Category: Food Industry News

Breaking food industry news covering major food companies, regulatory updates, labeling changes and developments impacting consumers and manufacturers,

Amazon Shifts Strategy: Goodbye Fresh & Go

A local Amazon Fresh store wasn't very inviting or exciting.

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.

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Small Salt Reductions Can Prevent Heart Disease and Stroke

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.

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

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 “New U.S. dietary guidelines mean you’re on your own finding healthy ways to eat” →
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Shame on Costco, its new salad stinks

Costco is sporting a new salad on its food court menu; avoid it like the plague, it simply stinks and is not worth the money being charged for it.

What a sad day for Costco food court customers. The salad there was once not only a meal for one, but possibly two people in its pre-covid heyday.

But since Covid, Costco just like other fast-food purveyors, has been downsizing. This latest version, the rotisserie chicken chef salad for $7.99 in my
Chicago-area Costco, has barely any lettuce. The small container is filled with a dressing packet, likely the bulk of the 840 calories listed for the salad, a packet of hard-boiled egg bits, and a packet of croutons. Take all those off and the container is less than half-full of lettuce as my pictures show.

The sale is not worth the price. Costco broke my heart when it dropped fat-free frozen yogurt from its menu. Then, during the pandemic, it dropped salads all together as well. I think I could live with no salad easier than with this abomination of a salad.

#Shameofcostcosalad

The new Costco Salad, yuck.
After taking out all the packets.
No salad, no value.
The pre-Covid Costco salad. This was a meal, and more!
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Eat healthy — your circulatory system will thank you

Me with the heart mascot, sporting my survivor's cap and beads for each year since my 2012 surgery.
My heart mascot and I in a recent heart-health walk.

People who know me know that I’ve had two near-fatal heart incidents, one in 2012 and a second in 2017.

Two different arteries were blocked, although not badly enough to cause damage to my heart (a heart attack causes heart damage; short of that is just an incident in medical jargon).

So worrying about my circulatory system is always on my to-do list. which is why I read this piece, How Diet Impacts Your Circulatory System on a site called Vitasupportmd.com.

“The foods consumed each day play an important role in how well the circulatory system performs. A balanced and nutrient-rich diet can support vessel tone, help maintain blood pressure within a healthy range, promote the balance of blood lipids like cholesterol, and encourage a healthy inflammatory response,” the article notes. One more important reason to eat healthy.

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Was it fiber or taste that propelled Olipop and Poppi?

Are Americans so worried about their stomach health that they’re willing to spend more than three-quarters of a billion dollars a year on gut-health-promoting sodas?

That might be too simple an explanation for the rapid growth of competitors Olipop and Poppi, according to a fascinating analyst in the Food Institute site by Dr. James Richardson is the founder of Premium Growth Solutions,rt a strategic planning consultancy for early-stage consumer packaged goods brands.

Continue reading “Was it fiber or taste that propelled Olipop and Poppi?” →
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Spring and Asparagus go hand-in-hand

Asparagus ready for my backyard grill. I use these disposable grilling sheets to keep my main grill clean.

In spring, an old man’s fancy turns to — asparagus? Well, hopefully still other things as well. But spring is traditionally thought of as asparagus season, the New York Times tells us.

Asparagus should be on your healthy menu. It’s high in probiotics and a good source of Vitamin K (although if you’re on some blood thinners as I am, vitamin K may not be your friend, see below for details).

Continue reading “Spring and Asparagus go hand-in-hand” →
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Balsamic-Roasted Broccoli — try this for summer fare

I saw this recipe for balsamic-roasted and was shocked to discover I’ve never written about it on this blog. I did have a piece on roasting broccoli and cauliflower, but never just the broccoli.

Start with fresh broccoli, cut off the bulky stems and trim as you like
Broccoli often is on sale in the Chciago area where we live. Watch out for sales near you.

So here it is. Leave out the salt, obviously. The balsamic vinegar will give it plenty of flavor even without the salt.

Leave out the cheese too if you’re worried about salt and fat. OR search out low-fat or no-fat cheese to help a bit.

Recipe

Balsamic-Roasted Broccoli

Prep time:  5 mins

Cook time:  20 mins

Total time:  25 mins

Yield: 2 side-dish servings

Ingredients

  • 3 cups broccoli florets (about ¾ lb/350 g fresh broccoli)
  • 1 small onion, peeled, halved, and thickly sliced
  • 1½ tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • ¼ teaspoon coarse salt
  • ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 2 teaspoon fresh grated Parmesan cheese, for topping (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425F.
  2. Toss together all ingredients, then arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet.
  3. Roast until the broccoli is tender and browned in spots, about 18 to 22 minutes (depending how crispy you like your broccoli), tossing once halfway through.
  4. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top, if using, and serve immediately.
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Seven 100-calorie snacking options

I’m always wary of stories with headlines like 7 Foods Under 100 Calories You’ll Love. Normally those lists involve mostly foods I don’t like to eat, such as nuts.

Eating watermelon doesn't fill me up, although it's high in water content.
A fun snack, although I don’t find it filling at all given its high water content.

But this list from LoseIt! actually has six things I do like to snack on — six out of seven, not bad. The only loser for me is hard-boiled eggs.

The rest — cherry tomatoes, yogurt, edamame, oranges, popcorn and watermelon, are all items I turn to when I don’t want to eat junk food.

Watch for them on sale at your local supermarket and then try them. Pints of cherry tomatoes and watermelon cups tend to be on sale regularly where I live, for example.

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Asparagus — how to buy it, why to eat it

Asparagus always seemed like something only posh people ate when I was a grubby blue-collar kid growing up in Brooklyn. These days, I must be posh because I regularly eat asparagus and have come to love them. I recently read This Is the No. 1 Thing to Look for When Buying Asparagus which answered a question I’ve always had about them.

Asparagus and zucchini ready for my backyard grill. I use these disposable grilling sheets to keep my main grill clean.

Ever see asparagus sitting in a tray of water in your supermarket? That always looks messy to me. But it turns out that’s a must, according to the Food & Wine article. the water helps keep asparagus fresh.

Other tips — look for firm stalks, dry buds and know when it’s asparagus season. My tips include smelling it, old asparagus has a distinctively bad smell. Also decide whether you like very thin stalks or thicker ones. I normally go small, I love the more delicate flavor.

On the health side, asparagus is high in nutrients but low in calories, according to 7 Reasons You Should Eat More Asparagus

With summer coming to northern climes, my favorite way to prepare asparagus is grilled on my backyard grill. Simply wash them, then lay them out in a disposable aluminum pan, spray with olive oil, season with a salt-free Italian spice mixture and grill them for 8-10 minutes depending on your grill. Here’s one quick recipe I found on Hey Grill Hey.

You’ll find more tips in this piece I wrote as well, just click here.

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