PotatoPro Newsletter

Services for the Potato Processing Industry

November 14, 2007

Earlier this week I came across a publication in Consumer Reports on trans fat in the French Fries of the major fast food chains (in the US). The result: Wendy's and Burger King did not meet the trans fat levels they claimed, McDonald's, Arby's and KFC did:

Source: Consumer Reports.org

My initial response was: this is an old article, I have read this before. Why would this article be republished? A quick search in PotatoPro News on Wendy's learned me that the article I had in mind was a different one, a test by a different organization (CSPI) and with different figures. A little more research revealed that at least three times Wendy's french fries did not meet their nutritional claims with regards to trans fat: it seems every time someone measured and published it (1,2,3).

In August 2006, Wendy's was the first large US QSR Chain that switched to trans fat free frying oil and Wendy's deserves credit for that. But it does not look good that more than a year after Consumer Reports reported a higher than claimed trans fat content this issue is still not fixed.

What makes this issue worse, is that it is not just the image of Wendy's that is on the line. This is about the image of French Fries. Too much already are French fries the poster child for everything unhealthy.

So is Wendy's now under a lot of pressure of the potato processing industry to clean up their act? Maybe not. Wendy's may very well put the ball right back in the court of the french fry manufacturers. Read what Wendy's writes in the press release dated June 2006 when they originally announced they will switch to trans fat free frying oils in August 2006:

"Beyond these efforts, the Company [Wendy's] is working directly with its French fry suppliers to further reduce trans fats that occur as part of the par frying process at their facilities, with a goal of zero grams."

To me this looks like they are pointing a finger to their suppliers. But no matter what, it is my humble opinion that the industry as a whole can benefit a lot from avoiding such issues. And if for whatever reason Wendy's can not deliver on their nutritional claims, they 'd better adjust the claims.

Meanwhile you can buy your trans fat free fries at KFC or Arby's or if you live in New York City, also at McDonalds. This illustrates it can be done...

PotatoPro keeps  and updates an overview of the frying oils various QSR's are using in each country.

Enjoy reading,

Paul van Eijck

Featured Market Research

Frito-Lay case study: maintaining growth through innovative marketing and product development

This report on Frito-Lay forms part of Datamonitor's case studies series, which explores business practices across a variety of disciplines and business sectors. It focuses on the strategies Frto-Lay has undertaken to keep in touch with consumer attitudes towards snacking and the wider issues influencing their purchases.

Read more...

More Market Research

Featured Book

Food diet and obesity

The global obesity epidemic is arguably the most serious health issue facing the food industry today. Food manufacturers are under increasing pressure over both the degree to which they are seen as contributing to the problem, and the role they should play in solving it. Drawing on the expertise of many of the world’s leading experts in this area, Food, diet and obesity summarises the key research on the links between obesity and diet. Topics discussed include trends in obesity, the evidence behind popular diets and meal replacers, the effectiveness of fat and sugar replacers in food, emerging issues such as the value of the glycemic index, protein content and calcium in weight control, and potential functional food targets and ingredients for weight control.

Read more...

More Books

Featured Product

Agtron M series

The industry standard for instrumental colour measurement of Potato Chips is the Agtron M-series. This is one of the products you can order in the PotatoPro Shop

The AGTRON M-SERIES is a large area (26sq.in.) reflectance spectrophotometer designed to deal with the challenge of measuring color and process related changes associated with food and this large viewing area permits analysis of the irregular geometry of foods with little or NO sample preparation.

Read more...

More Products

Featured Article

The report "Crop Production" from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) provides a detailed insight in the 2007 potato harvest in the United States. If the US harvest and its quality by region impacts your business in any way this is a must read.

Write-up on potatoes starts at page 36 with:

"Production of fall potatoes for 2007 is forecast at 408 million cwt, up 2 percent from last year. Area harvested, at 997,800 acres, is virtually unchanged from the July estimate but 2 percent above last year. The average yield is forecast at 409 cwt per acre, up 3 cwt from last year’s record high yield."

News

French Fries and Potato Specialties

Dehydrated Potato Products

Chips and Snacks

Potato Supply Chain

Potato Starch

Ingredients for Potato Processing

Processing Equipment

QSR Restaurants

Other

New Companies