"kraft" news and stories

Avoiding being left in the dust of the new health wave, as propelled by Mrs. Obama's meeting with major food markets in May, Kraft announced Monday that it will be pumping up its whole grain content in more than 100 of its products over the next three years.

This move comes after four years of development, the company says, in an effort to increase the use of whole grain without sacrificing the taste consumers have come to know. Despite industry skepticism, Kraft and other major food companies, including ConAgra and Del Monte, recently claimed they've made reductions in sodium; others, in sugar. Last June, Kellogg claimed it would increase fiber by the end of 2010 and last week introduced a line of FiberPlus cereals.

The term "whole grain" signifies an unadulterated product of wheat, something that became less common as major food companies realized that stripping the grain's kernel of its bran, endosperm and germ (all of its nutritional fiber, iron and vitamin content) would produce a finer texture and increase shelf life.

Everyone knows Kraft Foods as a supermarket giant, churning out iconic products like Oreos and Philadelphia cream cheese on a massive scale. But since a major green initiative in 2005, they're making a lot less of one thing: garbage.

Over the past four years, the company has reduced net waste from manufacturing plants by 30 percent, exceeding a goal of a 15 percent reduction by 2011, according to company officials. When you're a company this big – Kraft is the world's second-largest food company, with a staggering $48 billion in revenues -- that kind of reduction makes a huge environmental impact.

"Employees took our aggressive waste reduction goal and ran with it," said Steve Yucknut, Vice President of Sustainability, in a company press release. "Not only did they meet our goal two years early, they simply crushed it."

He added: "Their enthusiasm has made a huge impact. In fact, we now recycle or reuse 90 percent of our manufacturing waste."

A health advocacy group is calling on the city of Irving, Texas, to back out of its deal with Kraft Foods, which paid $75,000 to sponsor next month's implosion of Texas Stadium.

"These are not food products government should promote," says Susan Levin, director of nutritional education for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. "The city says it's fighting childhood obesity, but it's taking money from the company that makes Velveeta."

Kraft plans to use the event to promote its new "Cheddar Explosion," a mac-and-cheese dinner billed as having "bigger shapes" and "more cheese sauce." The star of the hoopla will be the winner of an essay contest Kraft conducted to find a tween to press the detonation button.

"Because it's targeted to kids, it's especially egregious," Levin says. "I understand we all need financial support, but this is poor judgment."

Want a Snickers? There's an app for that.

The newest vending machines are interactive, utilizing iPhone technology touch screens and replicating iPhone apps. Instead of seeing physical packages of candy and other snacks, you get virtual images, the Washington Post reported.

When customers press one of the digital images, the animated snack gets larger and slowly rotates to reveal its ingredients and nutritional stats.

Kraft Foods' Diji-Touch was among the cutting-edge vending machines on display on Capitol Hill, where the National Automated Merchandising Association has been lobbying for jobs this week. Unemployment is a concern for the trade group because the country's widespread layoffs mean there are fewer office workers to buy snacks.

British chocolate maker Cadbury accepted a $19.5 billion buyout bid from American giant Kraft Foods in a move that will form the world's largest candy company, the Associated Press reported.

Both Kraft and Hershey were bidding for the U.K. chocolatier. Shareholders are expected to accept Kraft's bid.

Kraft, maker of Toblerone chocolate, Velveeta processed cheese and Oreo cookies, will gain ownership of products including Dairy Milk chocolates and Dentyne gum. Combined, Kraft and Cadbury would have 40 candy brands each with over $100 million in sales, AP reported.