Food Industry Archive

Small farms increased in number — The USDA Census on Agriculture showed that the number of small farms rose between 2002 and 2007. However, the majority of small farms make little money and their owners often supplement their farm income with other jobs. Five percent of farms are responsible for 75 percent of what’s produced. [Source: Food Politics] Blue California ready with stevia...

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In an economy that increasingly favors cheap deals, Starbucks has been flailing while its competitors take advantage. McDonald’s is expanding its McCafe into more and more markets, while Dunkin’ Donuts is running various promotions as well as investing in advertising and new stores. Both companies are aggressively targeting Starbucks customers. But Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz this...

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Judge ‘Not Very Happy’ with Pilgrim’s Pride Paying Former Execs Agreements by Pilgrim’s Pride to pay two former top executives about as much as they had earned in salary have irked the bankruptcy judge handling the company’s Chapter 11 case, but the judge this week for the second time delayed ruling on the matter. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis M. Lynn asked the...

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On Wednesday, I noted that Kraft and Sara Lee’s disappointing most-recent quarters were due in part to their pricing strategies. The companies have raised prices to cover commodity costs that soared in the first half of last year, and have since come down. Retail prices, though, haven’t. At least not by much. As the recession wears on, consumers are increasingly turning to...

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Stores notify customers via loyalty cards — Some supermarket chains are using data from loyalty cards to contact customers who have purchased recalled products, such as peanut butter contaminated with salmonella. Costco, for example, has contacted more than 1.5 million customers. CSPI has urged other stores to follow suit. [Source: Daily Bread] Supervalu promotes African-American vendors...

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Dr. Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, seemed to be squirming during the Senate Ag Committee’s hearing this morning. The subject, of course, was how salmonella wound up in our nation’s peanut butter. It’s become common knowledge that the FDA is overworked, underfunded, and focused more on drug regulation than food safety...

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Just a few months ago, people were asking whether food companies like Kraft and Sara Lee were “recession proof,” since they sell a lot of staple items like cheese and bread, which people will buy even during hard times. Turns out they’re not, at least not this time. Both Chicago-area companies reported disappointing results on Wednesday, and both lowered their forecasts. Part...

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Given the fierce disagreement over whether bailout money from taxpayers should have a “Buy American” provision, I thought I’d return to one of the Bush Administration’s more bizarre midnight regulations, which I left out of my previous post. On January 13, the administration tripled the tariff on Roquefort cheese, bringing it to 300 percent. Other European products, such...

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Obama says he’ll review FDA — The president called for a thorough review of the Food and Drug Administration, which has faced a lot of criticism over its ability to prevent or respond quickly to crises like the current salmonella contamination of peanut butter. “I think that the FDA has not been able to catch some of these things as quickly as I expect them to,” he said...

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Last week, as noted in this space, a couple of scientific studies were published (by the same people, essentially) stating that high fructose corn syrup can contain possibly dangerous amounts of mercury. The Corn Refiner’s Association responded, saying the study, by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, fell “well below standards for proper scientific research and...

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