Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/1159235
BY LORRIE BAUMANN European cheeses and olive oils may be the next casualty in the Trump administration's trade wars, and the Specialty Food As- sociation is sounding the alarm. "Tariffs are not a legislative activ- ity. No one has control over these," said Ron Tanner, the SFA's Vice President of Philanthropy, Government & Industry Rela- tions, at the American Cheese So- ciety's Annual Conference. "They come from the executive branch. No one can really control these things." Broad Range of European Imports Threatened Tariffs threatened by the Trump administration could be as much BY LORRIE BAUMANN Fairway Market, which operates stores in New York, Con- necticut and New Jersey, has partnered with Olive Roots on a program that will give its customers the chance to discover a variety of authentic foods from small Greek and Cypriot producers. "I am looking forward to our Greece country program to see the success of the new brands we selected," said Chris Garzino, Fair- way Market's Director of Spe- cialty. "Many of the brands will Fairway Campaign to Highlight Authentic Taste of Greece Continued on PAGE 8 Continued on PAGE 8 Continued on PAGE 10 (Following World of Baking) be new to the U.S. and I believe they will give our customer a greater feel into the culture of the country." Olive Roots is a boutique spe- cialty food exporter that special- izes in streamlining the process of bringing more Greek food products into the U.S. "Lots of these products are really hard to find," said Olive Roots Founder Katerina Barka. "You'd have to travel and get lost on your way to find the village – it's im- possible to find them any- where." Barka launched her company at the 2018 Sum- mer Fancy Food Show after notic- ing that the Americans she knew were appreciative of the Greek products she was sharing with them, but neither they nor she could find them in American stores. When she approached Fair- way Market, the buyers' first re- sponse was a little quizzical, since she was making the kind of in- quiry on behalf of Greek food and food producers that they'd ordi- narily expect to hear from a coun- try's trade mission. "They looked at us like, 'Who are you?'" Barka said. But they listened to her pro- posal and eventually agreed that Veggie Defenders File Federal Suit Tariffs Threaten Specialty Food Industry as 100 percent on virtually all cheeses, yogurts, kefirs, olive oils and a broad range of other prod- ucts produced in the European Union and imported into the U.S. "It's a big net that they've cast, and it's going to be every cheese and some of the charcuterie," Tanner said. "A lot of pork prod- ucts got included." These tariffs are likely to go into effect this fall, Tanner said August 3 in Richmond, Virginia. Those tariffs will drastically affect the prices that retailers will pay for these European products. Eu- ropean imports account for around half of the cheese sales made by American specialty re- tailers. The U.S. is the world's largest olive oil importer, since domestically produced olive oil supplies only about 5 percent of the American demand. Pork products included in the pro- posed tariffs include pork sausages and hams. Uncooked pasta, waffles and wafers are also on the tariff list as well as Irish and Scotch whiskies and sparkling wines. Retaliation for Boeing Dispute The tariff threat originates in a 14-year trade dispute between aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus. Airbus is subsidized by the EU and four of its member states: France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, and BY GREG GONZALES Private equity investors are stak- ing their claims in plant-based proteins. Private investors Gregg and Jeff Hamann, who own Jensen Meat Company, a ground- beef company, acquired Before the Butcher in June of this year. The nearly two-year-old com- pany producing soy-based meat alternatives launched its UNCUT line of soy-based burgers, rolling into more than 3,000 stores. Quorn, in the meat-alterna- tives business since 1985 with its products made from mycopro- Continued on PAGE 6 Big Meat Muscles into Plant-Based Proteins tein, is launching a bleeding burger as well as fishless fillets into retail in Britain this year. In the U.S., Impossible Foods plans to roll out its retail line this year, and Tyson Foods, which sold its stake in Beyond Meat in April of this year, has announced plans to launch its own line of meat-alter- native products called Raised & Rooted into retail this year. The new Tyson brand will ini- tially offer an imitation chicken nugget made from pea protein and egg white and a burger blend of beef and pea protein. Tyson is also planning to sell blends of chicken with plant protein under its existing Aidell's brand. "It's an opportunity to expand their line of protein options for the customer base on the mar- ketplace. They realize that as we continue to grow as a country, and internationally — by 2050, the anticipation is that we'll have over 9 billion people on this planet — we can't feed every- body with just animal-based pro- tein," said Danny O'Malley, The American Civil Liberties Union, The Good Food Institute, Animal Legal Defense Fund, and ACLU of Arkansas filed a lawsuit in late July challenging an Arkansas law that would impose fines of up to $1,000 for every plant-based and cell-based meat product, such as "veggie burgers" and "tofu dogs," marketed or packaged with a "meat" label. The labels would be subject to fines within state borders even if fol- lowed by modifiers such as "vegan," "veggie," or "plant- based." Under the law, products labeled as "cauliflower rice" (but not "riced cauliflower") and "al- mond milk" would also be con- sidered mislabeled and subject to fines for not containing any ac- tual rice or dairy. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Tofurky in federal court. It ar- gues the Arkansas law violates the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause by improperly censoring truthful speech and creating consumer confusion in order to shore up the state's meat and rice industries. The lawsuit adds that there is no evidence that the current labels mislead consumers, pointing out that To- furky's products all clearly indi- cate the products are VOLUME 84, NUMBER 9 SEPTEMBER 2019 n $7.00 www.gourmetnews.com SUPPLEMENT: Sharing & Entertaining SEE PAGE 12 (Following World of Baking) NEWS & NOTES: Goya Foods SEE PAGE 6 RETAILER NEWS: Barons Market SEE PAGE 10 (Following World of Baking) News ..............................................6 Ad Index .......................................14 Calendar.......................................14 G OURMET N EWS T H E B U S I N E S S N E W S P A P E R F O R T H E G O U R M E T I N D U S T R Y ® SPECIAL ISSUE INSIDE: WORLD OF BAKING CHECK IT OUT!