All news articles for May 2015

The plant will process between 700 to 1,000 sows a day

Smithfield Foods to build new sausage plant

By Helen Arnold

Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork processor, has announced its intention to construct a $44.8 million sausage plant in a joint venture with Kansas City Sausage.

Booming meat snack market grows with new flavors, formats & packaging

Booming meat snack market grows with new flavors, formats & packaging

By Elizabeth Crawford

Consumer demand for high protein, on-the-go food is helping drive sales of jerky, which climbed 12.8% last year, and other dried meat snacks, which increased 14.3% last year, according to data analysis by IRI Worldwide. Meat snack manufacturers hoping...

Source: Softer Than Brittle

Five modern twists on brittle

By Elizabeth Crawford

Five startups showcasing at the Sweets and Snacks Expo in Chicago hope to rekindle Americans’ love affair with the iconic sugar candy brittle by updating the old fashioned confection with bold new flavors and textures that will appeal to a broader audience.

The premium food market: When are consumers most likely to trade up?

Hartman Group: Pleasure & distinction bigger drivers than health for premium products

The premium food opportunity: When are US consumers most likely to trade up?

By Elaine Watson

While more premium brands from KRAVE to Noosa are being snapped up by big food companies and private equity firms, not every CPG category has the potential to be driven – or revitalized - by premium brands, according to a new analysis by Hartman Group....

IRI: Millennials are hungry for new products

IRI: Millennials are hungry for new products

Millennials are more likely to be hungry for new food products than other demographics, with 38% “always looking for new food products to try” versus 31% of total shoppers, according to survey data* from Chicago-based researcher IRI.

West coast port congestion, stiff competition in the main markets and a very strong US dollar have posed challenges

US meat industry rises to export challenge

By Helen Arnold

The US meat industry remains upbeat about the prospects for exporting its beef, lamb and pork, despite facing a number of hurdles in the past year.

Canada has already issued a preliminary list of US exports that could be subjected to retaliatory tariffs

Pressure piles on US to scrap COOL rules as American WTO appeal fails

By Keith Nuthall

Canadian meat industry officials and politicians have redoubled their calls for the US to liberalise its country of origin labelling (COOL) rules for meat and livestock, now the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has delivered a final negative ruling on the...

Walmart challenges suppliers over animal welfare, antibiotic use

Walmart challenges suppliers over animal welfare and antibiotic use

By Elaine Watson

Walmart is asking meat and poultry suppliers to stop using antibiotics and antimicrobials for non-therapeutic purposes (eg. to promote growth and boost feed efficiency rather than exclusively for treating sick animals) amid concerns the practice may be...

Millennials and food shopping: Are you up to speed?

Millennials and food shopping: Are you up to speed?

By Elaine Watson

Compared to previous generations Millennials are far more likely to make spur-of-the-moment food decisions and have less well-stocked pantries, say market researchers. But many food retailers are not geared up to meet their changing needs.

Average monthly weights in March 2015 were the heaviest since 2003

Encouraging cattle weights seen in US

By Chloe Ryan

Cattle numbers in the US are on the up, but beef exports are continuing to be dragged down by a strong US dollar and high domestic beef prices, according to the May 2015 Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook, published by the US Department of Agriculture.

Hershey brand PR manager: Snacks growth will be through iconic brand leveraging but also M&A

Sweets & Snacks Expo 2015

Hershey to become ‘further engrained’ in snacks

By Kacey Culliney

The Hershey Company will not rule out additional M&A activity to strengthen traction in snacks and innovate beyond core confections, its brand head says.

Just scaling up alone without fundamental changes to farming practices could decrease costs by 25-50%

All Things Bugs: We’re having conversations with a lot of mainstream food manufacturers

By Elaine Watson

While cost is a barrier – and regulatory issues need ironing out – mainstream food manufacturers “have been way more open to this [using edible insects in their products] than you would probably think”, says the founder of the world’s largest insect-based...

Restaurants increasingly eat into grocery sales, research shows

Culinary trend-spotting: Where retail & foodservice collide

Restaurants increasingly eat into grocery sales, research shows

By Elizabeth Crawford

For the first time, consumers are spending more money at restaurants than on groceries in America, likely reflecting more financial flexibility from savings garnered by shopping at less expensive box stores and from lower gas prices, according to recent...

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