Food Section Wednesday
Let's take a look at some bit-size food biz news today, shall we?
First there was $2 Buck Chuck...Now $15 Smackers Martha...
First there was $2 Buck Chuck...Now $15 Smackers Martha...
Home diva Martha Stewart, who has stamped her name on all things domestic from sheets and towels to pots and pans, will be serving up another edition: wine. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. said late Friday that it forged a partnership with E.&J. Gallo Winery to develop a brand of wines under the label "Martha Stewart Vintage" to be offered in six cities (Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte NC, Denver, Phoenix, and Portland OR) beginning in January. The wines will sell for about $15. - APKicking the coffee can...right to court.
Procter & Gamble Co. on Friday asked for a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit it filed against Kraft Foods Inc. to stop the company from manufacturing and distributing a coffee container it claims infringes on its patent.Locavore Nation?
The lawsuit, filed Aug. 27 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, alleges that a new plastic container in which Kraft is marketing its Maxwell House brand infringes on patents for a container it introduced in 2003 for its Folgers coffee brand.In its motion for the injunction, Procter said that its Folgers brand faces "irreparable" harm from the continued distribution of the Maxwell House containers. - Bizjournals
Americans feel better about buying food produced in the United States than overseas and believe food grown locally is healthier than food shipped from across the country, a new survey shows.The poll released last week by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University found that 85 percent of Americans have confidence in the safety of their local and regional food systems.
But only 12 percent expressed confidence in the safety of food from anywhere else in the world. - AP
It's not Libby, Libby, Libby on the label, label, label...it's the country of origin.The maker of M&M's and Milky Way bars says it would be a mistake to mess with its chocolate.
Mars Inc. said Monday it will continue to use 100 percent cocoa butter in its U.S. chocolate products, bucking an industry campaign to allow cheaper vegetable oils to be substituted.
The announcement comes amid a push by a dozen food industry groups to change long-established federal standards to allow for replacing cocoa butter with another vegetable fat, up to a level of 5 percent. - AP
New labels that consumers will see attached to meat, produce and peanuts beginning next fall could shed light on something many food producers would rather leave in the dark — the national origin of the food Americans buy, reports The Detroit News.
A federal mandate now working its way through the regulation process requires all beef, lamb, pork, produce and peanuts to be labeled with what country the products were grown or produced in, starting in September 2008. Among the countries supplying Americans with meat are Uruguay, New Zealand and Mexico. - Gourmet Retailer
Labels: In the News
