News on Food Trends from Northern America

Three words can sum up the increasing popularity of sweet potatoes in the foodservice industry: sweet potato fries.They’re stars on restaurant menus across the country, and some fine dining establishments are pursuing different fresh-cut angles and co...

The United States Potato Board (USPB) grower membership elected new leadership during its Annual Meeting held in Denver, CO, March 10-13. The News release lists the leadership for the coming year by section.

Restaurateurs looking for signs of an economic recovery will not see it in a recent survey that found consumer spending down markedly across all income groups in early March.Even as government officials suggested that consumer spending might have stabi...

The National Potato Council (NPC) is calling on the Obama Administration and Congress to either reinstate the funding required to continue the pilot program allowing Mexican trucks into a limited area within U.S. border states or to quickly develop an ...

French fries and pizza may soon have more competition in school cafeterias in Tennessee.Grants worth $1.4 million in public dollars are being used to spur fresh vegetable consumption at some Tennessee public schools next school year. Priority will be g...

Renal specialists have called for clear labeling on products that use potassium chloride as a salt replacer because it could pose a hidden risk for dialysis patients. Potassium chloride has been seen as a potential candidate for salt replacement becaus...

After suffering from cost inflation nearly all of last year, relief from sky-high commodity and energy costs is here, and restaurant bottom lines should stand to benefit from deflated prices by the second half of this year, said UBS Securities analyst ...

Maine potato growers are thriving thanks to a late blight spraying advice offered by the University of Maine's cooperative extension program.

Competition and market access are the two biggest issues facing the potato industry as it tries to expand exports.“We had been benefiting from having a weak dollar, but that has also made the cost of international programs higher,” said Bart Connors, ...

As if unemployment rates, home foreclosures and the deepening recession weren't enough, the beleaguered casual-dining industry has to fend off new, formidable competition: fast-food chains. As consumers increasingly trade down to fast food, several pla...

Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) has completely overhauled its oldest and biggest store brand, a move likely to send shock waves through the ranks of branded grocery manufacturers around the globe. For the past year, Wal-Mart has worked with suppliers and consu...

Last year’s economic slowdown and supply chain issues, including ingredient availability problems and vendor pricing, had a large affect on the global food and beverage market. In spite of these deterrents, the industry lost only 5.1% of its market val...

The province Alberta has put an end to Calgary's trans fat initiative. In January 2008, the Calgary Health Region began limiting the amount of trans fats restaurants could use to less than two percent. It was the first part of a multi-phase initia...

With potato-processing plants around the world, McCain Foods has a total production capacity to make more than one million pounds of french fries an hour. In fact, the company makes one-third of all frozen french fries in the world. Despite the high pe...

The potato industry needs innovation to create a long-term rise in demand, U.S. Potato Board President Tim O’Connor said at the group’s annual meeting.“There’s a difference between increasing demand and just getting a temporary sales bump,” O’Connor sa...

Portion-controlled packaging for snacks could play a dual role in fighting raging obesity rates by reducing consumer calorific in-take and heightening awareness to portion size, finds new research from the US. Scientists at the University of Colorado D...

The Canola Council of Canada (CCC) today announced a new wave of investment - $350,000 - into research on the role of canola in the prevention and treatment of heart disease and diabetes.The announcement of funding under the Canola Product Research Fun...

Ever wonder why those French fries taste so good when you are depressed?Here’s one theory: Salt is a natural antidepressant, which might explain why we have a tendency to over-ingest it.Kim Johnson, a psychologist from the University of Iowa, discovere...