Conagra Brands / Conagra Foods

I've been buying and eating Slim Jim products for over 25 years. The last 4-5 years I've been able to buy the 48-count Original Single sticks for between $5-6 at Walmart, Sam's and a few other wholesale type outlets. I would buy them out every time, one time I even bought 14 48-count packs for a little over $80, I eat them myself and bring them to the childrens center I volunteer at, most of the kids love em! I understand there was a plant explosion in North Carolina that killed three workers and destroyed a part of the processing plant, my heart goes out to the victims family and friends. This happened in early July I believe, and ConAgra Foods said the tragedy would only affect production and distribution for a few weeks as the majority of the plant was not damaged. I noticed the lack of Slim Jims immediately, not only did they disappear from store shelves, but many store managers have discontinued all Slim Jims products indefinitely. I contacted both ConAgra Foods and the multiple retail stores that sold them, and both sides say the other has forced the discontinuations and that none of those are related to the plant explosion. ConAgra Foods even sent me a list of stores in my 100 mile radius that they say still sell Slim Jim products, I contacted everyone and every store manager has said they no longer carry Slim Jims and that ConAgra has stopped distribution to them. A few stores has some Slim Jim singles and meat&cheese packs, but they also had been discontinued indefinitely. Even most C-stores, convenience stores, have stopped getting shipments. ConAgra Foods first said 2 weeks, then a month, we are now almost in October, almost 3 months after the fact and no change in the situation. The only change that has come is a bad one, ConAgra has decided to layoff 300 Slim Jim employees permanently, a move that comes only a few weeks after all employees were guaranteed no layoffs. lol This seems to be a rare case of a big company not caring about their employees and the consumers, it's usually one or the other. How on earth is such a popular longtime snack now non-existent? And the other sad part is I cannot find a replacement. I've looked everywhere, there is nothing out there that has the taste and affordability as the Slim Jim. I know one may read this and think "what a loser, it's just a snack!" To me it's more than just that, it was an everyday food I have eaten for many years. I'm picky about what I eat, I avoid most snacks and all pop, my favorites are Slim Jims, Soft Pretzels and Milk Chocolates. Slim Jims are ? Nobody sells soft pretzels at a decent price so I learned how to make them myself, and a person should only eat so much chocolate daily. The absence of Slim Jims has really affected me and the fact ConAgra Foods can't get their story straight about the future of Slim Jims has angered me greatly. Can anyone even name a product so popular that ever just disappeared? I'm in communication with ConAgra Foods, if they ever give anymore info or if Slim Jims reappear I'll post back.

Anyone know where to buy Slim Jim 48 or 100 count packs? I see amazon has some but most of those sellers don't have any and the few that do are charging $50 for 100 packs! Even my jerkyjoe site is out of everything, except Jack Links. UGH!

ConAgra sells a product called Hunt's [Tomatoes] Paste, which is
called "tomato paste" in the product literature at Hunts.com. The cans
are the same size and shape as those containing plain tomato paste,
but the Hunt's product contains herbs and spices. Nowhere on the
label, except in the tiny black-on-red list of ingredients on the
back, is there any mention of these additives. This labeling would
seem to violate 21 CFR 155.191, specifically this subsection:

(ii) The following shall be included as part of the name or in close
proximity to the name of the food:

(c) A declaration of any flavoring that characterizes the product
as specified in Sec. 101.22 of this chapter and a declaration of any
spice that characterizes the product, e.g., "Seasoned with ------, "
the blank to be filled in with the words "added spice" or, in lieu of
the word "spice, " the common name of the spice.

Even if the Hunt's labeling somehow meets the regulatory standard
(perhaps by substituting "tomatoes" for "tomato"), I still contend
that this is a deceptive practice.

I wrote to the company a week ago, using a feedback form on their Web
site; because they haven't replied, I cannot include their email
address here. I explained that people are being misled into purchasing
this product, believing it to be unadulterated tomato paste. I wrote
that if I had received no response in a week.