Cleveland – After 95 years in America’s pantries, Crisco is getting a new formula that eliminates artery-clogging trans fats.
J.M. Smucker Co., the largest U.S. producer of jams and jellies, has reformulated its line of Crisco shortening products to contain zero grams of trans fats per serving.
“The performance is the same for those tried-and-true family recipes that people have come to rely on Crisco for,” Smucker spokeswoman Maribeth Badertscher said Wednesday.
Doctors say trans fats – listed on food labels as partially hydrogenated vegetable oil – can raise bad (LDL) cholesterol and lower healthy (HDL) cholesterol, increasing the risk of heart disease.
Smucker’s move comes as an increasing number of foodmakers have been lowering or eliminating trans fats from their products. In December, New York became the first U.S. city to ban trans fats at restaurants and fast-food establishments that use trans fats to increase the shelf life and flavor of foods.
Additional business news briefs:
NEW YORK
HBO sues EchoStar, alleges fees not paid
Premium-TV content provider HBO is suing Douglas County-based EchoStar Communications Corp. for $90 million, alleging that the satellite provider failed to pay certain programming fees.
HBO charges that EchoStar, provider of the Dish Network, failed to pay monthly license fees in a timely manner and then failed to pay interest related to those late fees, according to a document filed this month in federal court in New York.
Neither company would comment on whether the dispute would lead EchoStar – which has more than 13 million subscribers – to pull HBO channels off its Dish Network service. EchoStar is also embroiled in a contract dispute with HBO sister company Turner Networks over the CourtTV channel. EchoStar pulled the channel off the Dish Network on Jan. 1.
WASHINGTON
DIA’s fare decline largest in 85 markets
Denver International Airport had the largest percentage fare decline of the top 85 markets in the United States for the third quarter of 2006, compared with the same quarter in 1995, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ Air Travel Price Index. Denver had a 3.3 percent decline in the period.
While the Air Travel Price Index nationally reached its highest third-quarter level since the index started, up 7.5 percent from a year ago, Denver had a 4 percent year-over-year fare decline in the third quarter.
BOULDER
CU prof gets grant from Energy Dept.
A faculty member at the University of Colorado at Boulder received a $1.6 million grant from the Department of Energy to develop coal technologies that will improve the performance and economics of clean power generation.
Christine Hrenya, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering, is aligned with the goals of FutureGen, a 10-year project aimed at creating the world’s first coal plant with near-zero emissions.
CHICAGO
Review of ruling on United pensions asked
The United Retired Pilots Benefit Protection Association said it has filed a petition to ask the Supreme Court to review a court decision that allowed the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. to terminate the United Airlines pilots pension plan.
The federal agency announced its decision to terminate and take over the United pilots pension plan in December 2004.
MANAGUA, Nicaragua
Nation to negotiate oil-concessions clash
Nicaragua’s government said Wednesday it will try to negotiate a resolution to a legal dispute over oil-exploration concessions granted to Infinity Energy Resources of Denver and a Louisiana company.
In a statement, Foreign Minister Samuel Santos said he met with members of Nicaragua’s remote autonomous region who have taken legal action against the concessions. They argue that the government of former President Enrique Bolanos, who left office Jan. 10, did not take into account the impact the exploration would have on fishing and tourism.
Last year, Bolanos granted a 1.4 million-acre concession to Infinity.
LONDON
Brewery workers’ bonus claims rejected
A London appeals court dismissed a bonus-pay claim brought by more than 500 employees of Denver-based Molson Coors Brewing Co.’s United Kingdom unit, saying the workers may have to pursue the litigation in a different court.
The employees, who work at a brewery in Burton-on-Trent, in central England, say they are owed as much as $1.2 million under a profit-sharing plan Coors Brewing set up after taking over the brewery in 2002.
NEW YORK
Loral wins EchoStar contract for satellite
Loral Space & Communications Inc. said it won a contract from Douglas County-based EchoStar Communications Corp. to build a direct-broadcast satellite. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
The EchoStar XIV satellite will provide expanded service to the Dish Network’s more than 13 million direct-to-home television subscribers, New York- based Loral said Wednesday in a statement.
DENVER
Rose foundation names chairman-elect
The Rose Community Foundation’s board of trustees announced the appointment of Scott Levin as chairman-elect. Levin, a senior partner at Fisher, Sweetbaum, Levin & Sands PC, has been a trustee since 2004.
DALLAS
Siemens AG to buy software maker UGS
German conglomerate Siemens AG agreed Wednesday to buy business-software maker UGS Corp. from three private- equity firms for about $2.1 billion and assume $1.4 billion in UGS debt, the companies said.
The sellers – Bain Capital, Silver Lake Partners and Warburg Pincus – bought UGS for $2.05 billion in 2004.
ATLANTA
Coke to tackle Pepsi in Super Bowl ads
Coca-Cola Co. will go head to head with PepsiCo Inc. in Super Bowl television advertising for the first time in almost a decade as it tries to boost sales of its top-selling drink.
One new ad for Coca-Cola Classic will air during professional football’s championship game Feb. 4 along with two spots that debuted during the television show “American Idol,” the Atlanta-based company said Thursday in a statement.
