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VOLUME 90 • NUMBER 4 JULY 2025 • $7.00 • Albertsons Launches Chef’s Counter Ready-to-Cook Marinated Meats PAGE 5
• Tech, Data Improves Agriculture by Enabling Better Decisions, Transforming Sustainability PAGE 6
• Study Reveals Significant Progress in CPG Recycled Content Goals PAGE 8
• Bobbie Launches Industry First USDA Organic Whole Milk Infant Formula Made in USA PAGE 8
• Meatable, TruMeat to Speed Up Process of Cultivated Meat Commercialization PAGE 10
• Digital Media Platform Eases Tariff Terror PAGE 11
• Is Anyone In the Mood for Tasty Nostagia? PAGE 12
• Featured Products PAGE 19
• Advertiser Index PAGE 22
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Army Veteran Wrangles Ranchers to Supply Premium Protein to Customers Nationwide BY A.J. FLICK
Patrick Montgomery is the kind of guy who likes to take chances. “What can I say?” Montgomery said, reflecting on his life’s path with good humor. “I was young and dumb once in Kansas City. At 16, 17, I was kind of wild.” That daredevil attitude took a serious spin when he went from a Missouri high school to joining the U.S. Army and volunteering to be in its elite fighting force, the Army Rangers. Life after the Army was a challenge for Montgomery. In 2014, he continued his mission to be a large animal veterinarian and
went back to school. “After two and a half years, I realized I only liked the large animal side,” he said. Montgomery knew he had to give his supportive wife a break from being the family’s wage earner, but what should he do? “Let’s be honest,” Montgomery said, “corporate American jobs are unappealing after being in special operations.” Undoubtedly, being an Army Ranger was the riskiest job Mont-
gomery ever held. For some reason, he decided to launch what many around him called the craziest job: Raising cattle to be a premium meat supplier. “I knew for a fact that it wouldn’t be easy,” he said. “This is not a generational farm. I jumped right into it without inheriting land, equipment or animals.” Not to mention he would be
ten Lee, director of business initiatives with ReFED, a U.S.-based nonprofit that prioritizes evidence-based action to stop wasting food. As word spread among signatories of the PCFWC to pilot the newly christened Employee Engagement Toolkit, Bob’s Red Mill enthusiastically stepped up. The beloved employee-owned supplier of oats, flours, mixes and more already prided itself on its commitment to sustainability. “Sustainability has always been embedded in our culture,” said
Julia Person, sustainability manager. “It’s a natural manifestation of what we do. “We don’t want to waste the awesome, nutritious ingredients that growers give us to make it to the final customers’ shelves.” Four years ago, the company reported nearly 2,500 tons of food waste. Bob’s Red Mill reduced that by 8 percent by donating to local charities. It recycled the rest of what would have been wasted by selling 92 percent of
A cyberattack in early June left UNFI scrambling to fill orders. “We have identified unauthorized activity in our systems and have proactively taken some systems offline while we investigate,” the company said in a statement on June 9. “As soon as we discovered the activity, an investigation was initiated with the help of leading forensics experts and we have notified law enforcement. “We are assessing the unauthorized activity and working to restore our systems to safely bring them back online. As we work through this issue, our customers, suppliers and associates are our highest priority. “We are working closely with them to minimize disruption as much as possible.” A few days later, the company reported steady progress to restore its systems. After taking its online platform down on June 6, UNFI was working to bring it back online. “We’re gradually bringing our ordering and receiving capabilities back online, with the goal of further increasing our capacity over the coming days,” the company said. “The investigation is ongoing with the support of leading forensics experts. “Our customers, suppliers and
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Initiative Inspires Employees to Cut Food Waste BY A.J. FLICK
In 2018, when the U.S. Food Waste Pact and Pacific Coast Food Waste Commitment envisioned a plan to reduce food waste among food-generating businesses, no one imagined the answer could be as simple as a screwdriver or spatula. The inspiration for the initiative is the idea that companies could empower employees to help reduce food waste on the job and, in turn, at home. “Frontline workers are key to reducing food waste,” said Kris-
UNFI Recovering After Cyberattack
Chickpea Research Could Shape Future of Lunar Farming BY MAMIE HERTEL
Special to Gourmet News Jess Atkin’s favorite planet is Earth. It always has been. No surprise there – after all, she spends her days nurturing plants, diving into oceans to clean up debris and caring for her horses at her home on a small patch of land outside of Bryan, Texas. And Atkin’s second favorite thing in the universe? The moon. It’s the quiet, constant companion in the night sky, one
that has long captivated her imagination. “I’ve always felt a deep connection to the moon,” Atkin said. “It’s this peaceful, steady presence. But when I think about it, I realize how much of our understanding of the universe has been shaped by this celestial body. And now, here we are, thinking about sustaining life on it.” Rather than simply gazing up at the moon, Atkin, a doctoral student in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Soil and
Crop Sciences, is doing something many might consider impossible. She’s researching how to grow chickpeas in lunar regolith, otherwise known as moondust. “It sounds insane, right?” Atkin said. “I’m studying how a crop that thrives on Earth might survive in the dust of the moon. But it’s not as crazy as it seems. If we want to go to the moon – and beyond – we need to figure out how to grow food there. And if we can make chickpeas grow in that environment, it could open the door to a whole new way of
thinking about sustainability in space.” If she’s successful, her work won’t just be another space experiment – it could be one small plant for man but a giant leap for plant-kind. Military service to moon research Born into a military and first responder family, Atkin spent much of her childhood moving between the agricultural landscapes of Utah and the bright Continued on PAGE 16