packaging

20 Stories

How Much Plastic Packaging Ends Up in Our Bodies?

In Canadian grocery stores, 71% of the food available was bound in plastic

(Newser) - When you're out shopping, finding food not encased in some kind of plastic is no easy task. In fact, per Modern Farmer , a recent study of Canadian grocery stores found 71% of products on their shelves were packaged in plastic; for baby food, it was even higher, at 76%....

Woman Sues Hershey for $5M Over 'Misleading' Packaging
Woman Sues Hershey for $5M
Over 'Misleading' Packaging
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jan 6, 2024 6:00 AM CST

Woman Sues Hershey for $5M Over 'Misleading' Packaging

Florida's Cynthia Kelly says holiday-themed Reese's candy lacked carved designs as shown on wrappers

(Newser) - Cynthia Kelly says she was shopping in an Aldi in October when she picked up a bag of Halloween-themed Reese's peanut butter candy for $4.49, drawn in by the "cute looking" carvings shown on the candy's outer wrapper. That's per the Florida woman's new...

PepsiCo Sets 'Not Easy' Packaging Goal for Doritos

Company wants all packaging for its snack brands to be compostable or otherwise green by 2030

(Newser) - Most people like their chips crunchy, but one of the nation's largest food and beverage conglomerates wants the bags they come in to dissolve softly and safely into the earth and ether. On Wednesday, the head of PepsiCo Foods North America, Steven Williams, popped up during the virtual CNBC...

New Heinz Bottle Cap Took 185K Hours to Design

This one will be a lot easier to recycle

(Newser) - Heinz didn't go through 57 varieties of bottle caps before it settled on a new design for its squeezy bottles—but it was close. The redesign involved 185,000 hours of product development over nine years and Heinz went through 45 iterations, Fast Company reports. Previous innovations created ketchup...

That Drive-Thru Order May Contain More Than You Bargained For

Consumer Reports finds excessive amounts of 'forever chemicals' in some fast-food wrappers

(Newser) - You might want to dump those Mickey D's fries onto a plate as soon as you get home. Consumer Reports released an analysis Thursday on packaging at fast-food restaurants and supermarket chains, with a concerning find: Many of the wrappers that hold the fare we pick up at the...

Trader Joe's: We're Keeping Ethnic Food Names After All

Chain seems to do 180 after teen's petition to change branding she said was offensive

(Newser) - A California teen's petition to get Trader Joe's to change the branding on some of its international food items looked like it hit home with the grocery chain, but after hinting on a phaseout, management seems to be backtracking on that plan. Briones Bedell has noted some of...

Spirits Industry First: a Paper Bottle

Diageo announces Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky will have plastic-free packaging starting next spring

(Newser) - Tired: drinking out of a paper bag. Wired: drinking out of a paper bottle. Starting next year, you'll be able to do the latter, thanks to a spirits industry first. Reuters reports that Diageo—maker of such brands as Tanqueray, Captain Morgan, and Smirnoff, among others—has teamed up...

Native Americans Welcome Big Change in Butter Packaging
Say Goodbye to the
Land O'Lakes 'Butter Maiden'
in case you missed it
Apr 19, 2020 2:30 PM CDT

Say Goodbye to the Land O'Lakes 'Butter Maiden'

Native American woman who appeared on brand's packaging for decades has been nixed

(Newser) - If you can't quite put your finger on what's different about your butter the next time you pick up a pack of Land O'Lakes, allow us to fill you in. There's something missing from the packaging—the Native American "butter maiden" who used to be...

Always: Our Pads Aren't Just for Females

Company will remove Venus symbol from packaging

(Newser) - Always is scrubbing the female gender symbol from the packaging of its sanitary pads in an effort to be more inclusive of transgender and non-binary customers. The move comes after LGBTQ activist Ben Saunders—named Young Campaigner of the Year by LGBTQ rights charity Stonewall—asked the company to remove...

Birth Control Pills Recalled Due to Critical Packaging Error

Apotex mistake could lead women to miss pills, or to take placebos instead of active tablets

(Newser) - There's nothing wrong with the tablets themselves, but a nationwide recall of birth control pills has been announced by the Food and Drug Administration due to a packaging goof that could cause women to miss pills or take placebos, possibly leading to pregnancy, People reports. The FDA alert notes...

Budweiser Renaming Itself 'America' This Summer

But it's only temporary

(Newser) - In an election year filled with the phrase "Make America Great Again," it's perhaps appropriate that Anheuser-Busch InBev is introducing packaging for Budweiser that, as USA Today puts it, is going to "throw some America on it." Per Advertising Age , the company confirmed Tuesday it...

Gasp: New Bubble Wrap Is Unpoppable

Fear not: The original version isn't going anywhere

(Newser) - For decades after its invention in 1957, Bubble Wrap was consistently maker Sealed Air’s top seller. By 2012, the adored product had deflated to just 3.6% of its sales. Its new top seller: liquid foam, reports the Wall Street Journal . Why the hate on Bubble Wrap? Well, space...

Upside of Pricey Oil: Packages Easier to Open

Expensive 'clamshell' containers may be phased out

(Newser) - The rough economy has its benefits—chief among them the fact that it’s becoming easier to open your new lightbulbs. With oil prices soaring, manufacturers and retailers are looking to cut down on plastic packaging, the New York Times reports. One potential casualty: the clamshell package, which is notoriously...

Banned From Using 'Light,' Big Tobacco Turns to Colors

Critics say 'Marlboro Gold' no better than 'Marlboro Light,' and sneakier

(Newser) - The tobacco industry has to remove words like “light” on its cigarette packaging come June, but what they plan to do instead—use colors—has health advocates just as piqued. “They’re circumventing the law,” a professor tells the New York Times of moves like Philip Morris’...

Tiny Coke Can Is the New 'Light' Cigarette
Tiny Coke Can
Is the New
'Light' Cigarette
OPINION
Oct 19, 2009 5:15 PM CDT

Tiny Coke Can Is the New 'Light' Cigarette

Sneaky 'portion control' advertising blitz a cynical ploy: Saletan

(Newser) - The advertising blitz accompanying the release of Coca-Cola’s new 7.5 ounce “mini can” sounds suspiciously like the original pitch for light cigarettes, William Saletan writes. A company exec says the innovation “supports the idea of moderation and offers people yet another way to enjoy their favorite...

Cash-Strapped Drinkers Spurn Bottled Water

(Newser) - A combination of penny-pinching and environmental concern has pushed bottled water sales off for the first time in at least 5 years, the Washington Post reports. In 2008, consumption of bottled water fell for the first time this decade. “It's an obvious way to cut back,” a researcher...

Wine, Meet Your Future: Plastics

(Newser) - Screw tops, boxes, and now—plastic bottles? A move is afoot to package wine in low-cost, lighter plastic containers, the Los Angeles Times reports. The bottles come with an expiration date because the plastic does not provide the same airtight seal as glass. But because most wine sold in the...

Anchovies Aren't Yucky —They're Magical

(Newser) - Many people quake at the mention of anchovies, but if history is any judge, those people are dead wrong, Howard Yoon writes for NPR. In the past, the fish was “so highly prized that it was used to make a condiment, garum, during the Roman Empire that cost as...

MillerCoors Testing Mini-Keg for Fridge

(Newser) - MillerCoors is trying out a novel presentation of its Miller and Coors Light beers with the “Home Draft,” a 1.5-gallon mini-keg that stays fresh in the fridge for a month, the Wall Street Journal reports. The set-up is similar to boxed wine. Amid a drop-off in domestic...

Recession Harbinger: Less Trash

(Newser) - The current recession was fairly clear to a certain segment of the population as far back as late 2007, the Washington Post reports—landfill operators. Since then, dumps and garbage collectors have seen a steep drop-off in trash—in some cases up to 30%—along with their own jobs. It's...

20 Stories