August 05, 2008

Lima offers tax benefits to Kettle Creations

City tax incentives are on the way for Kettle Creations, a company planning to open a $25 million food manufacturing facility in Gateway Commerce industrial park in Lima, Ohio.Kettle Creations, a new company, will manufacture 50 million pounds of mashe...

July 31, 2008

Potato vodka hitting the shelves in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania's first and only vodka distillery sits unassumingly inside one of the former Glenshaw Glass buildings along Route 8 in Shaler. Pennsylvania Pure Distilleries, the brainchild of Prentiss Orr and Barry Young, is just about ready to release...

July 31, 2008

Lima (Ohio) possible site for mashed-potato plant

Food processor Kettle Creations LLC is considering putting a mashed-potato plant in the Gateway Commerce Industrial Park here.It plans to a $21 million factory to make refrigerated mashed potatoes for sale in stores and use in restaurants. The operati...

July 25, 2008

New FSA guide advises short shelf-life for vacuum - and Modified atmosphere packed foods

A new UK food regulator guide recommends a restricted shelf-life for vacuum packed and modified atmosphere packed food products to avoid C. Botulinum growth. Although Clostridium botulinum food poisoning is very rare in the UK, its very serious natur...

July 18, 2008

Prairie spud growers enter convenience market with 'Todays Potatoes'

Two potato farms in Alberta and Saskatchewan are taking their produce directly to the heat-and-serve convenience food market. Barrich Farms of Outlook, Sask., about 90 km south of Saskatoon, and Bassano Growers at Bassano, Alta., about 140 km east o...

July 14, 2008

These spuds are for LI vodka

Two years and $2 million later, the big moment in the life of Long Island's new distillery came in March when co-owner Dan Pollicino put his pinkie into the first liquid flowing out of the still and tasted it."When we got to the heart of the run a...