Industry News

Price forecasts for center of the plate items, beef, pork and seafood, for 2005 were lowered from one month ago. Overall food-at-home prices are still projected to rise between 3% and 4%, compared to 3.8% in 2004. Full Story

SYSCO Corporation's FreshPoint produce subsidiary agreed to acquire Piranha Produce Inc. Additionally, FreshPoint completed the acquisition of Nashville Tomato Inc. Full Story

McDonald's Corp. is testing a line of premium chicken sandwiches in the Miami market that is expected to be launched nationwide this fall, according to Nation's Restaurant News. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Pepsi-Cola North America, the makers of Aquafina, are introducing two new beverages: Aquafina Sparkling, a carbonated version of Aquafina, and FlavorSplash, a flavored line. Full Story

Ralphs Grocery Co. will close eleven money-losing supermarkets across California by March, reported Progressive Grocer. Full Story

Latest sales & earnings for food related companies (Updated Daily)

As the year begins, a handful of U.S. companies have taken a fresh look at the ready-to-drink coffee business. There are new products, including ones named for Cinnabon and celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck. The question is whether this mini-category is ever going to become something big, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

The largest franchisee of Bruegger's Bakeries, Flour City Bagels, acquired Great Northern Pizza Kitchen, a Rochester, NY-based pizzeria with five locations. Flour City wants to open 50 new Great Northern locations during the next five years, focusing initially on upstate New York and northern Connecticut, according to The Buffalo News. Full Story

Specialty retailer Fresh Market is expanding into two more states north of its traditional operating area in the Southeast. The retailer, which builds food stores to resemble European markets, will open its first Ohio store this week in Columbus, followed by a new store that will open in Geneva, IL, in early March, reported Progressive Grocer. Full Story

Analysts say Flowers Foods has done a consistently better job than its peers at identifying emerging health needs and responding to them. Flowers Foods is looking at developing bread that would incorporate healthy fats and oils, such as flaxseed, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Panera Bread Company will develop 10 new bakery-cafes in California. In an agreement with the Oakes/Cobo franchise group, the cafes will open in San Francisco and Marin counties, reported BakingBusiness.com. Full Story

The 31-unit restaurant chain, Ted's Montana Grill, which sells 6,000 bison-based meals a day, will earn $70 million in sales and add 15 stores this year, reported Rocky Mountain News. Full Story

NEW STORE NEWS: California Pizza Kitchen opened a unit in Monterey, the first central California restaurant for the company, reported The Monterey County Herald. Full Story . . . Pacific Grill will open in the new Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Tacoma, WA, reported The News Tribune. Full Story (Free Registration Required) . . . The first Obee's Soup-Salad-Subs opened in Miami, FL. Full Story

International News

The European Union will lift its punitive trade sanctions on a wide variety of U.S.-produced goods, including a number of fruit, vegetable, dairy and meat products, now that Congress has repealed tax cuts for exporters that were declared illegal two years ago by the World Trade Organization. The sanctions will be lifted retroactively from Jan. 1, reported Financial Times. Full Story

Canadian government investigators have tied cattle-feed containing ruminant remains to Canada's second case of mad cow disease, reported The Wall Street Journal. Full Story (WSJ Subscription Required)

Washington News

A tentative contract settlement was reached between the unions representing 20,000 San Francisco Bay Area grocery workers and the three major chains that employ them - The Kroger Co., Albertsons and Safeway, reported The San Francisco Chronicle. Full Story, View Statements: The Kroger Co., Albertsons, Safeway

A $22.4 million settlement approved in federal court will be shared by more than 2,000 janitors who claimed they were underpaid for their work at three supermarket chains - Albertsons Inc., Ralphs Grocery Co. and Safeway Inc.'s Vons supermarkets - between 1994 and 2001. Full Story

The International Trade Administration needs more time to conduct its investigation of an antidumping duty petition filed by several Florida citrus processors regarding imports of FCOJ and single strength orange juice from Brazil. Full Notice

Food Labeling Workshop: Complying with FDA Requirements for the Labeling of Packaged Food Mar. 8-9, 2005, The Fairmont Hotel, Dallas, TX Learn the “Do’s and Don’ts” of food labeling requirements from NFPA experts at this hands-on workshop. Your company won’t want to miss it! Class size is limited, so click here to register today.

The U.S. Senate confirmed by voice vote President George W. Bush's nomination of Carlos Gutierrez to become the next secretary of Commerce, reported The Wall Street Journal. Full Story (WSJ Subscription Required)

New Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns pledged to get American beef exports moving again to Japan. He called ending Japan's ban on U.S. beef "my top priority" as he took over for former secretary Ann M. Veneman, reported The Washington Post. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Market News

The United Fresh Potato Growers of Idaho cooperative plans to remove at least four million cwt. from the market. Potato shippers entered the new year with a 2% bump in supplies from the previous year, but the industry anticipates closing the gap by February, due to the cooperative's plan, reported The Packer Online. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Although celery yields could be better for most California grower-shippers, prices are lower than last year, reported The Packer Online. Harvesting began Nov. 1 and will continue until July 15 in Oxnard. Oxnard ships 80% to 90% of all celery in California during this season. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

In California, Imperial Valley vegetable growers are finding new markets for winter vegetables. Buyers from Japan and Taiwan are purchasing broccoli and iceberg lettuce. Analysts say favorable exchange rates and the excellent quality of produce have encouraged the Asian buyers to purchase Imperial Valley vegetables, according to The California Farm Bureau Federation.

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U.S. cold storage stocks of all frozen vegetables as of Jan. 1 were up 5% to 2.2 billion pounds, while holdings of frozen potato products were down 5% to 1.1 billion pounds, according to USDA's Cold Storage report. View Report

USDA's Noncitrus and Nuts - Preliminary report released 3:00 p.m. (CT), Jan. 25. View Report

A new system that treats, filters and conserves water in fresh-water fish tanks was developed by an Agricultural Research Service scientist. Full Story