News On French Fries and Potato Specialties from Northern America

In Manitoba, the potato crop is off to a record start - over half the potato acreage has been planted -, but that does not mean potato growers are pleased with how the spring has progressed. Growers of processing potatoes are still without price cont...

McCain Foods is permanently reducing the number of production shifts from 3 to 2 at its Borden-Carleton, P.E.I., plant this fall, leading to the layoff of 35 people.Calla Farn, vice-president of government and public relations and corporate affairs for...

ConAgra Foods announced today the winners of its 2010 Sustainable Development Awards, an internal awards program created to recognize outstanding achievements integrating sustainability into business practices while also sharing best practices across the company.

Idaho potato growers are taking to the field this spring without a collective agreement with major processors. The collective bargaining process broke down in Idaho last year following a dispute with ConAgra Foods. Growers blamed ConAgra, and the compa...

The American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) today announced the election of Edward R. Flanagan of Jasper Wyman &Son, Inc. to be chairman of the AFFI Board of Directors. "The American Frozen Food Institute is fortunate to have such a strong leade...

Production of winter and spring potatoes is estimated at 25.6 million hundredweight(cwt) in 2010, a 3-percent increase over 2009 and the highest level since 2004. (As of 2010, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service includes California winter ...

Prince Edward Island potato farmers have rejected a contract offered by McCain Foods, arguing the proposal was less than one accepted last week from a rival company.The farmers voted Tuesday night against what they called a disappointing price offered ...

Cavendish Farms process growers voted to accept the company’s 2010 contract offer with overwhelming support despite an agreed upon cut in the base price at the end of the season.About 100 growers cast ballots in the recent secret vote and the offer — c...

ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston and Agrian announced today that they have reached an agreement under which Agrian will develop the company’s sustainability data collection and reporting system utilizing the Agrian suite of data management tools. The software...

McCain Foods (Canada) and Food Banks Canada today announced a multi-year partnership that will assist the almost 800,000 Canadians who rely on local food banks every month. McCain will donate a minimum of $1 million in cash and food over the next thre...

ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) one of North America's leading food makers, today announced five aggressive sustainability goals to be achieved by 2015. The goals build on the company's sustainability accomplishments, which began in a company-wide fas...

New Brunswick potato growers are playing the waiting game as negotiations for their 2010 contracts continue with McCain Foods Ltd. In mid March, growers learned the Florenceville-based company will cut the amount of potatoes it buys from them for proc...

Today McCain Foods Limited announced the appointment of Dirk Van de Put as Chief Operating Officer, effective May 17th, 2010. In this new role, created as a result of the company’s succession planning efforts, Van de Put will have direct accountability...

ConAgra Lamb Weston will close its potato processing plant in Prosser, Wash., on May 30, fostering fears other potato processors in the state may close. ConAgra announced the closure to its 250 employees at the plant on March 24, citing a poor market a...

ConAgra Lamb Weston told 250 workers at its Prosser potato processing plant today that the plant will shut down on May 30. ConAgra spokesman Jeff Mochal said the decision is a reflection of the economy and a soft market for frozen potato products, in...

The USDA NASS Cold Storage report released yesterday indicates there was a total of 1,106,521,000 pounds of frozen potato products in storage in the United States on February 28 2010. This is down 7% from last year and slightly up from the amount in s...

McCain Foods USA today announced a voluntary recall of the McCain All American Roaster frozen potato product listed below which contains a pepper ingredient that could be contaminated with Salmonella. The recalled product contains black pepper which ...

Quite some time ago, I wrote about cooking a beautifully seared, perfectly rare steak without filling your neighborhood with smoke . It’s time for the other shoe to drop: the french fries.   In terms of outcome, there’s nothing  wrong with cooking thes...