Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa/Chicago | Reuters — Canada is optimistic it can make progress this year in talks to persuade China to allow imports of Canadian canola seed to resume, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday, even as tensions between Ottawa and Beijing reach new highs. Trudeau spoke hours after an industry group said Chinese importers had […] Read more
Trudeau optimistic about making progress to end China canola ban
China forecasts rising soy imports to make up for less canola
Reading Time: 2 minutes Beijing | Reuters — China on Friday raised its forecast for soybean imports during the 2018-19 crop year to 85 million tonnes, up from 83.65 million in last month’s outlook, after the country’s customs agency suspended some imports of rival oilseed canola. China’s ministry of agriculture and rural affairs said in its monthly forecast on […] Read more
Richardson to buy Wesson cooking oil brand
Reading Time: 2 minutes A household name in U.S. cooking oils is set to become part of Canadian grain handler and oilseed processor Richardson International. Chicago-based Conagra Brands said Tuesday it will sell its Wesson oil brand and related assets — including a 280,000-square foot U.S. processing plant at Memphis — to Richardson for an undisclosed sum. Wesson-branded retail […] Read more
Canola crushing steady
Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada — Canada’s domestic canola crushing remains steady year over year. Statistics Canada data show 742,573 tonnes of canola seed crushed in June this year, which marks a slight rise from 731,124 in June 2017 and 702,716 in the same month of 2016. Domestic crushers processed 765,216 tonnes of seed in May of this […] Read more
A+W to launch pulseburger next month
Reading Time: 3 minutes Canada’s second-biggest burger chain plans to roll out a new non-meat burger in the Canadian market starting in July. A+W Food Services of Canada on Thursday announced a July 9 release date for what it’s dubbed the Beyond Meat Burger at all its restaurants across the country, in what CEO Susan Senecal called “the fastest […] Read more
Smucker drops bid to buy Wesson Oil after U.S. objects
Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington | Reuters — J.M. Smucker Co. said on Tuesday it will abandon its plan to acquire Conagra Brands’ Wesson Oil brand after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission had moved to block the deal arguing it would likely lessen competition and violate anti-trust law. Mark Smucker, CEO of J.M. Smucker, said “it is not in […] Read more
Canola study on Alzheimer mice seen as ‘huge stretch’
Reading Time: 3 minutes Upon review, a U.S. study of what happened to mice bred for Alzheimer’s symptoms when canola oil was added to their diet doesn’t translate to a risk for people, researchers and the Canola Council of Canada say. The mouse study, which was published last week by researchers from Temple University in Philadelphia, examined mice genetically […] Read more
Study finds canola oil unhelpful against Alzheimer’s in mice
Reading Time: 3 minutes A U.S. study of mice genetically engineered to model Alzheimer’s disease has found those on a diet rich in canola oil were more prone to certain markers of the disease than the same type of mice on regular chow. The Canola Council of Canada, the value-chain industry group for the world’s top canola-exporting country, said […] Read more
China’s Cofco seeks larger Canadian canola volumes
Reading Time: < 1 minute Winnipeg | Reuters — State-owned Chinese agribusiness Cofco Corp. looks to buy 2.5 million tonnes of Canada’s canola crop next year, a boost of more than one-third over its expected purchases this year as its Canadian office gets established, said the company’s global head of softseeds on Wednesday. Cofco opened its Canadian trading office in […] Read more
Partially hydrogenated oils on the way out
Reading Time: 2 minutes The federal government has served a year’s notice on partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) as ingredients in foods sold in Canada. Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor announced Friday that PHOs will be added to Canada’s List of Contaminants and Other Adulterating Substances effective Sept. 15, 2018, giving Canadian food processors and importers “enough time to find […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
