Category Archives: Food and Drink

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters announces new K-Cup deal

Posted on May 29, 2013 by | Comments Off on Green Mountain Coffee Roasters announces new K-Cup deal

WATERBURY - Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and International Coffee & Tea have reached a multiyear agreement to make The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf brand available in K-Cup packs for the Keurig single cup brewing system, the companies announced Wednesday.

A select offering of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf K-Cup packs will be made available through a variety of channels in the United States beginning next spring. The new selections will join GMCR’s family of beverage brands as a premium offering in the Keurig brewing system.

“We’re delighted to partner with The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, a company based on high-quality products and sustainable values,” said Brian Kelley, president and CEO of GMCR. “Our strategy to partner with world-class coffee and tea brands like The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf further broadens consumer choice in the Keurig system and helps us provide a wide range of beverages for every taste.”

Based in Los Angeles, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is the oldest and largest privately-held specialty coffee and tea retailer in the United States. Since 1963, the company has established a reputation for sourcing and providing a diverse selection of the highest quality coffees and teas.

The company has more than 900 stores in nearly 30 countries.

www.coffeebean.com

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Posted in Business, Central Vermont, Food and Drink

Magic Hat sues Kentucky brewery over copyright infringement

Posted on May 23, 2013 by | Comments Off on Magic Hat sues Kentucky brewery over copyright infringement

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — Magic Hat Brewing is suing a Kentucky brewery over its corporate logo, which it says is a trademark infringement.
West Sixth Brewing’s logo has a numeral 6 and a star-like symbol. Magic Hat says it’s too much like its No. 9 beer label, which has a 9 and a star-like symbol.
Ben Self, co-founder of West Sixth Brewing, says he will stop the brewery’s online logo petition calling for a stop to “corporate bullying” if Magic Hat drops its lawsuit.
The Burlington Free Press reports (http://bfpne.ws/ZdXCZl ) that Magic Hat wants West Sixth’s to stop using the logo and is seeking “all profits realized by West Sixth as a result of its use of the 6 Marks.”
In a statement, Magic Hat said it had tried to resolve the issue privately and amicably, but that West Sixth had suddenly turned the issue into something it is not, leaving them no recourse other than to sue.

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Posted in Court, Food and Drink

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Cabot moving administrative offices

Posted on May 15, 2013 by | Comments Off on Cabot moving administrative offices

CABOT — The Cabot Creamery Cooperative is planning to consolidate most of its administrative workforce to a 28,000-square facility in Waitsfield, Vt.
The move does not affect employees at the plant in Cabot.
Cabot Creamery employs 599 people in Vermont. A spokesman for Agri-Mark Inc., which owns Cabot Creamery, says about 80-100 workers will gradually move to Waitsfield by early 2014.
The Caledonian Record reports (http://bit.ly/10OtkMB) Agri-Mark, based in Lawrence, Mass., is buying and renovating the Waitsfield facility for $2.8 million. It is in the Waitsfield Industrial Park and formerly housed Northern Power Systems.
Agri-Mark is a cooperative of more than 1,200 farmers in New England and northern New York.

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Posted in Food and Drink, Northeast Kingdom

Senate mulls organic food mislabeling

Posted on April 26, 2013 by | Comments Off on Senate mulls organic food mislabeling

MONTPELIER — Vermont consumers need to be better informed about which foods are organic and which aren’t.
That was the upshot of a Senate Agriculture Hearing on Friday that looked at the problem of confusion over labeling in stores and farmers’ markets.
Sen. David Zuckerman, an organic farmer, said confusion comes up especially because some organic vegetable and fruit farms have expanded into raising animals for meat. The animals often are fed conventional grain, but because they come from farms that are otherwise organic, consumers assume the meat is organic, too.
Zuckerman says he has no specific legislation in mind now.
Nicole Dehne of the organic certifying group Vermont Organic Farmers says her group is stepping up efforts to educate farmers about good labeling practices.

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Posted in Farm & Ranch, Food and Drink, Statehouse

House to hear GMO labeling testimony

Posted on April 18, 2013 by | Comments Off on House to hear GMO labeling testimony

MONTPELIER — A Vermont House committee is taking testimony on a bill that would require the labeling of foods that contain genetically modified ingredients.
The bill, which excludes dairy products, cleared the House Agriculture Committee last month. The Judiciary Committee is taking testimony on it on Thursday, from legislative counsel and state attorney general’s office.
Even if the bill becomes law, supporters expect it to be challenged in court by the biotech industry, as the state attorney general’s office has warned.
The National Conference of State Legislatures says about 17 other states are considering some sort of GMO labeling legislation.

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Posted in Farm & Ranch, Food and Drink, Politics, Vermont News

Indoor farmers market starts in Northfield

Posted on November 12, 2012 by | Leave a comment

NORTHFIELD — Leave it to a bunch of farmers to turn an empty armory into a bustling market.

That’s precisely what happened at Norwich University in Northfield on Sunday as the town’s first-ever indoor farmers’ market got off to a better-than-expected start in Plumley Armory.

Business was brisk, weather wasn’t a factor (and wouldn’t have been, even if Mother Nature hadn’t delivered a balmy November day) and the general consensus among those who participated — shoppers and vendors alike — was a great, big green thumbs up.

“Awesome! absolutely awesome,” Northfield resident Judy Knapp said, after swinging by the armory and snapping up a dozen fresh eggs, a wood-fired pizza, a bag of spinach and some carrots before heading for home to harvest what was left in her own garden. Continue reading →

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Posted in Central Vermont, Farm & Ranch, Food and Drink

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Omya recalling food grade ground limestone

Posted on November 7, 2012 by | Leave a comment

CINCINNATI -  Omya Inc. is voluntarily recalling certain lots of food grade ground limestone products processed at its Superior, Ariz., plant because of the possible presence of  salmonella.

The company said that there have been no reports of any illnesses or adverse health effects associated with any of Omya’s food grade ground limestone products.

The food grade ground limestone products were sold to distributors and/or manufacturers as ingredients for further processing in the U.S. The food grade products were not distributed for retail sale to consumers.

Although an investigation is still ongoing, Omya is recalling specific lots of Omya-Cal FG-4 AZ, Omya-Cal FG-10 AZ and Omya-Cal FG-15 AZ in the U.S. as a precaution.

The voluntary recall is being conducted in consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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Posted in Business, Food and Drink

Vermont hard cider company to be sold

Posted on October 23, 2012 by | Leave a comment

MIDDLEBURY - The Vermont Hard Cider Company - the largest maker of hard cider in the United States - is being sold to an Irish beer and cider company.

C&C Group of Dublin on Tuesday announced that it has agreed to purchase the Middlebury company for $305 million.

The Vermont Hard Cider Company, maker of Woodchuck Hard Cider,  will become a subsidiary of C&C Group with its headquarters and production facility remaining in Middlebury, the companies said.

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Posted in Business, Food and Drink, Vermont News

Dairy farm safety net dies with farm bill

Posted on October 22, 2012 by | Leave a comment

By LISA RATHKE
THE Associated Press
WEST DANVILLE — Small dairy farmers in the Northeast and Wisconsin say a tough year has been made worse by Congress’ failure to pass a new farm bill before the old one expired.
While many farm programs have continued through the harvest season even though the farm bill expired Sept. 30, a program that pays dairy farmers when milk prices plummet has ended.
Many dairy farms were already struggling with low milk prices and high fuel and feed costs as the worst drought in decades dried up grazing land and pushed up the price of hay and feed. Dozens in states like California, the nation’s leading milk producer, have filed for bankruptcy.
In Vermont, which saw more closings this year after gradually losing farms for decades, the end of the milk income loss contract, or MILC, program, which paid dairy farmers when milk prices fell below a certain level, has created another wave of panic.
“The last couple of months, that’s what’s been keeping us going,” said Myles Goodrich, who runs Molly Brook Farm in West Danville after taking over from his parents. “Otherwise, it’d be losing battle.” Continue reading →

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Posted in Farm & Ranch, Food and Drink

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New distillery to make vodka

Posted on October 15, 2012 by | Leave a comment

WINDSOR — Vermont’s newest distillery is planning to produce a line of vodka made from locally grown grains from local farms.

American Crafted Spirits plans to begin operations in Windsor in December.

Peter Jillson, the company’s CEO, said the $1 million distillery will use corn, wheat and rye for its products.

He said his first product will be called Silo Vodka, and that he’ll later expand to gin, flavored vodka and brown spirits. The vodka initially will be sold in Vermont, and later in New Hampshire and Maine before being marketed outside the region.

The distillery is being built in the Windsor Industrial Park across from Harpoon Brewery and the Vermont Farmstead Cheese Factory.

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Posted in Food and Drink