Industry News

The nation's supermarkets saw sales rise 5.2% during August over the same month last year, and up 1.1% from July sales. In 2006, sales between July and August were virtually unchanged. Eating and drinking places saw sales climb 6.6% over the same month last year during August, and up 1.4% from July compared with a 1.0% increase between those two months last year, according to The Food Institute's analysis of recently release data. Full Story

Campbell Soup Co. is seeking $1 billion to $1.5 billion for its Godiva chocolate division, according to two people with direct knowledge of the sale. Financial information about the unit will be sent to potential buyers later this month, reported Bloomberg.com. Full Story

Unilever NV/Plc and PepsiCo Inc. are expanding their joint venture that sells bottled Lipton tea drinks. The agreement will more than double the volume of the current joint venture, which sells Lipton teas in more than 40 countries, reported Reuters. Full Story

Subway has quickly overtaken McDonald's Corp. as Wal-Mart Stores Inc's primary fast-food concessionaire across the U.S., reported The Associated Press. Subway is in 1,419 Wal-Marts compared with 1,021 McDonald's. So far this year, Subway has opened 105 Wal-Mart locations in the U.S. - more than three times the 34 locations McDonald's opened. Full Story

Cadbury Schweppes Plc turned down an approach for its drinks arm from a private equity consortium, according to the Financial Times. The company received a $13-14 billion offer from the Blackstone, KKR and Lion Capital consortium last week, however, it did not reportedly like the terms, noted people close to the situation, reported Reuters. Full Story

Extreme price shoppers for groceries are a very small share of the market and do not have a significant adverse impact on retail profits, according to a study by the Yale School of Management and SUNY Buffalo. This customer segment accounts for only 1% of a grocery store's customers and reduce the retailer's profit by less than 0.2%. Full Story

Latest sales & earnings for food related companies (Updated Daily)

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Coke aims to increase sales of Glaceau brands by channeling as much as 65% of the drinks' estimated sales volume into its massive network of bottlers, which distributes Coca-Cola products across the U.S. However, a small distributor of Vitaminwater and other Glaceau drinks in Connecticut has sued to block Coke from taking away its territory and other Glaceau distributors are complaining about Coke's plan, reported The Wall Street Journal. Full Story (WSJ Subscription Required)

Close to three-quarters of 2,063 full-time U.S. workers eat an unhealthy snack such as chips or candy at least once a week at work and 27% do it three or more times a week, according to a survey conducted by Opinion Research Corp. for Nationwide Better Health. Forty-eight percent of respondents say their cafeterias and office vending machines offer no healthy alternatives, reported Newsday. Full Story

Brinker International, Inc. reached a development agreement with HMSHost Corporation, which will develop 26 restaurants over five years. The restaurants, which include the Chili's Grill & Bar, Romano's Macaroni Grill, and On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina brands, will be developed in various airports and toll roads throughout the U.S. Full Story

Private-equity firm Falfurrias Capital Partners acquired a controlling interest in Bojangles' Holdings Inc., a quick service chicken chain. Full Story

Colliers Arnold Commercial Real Estate Services sold the former Tony Roma's restaurant in Altamonte Springs, FL to Mongrill LLC, a franchisee of bd's Mongolian Grill restaurant, for $2.2 million, reported Orlando Business Journal. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Taco Del Mar is planning 100 locations in New England after signing with an area master developer. Full Story

J.M. Oil Co.'s Speedstop Gas & Goods acquired two Sundance Shell stations in Waite Park and Sartell, MN. The acquisition brings the number of company owned Central Minnesota stores to 15, reported St. Cloud Times Online. Full Story

In response to a recent Daily Brief survey, 26% of respondents agreed with the statement, "Trans fat should be officially federally banned as a food ingredient," while 74% disagreed.

International News

Hypermarkets are taking hold in China as a result of low prices, convenient one-stop shopping, accessible locations and the integration of other retail facilities such as restaurants, cinemas and coffee houses, according to data from TNS Worldpanel. Hypermarkets have increased their share of the value of China's grocery sector in the country's 15 largest cities from 28.5% in 2005 to 29.8% in 2006. Full Story

China's chief inspector of exported food is working to strengthen oversight of Chinese products and expressed confidence that the nation's system and its roughly 7,000 staff are up to the task. Only about 12,700 companies in China are approved to export food products, just a fraction of the roughly 450,000 food-processing companies in the country. Most problems with exported food occur when the unlicensed companies are able to ship their product illicitly, by forging the necessary paperwork, reported The Wall Street Journal. Full Story (WSJ Subscription Required)

China's imports of pork more than doubled in the first seven months reaching 30,000 metric tons, as prices of domestically produced pork soared and supply fell. All the imports in the January - July period were from the European Union, Canada and the U.S., according to China Daily. Full Story

A surge in sales of zero-calorie colas in Japan, which jumped about 17% in 2006, was a rare boost for the sluggish cola market, which saw sales drop 6% in the same year, according to The Japan Times. Suntory Ltd. sold 7.3 million cases of Pepsi Nex from January to July this year and is aiming to sell 24 million cases for all of 2007. Coca-Cola (Japan) reached its year end target for Coca-Cola Zero in just over a month after launching it in June. Full Story

Associated British Foods bought a 20% stake in Jordans, a privately owned breakfast cereal and cereal bar business for an estimated £15 million, reported Reuters. Full Story

UK-based NWF Group Plc's distribution division Boughey Distribution Ltd renewed a three year contract with Princes Foods Ltd. The company aims to increase the warehousing and distribution of Princes products into the grocery retail sector. Full Story

Canada-based Sobeys Inc. finalized its purchase of Thrifty Foods. The acquisition will include 20 grocery stores as well as a distribution facility. Full Story

Orkla ASA will sell Superfish, its frozen and tinned fish operations, to Poland-based Graal. Under the agreement, Graal will take over all the shares of the company, reported FinanzNachrichten. Full Story

Top executives of Fortune Brands met with a "broad constituency" of interested parties as Sweden drew closer to a planned sale of state-owned Absolut vodka maker Vin & Sprit. However, Fortune Brands Chief Executive Norman Wesley declined to state if executives had met officials handling the sale, which analysts say could fetch about $6 billion, reported Reuters. Full Story

Consumer groups in Italy held protests over the rising cost of food, especially pasta. The price of basic commodities are being driven up by middlemen, while farmers and producers earnings remain flat, according to activists in Italy, reported The Associated Press. Full Story

Health News

Teenagers who sit down to meals with their families may have healthier diets as adults, according to a study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, reported Reuters. Full Story

Eating a Mediterranean diet appears to help people with Alzheimer's disease live longer, according to a study from Columbia University Medical Center. Full Story

Washington News

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns promoted free-trade agreements with other countries and the administration's goals for the 2007 Farm Bill at a meeting of the Midwest International Trade Association. USDA expects the expansion of free-trade agreements to countries such as Peru, Panama, Colombia and South Korea to have a significant positive impact on U.S. agribusiness, according to the secretary, reported Omaha World-Herald. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

The European Union will ask the World Trade Organization on Sept. 25 to examine whether the U.S. has changed its practices to comply with WTO commerce rules after a ruling last year against U.S. dumping fees on about two dozen European goods, ranging from stainless steel to Italian pasta, reported BusinessWeek Online. Full Story

A bankruptcy trustee asked a judge to approve the sale of the Le-Nature's bottling plant to Giant Eagle Inc. Under a settlement, Cadbury Schweppes Beverage Group will complete its $19 million purchase of the plant and then resell it to Giant Eagle for $19 million, reported The Associated Press. Full Story

Medford, Oregon-based Harry & David Operations Corp. initiated a recall of approximately 1,440 bags of Harry and David Hearthside Soups, Southwestern Chicken Chili Mix. The product may actually contain another chili soup mix, and thus contain a milk ingredient, which is not declared in the ingredient statement. Full Notice

Market News

Corn farmers are continuing to push for more ethanol production as the industry creates an enormous market for their crop, giving corn prices the kind of lift they have not seen in years. However, meat, dairy and other food producers are resisting the ethanol boom as higher grain prices cut into their profit margins, according to The Los Angeles Times. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

As of this month, nearly all Florida's dairy farmers stopped using the the synthetic hormone rBST. The sweeping, and rather sudden, transformation of Florida's dairy industry illustrates the large-scale changes some suppliers are being forced to make to survive amid growing demand for more naturally produced foods and beverages, according to Miami Herald. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

The Mediterranean fruit fly was spotted in Solano County, CA prompting a quick effort by agriculture officials to contain and eradicate the pest, reported The San Francisco Chronicle. Tomato crops are at risk of infestation, officials said. A permanent infestation could result in $1.3 billion to $1.8 billion in losses per year, experts estimate. Full Story

San Diego County, CA inspectors discovered infestations of a quarantine-rated Olive Psyllid in Carlsbad, Oceanside, and San Diego. The insect has also been found in Newport Beach and Corona del Mar in Orange County, but no infestations have been found in Napa County or neighboring counties. Full Story

In an attempt to preserve endangered fish, Japanese researchers engineered one fish species to produce another, putting a new spin on surrogate parenting. Idaho scientists begin the next big step next month, trying to produce a type of salmon highly endangered in that state - the sockeye - this time using more plentiful trout as surrogate parents, reported The Associated Press. Full Story

University of Idaho and Idaho State University scientists are working on a new maggot-based feed capable of feeding commercial trout, while simultaneously helping decrease growing mounds of manure and fish entrails, reported The Associated Press. Full Story

International Trade Administration issued a quarterly update to Annual Listing of Foreign Government Subsidies on articles of cheese subject to an in-quota rate of duty. Full Notice

NMFS prohibited directed fishing for Atka mackerel with gears other than jig in the Eastern Aleutian District and the Bering Sea subarea in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area. Full Notice

NMFS announced opening and closing dates of the first and second directed fisheries within the harvest limit area in Statistical Areas 542 and 543. Full Notice

NMFS implemented Amendment 80 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area. Full Notice

NMFS reallocated the projected unused amounts of the 2007 pollock incidental catch allowance to the directed fisheries in the Bering Sea subarea. Full Notice

NMFS reallocated the projected unused amount of Pacific cod from catcher vessels using trawl and vessels using jig gear to catcher processor vessels using hook-and-line gear and vessels using pot gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area. Full Notice

NMFS opened directed fishing for 12 hours for shallow- water species by vessels using trawl gear in the Gulf of Alaska. Full Notice