With all the news lately about food recalls and e-coli, it’s nice to see some of the big food retailers taking measures to improve quality and safety measures. Nobody wants to sit down to a nice dinner after a hard day of work and end up in the emergency room. That’s why General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS) and ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG) have announced plans for new food products and enhanced food safety measures, respectively.
General Mills wants inventors to bring new food products and concepts to the company, and they have added a new innovations page to their website and put out feelers at trade shows to scientists, engineers and groups of food-industry retirees.
“This is a complete turnaround from where General Mills has been in the past,” says Kirstie Foster – a spokesperson from General Mills – in a press release.
Shares of General Mills today were down 21 cents per share at $58.54 per share on volume of about 386 thousand shares.
ConAgra Foods recently outlined the measures it would take in the reopening of its Sylvester, Georgia plant – where its recalled peanut butter products were produced. They plan to renovate the facility by installing new, state-of-the-art machinery, technology and designs. ConAgra plans to reopen the facility in August after it addresses all possible causes of the Salmonella outbreak.
“We will make significant investments in and changes to the manufacturing environment to ensure this situation does not occur again, says Gary Rodkin – chief executive of ConAgra Foods – in a press release. “We are committed to the highest possible standards of food safety throughout our operations and believe the measures we are outlining today will clearly strengthen that foundation.”
Shares of ConAgra Foods today were up 12 cents per share at $24.85 per share on volume of about 1.5 million shares.
Another company jumping on the food safety bandwagon is Del Monte Foods Company (NYSE: DLM). Their pet products division recently modified its voluntary recall list today to include additional select code dates in the U.S. market only. No new brands are included in this update.
Market News First attempted to contact Del Monte Foods to comment on the new recall list, but calls were not immediately returned.
Shares of Del Monte Foods today were down 3 cents per share at $11.50 per share on volume of about 143 thousand shares.