Australian parents’ activist group the Parent’s Jury has slammed two major food companies, Kelloggs and McDonalds, claiming that their marketing campaigns in Australia are misleading. Both companies featured in the Parents’ Jury’s ‘Fame and Shame Awards 2011’. McDonald’s use of Australian cricket hero Shane Warne to endorse its Chicken McBites came under fire for “using sport to promote unhealthy food which influences children”. Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain cereal, which the... ...Read more »

McCain Foods says it will promote healthy eating by school visits throughout eastern Australia in a campaign to teach children about healthy eating. “The McCain Red Veggie Truck Tour will be visiting schools from South East Queensland through to Victoria to teach children about the goodness of vegetables and healthy eating in a fun and engaging way,” said the company. The company says that the tour will complement the School Veggie Patches Program, which involves school children planting... ...Read more »

McCAIN Foods Season’s Choice Frozen Berry range will be available in Coles supermarkets nationwide from November, providing more customers with the convenience of having their favourite berries frozen fresh and available all year round.Having already established its presence through strong sales at Woolworths and other independent supermarkets, the addition of the Season’s Choice range into Coles cements McCAIN Foods as a leader in the frozen fruit category. “McCAIN has been providing... ...Read more »

McCain Foods Australia has announced that unforeseeable demand for its recently launched Crinkle Cut Sweet Potato SuperFries will result in the product being temporarily out of stock. Based on anticipated sales, the supply of McCain Crinkle Cut Sweet Potato SuperFries will run out in late October, and will be back on the market by mid December 2010, once the new crop is harvested. McCain was able to secure an additional amount of Thin Cut stock to meet demand and achieve continuity of supply. Nicki... ...Read more »

McCain Foods has announced plans to invest NZ$19m (US$13.5m) to upgrade a plant in New Zealand.The frozen food giant said it would add “enhanced processing equipment”, freezers, packaging and “new bean processing capability” to its site in Hastings. Steve Yung, managing director for McCain’s business in Australia and New Zealand, said the move would boost production of peas, beans and carrots to over 20,000 tonnes a year. Products will cater for New Zealand, Australia... ...Read more »

McCain has launched a new line of gourmet SuperFries, made from sweet potato, cooked in canola oil and seasoned with sea salt. The new oven-bake fries are available in 450g bags, thin and crinkle cut, and join McCain’s existing variety of conventional potato fries. Surprisingly, the new sweet potato fries are slightly higher in calories than their potato counterparts, weighing in at 174 Cal per 100g for a crinkle-cut and 187 for thin cut, compared to 153 Cal/100g for conventional crinkle-cut. The... ...Read more »

Australian primary schools have given a thumbs-up to McCain School Veggie Patches with a resounding response to a national callout to register for the initiative. More than 1,700 Australian primary schools have registered for the chance to earn resources for their vegetable gardens, including seeds, tools and gardening equipment.For Middle Kinglake Primary School in Victoria, the program’s gardening resources represent a way to expand the vegetable garden they are rebuilding after the devastation... ...Read more »

Canadian food group Maple Leaf Foods has outlined plans to give the company time, should it receive an unsolicited takeover bid. Maple Leaf, which is set to see the end of a shareholder agreement that divided control of the company between the McCain family and a Canadian pension fund, yesterday published proposals for a “shareholder rights plan”. The proposals would see each shareholder given a “right” for each common share they own. If a suitor buys or tries to buy a stake... ...Read more »

McCAIN Foods today announced the launch of McCAIN School Veggie Patches, a program to teach primary school children about the origin and benefits of vegetables to encourage them to make healthy food choices, by planting and growing vegetables in their own schoolyard. Award-winning chef and TV personality Pete Evans is excited to show his support for the McCAIN School Veggie Patches educational program, and urges schools to register and start collecting points to build their veggie patch. “As... ...Read more »

Production at McCain Foods’ manufacturing site in Victoria has returned to normal after staff at the plant were ordered to abandon their strike action by Fair Work Australia. Fair Work Australia requested that workers at McCain’s Victoria plant quit their strike action earlier this week. The workers, represented by Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU), went on strike over a disagreement with the company on how the food maker arranges time off. The union and company had... ...Read more »