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Private-equity-backed snack maker Hearthside Food Solutions has filed for bankruptcy in the US after facing difficulties in refinancing its debt. 

The granola bar and cracker maker, implicated in a child labour scandal last year, submitted petitions for Chapter 11 at a court in Texas. 

The bankruptcy move comes after the contract manufacturer reached a restructuring support agreement (RSA) with its shareholders, aiming to “right size” its balance sheet, the company said in a statement. 

Hearthside said the restructuring will allow the company to reduce its debt by more than $1.9bn and secure $200m in new equity capital upon the exit from Chapter 11. 

The group added the RSA will provide the company with “substantial” equity capital and position it for “significant long-term growth”. 

A report by the New York Times last year alleged Hearthside employed migrant children at a facility in Michigan. The company said at the time it was “appalled” by the allegations. 

NGOs have criticised the European Parliament’s request to make changes to the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). 

MEPs support the European Commission’s proposal to postpone EUDR by a year, a plan backed by the EU’s Council of Ministers. 

However, the Parliament has backed a plan to add a “no risk” category to the regulation. Rainforest Alliance said the no-risk category would be “a death sentence to the EUDR”. 

As the law stands, countries would be classified as either having a “low”, “standard” or “high” risk of deforestation impact. 

Countries deemed “no risk”, would count as those “with stable or increasing forest area development”, the Parliament said. 

Initially to be enforced on 30 December, the now-delayed EUDR would ban the sale of products connected to deforestation. 

The Commission must vote on the Parliament’s proposal. The Parliament must receive the decision by the start of December. If the amendments are passed, the Commission would need to develop a benchmarking system for countries by 30 June. 

US food manufacturers “deliver safe, affordable and convenient products”, one of the country’s principal trade bodies has said, after President-elect Trump named industry critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary. 

Trump has appointed Kennedy, also known by his initials RFK Jr., as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

As head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Kennedy, who has lambasted parts of the food industry in recent weeks, will be the main health advisor to Trump. HHS oversees agencies including the US Food and Drug Administration. 

Kennedy’s attacks on the food sector include the former Democrat pinning the US “obesity epidemic” on “ultra-processed food”, claiming the country has a “broken food system”. 

In a statement sent to Just Food, Sarah Gallo, senior vice president of federal affairs at industry body Consumer Brands Association (CBA), said: “The makers of America’s household brands deliver safe, affordable and convenient products that consumers want, need and trust, every day. Keeping consumers and their families safe is our number one priority.”

Reckitt Benckiser’s Mead Johnson unit and Abbott Laboratories have been cleared by a Missouri court over claims their premature infant formula can cause a serious gut condition. 

Specialist legal news service Law 360 said the claim filed by the Whitfield family was the first to be lodged against both Mead Johnson and Abbott relating to the life-threatening intestinal disease necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), which can affect premature babies fed with specialised formulas. 

“Today’s verdict is consistent with the scientific consensus that there is no established causal link between the use of specialised pre-term hospital nutrition products and NEC,” Reckitt said. 

The Whitfield case is one of many pending in the courts by plaintiffs relating to NEC against the two companies. 

Concerns had previously been raised by analysts on the potential cost to Reckitt and Abbott if the pending cases prove successful. 

The European consumer staples team at Barclays suggested plaintiffs in the Whitfield case were seeking $6bn in damages. 

Denmark’s plan to introduce a tax on agricultural emissions including livestock has been approved by the country’s parliament. 

The agreement, first announced in June, has got the go-ahead after months of negotiations between political parties, farmers and environmental groups. 

Denmark will be the first country to introduce such a tax. It suggests the move has the potential to reduce emissions by up to 2.6 million tonnes of CO2e in 2030 when it is introduced. 

From that year, farmers will pay a levy of DKr300 ($43) a tonne of methane (as per carbon dioxide equivalent) on emissions from livestock. It will rise to Dkr750 in 2035. 

As part of a package to support the move, the Danish government will offer subsidies. 

Denmark plans to transform parts of the country from agricultural production to forestry. Land conversion will see the country create six new national nature parks established and opened by the end of 2030 at the latest.