NEW YORK (AP) – Backyard cooks looking to grill this summer have another option: hot dogs without "added nitrites." Are they any healthier?

Oscar Mayer is touting its new hot dog recipe that uses nitrite derived from celery juice instead of artificial sodium nitrite, which is used to preserve the pinkish colors of processed meats and prevents botulism. Kraft Heinz, which owns Oscar Mayer, says sodium nitrite is among the artificial ingredients it has removed from the product to reflect changing consumer preferences. The change comes amid a broader trend of big food makers purging ingredients that people may feel are not natural.

2. Justices Make It Easier for Companies to Defend Patent Cases - Tuesday, May 23, 2017

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court is making it easier for companies to defend themselves against patent infringement lawsuits.

The justices ruled unanimously on Monday that such lawsuits can be filed only in states where defendants are incorporated. The issue is important to many companies that complained about patent owners choosing more favorable courts in other parts of the country to file lawsuits.

3. HJ Heinz Buys Kraft To Build $28 Billion Food Giant - Thursday, March 26, 2015

NEW YORK (AP) – Some of the most familiar names in ketchup, pickles, cheese and hot dogs are set to come under the same roof after H.J. Heinz Co. announced plans Wednesday to buy Kraft and create one of the world's largest food and beverage companies.

4. Barbie Blues Gave Mattel Holiday Disappointment - Monday, February 02, 2015

Slumping sales of Barbie did little to bring a happy holiday to her maker, Mattel Inc.

Mattel's fourth-quarter earnings release Friday drilled down into the details of a weak performance that led to the resignation of its chairman and CEO.

5. McDonald's to Sell Packaged Coffee Nationally - Wednesday, August 20, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) – McDonald's plans to start selling its packaged coffee at supermarkets nationally by early next year, a move intended to help raise the profile of the coffee sold at its U.S. restaurants.

6. Food Industry Cuts Calories Four-Fold Over Pledge - Friday, January 10, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) – Some of the nation's largest food companies have cut daily calorie counts by an average of 78 per person, a new study says, more than four times the amount the industry pledged to slash by next year.

7. Twitter Soars in Market Debut - Friday, November 08, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) – Shares of Twitter went on sale to the public for the first time Thursday, instantly leaping more than 70 percent above their offering price in a dazzling debut that exceeded even Wall Street's lofty hopes.

8. Dow Average Adds Goldman Sachs, Nike and Visa - Wednesday, September 11, 2013

The Dow Jones industrial average is dropping Bank of America, Hewlett-Packard and Alcoa, its three-lowest priced stocks, as part of a six-company shakeup of the most widely known barometer of the U.S. stock market.

9. Median CEO Pay Rises to $9.7 Million in 2012 - Thursday, May 23, 2013

CEO pay has been going in one direction for the past three years: up.

The head of a typical large public company made $9.7 million in 2012, a 6.5 percent increase from a year earlier that was aided by a rising stock market, according to an analysis by The Associated Press using data from Equilar, an executive pay research firm.

10. Kraft Foods Expects Lower Fourth Quarter Revenue - Monday, February 18, 2013

NORTHFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Kraft Foods, the company behind brands such as Oscar Mayer and Miracle Whip, said Friday that it expects to report lower revenue for the fourth quarter and raised its earnings forecast for this year.

11. Kraft Suing Cracker Barrel Restaurants Over Name - Monday, February 04, 2013

Kraft Foods is suing Cracker Barrel Old Country Store over the restaurant chain’s plans to use the “Cracker Barrel” name on packaged ham and bacon.

Kraft says it started using the “Cracker Barrel” name on cheese in 1954. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, which operates 620 restaurants around the country, was established in 1969 in Lebanon, Tenn.

12. Poll: Half of Americans Call Facebook a Fad - Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Half of Americans think Facebook is a passing fad, according to the results of a new Associated Press-CNBC poll. And, in the run-up to the social network's initial public offering of stock, half of Americans also say the social network's expected asking price is too high.

13. Scrapping Plans - Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Covered in vines and behind a chain-link fence on the corner of Plum Avenue and North Thomas Street are several white posts that are the last remnant of what was once the Lazarov junkyard in North Memphis.

14. Venture Off Kid’s Menu Every Once in a While - Tuesday, September 06, 2011

So, you’re in the restaurant, the family and the kids. Everybody is behaving well, speaking in “inside voices,” including the adults. So far, so good, but the point is, what is everybody going to eat? The kids take one peek at the menu and look as if they’re beginning to tune up: “Mom, Dad, we hate tilapia with Southwestern succotash and mango-jicama relish!” Mom says, hopefully, “Look, Dick, look, Jane, there’s a kid’s menu! You love kid’s menus!” Signaling the helpful waiter for another martini.

15. ‘Business Friendly’ - Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Growth is the buzzword in Bartlett and Northeast Shelby County, where the Bartlett Area Chamber of Commerce is in the midst of the second phase of a comprehensive economic development strategy zeroing in on four growth industries.

16. Food Companies Take Veggie Cue From Sneaky Trend - Thursday, July 07, 2011

It looks like Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, and Kraft says it tastes just like the original. But a new ingredient is lurking inside this version of the American family dinner staple — cauliflower.

17. Wal-Mart to Make, Sell Healthier Foods - Friday, January 21, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – Wal-Mart, the nation's largest grocer, says it will reformulate thousands of products to make them healthier and push its suppliers to do the same, joining first lady Michelle Obama's effort to combat childhood obesity.

18. Memphis Connect, Neelys Team Up to Fight Hunger - Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Memphis Connect, the website of the Leadership Academy’s talent recruitment and retention program, is asking Memphians to submit their picks for their favorite ways to give back in the Bluff City.

19. Starbucks: 4th-Quarter Net Income Nearly Doubles - Monday, November 08, 2010

NEW YORK (AP) – As more people visited Starbucks cafes and spent more at the end of summer, the company's fourth-quarter net income nearly doubled, handily beating estimates, and the company raised its target Thursday for fiscal 2011 profit.

20. Kraft Foods Launches Campaign to Fight Hunger - Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Kraft Foods has kicked off its Huddle to Fight Hunger campaign with the goal of providing 20 million meals to Feeding America.

The company has coordinated a campaign that uses newspaper and magazine ads, the cinema, consumer incentives, social and mobile activities and the celebrity of Memphis chefs Pat and Gina Neely, sports journalist Erin Andrews and Joe Montana.

21. Marketing the Whole Truth to Women - Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Marketers beware: a nodding woman is not necessarily agreeing with you.

That’s essentially the message Jen Drexler, partner in the New York-based consulting firm Just Ask a Woman, sent the American Advertising Federation Memphis last week.

22. Industry Halts Food Label Program over FDA Concern - Monday, October 26, 2009

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The Smart Choices nutrition labeling program, created voluntarily by nine large U.S. manufacturers, is halting after federal regulators said such systems could mislead consumers, officials with the labeling group said Friday.

23. Grocery Aisle Relief as Food Prices Fall - Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Grocery shoppers are finally seeing some reprieve from last year's steep price increases.

Food prices are dropping on some key items as retailers slash prices to better compete and food makers do more promotions and pass along savings from lower ingredient and gasoline costs.

24. Giving in Tough Times Balancing Act for Companies - Monday, December 29, 2008

CINCINNATI (AP) - She sat patiently in her wheelchair, as scurrying volunteers gathered ham, a turkey, canned goods, bread, and bags of potatoes, apples and pungent onions in a storeroom with sporadic drafts of frigid air from outside.

25. Jobless Claims Drop From Seven-Year High - Friday, October 10, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) – New applications for unemployment benefits dropped last week from a seven-year high, the Labor Department reported Thursday, though they remain at elevated levels that indicate recession.

26. Kraft Replaces AIG in Dow Jones Industrial Average - Friday, September 19, 2008

NEW YORK (AP) - Dow Jones & Co. said Thursday that Kraft Foods Inc. will replace struggling insurer American International Group Inc. in the Dow Jones Industrial Average when trading begins Sept. 22.

27. Archived Article: Kellogg P2 - Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Kellogg to raise snack, cracker prices

Kellogg to raise snack, cracker prices
Snacking is about to become a more costly habit with Kellogg Co. becoming the second major food company to announce it would raise prices on cookies and crackers i...

28. Archived Article: Ac Humko - Monday, August 24, 1998
Bionutrics, Inc Humko, Bionutrics enter $8 million alliance Bionutrics Inc., biopharmaceutical developer, announced an $8 million transaction with AC Humko Corp. of Memphis. The parties have closed on the sale to AC Humko of $4 million of Bionutrics...