Industry News

"Supermarket Guru" Phil Lempert released his list of the top 10 2012 Food Trends to Watch. The No. 1 trend is food prices. Other trends include: never shop or eat alone again; the baby boomers keep right on truckin'; increased emphasis on the "farm to fork" journey; and the end of the checkout lane. Full Story

Kraft Foods Inc.'s Board of Directors revealed the appointments of the chairmen and CEOs of the future global snacks and North American grocery companies. When the new companies launch, Irene B. Rosenfeld will be chairman and CEO of the global snacks company. W. Anthony (Tony) Vernon will become CEO of the North American grocery company. In addition, John T. Cahill will become non-executive chairman of the North American grocery company. Full Story

The combined store count of the four major dollar store chains now outnumbers the three largest national drug store chains (Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid), according to Colliers International's Dollar Days: How Dollar Stores are Growing in a Weak Economy study. The four dollar store chains (Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar and 99 Cents Only) account for 21,500 locations in the U.S. Full Story

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. will test a 10-calorie version of five sodas, starting with 7 Up Ten, Sunkist Ten, A&W Ten and Canada Dry Ten in Columbus, OH Des Moines, IA; and central Pennsylvania as early as January. Dr Pepper will also test RC Ten in Chicago; Evansville, IN; and Des Moines, IA. The tests will run about six months, reported The Wall Street Journal. Full Story (WSJ Subscription Required)

SunOpta Inc. finalized arrangements for a facility to be located on the East Coast of the U.S. to accommodate the addition of two more flexible pouch filing lines, scheduled to be operational by Aug. 1, 2012. Meanwhile, its SunOpta Food Solutions division installed two flexible pouch filling lines at a production facility in California. Lastly, its Pacific Fruit Processors division completed the installation of a state-of-the-art aseptic processing line with a processing capacity of approximately 30 million-lbs. Full Story

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International News

There is opportunity for U.S. exporters in the Taiwanese retail food sector as the growth of premium retail chains continues. Gourmet food importers are increasing imports of premium meats, condiments and health foods, but lower-priced supermarkets will continue to rely on brand recognition and pricing compatibility in wholesale purchase decision-making. USDA Report

Kraft Foods Inc. boosted spending in India by more than half, targeting annual sales growth of 30% for chocolate, a market it expects to resist any consumption slump. Kraft is also further expanding into the growing market for cookies, also called biscuits, a $3 billion business that is growing as much as 20% per annum, reported Bloomberg.com. Full Story

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Health News

Egg and chicken consumption may sharpen memory, claims a study from researchers at Boston University School of Medicine. Participants who ate diets with plenty of choline performed better in memory tests and were less likely to acquire brain changes associated with dementia than those who consumed less choline in their diets, reported New York Daily News. Full Story

Washington News

FSIS is proposing to amend the meat and poultry products inspection regulations to expand the circumstances in which FSIS will generically approve the labels of meat and poultry products to streamline the generic label approval process. The proposal would expand the types of labels that FSIS considers generically approved without prior submission to the agency and place all the label approval regulations for meat and poultry products in one Code of Federal Regulations part. Full Notice

Market News

Government reports about the U.S. corn crop have become increasingly unreliable and contribute to wild swings in corn prices, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. USDA's monthly harvest forecasts have been inaccurate to a greater degree over the past two years than any other two consecutive years in the last 15, and last year USDA overestimated the size of the harvest in its monthly forecasts by an average of 6%, the widest average overestimation since 1995, according to the Journal analysis. Full Story (WSJ Subscription Required)