| Industry
News Sara Lee Corp. will divide the company
into two separate companies and appointed Marcel Smits
CEO. Sara Lee's North American Retail and North American Foodservice businesses
will be spun off into a new company that will retain the Sara Lee name and brands
including Jimmy Dean and Hillshire Farm. The other company will consist of Sara
Lee's current International Beverage and Bakery businesses and North American
beverage business and includes the Douwe Egberts and Bimbo brands. Full
Story 
Fresh
& Easy Neighborhood Market Inc. is eyeing smaller-store formats as it seeks
additional locations in Northern California, reported The Oakland Tribune.
The new and smaller formats would likely be about 5,000-sq. ft. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)  Americans
will spend more than $3.4 billion dining out for Valentine's Day this year,
according to the National Retail Federation's 2011 Valentine's Day Consumer
Intentions and Actions Survey conducted by BIGresearch. Celebrants will spend
$1.5 billion on candy. Full
Story
Giant Eagle plans to use a ''behavioral
cluster planning'' automated system beginning later this year. The
computerized system uses local demographics, customer data, sales patterns and
store sizes and locations to determine which products to stock, how much to order,
how to price them and where to place them in the stores, reported Akron Beacon
Journal. Full
Story  Volatility
in commodity markets is proving hard to manage, according to General Mills'
chief executive. The company registered input inflation of about 30% over the
last five to six years, but capped price increases at between 10% and 12%, reported
Reuters. Full
Story
Chili's Grill and Bar is eliminating
bus boys and adding rib-smokers to increase kitchen efficiency and is testing
a combination oven that replaces the skillet and the smoker in 10 restaurants.
The chain determined employees were spending too much time performing solo tasks,
such as hand-mashing potatoes in a skillet or minding ribs in the oven, and is
also testing a conveyor-belt-like oven that heats products such as burgers and
quesadillas on both sides, reported The Wall Street Journal. Full
Story (WSJ Subscription Required) International
News  British
frozen food chain Iceland Foods is to be put up for sale by majority owner
The Resolution Committee of Landsbanki, an Icelandic bank. The bank will start
looking for advisers to sell its 67% stake in the business, reported Reuters.
Full
Story
Chickens at a poultry farm in Japan's
Aichi Prefecture tested positive for avian influenza, confirming the fifth
outbreak this winter. Authorities started slaughtering all 150,000 chickens at
the farm and banned transport of the estimated 2.6 million chickens and eggs at
the 44 poultry farms within 10-km. of it, reported The Japan Times. Full
Story Washington
News New
healthcare costs could be significant for chain restaurants because
the new law requires them to cover employees that are not currently covered and
represent 80% of all restaurant workers, according to Gary Shamis, managing director
of accounting firm SS&G. Mr. Shamis stated that most of the U.S. businesses his
practice serves annually spend $6,000 to $7,000 per employee on health insurance
and make only $2,000 in profits per employee on average, reported The Wall
Street Journal. Full
Story (WSJ Subscription Required) 
APHIS
will grant non-regulated status for alfalfa that was genetically engineered
to be resistant to the herbicide commercially known as Roundup. Full
Story Market News Fresh
market vegetable and melon production for the 24 selected crops estimated
in 2010 totaled 435 million hundredweight, down 1% from last year. Harvested area
covered 1.71 million acres, up slightly from 2009. Value of the 2010 crop is estimated
at 11.2 billion dollars, up 3% from a year ago. The three largest crops in terms
of production are onions, head lettuce and watermelons, which combined to account
for 38% of the total production. USDA
Vegetables Annual Report
| Recording
Now Available for Purchase! The Food Institute presented Understanding
the New Food Safety Legislation, a webinar designed for those who want and
need to understand the impact of the new food safety legislation. John W. Bode,
Principal at Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Bode Matz PC, and Dr. David William Kennedy
Acheson, Managing Director, Food and Import Safety Practice, at Leavitt Partners
were the speakers. To purchase the recording and learn more, click
here. | | Peanut
stocks reported in commercial storage on Dec. 31 totaled 3.89 billion-lbs.
of equivalent farmer stock, up slightly from last year. Commercial processors
utilized 149 million-lbs. of shelled edible grade peanuts during December. Utilization
by type was 92.1 million-lbs. for all peanut butter products, 24.8 million-lbs.
for peanut candy and 31.6 million-lbs. for peanut snacks. Peanut
Stocks and Processing Report | 
