Country Crock is a food brand owned by Flora Food Group. It originally sold spreads such as

margarine Margarine (, also , ) is a Spread (food), spread used for flavoring, baking, and cooking. It is most often used as a substitute for butter. Although originally made from animal fats, most margarine consumed today is made from vegetable oil. The ...

(and

cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...

for a limited time), but later extended to side dishes, particularly mashed potatoes and

pasta Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an Leavening agent, unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or Eggs as food, eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Pasta was originally on ...

, made by

Hormel Hormel Foods Corporation, doing business as Hormel Foods or simply Hormel, is an American multinational corporation, multinational food processing company founded in 1891 in Austin, Minnesota, Austin, Minnesota, by George A. Hormel as George A ...

under license. The original Shedd's brand was a product of Shedd-Bartush Foods based in Detroit. It made and marketed margarine (beginning in 1945) and Shedd's peanut butter as well as salad dressing and prune juice. It merged in 1959 with

Beatrice Foods Beatrice Foods Company was a major American food conglomerate founded in 1894. One of the best-known food processing companies in the U.S., Beatrice owned many well-known brands such as Tropicana, Krispy Kreme, Jolly Rancher, Orville Reden ...

before they sold the Shedd's business to

Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...

in 1984 following Beatrice's merger with Esmark. The peanut butter business was sold to Algood Food Company. During the 1980s and 1990s, a series of commercials for the brand's margarine featured a married couple sitting at their dinner table while talking about the spread, with only their hands ever being seen. The voice of the wife was provided by Casey DeFranco while the husband's voice was provided by actor Jack Riley, who is best known for playing Elliot Carlin on '' The Bob Newhart Show''. As of July 2015, Shedd's Country Crock changed the recipe to remove preservatives and artificial flavors. In 2022, Country Crock was the subject of a class-action lawsuit alleging that the company misleads consumers with its labeling and advertising.

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External links

* {{Upfield Products introduced in 1945 Former Unilever brands Flora Food Group brands Margarine brands