Potato News from Northern America

McCain Foods Limited announced its sponsorship of the United Nations (UN) International Year of the Potato 2008, at the official launch today in New York.The United Nations General Assembly has declared that the potato should be a major component in st...

A Wendy’s franchisee has opened what could be a new prototype for the chain, with such features as a branded coffee bar, flat-screen televisions, free Wi-Fi access and flowers on the tables, according to the owner of the unit. The Starkville restaurant...

The Idaho Ethanol Processing LLC plant, located across from J.R. Simplot Co.'s French fry processing plant on Idaho 19, was reopened in September by Westway Holdings Corp., a New Orleans-based subsidiary of ED&F Man Holdings Ltd. of London. ED&amp...

The U.S. local food movement -- which used to be elite, expensive and mostly coastal -- has gone mainstream, with a boost from environmentalists who reckon that eating what grows nearby cuts down on global warming. But do food miles -- the distance e...

Despite rising incomes and the lowest unemployment rate in 33 years, Canada’s commercial foodservice industry grew by just 3.0% in the first seven months of 2007 compared to a solid 5.1% sales increase in the first seven months of 2006. Unfavourable we...

Jays Foods Inc. may close its plants in December -- permanently if a buyer doesn't step forward. Employees received notification last week that the company plants, including those at 825 E. 99th and 1001 E. 99th, might close Dec. 10-24 and not reopen...

A major franchisee has filed a lawsuit against Wendy’s International, alleging the company inflated a product’s cost and then improperly used the proceeds to support a national advertising campaign. DavCo Restaurants Inc., a Maryland company that own...

Video item on the bankruptcy filing of Jay's Potato Chips.

A virus that crippled Prince Edward Island's potato industry for six months in 2000 may have returned. A single spud from a quarantined processing field near Kensington is being tested for potato wart, a disease that poses no threat to humans but leave...

Gracias a una oferta más variada, una mejor estrategia y una administración más diestra, los negocios de la cadena de restaurantes se están reponiendo en los EEUU. Hasta no hace mucho, la cadena de restaurantes de comida rápida McDonald's lucía co...

In about a month, people should be able to buy flat Ballreichs Bros potato chips, which stray from the company’s usually rippled snacks. Children at Lincoln Elementary School, neighbors to the factory at 186 Ohio Ave., used their creativity to help th...

For its Super Bowl ad this year, Frito-Lay is putting a musical spin on last year's successful Doritos promotion using consumers' homemade videos for its commercials. The chipmaker will devote 60 seconds of Super Bowl advertising time - worth more th...

Agricultural and ingredients firm Cargill has said earnings for its first quarter shot up, benefiting from a "new level of market volatility". Cargill, which is privately held, said net earnings reached $917m for the 2008 first quarter ended...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed a bill that would have required some chain restaurants in California to post nutritional information on their menus and menu boards, calling it “impractical” as currently written. But the California Restaurant Asso...

Critics say ConAgra Foods Inc.'s delay in recalling pot pies linked to a nationwide salmonella outbreak increased the chance that more people would become sick, opened up the company to greater liability, and exposed a key weakness in the nation's food...

In composite design, the simplest solution tends to be the best. A case in point is an industrial spring arm manufactured by Gordon Composites Inc. (Montrose, Colo.) for the Iso-Flo vibratory conveyor system built by Key Technology Inc. (Walla Walla, ...

The Chicago-based maker of Jays potato chips is on the verge of getting a new owner in a deal that will first see the company file for bankruptcy protection for the second time in three years. Jays Foods Inc., which has been struggling financially beca...

Workers exposed to the butter-flavoring chemical, diacetyl, may get a reprieve. Exposure to diacetyl has been linked to a severe, potentially lethal form of lung disease, bronchiolitis obliterans. Despite calls for action by unions, health-care provide...