Industry News

Marking the largest month-over-month increase in 37 years, wholesale food prices surged 3.9% in February. This brought the Producer Price Index for finished consumer foods 7.3% above year-earlier levels. Full Story (FI Membership Required)

Higher food prices are here to stay as global forces are supporting the surge in prices for important food staples, according to industry experts at the Reuters Global Food and Agriculture Summit. Packaged food makers have been able to delay some increases because they are "living on their hedges," claimed a Janney Capital Markets analyst, reported Reuters. Full Story

PepsiCo, Inc. and Strauss Group made a commitment to form a joint venture partnership that will produce and sell fresh dips and spreads in key markets outside of North America. PepsiCo and Strauss will leverage their existing infrastructures and invest in manufacturing plants, technologies and employees to set up local operations on a country or regional level. Each partner will own 50% of the new entity. Full Story

Morton's Restaurant Group, Inc.'s board of directors authorized the exploration of strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value, including a potential sale of the company. The board retained Jefferies & Company, Inc. as its financial advisor to assist in this process. Full Story

New! The Mar. 16 edition of New Products Hits and Misses with Phil Lempert features: Organic Valley Organic Half and Half Hazelnut Flavor, August Kitchen Seasoning J-Burger Chipotle & Onion, Elizabeth Hasselbeck's Nogii No Gluten High Protein Bar, Nutiva Organic Shelled Hemp Seed and Beanitos Black Bean Chips Chipotle BBQ Flavor. Click here to view.

The Daily Update is a substantially abbreviated version of Today In Food. You can get a subscription to Today In Food, which usually has over 30 news items each day, as well as access to the archives for just $49.95 per year. Click here to sign up.

Frozen pizza brands are innovating to gain market share on pizza chains. Nestle's DiGiorno is including chicken wings and cookies with its pizza and adding two varieties to its "pizza & sides" pairings that started last year with pizza and breadsticks. The brand is the frozen-pizza leader with a market share of 22% and $680 million in sales in the year ending Feb. 20, up 5.87% from the year prior, according to SymphonyIRI, which excludes Walmart, reported Advertising Age. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Latest sales & earnings for food related companies (Updated Daily - FI Membership Required)

Food Institute News

NEW! Place your order for The Food Institute's new Food Business Mergers & Acquisitions 2010 book to receive a comprehensive look at the most significant deals of the previous year and view into what 2011 may bring. The latest edition of the annual publication offers both a detailed record of mergers and acquisitions in 2010 as well as a larger analysis of the deals and their effect on the food industry. With over 300 deals included in the 2010 edition, the Food Business Mergers & Acquisitions publication organizes a busy fiscal year into 25 categories including retailers, restaurants and investment banks, among other organizations. To order and for more information, click here.

Market Day Market Day, the Original Fundraising Food Cooperative,® is the nation's largest food fundraising company. In addition to its flagship monthly food program, Market Day offers a variety of other fundraising options including a gift brochure, restaurant-quality desserts, cookie dough, pizza, and a gourmet food catalog. Market Day's consultative approach provides custom fundraising solutions with value for organizations across the country. Since its inception over 30 years ago Market Day has raised more than $450 million for kids and communities. To learn more about this Food Institute member, please visit: www.marketday.com. Interested in seeing your company featured here? Email us for more details.

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International News

The U.S. will likely send less food to Japan in the coming weeks as damage from the earthquake and tsunami makes shipping to some areas difficult and demand drops. Japan buys more corn than any other country and is a top export market for soybeans, pork and California rice. About 17% of Japan's feed mills, which store grain and process corn and soybeans into feed, were in the hard-hit northeast region, reported The Associated Press. Full Story

Canada Bread Company, Limited plans to close a fresh bakery facility in Delta, British Columbia on Nov. 30 in order to increase efficiencies and provide new capacity at another bakery for its tortilla category. Production will be consolidated at the company's other bakeries in Langley, British Columbia and Edmonton, Alberta. At the same time, an investment of approximately $11 million will be made to expand the Edmonton bakery to support increased tortilla production. Full Story

Washington News

A bipartisan coalition of Senators introduced the Debit Interchange Fee Study Act in response to concerns of the impact of a proposed rule from the Federal Reserve regarding transaction fees on debit cards. The bill suspends implementation of the proposed rule for two years and calls for a one-year study of debit interchange fees. Full Story, NGA Release

The Los Angeles Superior Court issued a final order in Tellez v. Dole, formally vacating an earlier judgment and dismissed with prejudice the lawsuit brought by Nicaraguan plaintiffs. Full Story

Market News

Sunkist Growers Inc. citrus cooperative will market table grapes bearing the Sunkist brand. The expanded fruit line, due to debut this spring, is the result of partnerships between Sunkist and two California grape grower-shippers. In this first year of the new program, Sunkist expects to bring about two million cartons of grapes to market, reported The Produce News. Full Story (Subscription Required)

U. S. Bankruptcy Court, E.D.CA In re SK Foods, L.P., Case No. 09-29162-D-11, and In re RHM Industrial/Specialty Foods, Inc., Case No. 09-29161-D-11. TO: ALL PERSONS AND ENTITIES WHO, DURING THE PERIOD OF 2005 THROUGH 2008 INCLUSIVE, PURCHASED TOMATO AND TOMATO BASED PRODUCTS IN THE UNITED STATES DIRECTLY FROM SK FOODS, L.P., AND RHM INDUSTRIAL/SPECIALTY FOODS, INC. (THE "DEBTORS"), INGOMAR PACKING CO., LLP, LOS GATOS TOMATO PRODUCTS, INTRAMARK USA, INC., AND RANDALL LEE RAHAL: YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that you may be a member of a class ("Class") of claimants entitled to share in a financial settlement ("Settlement") made against the Debtors in their consolidated bankruptcy cases. However, remaining in the Class will result in you being bound by the Settlement, which means you will not be able to make any separate claim against the Debtors, on the same basis as the Class' claims. YOU HAVE UNTIL MAY 16, 2011, TO EXCLUDE YOURSELF FROM THE CLASS. The Class' claims, which are being settled, allege that the Debtors and others, have engaged in a conspiracy to fix prices and allocate market share among themselves, resulting in purchasers overpaying for tomatoes. The Settlement allows members of the Class to share in general unsecured claims against the Debtor's estate, in the aggregate amount of $10.6 million. The Class will also share in unsecured claims in the aggregate amount of $59.4 million, which are subordinated to (paid after) all other general unsecured claims. IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF THE CLASS DESCRIBED ABOVE, and you have not received a copy of the full printed Notice of these proceedings or you have questions, you should contact Class Representatives' counsel: Stephen Neuwirth, Quinn Emanuel, et al., 51 Madison Avenue, 22nd Floor, New York, New York 10010, T: 212-849-7000, F: 212-849-7100; or Michael P. Lehmann, Hausfeld LLP, 44 Montgomery Street, Suite 3400, San Francisco, CA 94104, T: 415-633-1908, F: 415-358-4980. If you are a member of the Class and wish to exclude yourself from the Class and the Settlement, you must send a written request to be excluded, by certified mail, postmarked by May 16, 2011 to Class Representatives' counsel and to Kevin W. Coleman, Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP, 1 Montgomery Street, Suite 2200, San Francisco, CA 94014.