Portland's MilkRun moves food from farmer to consumer without the middlemen

Julia Niiro created MilkRun with two goals in mind: create an efficient distribution system for local food and increase farmers' pay. Inspired by the milkman delivery, she built a website from which consumers order local dairy, produce, meat and more, then pays farmers to deliver their goods directly to consumers. Because MilkRun cuts out so many middlemen, producers receive between 60 cents and 70 cents of every dollar spent—compared with just 8 cents in the traditional supply chain. Read more at Bloomberg…

Big Food finally sees the racism in its brands and packaging

PepsiCo was the first to announce it will redesign and rename a product long considered racist, its Aunt Jemima pancake mix and syrup. Mars Inc. followed, saying it would review its Uncle Ben's rice products. ConAgra and B&G Foods Inc., which own Mrs. Butterworth's syrup and Cream of Wheat porridge, respectively, then fell into line. The identities of these brands and others often are based on minstrel show characters and other stereotypes. Read more at Reuters…

Pandemic spurs direct-to-consumer sales of plant-based foods

Selling food directly to consumers is complicated. Brands have to either contract with a third party for fulfillment, or take on the tasks of calculating taxes, shipping products and managing the ordering system. But when shoppers overwhelmed brick and mortar stores as well as online sellers, new manufacturers realized DTC would be the best route for reaching potential customers. Read more at Greenbiz.com…

What's next for school lunches?

With just weeks remaining before the traditional first day of school, district operations leaders and meal-service staff must determine how to feed students safely and efficiently, no matter if they are at school or at home. Clearly, the traditional school cafeteria won't work, but how and what do you deliver to students who have to eat in their classrooms, and how do you collect from those who pay? Read more at TheCounter.org…

Former Bumble Bee CEO sentenced to prison for tuna price-fixing plot

Christopher Lischewski, whom prosecutors say led the scheme to fix prices of canned tuna, was sentenced Tuesday to more than 3 years in prison and ordered to pay a $100,000 fine. The conspiracy affected more than $600 million of canned tuna sales, according to the Department of Justice. The price-fixing scheme was in place from approximately November 2010 to December 2013. StarKist Co. was also involved in the plot; both companies pleaded guilty and paid fines. Read more in The New York Times…