Food Week June 20, 2025

Welcome to Food Week June 20, 2025. And welcome to summer, in a big way in the Eastern half of the US. Prediction: the next big claim in the egg industry will be over the male chick population for layers; They are usually destroyed after hatching but there are techniques now to mitigate this. Which is better. Tons of other stuff too. Enjoy

MACRO

• Economists say the inflation is coming , just hasn’t arrived yet.

• A running list of ICE raids on food production facilities and farms.

RETAIL AND CONSUMER

• A long but worthwhile investigation into egg theft, egg prices and the role of CAl Maine in the egg industry.

• The worst item for pesticides in the produce department is spinach, which also happens to be the biggest seller.

• Connecticut ban on plastic bags actually worked.

• Finding cheap wine in grocery stores.

• Heinz and General Mills plan on removing all artificial dyes by 2027.

• Cyber attack brings UNFI – major grocery distribtor – to its knees. It did the same to Stoli, resulting in a bankruptcy filing.

RESTAURANTS AND FOODSERVICE

• Using reservation services to commit credit card fraud against restaurants.

• If you want a loyal customer for your restaurant, try a Boomer. However the same generation has terrible bar etiquette.

• Beard awards cam e out this week: A bakery in Portland, Also a listicle of top 50 restaurants in the world.

• Hulk Hogan wants buy Hooters which sounds like a match made… in a double wide?

• It is possible to get great barbecue in California. But in Chicago, BBQ is becoming fine dining. And who has the best store bought barbecue sauce? Lillie’s Q, the only sauce I use.

FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN

• Dairy methane capture is possible in the real world.

• Company announces technique to eliminate the process in which make chicks are eliminated.

• Wine growers in California hiring their own fire fighters.

• The only completely self- sufficient country is… Guyana.

• Banning seed oils will crush farmers.

• Texas approves use of fracking wastewater to irrigate crops.

• How PFAs (Forever Chemicals) become airborne dust, particularly on farms. And the FDA cancelled limits on PFAs in drinking water. On the bright side, Japanese scientist invent a plastic that degrades in sea water. And from Taiwan, an environmentally friendly resealable bag.

DRINKS

• The infinity cocktail is always ready and always evolving.

• Wine vocabulary for the here and now. And the only three ways you should handle you wine glass.

• Giant, shareable Martinis – no back washing!

• Never order tap beer in a sketchy bar. That is all.

• On the other end of the spectrum, the top 10 hotel bars in the US. The winner? King Cole Bar i n the St. Regis, NYC.

• The Banana Daiquiri. The Red Raider. The Aperol Paloma. The Last Word and some history.

FOOD WEEK June 20 LAGNIAPPE

• How the FDA classified animal rights activists as bio-terrorists.

• Opening and closing your soda bottle causes it to release more micro-plastics.

• The 25 best sandwiches in the world.

• Are pesticides accelerating the development of ‘super bugs?’ (Micro-organisms, not insects, thought i don’t think that is any better).

• FDA approves lab-grown salmon..

• Americans love sweets and want to have less of them.