Retail News
Retail food prices declined a tenth of a percent in February,
according to just released government data. The Consumer Price
Index for eight of the 15 specific categories tracked by The
Food Institute declined last month led by a 1.3% drop in both
sugar & sweets and seafood. Full
Story
Target agreed to acquire CHEFS Catalog and assets
of Cooking.com in two separate transactions aimed at expanding
Target's presence in the cooking and kitchenware market. Following
the closings, expected within 30 days, the two businesses
will be combined to create a wholly owned subsidiary of Target.
Full
Story
AUA Private Equity Partners completed a recapitalization
of Associated Foods Holdings in partnership with the company's
owners. AUA Equity's partnership with Associated's owners
and management team will allow the company to accelerate its
growth by adding new stores to its existing network and increase
its financing capacity to its customers for remodeling and
expansion. Associated is a specialty distributor of grocery
products to branded independent (predominately Hispanic-owned)
retail supermarkets in the New York metropolitan area. Full
Story
Increasingly, grocery stores are employing dietitians,
one of several ways they are trying to build customer loyalty.
While they are part of the intense grocery war competition,
but they are also viewed as a necessary component as more
consumers deal with obesity and food allergies, reported The
Business Review. Full
Story
New Store News: Trader Joe's will open a 11,000-sq.-ft.
location in Rollingwood, TX, reported Austin American-Statesman.
Full
Story ... H Mart Korean grocery store will be opening
a 20,000-sq.-ft. location in downtown Seattle this fall, reported
Puget Sound Business Journal. Full
Story... True
Drinks' AquaBall Naturally Flavored Water gained
new distribution and retailer outlets including Associated
Grocers, H.T. Hackney, and Central Grocers while expanding
its footprint in Food 4 Less, Cefco, Weis and other national
retailers. Full
Story
Manufacturer News
Hostess Brands stated McKee Foods will buy
its Drake's Snack Cake business for $27.5 million. Drake's
products include Ring Dings, Yodels, Devil Dogs, Yankee Doodles,
Sunny Doodles, and Drake's Coffee Cake. Separately, Hostess
Brands will proceed with an auction for its Sweetheart, Eddy's,
Standish Farms, and Grandma Emilie's bread brands March 15
after the company received additional qualified offers. United
States Bakery, as the stalking horse bidder, agreed to pay
$30 million for the brands, four bakeries, and 14 depots,
plus certain equipment. Full
Story
The Hain Celestial Group launched more than
100 food, beverage, and personal care products with new
flavors and product benefits that debuted at the Natural Products
Expo West. The products include: Earth's Best brand Yummy
Tummy Organic Fruit and Fiber Purees, Organic Fruit Yogurt
Smoothies with DHA, five Organic Mini Meals and Baked BBQ
Chicken Nuggets for toddlers; two Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime
tea varieties; MaraNatha No-Stir Creamy Coconut Almond Butter;
The Greek Gods Honey Orange and Honey Lemon Greek-Style Yogurt
and Kefir low fat cultured milk; and Arrowhead Mills Gluten
Free Quinoa and Oat Instant Hot Cereal and Sprouted Wheat
Berry & Quinoa Flakes. Full
Story
Blue Diamond Growers opened its 6,500-sq.-ft. Almond Innovation
Center in Sacramento, CA. The center is intended to lead
Blue Diamond's efforts to develop new almond products. According
to the general manager for North American retail operations,
the cooperative has introduced a dozen new almond products
in the U.S. alone over the past six months. Another dozen
are set to debut in the next six months, reported The Sacramento
Bee. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
ConAgra executives note that there is still room for growth
in private labels, with store brands representing just
18% of packaged foods in the U.S., compared with 36% in the
UK and 44% in the Netherlands. The store-brand specialists
often focus on certain product categories as well, claimed
Safeway's president of advertising and marketing. And not
all store brands are made by outside companies. Kroger, for
instance, has 37 plants that churn out about 40% of its store
brands. Safeway also makes some of its own brands, reported
The Associated Press. Full
Story
A Smithfield Foods subsidiary plans to close its Landover, MD as it
consolidates operations. Smithfield Packing plans to move
bone-in ham production from the Landover plant to plants in
North Carolina and Kentucky, closing out operations at the
Maryland site by early fall. Full
Story
House of Raeford plans to close its turkey slaughtering
plant in Hoke County, NC as part of restructuring. The
plant will shut down over the next four to six months after
producing holiday-season turkeys, the company said. The move
is part of a plan to focus the Rose Hill-based company on
chicken production and expansion of fully cooked poultry lines.
The company's Raeford cook plant will remain open, The
Fayetteville Observer reported. Full
Story (Free Subscription Required)
Foodservice
News
Bellwether Food Group will merge with Restaurant Insights
to form a new entity providing comprehensive, one-stop-shopping
for the foodservice and retail arenas. The firm will adopt
the Bellwether Food Group moniker. The merger is expected
to be completed by April 1. Terms of the deal were not made
public. The merger will enable Bellwether Food Group to support
its clients in the chain restaurant, chain retailing and food
and beverage industries. Full
Story
The Zaxby's restaurant chain renewed a multiyear beverage
agreement with Coca-Cola, making Coke the primary soft
drink supplier at Zaxby's locations. Atlanta-based Zaxby's
has more than 570 locations in 13 states, reported Atlanta
Journal-Constitution. Full
Story
Innovative Food Holdings purchased an office and warehouse
building in Bonita Springs, FL, which will serve as the headquarters
for the company and its subsidiaries. The property includes
1.1 acres of land and close to 10,000-sq.-ft. of combined
office and warehouse space and was purchased as part of a
bank short sale. Innovative Food Holdings, through its subsidiaries,
is a leading nationwide provider of direct from source specialty
foods, health-care foods and artisanal foods, to the professional
foodservice market. Full
Story
Executives on the Move: El
Pollo Loco appointed Richard Pineda as vice president
of supply chain management and Jeff Little as vice president
of development. Full
Story
Health News
Breast cancer survivors who average as little as one serving
per day of high-fat dairy foods have a 49% higher risk of
dying from breast cancer than those who eat little or
no high-fat dairy, claims a study published in the Journal
of the National Cancer Institute. In absolute terms, breast
cancer survivors who consumed the most high-fat dairy had
about a 12% risk of dying of the disease, reported Reuters.
Full
Story
Placing
a symbolic label in addition to the numeric calorie information
on a menu is a better way to reach more diners as numeric
calorie labels might not be the most effective way to influence
patrons to select "healthier" items, according to a study
published in International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition
and Physical Activity. The results show adding the traffic
light symbol to the existing calorie information further reduced
the number of calories ordered with highly health-conscious
patrons, reported Science Daily. Full
Story
Washington News
Proposed federal legislation would reinstitute a ban on
slaughtering horses and prohibit the export of American
horses for slaughter in Canada and Mexico. The Safeguard
American Food Exports (SAFE) Act is sponsored by Sens.
Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Reps. Patrick
Meehan (R-PA) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), reported the Los
Angeles Times. Full
Story
Republican State Rep. Drew Springer recently filed "The
Shopping Bag Freedom Act," a bill intended to block plastic-bag
bans in Austin and other Texas cities. His House Bill 2416
states that "a business that sells an item to a customer may
provide to the customer at the point of sale a bag, package
or other container made from any material." It also states
that a regulation by a local government trying to restrict
the distribution of bags at the point of sale "is invalid
and has no effect," reported Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Full
Story
FDA submitted a proposed collection of information to
the Office of Management and Budget for review and clearance
regarding a list of U.S. dairy product manufacturers and processors
interested in exporting their products to Chile as a prerequisite
for exporting products to the country. On average, the list
contained approximately 176 firms over the past three years,
and FDA estimates each year approximately 25 new firms will
apply to be added to the list. Comments on the information
collection will be considered if received by April 15. Full
Notice
U.S. meatpackers would be forced to close one day a week
from mid-July through September under USDA's plan to address
the sequester's budget cuts, according to undersecretary for
food safety Elisabeth Hagen, speaking to members of the House
Agriculture appropriations subcommittee. There will be 11
days of unpaid leave required of meat inspectors and frontline
employees – all occuring on the same 11 days – to
meet budget cuts. The one-day-a-week furloughs probably will
start in mid-July and continue through Sept. 30, reported
the Lincoln Journal Star. Full
Story
Global News
Dole Food Company will appeal a decision by the EU General
Court affirming the European Commission's fine of €45.6
million ($59.55 million) for alleged anticompetitive information
exchanges involving Dole Fresh Fruit Europe OHG and other
EU banana importers in Germany 10 years ago. "The General
Court's decision treats discussions about general market conditions
the same as a price fixing cartel...we strongly believe that
the European competition laws were not violated and we will
appeal this decision to the EU Court of Justice," stated
C. Michael Carter, Dole's president and COO. Full
Story
Meanwhile, EU governments failed to reach a decision March
15 on whether to ban three widely-used pesticides linked
to the decline of honeybees. The ban was proposed by the European
Commission in January, after the EU's food safety watchdog
EFSA stated a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids
pose an acute risk to honeybee health, reported Reuters.
Full
Story
Dairy Queen opened its latest location in Trinidad,
the 20th country outside the U.S. and Canada with a Dairy
Queen location, will open three new locations in the next
couple of months and is planning many additional locations
in Trinidad over the next few years. Full
Story
Swiss luxury chocolate maker Lindt & Spruengli is confident
people will keep buying its treats this year despite weak
consumer sentiment in its key market, Europe. Strong demand
for its Lindor praline balls and gold foil-wrapped Easter
bunnies in Germany, France, Britain and the U.S. pushed net
and operating profit up 10% in 2012, reported Reuters.
Full
Story
Red Bull reported it is being blackmailed
with threats of food contamination. The energy drink maker
states the perpetrators are threatening to place cans of its
product contaminated with feces on supermarket shelves. The
threats started several weeks ago. The company stated the
investigation into the threats were focused on Austria but
they were also working with prosecutors in Germany. Meanwhile,
Marcus Neher of the Salzburg Public Prosecutor's office in
Austria stated that "up to now there has only been a
claim of contamination," and the company also states
that supermarket checks have shown no signs the product was
tampered with, reported The Washington Post. Full
Story (Free Subscription Required)
Market News
Treatment of tomatoes with the essential oils of three
herbs reduces salmonella contamination, and one - oregano
- even enhances quality, according to a study published in
the Journal of Food Science. Researchers looked separately
at oregano, cinnamon bark and mustard and confirmed the pathogen-reducing
properties of some herbs noted in prior research, reported
The Packer. Full
Story, Study
Abstract
California Giant Berry Farms will begin using FoodLink's
item-specific tracking solution on all strawberries grown
in the U.S. Under terms of the agreement, FoodLink will create
QR-coded labels for "clamshell" strawberry containers. The
code will contain information about the specific growing location
of the packaged berries, allowing trading partners and consumers
to trace the berries back to their source, reported The
Produce News. Full
Story
The coffee harvest in Vietnam, the biggest grower of robusta
beans used by Nestle in instant drinks, may drop to an
eight-year low because of drought in the main growing regions,
boosting prices to the highest since 2011. Production may
plunge as much as 30% to 1 million tons in the 12 months starting
October from 1.43 million tons this year, according to the
median of eight trader and shipper estimates compiled by Bloomberg,
reported Bloomberg.com. Full
Story
Manatee County's stone crab season has softened in the
middle after starting strong. Stone crabs in the south
have been killed by red tide, while clear waters around Manatee
County and the north allow predators to feast on stone crab
traps. However, there is still time for the season to rebound
before its May 15 end, according to a research scientist at
Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg, FL.
Some restaurant owners have had to raise prices on stone crabs
while others are augmenting their local supply of stone crab
claws with catches out of Everglades City and St. Pete Beach,
reported The Bradenton Herald. Full
Story
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