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May 02, 2011 | |
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IFDA NewsIFDA PRESIDENT'S COLUMN: The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), which publishes regulations in force on a Federal level, started as one volume; by 2008, it stretched more than 25 feet in the Law Library of the Library of Congress. Legislation with enormous new regulatory implications - including healthcare reform, financial reform, and food safety - has become law since President Obama moved into the White House. Agencies are now beginning to flex their rulemaking muscles to give teeth to these laws. To help keep our members informed, we have redesigned the IFDA Regulatory Watch section of our website. There you can find regulatory and legislative summaries provided by IFDA staff and legal counsel, access comments filed by IFDA on behalf of the industry, and find additional compliance information and publications. Full Story Operator NewsCustomer traffic at Chili's Grill & Bar was up 0.2% in its third quarter, compared with a 4.2% drop a year ago, reported The Dallas Morning News. Over the last year, the company added a value-price combo meal to the menu and focused on boosting service speed. Full Story (Free Registration Required) DailyGobble.com is looking to challenge LivingSocial and Groupon Inc. to become a premier-dining discount destination. Restaurateurs only pay for coupons diners use, and they can limit discounts to specific times of day when tables typically sit vacant. DailyGobble charges eateries fees of 5% of food sales to list deals and requires discounts of at least 20%, reported Bloomberg.com. Full Story Retail NewsStagnant or declining incomes, combined with the availability of affordable commercial real estate, are enticing discount grocers to expand into middle-class communities, reported The Philadelphia Inquirer. The postrecession economy is making discounters more appealing to a broader base of consumers, serving as a "catalyst" for expansion, stated a Janney Capital Markets analyst. Full Story (Free Registration Required) 7-Eleven Inc. is converting 31 Southwestern Florida ExxonMobil stores into 7-Eleven stations this month, reported The Naples Daily News. Full Story Canadian grocers are responding to rising commodity costs by shrinking packaging sizes and raising prices. For instance, Loblaw Cos. Ltd. raised vegetable, fruit and meat prices this year. The company also recently scaled back to 750 grams from 800 grams the amount of cereal in a box of one of its President's Choice granolas and also raised the price to C$5.79 from C$4.99 since last year, reported The Globe and Mail. Full Story (Free Registration Required)
Industry NewsSome 73% of respondents are more concerned now than five years ago about the food they eat, up from 65% in 2010, according to Deloitte's 2011 Consumer Food and Product Insights Survey. Nearly seven out of 10 respondents (68%) are not familiar with the Food Safety Modernization Act. Four-Page PDF, 23-Page PDF PepsiCo's Gatorade volume rose 6.5% in 2010, a marked improvement from the 13% decline in 2009. Its share of the sports drink category fell three points to about 71% of the category, however, according to Beverage Digest, reported Advertising Age. Full Story (Free Registration Required) East African Bakery is working with Cargill to extend the freshness of its flatbreads, standardize production to ensure consistent results and choose ingredients that will improve profit margins. The bakery plans to expand to mainstream grocery stores throughout the Twin Cities, a push that may begin in a month or two, and eventually to other cities and states, reported The Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Full Story (Free Registration Required) See's Candies raised prices 2.5% this year but will not raise them again, despite a 5.5% rise in raw material costs. The company, with around 200 shops, plans to add 10 more this year, reported Reuters. Full Story New! Loyalty rewards often go untouched, according to the May 2 edition of the Lempert Report, hosted by Phil Lempert. Click here to view. Latest sales & earnings for food related companies (Updated Daily - FI Membership Required) SunOpta Inc. sold its frozen fruit processing business in Mexico to Fruvemex Mexicali S.A. de CV for $3.2 million. SunOpta also entered into a strategic raw material supply deal with Fruvemex, plus a lease for Fruvemex's use of the land and buildings in Irapuato which SunOpta will continue to own, reported The Globe and Mail. Full Story (Free Registration Required) Washington NewsFSIS is amending the federal meat and poultry products inspection regulations to establish a new voluntary cooperative program under which state-inspected establishments with 25 or fewer employees will be eligible to ship meat and poultry products in interstate commerce. Products produced under the program that are inspected and passed by designated state personnel will bear an official federal mark of inspection and will be permitted to be distributed in interstate commerce. Full Notice A group of companies owed money by Harry & David Holdings contends that Wasserstein & Co. stands to profit from Harry & David throughout its bankruptcy and after it emerges, at the expense of the unsecured creditors, reported OregonLive.com. Full Story (Free Registration Required)
Market NewsPer capita disappearance of all vegetables, melons, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pulse crops and mushrooms rose slightly to 420-lbs. in 2010. Record high watermelon supply and disappearance led to a 1% gain in per capita melon use. Per capita vegetable disappearance is expected to fall slightly in 2011, largely because of reduced use and higher prices for potatoes and pulse crops. Vegetable & Melon Report California's 2010 almond acreage is estimated at 825,000 acres, up 2% from 2009 acreage totals. Of the total acreage for 2010, 740,000 acres were bearing and 85,000 acres were non-bearing. Preliminary bearing acreage for 2011 is estimated at 750,000 acres, noted NASS. Full Story Modest growth is forecast for California apple production this summer, estimating 2.5 million to 2.6 million cartons, up from 2.25 million last year. Primavera Marketing is the largest supplier of California apples, about 1.4 million cartons, reported The Packer Online. Full Story Some 14.8 million boxes of grapes will be shipped to the U.S. in 2011, according to Mexican producers, a decrease of nearly two million boxes from 2010. Flames will make their debut May 12, with initial volume starting up May 21 and reaching a total of 7.2 million boxes, reported The Packer Online. Full Story Tornadoes and violent storms destroyed 200 chicken houses that held up to four million chickens in Alabama, according to state officials. In addition to the destroyed houses, another 180 were damaged. Alabama is the No. 3 U.S. chicken producer, behind Georgia and Arkansas, reported Reuters. Full Story
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