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.

June 4, 2020

2 Min Read
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Senate passes bill to fix PPP loan program, sends it to Trump for signature

On Wednesday the Senate unanimously passed a bill that would ease restrictions on the Payment Protection Program in an effort to get struggling small businesses nationwide the funding they need to survive (as opposed to large publicly traded companies). Under the new bill businesses would have more flexibility with regard to how much of the money must be spent on payroll costs as well as more time to use the loan money. Read more at NBC News...

 

Whole Foods, Costco, Trader Joe’s lead in retailer COVID-19 safety

Research firm Ipsos released a data-backed ranking of retailers with regard to their coronavirus health and safety practices, and Whole Foods Market, Costco and Trader Joe's earned the top three spots. The results reflect a survey of U.S. consumers in addition to the company's own in-person gauging of retailer compliance with health and safety precautions. Shoppers noted that mandatory face coverings, consumer capacity limits, plexiglass dividers, visible cleaning on the part of employees and six-foot distancing at checkout were the most critical of these practices. Read more at Supermarket News...

 

Pilgrim's Pride CEO among indicted for chicken price fixing

Four current and former chicken company executives have been charged for conspiring to fix prices and rig bids for broiler chickens over a period of at least five years. Jayson Penn, president and CEO of Pilgrim's Pride, is one of these executives, which caused shares of the company to plummet 11% on Wednesday. Read more at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette...

 

Court orders EPA approval of Bayer dicamba herbicide vacated; says regulator 'understated the risks'

A federal court has overturned the Environmental Protection Agency's approval of dicamba-based herbicides sold by Bayer, BASF and Corteva Agrisciences. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit stated that the government agency "substantially understated the risks" of these products and "failed entirely to acknowledge other risks" with regard to crops that weren't engineered to withstand the herbicide. Read more at USRTK...

 

Mutual aid groups band together to feed communities through crisis

Mutal aid groups have become vital to the wellbeing of protesters nationwide that are reporting an underwhelming response from state agencies; these horizontal support systems are comprised of community members and represent solidarity as opposed to charity. For those taking part in the Black Lives Matter movement who cannot depend on the government or top-down nonprofit organizations for food, in addition to those who have been food insecure since COVID-19 hit, these organizations are lifelines. Read more at Eater...

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