News on Food Trends from Idaho

With digging season just around the corner, eastern Idaho potato farmers say they are optimistic they will improve on a middling 2014 harvest this year.

REYCO Systems® and its partner companies Idaho Steel Products and Kiremko today announced the release of the EcoMiser™ Oil Removal System.

The J.R. Simplot Company is pleased that the USDA has deregulated the Russet Burbank variety of the second generation of Innate™ potatoes. Simplot is looking forward to the completion of the EPA registration and FDA consultation before the second generation of Innate™ potatoes can be introduced into the marketplace.

The Idaho Potato Commission (IPC) recently updated its website to make it easier than ever for consumers to spend quality time online with Idaho® potatoes.

In a new Ranker poll, the potato tops the competition as the peoples’ #1 favorite vegetable. As such, potatoes hold an important position on foodservice menus as a foundation for profitable snacks, appetizers, side dishes, and entrées.

A federal judge has signed off on a $25 million settlement in a lawsuit between wholesale grocers and US potato farming associations accused of forming a price-fixing cartel.

McCain Foods USA was recognized by Idaho Power for its commitment to operational excellence through energy efficiency.

The blog FrankenFoodFacts recently published a review of the Innate potato of Simplot Plant Sciences. This blog by Layla Katiraee, who holds a Ph.D. in molecular genetics and is a senior scientist at a biotech company, offers the most insightful review of the Innate Potato PotatoPro has seen so far.

Lamb Weston now provides restaurant operators in North America with a tool to find out where the potatoes that become their fries originated and then share that information with their customers.

A group of 18 Idaho Potato farmers that say they have been negatively affected by the Pale Cyst Nematode (PCN) program filed an administrative lawsuit against the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the Idaho State Department of Agriculture on Tuesday.

Southern Idaho Potato Cooperative growers have agreed to a contract that slightly reduces potato prices but requires processors to accept at least 90 percent of their 2014 acreages with individual farms.

Settlement negotiations are apparently ongoing in the federal potato price-fixing case that wholesalers, retailers and consumers filed six years ago against United Potato Growers of America and others.

The first line of J.R. Simplot Co.'s genetically modified potatoes has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration as safe for human consumption. The voluntary FDA safety review found that the potatoes are as safe and nutritious as conventional potatoes.

The first potato line ever launched under the Potandon Produce ™ brand name will soon be available.

Port disruptions on the West Coast due to labor contract negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) are hurting Idaho agriculture and Idaho’s exporters.

If the Innate GMO potato is going to take off, depends on Simplot winning over three major factions, Farmers, big buyers such as McDonald's and the Consumer

A potato genetically engineered to reduce the amounts of a potentially harmful ingredient in French fries and potato chips has been approved for commercial planting, the Department of Agriculture announced on Friday.

Robert Tominaga, president of Heyburn, Idaho-based Southwind Farms, has seen demand for the fingerlings his company grows and other specialties rise dramatically in recent years.