Potato News from Northern America

McCain Foods officials are searching for the cause of a partial roof collapse at the Florenceville plant over the weekend. On Saturday afternoon, the roof over a cold storage unit at the plant crumbled into the facility, said Calla Farn, McCains' dir...

Potatoes, and ingredients derived from the crop, are set to experience growing demand as cereal prices continue to soar. A spokesman at starch producer Avebe said both cereal and potato-based starches have become more expensive. "The rising cereal...

At a time when many large restaurant chains are struggling, Burger King Holdings Inc. CEO John Chidsey has managed to sustain the once-foundering fast-food company's turnaround. The world's No. 2 hamburger chain by locations behind McDonald's Corp. is ...

The Idaho Potato Commission (IPC) today launched the iTuber Take II video contest on the popular website, YouTube, inviting spud lovers from across the country to work their magic in front of the camera with America's favorite vegetable: the Idaho Pot...

Wendy's International Inc named Steve Farrar to the new position of chief of North America operations, effective April 14. The hamburger chain said Farrar will be responsible for improving operations at company and franchise restaurants in the United...

According to a public opinion survey commissioned by the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD), 82 percent of Americans think food companies should be making a greater effort to reformulate for more better-for-you products.Although this is a high perc...

McDonald's Corp. has set out to dispel some myths about ingredients and preparation as part of a yearlong food-credibility campaign"We've been hearing over the years that consumers have some misperceptions about the quality of our food at McDonal...

Hamburger chain Wendy's International (NYSE:WEN) Inc. said Thursday its first-quarter same-store sales declined, partly hurt by a shift in the Easter holiday.Same-store sales at U.S. company restaurants slipped 1.6 percent compared with a 3.8 percent r...

ConAgra Foods Inc. bought Watts Brothers, a private vegetable-processing and agricultural company, for about $132 million in cash and assumed liabilities. In a filing Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, ConAgra said that the assumed ...

Four months after potato growers in the Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota agreed to join Salt Lake City-based United Potato Growers of America, that membership could be in jeopardy, adding another chapter to an on-again/off-again relations...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service has established a new destination inspection process for Canadian potatoes entering the U.S., as part of a new trade agreement between the two countries.The objective of this process i...

PepsiCo and Strauss Group announced that the formation of a joint venture partnership to operate Sabra, the top-selling and fastest-growing maker of hummus, has been completed. Sabra had sales of $65 million in 2007. Last year, total U.S. sales of humm...

Bart Connors of Pasco, WA, was elected Chairman of the United States Potato Board (USPB) on March 14 at the organization’s Annual Meeting in Denver, CO. Connors is the general manager of Skone & Connors Produce.

The United States Potato Board (USPB) grower membership elected new leadership during its Annual Meeting held in Denver, CO, March 12-14. The following sections list the leadership for the coming year. CHAIRMAN             Bart Connors (Pasco , WA) DO...

A new study suggests that the relative size of starch granules used in a blend could determine overall gelation behaviour and whether or not the starch components add to each others' properties or interact to deliver new ones. Starches have widespread ...

Martin-Brower Co., a major distributor for McDonald's Corp. restaurants, has will triple in size by purchasing 22 acres in The Woodlands. The Rosemont, Ill.-based company currently services McDonald's stores in South Central Texas out of a distributio...

Burger King Holdings Inc. plans to start building a new version of its restaurants this year called the Whopper Bar that will sell a wider variety of its signature hamburger in a hipper setting. The menu and size of the Whopper Bars will be smaller tha...

McDonald's provided consumers an update on sustainable packaging enhancement they have been making and enacting worldwide. The update was posted on the company's corporate social responsibility blog, Open for Discussion and features a Youtube video. T...