Retail News
The number of Chicagoans living in food deserts decreased
by 39% in the last five years, according to a report from
Mari Gallagher Research and Consulting Group, reported Chicago
Tribune. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
QuikTrip is building a 5,668-sq. ft. "Generation
3" convenience store and gas station in Oro Valley, AZ
that will feature coffee and ice cream bars, additional entrances,
exterior seating and awnings, reported The Arizona Daily
Star. Future construction will be based on this store.
Full
Story
BJ's Wholesale Club reportedly wants an increased offer
of $55 a share, or nearly $3 billion, from Leonard Green
& Partners and CVC Capital Partners, according to sources,
reported The New York Post. Full
Story
Kroger is rolling out a new program nationally called
Milk Freshness, which ensures any container of milk purchased
at a Kroger store is good for at least eight days, reported
The Cincinnati Enquirer. Full
Story
Wal-Mart Stores is said to have leased and/or purchased
at least 13 sites in Oregon and is negotiating for additional
urban locations, according to local real estate sources, reported
Portland Business Journal. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
BI-LO is introducing three additional nutritional tags
that will promote USDA's MyPlate initiative. Full
Story
Chase will make investments through the New Markets Tax
Credits program to support the new construction of and
improvements to grocery stores and other initiatives to provide
more fresh and healthy foods in low-income neighborhoods across
the country. Chase will work with tax credits recipients to
identify viable projects that will provide access to healthy
foods primarily in underserved urban areas. Full
Story
Manufacturer News
King Milling Flour Co. is planning a $11.4
million expansion that will double its square footage.
It plans to spend $2.7 million on a 90-ft. tall building expansion
and a new animal feed byproduct storage facility, plus $8.7
million on new loadout machinery and equipment, reported MLive.com.
The company currently turns out nearly six million 60-lb.
bushels of white and wheat flour a year. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
Executives on the Move: Keystone Foods
named Larry McWilliams president and CEO, reported Meat
& Poultry. Full
Story (Free Registration Required) ... Campbell Soup
Company appointed Denise Morrison president and CEO, effective
Aug. 1. Full
Story ... Hormel Foods named Robert Samples VP
of sales and marketing at Farmer John. Full
Story
Foodservice News
JTM Food Group pledged to reduce the sodium in its 150
school menu products by an average of 25% by 2012, and
targets a sodium reduction by an average of 45% by 2013. JTM
will also debut more than a dozen new products reflecting
the commitment. Full
Story
Inteliworx LLC is acquiring most of the assets of Bevinco
Corp., a private beverage-services-technology and marketing
company, creating a new company to be known as Bevintel. Inteliworx
is the owner of several firms, including InteliTap, that provide
technology and equipment to monitor draught beer quality,
temperature and other factors at bars, restaurants and hotels,
with clients including T.G.I. Friday's Inc., Applebee's LLC
and Marriott International Inc., reported The Wall Street
Journal. Full
Story (WSJ Subscription Required)
Washington News
The Department of Justice reached a settlement with George's
Inc. that requires George's to make capital improvements
to a Harrisonburg, VA chicken processing plant in order to
settle the litigation surrounding George's acquisition of
the Tyson Foods Inc. plant. The settlement, which requires
that George's significantly increase the number of chickens
that will be processed at the facility, will avert the likely
adverse competitive effects that would arise from the acquisition.
Full
Story
Premium Produce Distributors Inc., CM International
Inc. and LA Fresh Cut Corporation are currently
restricted from operating in the produce industry for
failure to pay reparation awards issued under the Perishable
Agricultural Commodities Act. Full
Story Red Barn Produce LLC, Sligers Produce and
Mission Imports Produce Inc. are also currently
restricted from operating in the produce industry for
failure to pay reparation awards issued under the Perishable
Agricultural Commodities Act. Full
Story
Florida governor Rick Scott signed SB 1312, which shifts
oversight of lunch and other food programs to the Department
of Agriculture from the Department of Education. The new law
gives the Agriculture Commissioner sole authority over school
nutrition, reported Miami Herald. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
A judge denied a Vienna Beef request for a temporary restraining
order against hot dog maker Red Hot Chicago, claiming
Vienna did not show how it would be irreparably harmed by
waiting for the case to play out in court, reported Chicago
Tribune. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture
awarded research, education and extension grants
to 24 institutions to reduce food-borne illnesses and deaths
from microbial contamination. Full
Story
Global News
Wendy's/Arby's is eyeing China and Brazil for expansion
after Russia, reported Reuters. The company is
aiming to operate 8,000 restaurants outside North America,
up from 300 currently. Full
Story
Target Corp. lost the first round in its quest to stop
a Canadian rival from using its name as the Federal Court
of Canada upheld the right of a merchant Iand his company,
Fairweather Ltd., to run its own Target clothing stores. The
dispute is set to go to trial at the end of 2012, reported
The Globe and Mail. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
The EU adopted new rules allowing traces of unapproved
genetically modified material in animal feed imports,
reported Reuters. Full
Story
East China's Shandong province committed to establishing
a meat and vegetable tracking system in two pilot cities
in two years to boost food safety, according to the local
Department of Commerce. The tracking system provides an information
chain of production, circulation and consumption of meat and
vegetables, reported China Daily. Full
Story
Australia-based Collins Foods will reportedly test the
market for an initial share offering, according to two
sources, with one expected to be about $263 million. Collins
manages all 119 KFC outlets and 26 Sizzler restaurants around
Australia, and operates or franchises more than 260 Sizzlers
worldwide, reported Reuters. Full
Story
Market News
May shipments of fresh-market potatoes declined 9%
from a year earlier, reflecting tight supplies, the
first time since at least 1980 that May fresh shipments were
less than eight million hundredweight (cwt), noted ERS. Spring
(April to June) fresh-vegetable prices are expected to average
about a tenth below the highs of a year earlier as supplies
continue to recover from cool, wet weather. ERS
Report
Unrelenting rainfall reduced U.S. planting of durum wheat
to possibly the lowest level in more than 50 years, fueling
a surge in the price of pasta and noodles. Farmers who normally
are finished planting by now completed just 44% as of June
19 in North Dakota, which produces more than two-thirds of
U.S. durum, reported Bloomberg.com. Full
Story
Florida's drought is worsening, with more than 20%
of the state in an "exceptional" drought. The designation
of extremely dry conditions was extended to St. Lucie and
Indian River counties this week, and now all of Palm Beach,
Martin and Broward counties are included. The northern portion
of Miami-Dade County also is at "exceptional levels," reported
Palm Beach Post. Full
Story
Drought conditions continue to intensify across most
of Georgia. Since the end of May, conditions in the
southern two-thirds of the state deteriorated from extreme
to exceptional drought. Portions of Northwest Georgia entered
moderate drought conditions, reported Southeast Farm
Press. Full
Story
Mango importers believe volumes will continue to
stay strong as Mexico's harvest shifts to the states
of Sinaloa and Sonora. While shipments from Mexico and Haiti
briefly dipped last year in early June, this year's crop surged
to the highest volumes of the year, at more than three million
boxes per week, according to a weekly report from the National
Mango Board, reported The Packer Online. Full
Story
The United Fresh Produce Association released an updated
version of the Food Safety and Auditing Protocol for the
Fresh Tomato Supply Chain. The rules cover greenhouses, open-field
producers with harvest and field packing operations, repacker/distributors
and packinghouse operations. No changes were made to the rules
for packinghouses. Full
Story
Michigan's Freeland Bean & Grain Inc. plans to build new
silos and grain storage and processing facilities as part
of a $6.5 million expansion. The company handles farm commodities
including wheat, corn and soy and black beans. It also sells
custom grain feed for animals, reported MLive.com.
Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
An EPA proposed rule would synchronize the expiration
dates on the federal certificate for pesticides with that
of the certificate on which it is based when issued by a certifying
agency such as a state, tribe or federal agency approved by
EPA. Full
Notice
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