Is a granola bar 'natural' if there's pesticide in it?

The latest debate over "natural" isn't about one specific food ingredient in a product; it's about a pesticide. A series of lawsuits filed by three consumer groups say that Nature Valley granola bars are deceptively advertised as "made with 100% natural whole grain oats" because the bars were found to contain small amounts of the controversial synthetic pesticide glyphosate. Read more at Bloomberg...

For once, Amazon is taking a page from Walmart's playbook

Planning documents filed in three West Coast areas and reported by local news organizations suggest that Amazon is bringing brick and mortar into its online grocery business. The top-secret operation is reportedly a "click and collect" model where customers can order groceries online and pick them up at a nearby location, instead of paying hefty delivery fees to have their purchases delivered to their homes. This model seems to have worked well for other retailers including Walmart, which Quartz reports now has grocery pickup services at more than 400 stores. Read more at Quartz...

The government is buying $20 million in surplus cheese

Changing consumption patterns combined with higher milk inventories equals the highest cheese surplus this country's seen in 30 years. To help out the dairy industry, the USDA announced it will buy 11 million pounds of cheese. What's it going to do with all that cheese, you ask? Apparently, give it to food banks across the country. Read more at CNN...

Average household bins a month's worth of food every year, survey reveals

A UK survey of 1,000 people found that they're throwing away 6 percent of the food they buy every week--typically fruit, vegetables and bread. Read more at The Grocer...

ABC under fire over deal with vitamin giant Swisse Wellness

New criticism of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation takes aim at its newly announced sponsorship deal with Swisse Wellness. In 2013, an Australian regulatory agency found the vitamin company to have made unsubstantiated therapeutic claims about its products. That same year, ABC's The Checkout program examined claims made by the company, which led to Swisse filing a defamation lawsuit that was later settled. Read more at The Sydney Morning Herald...