KANSAS CITY — Media organization Newsweek released its annual Most Trusted Brands in America for Consumer Products and Services list at the end of January, ranking brands in five categories that included automotive; baby and kids; home goods and clothing; food and beverage; health, beauty and personal care; household and pet and services. This year, the food and beverage sector had the highest number of most trusted brands, totaling 50 compared to the second most popular category, services, which came in at 38.

A significant portion of the ranked food and beverage categories fell into the grain-based foods sector. The most trusted grain-based brands were as follows:

  • Betty Crocker, a brand of General Mills, Inc. for baking.
  • The Kellogg Co. for cereal.
  • Stouffer’s, a brand of Nestle USA, Inc., for frozen entrees.
  • DiGiorno, a brand of Nestle USA, Inc., for frozen pizzas.
  • Atkins, a brand of The Simply Good Foods Co., for low-carb packaged food.
  • Quaker, a brand of PepsiCo, Inc., for oatmeal.
  • Dave’s Killer Bread, a brand of Flowers Foods, Inc., for organic bread.
  • Pearl Milling Co., a brand of PepsiCo, Inc., for pancake mix.
  • The Barilla Group for pasta.
  • Orville Redenbacher, a brand of Conagra Brands, Inc., for popcorn.
  • Ritz, a brand of Mondelez International, Inc., for premium crackers.
  • Pillsbury, a brand of General Mills, Inc., for ready-to-bake dough.
  • Mission Foods, a brand of Gruma SAB de CV, for tortilla wraps.
  • Tostitos, a brand of Frito-Lay North America (a division of PepsiCo, Inc.), for tortilla chips.
  • Wonder, a brand of Flowers Foods, Inc., for white bread.
To compile the list,Newsweekpartnered with market research firm BrandSpark International to gather data on consumer preferences. The polling was completed in an online survey by adult consumers nationwide. Each poller could only contribute one response per category and the brands with the highest share of votes as “most trusted” determined the winner, based on a 3% margin of victory over the runner up brand. If a 3% margin was not reached, the two brands would tie the category.