Food

Dutch authorities have reportedly started testing chicken meat originating from farms found to have produced eggs contaminated with insecticide. “We are currently testing chicken meat in the poultry farms where eggs were infected to determine whether the meat is contaminated as well,” Tjitte Mastenbroek, spokesperson for food security agency NVWA, told the AFP news agency. Mr Mastenbroek said the probe centres on “a few dozen” farms that produce both eggs and chicken meat. Scientists are testing the meat for fipronil, a pesticide which can be harmful to humans if ingested. [node:read-more:link]

Walmart announced its intent to build a dairy processing plant to supply its own store-brand milks back in March 2016; as a result, Dean Foods stock dropped 12 percent. Today, on reports that the Walmart plant, which is estimated to serve 600 stores (out of its 4,100+ stores in the US), will open soon, Dean Foods' stock price took another hit, declining a bit over 20%. [node:read-more:link]

In demand by multinational retailers and food producers, Inscatech and its agents scour supply chains around the world hunting for evidence of food industry fraud and malpractice. In the eight years since he founded the New York-based firm, Weinberg, 52, says China continues to be a key growth area for fraudsters as well as those developing technologies trying to counter them. “Statistically we’re uncovering fraud about 70 percent of the time, but in China it’s very close to 100 percent,” he said. [node:read-more:link]

Chicken processor Fieldale Farms has proposed to pay $2.25 million to settle its part in a lawsuit involving 14 chicken processors, according to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern District of Illinois.  Attorneys from law firms representing Maplevale Farms of Falconer, N.Y., said at the time that companies including Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride, Perdue Farms, Sanderson Farms and several others worked together to artificially reduce broiler chicken supplies in the U.S. marketplace knowing that supply reductions would boost prices. [node:read-more:link]

Younger generations want to know where their food comes from, but communicating that information might be harder than it seems. Younger generations are leading the charge on demanding locally sourced food. They’re starting farm-to-table restaurants, making farmers markets trendy and paying a premium for locally sourced food. But getting the most accurate message out to consumers about where their food comes from and how it is grown is easier said than done.As part of Colorado Proud month – as proclaimed by Gov. [node:read-more:link]

On November 9, 2012, Mayor Jim Cahill led a ribbon-cutting at the Fresh Grocer, a 50,000 square foot supermarket in downtown New Brunswick, New Jersey. It was the city’s first new full-service supermarket in a generation, the latest nine-figure project spearheaded by the New Brunswick Development Corporation.“We’re not just a supermarket. It’s some ways, we’re a community center,” explained the Fresh Grocer CEO Pat Burns, taking pride in his company’s ability to work with low-income residents in urban communities to help create a supermarket that best serves their needs. [node:read-more:link]

Two of the nation’s sugar companies will launch a $4 million online campaign this fall aimed at educating consumers about GMO crops and changing their perceptions of the technology. [node:read-more:link]

The protests were intense: People dripping with fake blood, tightly bound in plastic wrap as if they were cuts of meat. Singing, shouting, lecturing customers. It’s what Direct Action Everywhere, an animal rights group, would do every time the Local Butcher Shop would host its butchering classes in its Berkeley, Calif., store. But after four months, the protests have finally slowed down, and for an unlikely reason: After receiving a list of demands from the group, which also goes by DXE, the butcher shop capitulated. [node:read-more:link]

Now, there’s a new app that helps food-related small businesses improve their cash flow and nurture customers at the same time, “Credibles.” The San Francisco-based start-up aims to help small food businesses by letting  customers pre-pay from a growing number of small food companies, essentially setting up a prepaid tab. The businesses then have that money to use without having to take out loans.“It’s easier to put money into Monsanto and McDonald’s than invest in the bakery down the street,” said Credibles’ founder Arno Hesse.That’s because you can buy stock in large food companies. [node:read-more:link]

Silicon Valley is rallying around a startup that wants to disrupt the meat aisle. Impossible Foods sells burgers made from plants that sizzle on the grill and "bleed" juices like real beef. The company aims to make meat derived from animals the exception, not the rule.On August 1, the startup announced it had raised a $75 million investment from Singapore-based venture fund Temasek, Bill Gates, Khosla Ventures, and others. The new round brings the company's total funding to over $250 million and will likely serve its plans for expansion. [node:read-more:link]