No-nonsense, no-frills news stories from around the world
Potato processor Simplot Australia has refused to budge on its second price offer to Tasmanian farmers for their potato crop this season, according to a report by Fiona Breen and Tony Briscoe for ABC Rural news. Farmers say the extra $105 a tonne the company put forward three weeks ago is still not enough to cover the cost of growing their crop this season, estimated to be about $20,000 a hectare. Simplot said it collectively considered every cost its growers incurred.
Food and beverage company PepsiCo India has launched its premium potato chips brand Lay’s Gourmet in India to tap into the growing market for premium snacks in the country, according to a news story published by the website Mint. Consumers in India have been moving up to better, more premium products as affluent households grow in size. In the top metros too such households are driving demand for more niche food and beverage brands.
When businesses behave with sustainability, it’s not only society that benefits – this can also help bring in new business. Stefaan Kennis, Director of Strategy, Market Intelligence and Sustainability at TOMRA Food, explains why – and how technologies can make this easy.
Inka Crops is specialised in the production and marketing of gourmet and alternative snacks of Peruvian origin. In 2019 Inka Crops and Elea started to cooperate, testing PEF applicability on plantain and vegetable chips, as well as Andean snacks, in Elea’s pilot testing facilities. The work has shown the potential to improve raw material slicing and product yield, reduce frying time and temperature, and enhance product texture and colour.
FreshFry, the makers of plant-powered pods that extend the life of cooking oil, announces today the expansion of its signature ‘FreshFry Pods’ to international markets. FreshFry Pods generates savings to restaurant owners in a multitude of areas including less overall oil usage, reduced build-up of oil in and around fryers, and lower labor costs for maintenance and disposal of oil.
Mister Bee Potato Chips announced it is expanding its private label co-packing services to add to its chip making for retail outlets. The small woman-owned business upgraded its entire facilities, providing optimum opportunities for expanding its production to make custom chips for other snack companies, grocery chains, convenience stores and private organizations.
Canadian french fry giant McCain Foods Ltd. has sold its Russian potato production facility, completing the company’s exit from Russia. This latest corporate exit from Russia was part of a large exodus driven by both moral concerns of Russian aggression and punishing international sanctions that severely restricted the travel of goods, people and capital in and out of the country.
Masser Family of Companies announced the launch of a new website for Pennsylvania-based partner Keystone Potato Products, LLC. The website showcases Keystone’s sustainability processes and products – highlighting their fresh-cut potatoes. The Masser family and other Keystone Potato product shareholders and board members invested in capital equipment to advance their fresh-cut capabilities.
The latest U.S. Trend Index from Frito-Lay polled consumers on their snacking preferences and priorities and found that the 90 percent of consumers who snack daily care about the companies whose snacks they’re eating. Snack companies’ attention to sustainability practices (77 percent), community impact around food access (78 percent), and treatment of employees (87 percent) are among the top values driving purchasing decisions.
SpudLove Organic Thick-Cut Potato Chips continues to build upon its rapid growth with plans to expand nationally across all 509 Whole Foods Markets locations. SpudLove chips are farmer-owned and farmer-grown, featuring organic potatoes grown on the brand’s own farm in Oregon using sustainable farming practices.
Famed Irish crisp manufacturer Tayto has caused a social media storm with their controversial “fizzy cola” flavored crisps. As Irish Central reports, the limited-edition flavor represents a blend between Tayto’s signature potato chip and fizzy cola bottle sweets. Irish people took to social media to lambast the new flavor, with one Twitter user describing it as the “worst thing to happen to potatoes in Ireland since the Famine”.
TOMRA revealed plans to accelerate the path to a sustainable future and double its revenues in five years at its capital markets day on 23 June in Mülheim-Kärlich, Germany. The company’s strategy is built on accelerating growth in its three core divisions, and using the current business platform to develop adjacent business opportunities. TOMRA is uniquely positioned along global megatrends, with leading market positions, best- in-class technologies, and purpose driven employees.
Vanmark, an industrial potato and produce processing equipment manufacturer, announced earlier today that its location in Bengaluru, India, has shipped its first three peeler machines to a large customer based in China. The three peeler/scrubber/washer 2020 models, Vanmark’s best-selling models in the U.S., were fully built at the Indian facility. The machines include a new bent sheet metal frame which is more hygienic with an open frame design.
Calbee Inc., Japan’s answer to Frito-Lay with an enormous product line-up ranging from pizza-flavored potato chips to low-carb granola, is raising prices again as companies struggle to absorb costs that are climbing at the fastest clip in years. As Lily Nonomiya reports for Bloomberg News, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement Wednesday it will raise the prices of snacks and cereals in Japan by 5% to 20% from September.
Lamb Weston Holdings issued its third annual Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) report today, reporting progress against 2030 ESG goals announced in its last report. “Our teams are committed to working together to make progress against our ambitious 2030 goals,” said Tom Werner, CEO, Lamb Weston. “We’re focused on our long-term future, which means making meaningful changes to reduce our impact on the environment.”
The most recent potato variety to join the list of approved McDonald’s potato varieties is the Dakota Russet, developed at North Dakota State University by Asunta Thompson, associate professor of plant science and potato breeder. “This is a dream come true,” Thompson said. “Having our russet accepted by McDonald’s for their french fries is the gold standard we all strive for…
Eamonn Cullen, Market Manager Peeling at TOMRA Food, analyzes in this article the market situation and some of the challenges faced by potato processors, such as reducing food waste and energy use in the processing line, and explains how TOMRA Food addresses these issues.
McCain Foods has launched the second edition of the India Sustainability Report 2021 – titled ‘Together-Towards Planet-Friendly Food’ earlier this week, highlighting the steps taken by the company towards delivering planet-friendly food, encouraging the use of sustainable practices and helping communities thrive with a sustainable livelihood.
A $5.6 million project to eliminate CO2 emissions and reduce demand for heating fuel at McCain’s Timaru factory in New Zealand will soon use woodchips to make potato chips. As Yashas Srinivasa reports for Stuff.co.nz, the company is converting its boiler from coal to domestically sourced woodchips, which will help McCain reduce its carbon emissions by approximately 30,000 tonnes per year.
PepsiCo India today announced expansion plans for its largest greenfield foods manufacturing plant that produces the popular LAY’S potato chips in Kosi Kalan, Mathura in Uttar Pradesh. As part of its expansion plan, PepsiCo India will increase the capacity of the state-of-the-art foods plant, by setting-up a new manufacturing line which will produce one of world’s leading nacho chip brand Doritos.
Barry Enderwick has made a name for himself on TikTok by eating the most exotic, rare potato chips the globe has to offer. Here, he reveals which flavors left the worst taste in his mouth, as Brian VanHooker reports for Mel magazine.
Revolutionising the potato production supply chain, root crop R&D agri-tech firm B-hive Innovations has developed Root Extracts Ltd. The venture will extract plant-based protein from outgrade potatoes and peeling waste, as part of a first-of-its-kind sustainable initiative, which will improve profits and reduce tuber waste before it even hits the shelves.
Humble Snacks, Inc., based in Canada’s Ontario province, is disrupting the snack industry with the Humble Potato Chips, Canada’s first plastic-free packaged, organic potato chips. Founded by Jeff and Alicia Lahey, the chips – made from locally sourced, organic potatoes – are traditionally cooked with the skins and lightly dusted with seasoning, as Nithya Caleb reports for Food in Canada magazine.
Kanaan, Croatia’s largest snack producer, and Elea recently ran a test project with an Elea PEF Advantage system to evaluate the PEF impact on product yield and quality. The test proved to be highly successful. Kanaan then went ahead and installed a state-of-the-art Elea PEF Advantage B1 system.
Entrepreneur Hamid Sanayie on Canada’s Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) is continuing to make his mark on the french fry world with two new one-of-a-kind potato cutting machines. He has built the world’s first automatic wedge cutting machine for use by restauranteurs, and a second revolutionary machine to create crinkle-cut fries.
Super-Pufft, one of North America’s largest manufacturers and co-packers of salty snacks for retailers and national brands, has established a new state-of-the-art potato chip processing facility in Alberta. The new $50-million facility will support Alberta potato producers and create more than 100 jobs for the Airdrie area. It will use about 78,000 tonnes of Alberta potatoes each year.
