Retail News
Consumers on the East Coast have been and will continue
to stock up on consumables and emergency survival kit
items ahead of Hurricane Irene's arrival. Storm-related consequences
are likely for many food retailers, depending on which route
the storm takes. Click
here for the latest NOAA projections on the web. Please
note that this update may be delayed early next week due to
potential power outages.
Harris Teeter closed three stores in North Carolina
in anticipation of Hurricane Irene. The company's Special
Situations team is closely monitoring the hurricane's path
along the eastern shores and is preparing for a full response
by pre-positioning tractor trailers with generators and dry
ice at key distribution points as well as stocking stores
in advance with disaster supplies including water and ice.
Full
Story
CVS/pharmacy's distribution center in Chemung County,
NY was awarded LEED Gold certification. Examples of sustainable
design elements incorporated into the facility include: energy-efficient,
white PVC insulated roof; interior and exterior lighting with
daylight sensors and timers; and high-efficiency, low-flow
plumbing fixtures.
Full Story
Facebook is revamping its location-based product formerly
known as "Places." Previously, the only time
a Facebook user could mark a location was via the Facebook
mobile app; now, the product allows users to tag locations
in any post from whether on a phone, tablet or computer. Executives
claim check-in deals will continue to be offered to users,
but can now be based on a more expansive variety of Facebook
activity. If a company sees that a user has tagged it in a
post, it can offer coupons before the user gets there, reported
Advertising Age. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
New Store News: The Great Atlantic & Pacific
Tea Company, Inc. opened a 51,000-sq. ft. Superfresh store
in Philadelphia's Northern Liberties neighborhood. The store
offers an expanded selection of locally grown produce, meat,
poultry and seafood, an in-store sushi bar, prepared hot food,
antipasto, olive, soup, salad and wing bars and a full-service
pharmacy. The store also will offer delivery service to customers
within two hours of their purchases. Full
Story ... Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market opened
its second San Francisco store in the underserved Bayview-Hunters
Point neighborhood. Full
Story ... Western Beef opened a location
in Bronx, NY, the first to open under the city's FRESH
program, reported New York 1. Full
Story
Manufacturer News
Gruma acquired tortilla maker Casa de Oro Foods
for $20 million, a move that will help the company reduce
transportation costs, reported Reuters. Gruma is
looking to expand in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East.
Full
Story
Hormel Foods Corp. is looking to raise prices and reduce
expenses to offset rising costs. The company expects profit
margins in its Jennie-O turkey business to be impacted in
coming months due to the price of corn. Hormel has already
raised prices to cope with rising costs for ingredients, oil
and other commodities, reported Reuters. Full
Story
Food executives on Forbes' list of The World's
100 Most Powerful Women include: Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo
(No. 4); Irene Rosenfeld, Kraft Foods (No. 10); and Margaret
Hamburg, FDA Commissioner (No. 21). Full
List
Foodservice News
Doc Popcorn's founder sees a market for 1,000 units in
the U.S. and is in discussions that could lead to Doc
Popcorn's first international locations. The company currently
has 30 open units, either storefronts, kiosks or carts, and
more than 175 in development in 22 states and the District
of Columbia, reported The Denver Post. Full
Story
Arby's is looking to improve the perceptions of its food
and planning multiple upgrades to its menu. The company
is emphasizing Angus beef to capture higher profits, and months
after Angus sandwiches were put on the menu they account for
8% to 9% of Arby's overall sales. Arby's is also planning
to roll out a $4.99 Philly cheesesteak in October, relaunching
the Market Fresh line of sandwiches with whole-wheat flatbread,
testing a sweet potato product and working to improve its
snacks such as jalapeno poppers and fruit turnovers, reported
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
Frisch's Restaurants, Inc. closed six of its 35 Golden
Corral restaurants on Aug. 23. Four of the six underperforming
restaurants were operated in the greater Cincinnati area and
the others were operated in West Akron and Medina, OH.
Full Story
Health News
According to a team of international public health experts
reporting in The Lancet, the U.S. government should
make changing the food environment a policy priority,
including making healthful foods cheaper and less-healthful
foods more expensive largely through tax strategies. Based
on current trends, half of the adults in the U.S. will be
obese by 2030 due to changes over the past century in the
way food is made and marketed, reported The Washington
Post. Full
Story (Free Registration Required), Abstracts
Washington News
Under an FDA Import Alert, papayas from Mexico may be
denied admission into the U.S. unless the importer shows
they are not contaminated with Salmonella. FDA may consider
five consecutive commercial shipments over a period of time,
analyzed from a validated laboratory, as being adequate for
removal from the Import Alert. FDA and Mexican officials are
collaborating on laboratory methodologies used in Mexico for
testing fresh papayas for Salmonella. Full
Story, Full
Alert
The Food Safety Modernization Act will "prevent
contamination," according to an FDA senior adviser who
presented the Act to Florida's packinghouses, which process
and ship 32.5 million cartons of fresh citrus worldwide. About
70% of the state's tangerine crop and more than 30% of its
grapefruit are sold on the fresh market, reported The Lakeland
Ledger. Full
Story (Free Registration Required) Third
Session Approaching! The Food Institute
and OWF Law are offering a year-long webinar series on FDA
implementation of the new Food Safety Modernization Act
(FSMA). The third session will probe FDA rules governing
preventative controls. Twelve one-hour webinars will be offered
throughout the course of the next year. The first two sessions
have been recorded and are available to all that register.
Click
here to learn more and sign up.
At the request of FDA, U.S. Marshals seized seafood products
manufactured by South El Monte, CA-based Meiko Food Co. because
the products are adulterated. A complaint alleges that Meiko
Foods manufactures and packages ready-to-eat seafood, including
cooked seafood balls and fried fish cakes, without having
a HACCP plan in place, in violation of the Federal Food,
Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Full
Story
Global News
Crown Holdings, Inc. will build two beverage can plants
in China and add a second line to a facility currently
being constructed in the country. The new facilities will
be located in Zhengzhou and Changchun. Each plant will have
an initial annual production capacity of 720 million two-piece
aluminum beverage cans. Full
Story
CCL Industries Inc. plans to invest $30 million during
2011 and 2012 to expand its label operations in emerging
markets. The company will build three new greenfield plants
and also invest in additional capacity at some of its existing
facilities. A new third plant in Thailand will provide increased
capacity and new technologies to support beverage customers
in South East Asia. CCL expects its Asian operations to approach
10% of global label revenues in 2012. Full
Story
The Japanese government will raise prices of imported
wheat to flour millers by an average of 2% in October,
the third straight increase since last year, reported The
Japan Times. Full
Story
No radioactive substances were found in newly harvested
rice in Fukushima Prefecture, according to Japanese officials,
reported The Japan Times. Full
Story
Paraguay's government is seeking to put a 6% tax on the
country's soy exports. The country's farm sector accounts
for 36% of gross domestic product but 2.5% of the government's
tax-take, reported Reuters. Full
Story
Market News
Processors of the five leading vegetables (tomatoes, sweet
corn, snap beans, green peas and cucumbers for pickles) contracted
for 1.02 million acres in 2011, down 8% from a year earlier.
Despite lower area, large carryover stocks and weak prices
for tomato products, contract output of tomatoes is expected
to be 1% above a year ago due to record-high yields. ERS
Report
FPL Food, LLC will expand its beef processing operation
in Georgia's Richmond County by opening a $3 million processing
facility. Full
Story
EU beet growers will harvest 17.26 million metric tons
in the 2011-12 crop year starting Oct. 1, the largest
since 2005-06, and up from 15.2 million a year earlier, according
to Rabobank International. Supplies will increase as farmers
boost plantings by 4% to 3.89 million acres, according to
the European Commission, reported Bloomberg.com. Full
Story
|
IGA
Red Oval Partner Perspective 
