Two cultured products—Yoplait Berry Pomegranate Yogurt & Juice and Dill Pickle Sour Cream Dip—were honored as the most innovative products at the recent International Dairy Foods Association’s (IDFA)Innovative Milk and Cultured Dairy Products contest, a part of IDFA’s annual Milk and Cultured Dairy Products Conference.

The natural and organic food segment is booming and big box stores are taking notice. According to Packaged Facts, Target recently informed its top suppliers—such as Campbell Soup, General Mills, and Kellogg—that the retailer intends to deemphasize popular processed brands in favor of products more in line with consumer demands, specifically healthier foods.

As the recent trend among food companies to strip themselves of additives and excess ingredients under consumer pressure, Taco Bell has become the latest company to pledge a commitment to offering more options with simpler ingredients and fewer additives.

Hormel Foods Corporation announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the natural and organic prepared meats producer Applegate Farms, LLC for $775 million.

With many processors relying on the use of many generic cheese names, the dairy industry was quick to applaud US representatives for holding a key international meeting discussing the fight against treaty changes that could impair the ability of companies worldwide to use generic food names in export markets.

Power and automation technology corporation ABB says it will start producing robots in the US, a move the company says makes it the first global industrial robotics company to fully commit and invest in a North American robotics manufacturing footprint.

An outbreak of salmonella linked to raw tuna consumption has sickened 53 people in nine different states, the CDC announced last week.

As Memorial Day this Monday will mark the unofficial start of the summer vacation season, many Americans will celebrate with cookouts, camping, road trips and other activities that involve food.

A few dozen food and beverage industry officials from an array of companies, such as Whole Foods, PepsiCo and ADM, attended the sixth annual Food Defense Strategy Exchange presented by Tyco Integrated Security at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, Ill. on May 19-21.

The US House Agricultural Committee approved a bipartisan bill that would repeal the country of origin labeling requirements for beef, pork and chicken by a vote of 38-6 Wednesday—two days after the World Trade Organization (WTO) rejected the US appeal of the law ruling it discriminates against Canadian and Mexican livestock.