The No Salt, No Fat, No Sugar Journal

Amazon is pulling out of the grocery store business, sort of. The online retailing giant plans to close its Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores. It will focus instead on expanding Whole Foods and its online grocery business.

Amazon has conquered a lot of retail segments over the years, laying waste to smaller competitors. But food retailing is a different animal.

The modern American supermarket industry began after World War II, operating on the principle that large volume could make up for very low profit margins on items sold.

That model requires careful inventory management and pricing strategies since so much of a food retailers product can rot on the shelf if it doesn’t sell quickly.

In meat and poultry, an industry I wrote about for many years, it’s called “sell it or smell it.” That means if you don’t sell the products soon, they will stink, and lose you money.

Food retailing also requires point-of-sale marketing pizazz; you have to convince people to buy more than sale items to make any money off them.

I visited an Amazon fresh store in my area several times. It was dark and dead-looking inside with none of the excitement of a traditional supermarket.

Walmart has mastered the food retailing business. It ranks as the largest food retailer in the country. Kroger, a traditional supermarket chain, is number two and wants to be the surviving traditional chain when the dust settles in the segment.

Target, which has tried for many years to become a food powerhouse, ranks seventh, noteworthy but not overwhelming.

Amazon seems to think direct online food sales will be its future. Delivery is always the hangup with such sales. Home delivery is labor and cost-intensive. But maybe self-driving electric delivery vehicles will someday change that cost equation.

Until then, it seems that traditional supermarkets, and Walmart, have beaten back Amazon in food retailing, for now at least.

North Carolina-based Spring & Mulberry is expanding a chocolate recall first announced Jan. 12. The expansion, announced Jan. 14, 2026, was prompted by possible contamination of product with Salmonella.

“The affected products were available for purchase online and through select retail partners nationwide since Sept. 15, 2025,” the company said.

“The recalled products can be identified by brand name (Spring & Mulberry), with the following identifiers: flavor name, lot codes, and box color,” it explained.

The table below comes directly from the company recall announcement.

Home » Archives for January 2026

Product Name	Lot Number	Box Color
Earl Grey	#025258	Purple
Lavender Rose	#025259, #025260	Light Blue
Mango Chili	#025283	Orange
Mint Leaf	#025255	Teal
Mixed Berry	#025275, #025281, #025337	Purple
Mulberry Fennel	#025345	Burgundy
Pacan Date	#025261, #025265, #025267, #025268, #025339, #025343	Yellow
Pure Dark Minis	#025273	Blue

No illnesses had been traced to the products at the time the recall was announced.

Studies in France and Britain estimate lives could be saved and hypertension reduced by even small reductions in daily salt intake.

“Using national diet and health data, researchers in France estimated that modest decreases in bread salt content could cut adults’ daily salt intake by 0.35 grams, lower their blood pressure and prevent more than 1,100 deaths.

“Researchers from the U.K. estimated that similar salt reductions in packaged foods and takeout meals could lower daily British sodium intake by 17.5%, preventing more than 100,000 cases of heart disease and 25,000 cases of stroke over 20 years,” reports ABC News.

How much is 0.35 grams? About the weight of a paper clip; it’s also the same as saying 350 milligrams.

Americans on average consume 3,500 milligrams a day of salt, well above the recommendation of the American Heart Association, 2,300, ABC reports. Those of us with high blood pressure should consumer no more than 1,500 msg of salt daily.

That’s harder than it sounds since salt is in everything we eat, literally. My advice — use a digital food diary like LoseIt! to track your daily salt intake and then, when the results startle you, cut back. Your heart will thank you for it.

Home » Archives for January 2026

The U.S. food scene is in a world now where up is down and black is white — namely everything science tried to tell us the past half century or so about healthy eating just got stood on its head with new dietary guidelines backed by the non-scientist, non-doctor now in charge of America’s health.

Avoid high-fat foods? No, no, drink that whole milk again, the new guidelines say. Limit red meat intake? No, no protein is good, gobble that red meat down.

About the only point of agreement with the past is to avoid processed foods, although that term — along with others like highly processed and ultra-processed — remain undefined.

How others eat it, the steak normally comes covered in cheese, which I can no longer eat. — *Ready to eat steak covered in butter? New dietary guidelines promote eating fats, good luck with that.*

So how should you eat?

We’re in an age where you have to find your own way. Start by knowing your body and discussing your specifics with doctors, nutritionists, even friends and relatives searching for answers as well.

I know, for example, that consuming lots of salt sends my blood pressure higher.

I’ve seen it over and over again. So I am committed to a low-salt diet.

I also know that when I eat high-fat foods, I have heart attacks — I’ve had two, — that’s enough to keep me on a low-fat Mediterranean-like diet.

Continue reading →

Month: January 2026

Amazon Shifts Strategy: Goodbye Fresh & Go

Spring & Mulberry Expands Chocolate Recall Due to Salmonella

Small Salt Reductions Can Prevent Heart Disease and Stroke

New U.S. dietary guidelines mean you’re on your own finding healthy ways to eat

Start here