Organic Valley Steps Up Beyond the Horizon
Fund Created to Assist Conventional Dairies Transition Organic Valley announced last week the creation of a transition fund to support conventional dairy farmers facing the challenging and initially costly steps in becoming certified organic. OV’s transition fund, created in partnership with Stonyfield Farm, will pay farmers a premium above the market rate cost of their […]
NBTY Revisits the Past In Effort To Bolster Solgar, Rand Skolnick To Consult
Good news for those concerned that new owners, Nature’s Bounty might muck up 58 years of quality. NBN has heard from our good friend, San Francisco natural foods retail pioneer, Rob Mitchell, that Nature’s Bounty has hired former President, and son of the Solgar’s founder, Rand Skolnick to serve as a consultant. While Skolnick’s tenure […]
Is Wild Oats All Mixed Up? Conventional Products To Be Added To Shelves
Wild Oats recent decision to add conventional food, household and OTC items to its product mix is a little bit like the girl who put her thumb in the dike. It always feels good to be doing something but it doesn’t necessarily solve the problem at hand. While we understand that the Oats insiders rightly […]
Hershey’s Grabs More Candy Joseph Schmidt Added to Giant’s Arsen
While NBN doesn’t like the taste of Joseph Schmidt chocolates—they’re too waxy—back in 1989, upon first moving to San Francisco, we fell in love with Schmidt’s small chocolate shop on 16th street in the Castro district. Before distribution grew big, his store was a destination for all my out of town friends, gawking at the […]
Now For Some Good News—Money Talks, Antibiotics Walk—At Least A Little Bit
Okay so this doesn’t signify a revolutionary change in the way food is processed, but two items in today’s Supermarket News online edition suggest that the interests of agribusiness may be increasingly at odds with the concerns of those actually bring the foods to markets. Albertson’s announced the introduction all natural antibiotic and growth hormone […]
Forty-Five Million Americans Uninsured–Health Warning On French Fries Urged
Okay so maybe we’re cynical, and not quite seeing the forest for the trees, but California Attorney General Bill Lockyer’s recent move to add health warnings to French fries and potato chips leaves us wondering if this idea came from an episode of the Simpson’s. What,” we imagine Homer exclaiming in shock “French fries ARE […]
An RFID Tag Walked Into A Recycling Center
As reported in Supermarket News, the Fibre Box Association has commissioned a study to determine the impact of RFID tags on the recycling of boxes. Given the almost certain probability that RFID tags on boxes will soon begin to appear in recycling mills, the Association is looking at how to minimize the impact of these […]
Vitamin E Slammed In Another Shoddy Story From The New York Times
Vitamin E Slammed In Another Shoddy Story From The New York Times Well, wouldn’t you know it? Just as I was nearly finished procrastinating, and finally getting down to writing a dry report for a market research firm, one on skin care treatments (insert snoring sound here), but one that actually pays my bills, I […]
The Faster They Grow, The Harder They Fall. Atkins Seeks Protection From Creditors
Atkins Nutritionals, the privately held low-carb leader, which grew in 2004 at a frenzied pace, to include a wide range of products including bread and baked goods, frozen foods and shelf stable entrees heads to hearings in a Bankruptcy Court today. As reported in the today’s New York Times, Atkins announced that it reached agreements […]
Good For Your Toast
Aloetrade, an Argentinean Aloe maker announced the launch of its new aloe marmalade. While we won’t be buying any soon, NBN is in love with aloe, but the kind you spread on your skin, not on sprouted whole wheat bread Aloetrade’s marmalade is made from what the manufacturer’s claim is the less bitter aloe saponaria, […]