| Industry
News Fresh & Easy will purchase two U.S. suppliers,
2 Sisters Food Group and Wild Rocket Foods, to create
an integrated campus at its distribution center near Riverside, CA, reported The
Press-Enterprise. Full
Story 
McDonald's
franchised stores had EBITDA margins of around 88% in 2009, while own-operated
stores had margins of 23%, according to Trefis analysis. The difference in margins
results mainly from the extra operating costs incurred by company-operated restaurants.
The number of company operated stores declined by nearly 24% in the past three
years from more than 8,100 stores in 2006 to around 6,200 stores in 2009, most
of the reduction coming from conversions to franchised stores, reported Forbes.com.
Full
Story View Today!
The June 23 edition of New Products Hits and Misses with Phil Lempert
profiles items including Mamita Lupita's Quinoa Tortilla Chips, Kraft
Philadelphia Reduced Fat Cream Cheese Minis and Kinnikinnick Foods Chocolate Dipped
Donuts. Five new products are evaluated each week. Click
here to view. Newly
Weds Foods, Inc. acquired UK-based food ingredients manufacturer and coating specialist
Witwood Food Products Ltd. Full
Story Sonic Corp. anticipates opening 80 to
85 franchise drive-in locations in its fiscal 2010. Full
Story
International
News  Nestle,
Danone, Lactalis, FrieslandCampina and Fonterra are the top five dairy companies
based on dairy sales figures in 2009 financials and M&A transactions up to June,
according to a Rabobank report, noted Dairy Reporter. Full
Story
The European Commission approved One
Equity Partners acquisition of Constantia Packaging, reported Food Production
Daily. Full
Story Health News Individuals
who consume large amounts of coffee have a 12% lower rate of head and neck cancers,
according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention,
reported Reuters. Full
Story Washington
News The
Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) served McDonald's a notice of
its intent to sue the company in a state court, alleging
"unfair and deceptive marketing" to children for toys packaged with
its Happy Meals. CSPI's notice letter claims that McDonald's toy-related promotions
violate state consumer protection laws in Massachusetts, Texas, the District of
Columbia, New Jersey, and California, any of which can be the location for the
suit. Full
Story
| A
recording of the Food Institute webinar
Implementing An E.coli Control Policy is now available! A panel
of experts discussed how to prevent and control E. coli outbreaks; how to keep
your records in order to avoid shouldering the blame for mishandling foodstuff;
and how to deal with a positive finding should it occur. To purchase a recording,
click
here. | | The
Baltimore City Council gave initial approval to legislation that would impose
a two cent bottle tax. Milk, juice and liter bottles remain exempt from the bill,
and the legislation was amended to expire after three years, reported Baltimore
Business Journal. Full
Story (Free Registration Required) Market
News Due to the small shrimp supply two weeks ago, imported
shrimp prices increased 13% and Gulf shrimp prices spiked 43%, stated Gavin
Gibbons, a spokesman for the National Fisheries Institute. Normally, in the warm-water
market, the U.S. imports 1.2 billion-lbs. of shrimp and consumes about 200 million-lbs.
of Gulf shrimp, reported The Miami Herald. Full
Story (Free Registration Required) 
The
California Asparagus Commission noted that the season was a good one. Cooler
weather kept vegetable quality high and pest pressure low. Demand was good, which
should provide farmers incentive to maintain their acreage. California asparagus
acreage declined in recent years as farmers reacted to low prices, reported California
Farm Bureau. | 
