News On French Fries and Potato Specialties from Northern America

April 08, 2008

Ammonia leak, roof collapse forces McCain Foods to close plant in Florenceville

McCain Foods officials are searching for the cause of a partial roof collapse at the Florenceville plant over the weekend. On Saturday afternoon, the roof over a cold storage unit at the plant crumbled into the facility, said Calla Farn, McCains' dir...

March 31, 2008

Bart Connors Selected To Lead 2008-2009 United States Potato Board

Bart Connors of Pasco, WA, was elected Chairman of the United States Potato Board (USPB) on March 14 at the organization’s Annual Meeting in Denver, CO. Connors is the general manager of Skone & Connors Produce.

March 27, 2008

Conagra Foods Reports Strong EPS Growth and Improved Sales for Consumer Foods

ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) one of North America's leading packaged food companies, today reported results for the fiscal 2008 third quarter ended Feb. 24, 2008. Current-quarter diluted EPS from continuing operations was $0.63;items impacting com...

March 26, 2008

Key Technology Announces Retirement of Gordon Wicher, Sr. Vice President Global Operations

Key Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: KTEC) announced today that Gordon Wicher, Sr. Vice President of Global Operations, will retire from the Company effective May 30, 2008. "Gordon has served Key Technology with energy, wisdom, integrity, and vision f...

March 17, 2008

March US Potato Stocks Up 8 Percent from Last Year

The 13 major potato states held 172 million cwt. of potatoes in storage March 1, up 8 percent from last year and 10 percent above 2006, according to USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. Potatoes in storage accounted for 43 percent of the 2...

March 11, 2008

Wallace McCain honoured with International Horatio Alger Award

Like his roots, Wallace McCain is extremely humble when asked about being only the fifth Canadian to receive a prestigious American award for rags-to-riches business success.

Bulk potato storage for processing potatoes in the United Kingdom

March 05, 2008

Quality of Potatoes for Processing and the effect of Potato Storage; Some Basics

The amount of reducing sugars in the potato are responsible for the colour formation of fried products. So if potatoes are too high in reducing sugars, they are not suitable for processing.

March 05, 2008

Potatoes cooked in hot oil have gone from snack to menu staple

French fries, once the snack of ball games, bowling lanes, and clam shacks, are now on every sort of menu.Today's fries, however, aren't just shoestrings in a clever presentation. Chefs are sprinkling them with all kinds of sea salt, grated cheeses suc...

February 29, 2008

Snow blamed for roof collapse of warehouse attached to McCain Foods Plover French Fry Factory

Heavy snow is believed to be the cause of a roof collapse at McCain Foods Plover French Fry Factory. Authorities say no one was hurt when a portion of the roof gave way at a warehouse connecting McCain Foods with AmeriCold Corporation.

February 29, 2008

McCain cutting production of concentrate at N.B. beverage plant

McCain Foods is cutting production of frozen juice concentrate at its beverage plant in Grand Falls, N.B., eliminating about 30 jobs. McCain says the jobs will be gone by April 18 when it consolidates production in Toronto. The company says the move w...

February 28, 2008

Development and Experimental Validation of a Frying Model to Estimate Acrylamide Levels in French Fries

In this study, a numerical model was developed to simulate frying of potato strips and estimate acrylamide levels in French fries. Heat and mass transfer parameters determined during frying of potato strips and the formation and degradation kinetic par...

ADR4 Automatic Defect Removal System for French Fries

February 26, 2008

Potato Processor Frigemo Relies on ADR4 from Key Technology to Optimize French Fry Quality

Quality is a top priority at Frigemo, the Swiss food processor that manufactures french fries for McDonald’s. To consistently match product quality to specifications, Frigemo relies on ADR® 4, an automatic defect removal system for potato strips from ...

February 26, 2008

Heinz: Quarterly Report

Sales for the three months ended January 30, 2008 increased $316 million, or 13.8%, to $2.61 billion, with growth in all five business segments. Volume increased 5.2%, driven by a 9.8% volume increase in Asia/Pacific, combined with solid growth in Euro...

February 25, 2008

ConAgra Foods Acquires Watts Brothers to Strengthen Its Lamb Weston Business

ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE: CAG) announced today that it has acquired Kennewick, Wash.-based Watts Brothers, a privately held vegetable processing and agricultural company, to further grow and strengthen its core potato business operating under the Lam...

February 21, 2008

Conagra cuts jobs in Europe, Asia;Lamb Weston not affected

Conagra Foods is cutting back its operations in Asia and Europe, as the packaged-food manufacturer shrinks its international operations due to disappointing sales. "Sales for our consumer businesses weren't what we wanted them to be in those mark...

February 14, 2008

McCain launches new Home Fries campaign

McCain has launched an exciting new re-brand campaign for its best-tasting Home Fries product, to celebrate its rightful positioning as 'Chips as chips should be'. The Home Fries re-brand will build upon McCain’s long-running, ‘It’s All Good’ campaign,...

February 14, 2008

Simplot transfers Pasco processing plant to joint venture with Washington Potato Company

The J. R. Simplot Company is transferring its vegetable processing plant in Pasco, Wash., to a new manufacturing joint venture to be managed and co-owned by Washington Potato Company. Washington Potato Company (WPC) will run the plant and continue to p...

McCain Foods Canada among 50 best managed Canadian companies in 2007

February 12, 2008

McCain Foods (Canada) recognized as one of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies

McCain Foods (Canada) is pleased to have been recognized as one of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies for 2007.The national award, sponsored by Deloitte, CIBC Commercial Banking and the National Post, recognizes excellence in Canadian owned and managed...