Industry News

Whole Foods Market will open membership-only Wellness Clubs in a handful of stores over the next three months; the first will open in Dedham, MA. If the test is a success, Whole Foods will roll out the Wellness Clubs in most of its 310 stores, reported USA Today. Full Story

New! The Food Institute reports on the impact of education in the Aug. 25 edition of the Lempert Report, hosted by Phil Lempert. Click here to view.

Starbucks is the No. 1 food and drink "check in" on Facebook's Places feature, where users can share their current location. The site's other top check-ins are: Buffalo Wild Wings; Chili's; Applebee's; McDonald's; IHOP; Denny's; Olive Garden; T.G.I. Friday's; and The Cheesecake Factory, according to mashable.com, reported The Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Lowes Food Stores implemented the NuVal Nutritional Scoring System in 108 locations in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Full Story

Fewer consumers plan on doing their back-to-school shopping at grocery stores, according to The Checkout, released by The Integer Group and M/A/R/C Research. Some 43% of back-to-school shoppers claim newspaper circulars are their preferred resource, while 35% are using the internet, up 6% from last year. Two percent will rely on smartphones, unchanged from 2010. Full Story

Wal-Mart is exiting a deal to install 23 state-controlled wine-vending machines in its Pennsylvania stores. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and Wal-Mart are discussing other partnerships, such as a store-within-a-store concept, reported The Philadelphia Inquirer. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

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

Food Institute News

Three-quarters of today's consumers shop across five or more channels to meet their CPG needs, according to SymphonyIRI's Channel Migration: A Quest for Affordability Times & Trends report. Across CPG channels, purchase frequency increased 2% during the past year, with grocery, dollar and club channel trends closely mirroring industry average. Dollar stores also are benefiting from generally convenient locations and expanded assortments, with dollar channel frequency increasing by 2.6% during the past year. For the report, click here. (FI Membership Required)

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

Ahold will revamp its Albert Heijn To Go convenience stores in the Netherlands to put a greater emphasis on ready-to-eat goods and plans to extend the format into Germany next year, and potentially also Belgium, reported Reuters. Full Story

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.

Europeans are cutting spending as fears of a double-dip recession rise. Ahold noted that shoppers are looking for goods on promotion and switching to private label as they try to offset rising food prices, reported Reuters. Full Story

Health News

Male college students typically consumed about five servings of fruit and vegetables per week while females consumed four servings per week, according to a study conducted by Oregon State University published in Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. Both males and females were consuming more than 30% of their calories from fat. Full Story

Washington News

A federal appeals panel rejected the request of five Great Lakes states to close Chicago-area shipping locks, citing an earlier ruling that Asian carp does not appear to be an imminent threat, reported Chicago Tribune. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Market News

Sales of fresh sliced apples increased 33% in the past five years. The sliced-apple category tallied about $122 million in sales last year, according to Nielsen data cited by Freytag. Add Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Costco and other retailers that do not share their numbers with Nielsen and the number is closer to $200 million, according to Freytag, reported The Packer Online. Full Story