Beef Products Inc. filed a defamation lawsuit Sept. 13 against ABC News alleging the network’s news coverage misled consumers to believe the company’s product, lean finely textured beef, was unsafe. The company is seeking more than $1 billion in damages …
Hard to believe, but the New York Board of Health has banned the sale of large sodas and sugary beverages at restaurants, concession stands and other city venues. Proposed this past May by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the regulation puts a 16-oz size limit on cups and bottles of non-diet soda, sweetened teas, and other beverages determined to be high in calories ...
Kraft Foods CEO Irene Rosenfeld expects Mondelez International to have organic revenue growth of 5 percent to 7 percent and double-digit growth in operating earnings after its Oct. 1 split from Kraft, reports The Wall Street Journal. "We're now ready to unleash a global snacking powerhouse," she said ...
Kraft Foods Group CEO Tony Vernon says he will "create a new Kraft, one with the spirit of a startup and the soul of a powerhouse" -- and he'll start by spending more money on advertising the power brands, reports Advertising Age. He says that advertising is "dearest" to his heart and pledged to catch up to competitors, which typically spend much more than Kraft's ad budget of 2.9 percent of net revenue. Kraft brands in the newly separated division, which officially kicks off Oct. 1, include Oscar Mayer, Planters, Velveeta and Jell-O …
Kraft Foods will purchase Bimo, the largest cookie company in Morocco for $151 million, subject to regulatory approval. Kraft already owns 50 percent of the company, and will acquire the remaining 50 percent from National Investment, reports Reuters ...
McCormick & Co. Inc. has agreed to buy the assets of Wuhan Asia-Pacific Condiments Co. Ltd., a privately held Chinese manufacturer of DaQiao and ChuShiLe brand bouillon products, for about $141 million ...
U.S.-based Dole Food is in advanced talks with Japanese trading house Itochu over the sale of its packaged foods and Asian fresh fruit and vegetable businesses. Itochu could pay about $1.7 billion for the businesses, reports Reuters citing sources familiar with the matter. Dole said in a statement that no definitive agreements have been signed at this time, and it is continuing discussions with several other parties regarding these assets and others ...
Teasdale Quality Foods Inc., a California-based company of Palladium Equity Partners L.L.C. and manufacturer of Hispanic foods, has acquired Hoopeston Foods Inc., a producer of conventional and organic canned dried beans based in Hoopeston, Ill. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed ...
CBS is expected to announce that 90 percent of the ad slots for the 2013 Super Bowl have already been taken, with 30-second slots selling for as much as $3.8 million, reports USA Today. Pepsi is sponsoring the halftime show, but Coca-Cola is also participating and is planning a "new approach," said spokeswoman Lauren Thompson …
Australian confectionery firm Darrell Lea has been sold to Quinn family, which owns the Queensland-based VIP Petfoods, reports Food Business Review. Financial details were not disclosed …
To boost brand recognition and encourage Americans to eat more pasta in the U.S., Italian food-maker Barilla will launch a chain of branded restaurants in 2013, chairman Guido Barilla said, reports The Wall Street Journal. Americans ate an average of 19.4 pounds of pasta each in 2011, compared to 57.3 pounds for Italians and 28.7 pounds in Venezuela, according to the Italian Association of Pasta Industries, called Aidepi. The company plans to fund its pasta push by selling noncore assets, including a German bread company and a Spanish maker of bakery products …
The Campbell Soup Co. has opened a new 34,000-square-foot innovation center at the Pepperidge Farm headquarters in Norwalk, Conn., reports Food Business News. The project is a $30 million investment designed to drive continued growth and innovation in its Global Baking and Snacking portfolio ...
The FDA plans to study whether consumers choose less-nutritious food if fortified, reports FoodNavigator. The agency "is interested in studying whether fortification of these foods could cause consumers to believe that substituting fortified snack foods for more nutritious foods would ensure a nutritionally sound diet," the FDA said …
Dr. Schar USA has opened a 60,000-square-foot gluten-free factory in Swedesboro, N.J., for production of baked goods including gluten-free bagels, frozen bread and rolls, reports Progressive Grocer. It is the first U.S. factory for the European subsidiary, and "will help accelerate the growth and availability of innovative gluten-free foods in grocery, natural and specialty stores, as well as restaurants and other food outlets across the country," said president and COO Donna George ...
Speaking of gluten-free, companies are responding to consumer demand for gluten-free products as more people remove gluten from their diet because they are sensitive to it or think a gluten-free diet is healthier, reports U.S. News & World Report. An article in BMC Medicine says gluten sensitivity has increased because wheat contains more gluten than before and gluten is used in other food as well …
Frito-Lay North America, a business unit of PepsiCo, Inc., has added a gluten-free recipe section to its corporate web site. The new portion of the site is designed to offer recipes that may be paired with the company’s products that are gluten-free. In May, the company announced an initiative to validate many of its products as being gluten-free. Frito-Lay developed the validation process in conjunction with the Food Allergy Research and Resource Program for testing ingredients and finished products to ensure their gluten content is less than 20 parts per million.
