Amazon cuts Whole Foods prices as much as 43% on first day

Bananas, responsibly farmed fish and organic avocados are some of the items whose prices were slashed as Amazon closed on its deal with Whole Foods. “Amazon has demonstrated that it is willing to invest to dominate the categories that it decides to compete in,” says Mark Baum of the Food Marketing Institute. “Food retailers of all sizes need to look really hard at their pricing strategies, and maybe find some funding sources to build a war chest.” Read more at Bloomberg…

She built a $1.7 million beauty business while home-schooling her 14 children

Tammie Umbel built her skin care business, Shea Terra Organics, “the old-fashioned way”—with hard work and no investors. She started in 2000 in her Arlington, Virginia, home and has built the business herself, traveling the world to find raw ingredients like argan oil, shea butter and marula oil. Sometimes, she even brings her kids to industry shows and to the factory near their home where the products are made. Read more at Washington Post…

Farmers see organic milk prices drop

Where, not long ago, there was a lag in supply, there is now an abundance. So much, in fact, that organic dairy farmers are getting less for their products. About two years ago, demand far exceeded supply, so farmers started producing more and transitioning from conventional milk to organic because of the price premium they could get. Read more at Valley News…

Senator questions quick approval of Amazon’s Whole Foods purchase

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota says she plans to ask the Federal Trade Commission to explain how it decided so quickly that the Amazon-Whole Foods merger wouldn’t suppress competition and harm consumers. The FTC said last week it ended its antitrust investigation and wouldn’t seek more information on the deal. Read more at CNBC…

Blue Majik is Instagram’s hottest healthy food trend, but what the heck is it?

It’s a proprietary extract of spirulina, a type of blue-green algae grown in fresh-water lakes, sold by E3 Live in powder and capsule form. It supposedly contains protein, B vitamins, phytonutrients and a slew of other nutritional benefits. Read more at Organic Authority…