Each day at 5 p.m. we collect the five top food and supplement headlines of the day, making it easy for you to catch up on today's most important natural products industry news.

April 1, 2019

2 Min Read
5@5: Amazon cuts prices of over 500 items at Whole Foods | Burger King partners with Impossible Foods

Amazon cuts more prices at Whole Foods

The e-commerce giant plans to reduce the prices of hundreds of items at Whole Foods stores starting on Wednesday. This round of price cuts, the largest to date, will include more produce and meat products than previous ones. Amazon ownership hasn't yet brought as many Prime members into Whole Foods stores as was expected by the company, but the upcoming price reductions may encourage some latent growth in this area. Read more at The Wall Street Journal …

 

Burger King introduces vegetarian ‘Impossible Whopper’

 

Impossible Foods, a start-up that—alongside Beyond Meat—specializes in realistic plant-based meat alternatives, has partnered with Burger King to serve “a version of its iconic Whopper sandwich filled with a vegetarian patty.” This move would double the number of locations where Impossible Foods’ burgers are available across the U.S. and will cut the cholesterol of this version of the Whopper by 90 percent. The recipe, however, retains the mayo from the original beloved Whopper, making this option unsuitable for vegans. Read more at The New York Times …

 

Veggie Grill expanding despite relative scarcity of vegan and vegetarian consumers

Plant-based fast-food restaurant Veggie Grill has recently opened its 33rd company-owned location, and there are plans to open another eight to ten stores in the coming months. Here, CEO Steve Heely explains why the restaurant has been such a hit among the “veggie-positive” crowd, which makes up 80 percent of customers—vegans and vegetarians make up a mere 20 percent. Read more at Forbes …

 

When a Big Ag conglomerate buys an iconic niche meat company, who has to change?

Post-acquisition, has Perdue kept its promise to sustain Niman Ranch’s mission of ethical meat production? According to the farmers who work with Niman Ranch, they’ve been offered the stability that was missing during the company’s private equity ownership, and Niman’s original strict animal welfare practices have remained in place. Perdue, meanwhile, took the opportunity after acquiring Niman Ranch to revamp its “neglected” relationships with other farmers in order to increase product quality. Read more at New Food Economy …

 

European Union bans one of the world’s most common pesticides

The European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) was “unable to exclude the possibility that breakdown products of [the pesticide chlorothalonil] cause damage to DNA.” Chlorothanlonil has been “used across the world since 1964 on barley and wheat, as well as potatoes, peas and beans.” This and other popular herbicides have been strongly linked to recent bumblebee population losses and the contamination of groundwater. Read more at The Guardian …

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