Welcome to Food Week April 12, 2024. This weeks report very punchy, brisk, lots of quick hits, Except on avian influenza which is freaking people out in new ways. And where the author complains about food delivery. Anyway, Enjoy

MACRO

• Inflation is stubborn and remains at about 3.8 percent annually. And, in a reversal groceries were flat but restaurant prices piked in March.

• 10k boomers reach retirement age every day. That means a lot of things, but it puts pressure on the manufacturing sector, particularly food processing.

• NY State sues JBS (world’s largest meat producer) for greenwashing. Meanwhile the ocean has set temperature records for a whole year. That’s not good.

RETAIL AND CONSUMER

• Dollar Stores are growing; Dollar Stores are failing. Well, both. Brands are increasingly developing alternatives for their consumers.

• Wow this diet ginger ale tastes delicious! Oops, there sugar in it.

• Using incentives to fight food deserts.

• TikTok driving a craze for glycine, an amino acid that has, for it’s fans, miraculous. Also, first there was probiotics then there was prebiotics and now there are postbiotics.

• Using Robinson Patman to fight price advantages for giant retail chains..

• As of Food Week April 12, the average American takes two trips to the food store and spends $162 per week.

• WIC fruit and vegetable program survives in Congressional negotiations

RESTAURANTS AND FOODSERVICE

• Listicle of 25 best restaurants in Chicago with a personal op-ed. Listed is a Al-Bawadi in suburban Bridgeview. Ordered once- spectacular Lebanese food. Ordered for my family to show them how good it was- not only was a $300 order not delivered but no one would pick up the phone to resolve the issue. Do I dare try again?

• Also, battle lines are drawn among restaurateurs about whether to keep Chicago streets closed for restaurant dining.

• QSR struggled in Q1. With new $20 minimum wage, QSR in California is stealing school cafeteria workers.

• Drone delivery of food may be a little farther away then we think. Amazon’s Prime Air is based upon ‘dropping’ deliveries, gently or other wise, and is limited to 5 pounds including packaging, which kind of rules out my family.

• Congress battling over the liability shield for franchisors as National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) wants to make chains more responsible. But there is liability shield for restaurants donating foods.

• Panera menu continues its starvation diet; a list of the latest discontinued items.

FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN

• Russia seizes 650,000 acres of farmland owned by the Dutch in retaliation for support of Ukraine.

• Honey bee crisis apparently over. And Bayer develops an alternative to Glyphosate. Color me skeptical.

• Is coffee doomed? Over half the land used to grow it is in danger due to climate change. Of course if your spouse is poisoning you with your coffee it may not matter. And is decaf actually dangerous?

• Paranoia over Avian Influenza in food products is growing, even though there are almost no examples of the virus being found in milk, eggs. But more incidences of AI in cows. 2 of the largest egg producers hit in a week. So dairy farms are instituting some of the biosafety rules that poultry farms use. But feeding the cows ground up chicken waste may have help the virus jump species.

• Ex Netflix CEO putting money into African solar irrigation.

• Lead is a powerful neurotoxin. And it is in a lot of food. But that is because is prevalent in the countries growing our food. Lunchables has an issue

DRINK CORNER

• en primeur Bordeaux is about to come out and the industry is very nervous about the quality and the market. Also, 5 simple wine mistakes.

• If Liquid Death is Not Beer is, the new brand Not Beer Not Liquid Death?

• NY state repeals law that allows for dry towns.

• Cool video on making shochu from sweet potatoes.

• Did people in the middle ages drink wine and beer all the time because of bad water? Not really.

FOOD WEEK APRIL 12 LAGNIAPPE

• The mystery of the Marie in Bain Marie.

• Old Chefs don’t die, they just simmer away. Or they open an Air BnB.

• Some kitchen hacks. And tips on storing fruits an vegetables.

• 69% of your national cuisine is made up of foods that originated elsewhere in the world.

• Rosemary is also a great at repelling wasps.

• Diets and disease. And the effects of ultra-processed foods.