Editor's Note: Daily Update will not publish Monday, July 5. Publication will resume Tuesday, July 6.

Industry News

Walgreen Co. will be conducting a test of chilled foods at up to 12 stores this fall. The company may sell sandwiches, fresh cut fruit, soups and wraps, reported ChicagoBreakingBusiness.com. Full Story

Pate Dawson Company subsidiary Meat and Seafood Solutions, LLC acquired certain assets of Southern Foods Group. Full Story Now Available! The Food Institute's comprehensive Food Business Mergers & Acquisitions 2009 provides detailed analysis on the 263 mergers and acquisitions recorded in 2009. Organized into over 25 categories, the Food Business Mergers & Acquisitions 2009 guide is a valuable resource for examining individual deals as well as exploring larger trends in specific industries or international markets. To order and for more information, click here.

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.

The average convenience store generated $1.2 million in in-store sales in 2009, a 4.5% gain from prior-year figures, according to Convenience Store News' 2010 Industry Report. Foodservice sales grew almost 6% last year. Texas was the state with the largest increase in number of stores, 114 net additional convenience stores in 2009. Other states with significant increases in store count were Georgia (43), Massachusetts (39) and Ohio (33). The states with the largest decrease in convenience stores were Minnesota (85), Florida (80), Missouri (60) and Alabama (59), reported Convenience Store News. Full Story

JBS SA is considering trying to purchase Smithfield Foods Inc., according to Brazilian newspaper Valor Economico, reported The Virginian-Pilot. Full Story

Green Equity Investors plans to talk with BJ's Wholesale Club executives about the potential for taking the company private after buying a 9.5% stake. Janney Capital Markets analyst David Strasser stated that a leveraged buyout would make sense and that BJ's has ample room for expansion as its business now is limited to the northeastern U.S., reported USA Today. Full Story

Latest sales & earnings from food-related companies (Updated daily - FI Membership Required)

Food Institute News

Buy Today! The Food Institute's Food Products Recall Manual - 3rd Edition, authored by Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Bode Matz PC, includes a discussion of the USDA/FSIS new recall directive, new reporting and recordkeeping requirements under the Bioterrorism Act, the FDA Amendments Act, and the Dietary Supplement and Nonprescription Drug Consumer Protection Act. Washington and the public are becoming less forgiving of food manufacturers, and greater awareness of recall protocol and procedure is the only effective strategy to prevent consumer risk, federal penalty and public backlash. For more information and to order a copy, click here.

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International News

Nestle India Ltd. is planning its first acquisition in India. The company plans to acquire a company "sooner than later," to expand its product line, according to Chairman and Managing Director Antonio Helio Waszyk. Nestle India plans to expand into packaged-food items, including breakfast cereals, reported Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Full Story

Health News

The nitrate content of beetroot juice helps lower blood pressure, claims research from the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, reported BBC News. Full Story

Washington News

USDA finalized tougher new standards for ground beef purchased by AMS for Federal food and nutrition assistance programs including the National School Lunch Program. In addition to continuing a zero tolerance for E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, the new AMS standards will tighten microbiological testing protocols. Full Story

Recording Now Available! Understanding FDA's Reportable Food Registry (RFR), a webinar hosted by The Food Institute and Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Bode Matz PC, discussed FDA's current thinking regarding the RFR. The RFR is an electronic portal industry must use to alert the FDA when they find their products might sicken or kill people or animals. The reporting requirement applies to all foods and animal feed regulated by FDA, except infant formula and dietary supplements, which are covered by other regulatory requirements. Webinar moderator Robert Hahn provided insight on the legal obligation of reporting an adverse event through the RFR. To purchase the recording, click here.

Market News

Some watermelon growers abandoned production due to low prices, according to grower shippers. "The price in Georgia has been extremely short," stated Randy Smith, VP and salesman for Midwest Marketing Co. Inc. "The growers have lost a lot of money. A lot of the melons have been left in the fields because they couldn't sell all they had," reported The Packer Online. Full Story (Subscription Required)

Scientists with the University of Southern Mississippi and Tulane University found droplets of oil in the larvae of blue crabs and fiddler crabs sampled from Louisiana to Pensacola, FL, reported Miami Herald. Full Story (Free Registration Required)