Stagnito's Daily Brief

Wholesale food prices declined 0.7% in June versus May, marking the largest month-to-month decline in 16 months, according to the Food Institute's analysis of just-released government data. The wholesale food inflation rate is now 4.5% for the first half of 2007. Full Story

CKE Restaurants, Inc. completed the sale of its La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill restaurant chain to Baja Fresh Mexican Grill. The company will now focus on growing its Carl's Jr. and Hardee's brands, as well as dual-branding them with its Mexican brands, Green Burrito and Red Burrito, according to the company's president and CEO. Full Story

Private labels penetrated almost every consumer group in the U.S., however, the market share in the food industry is the strongest at about 16%, reported The Associated Press. Three-quarters of all consumers surveyed in the U.S. and UK do not see any benefit in buying branded-food products, according to International Business Machines Corp. Full Story

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Restaurants Unlimited, Inc., an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, Inc., acquired Pacific Coast Restaurants, Inc., which operates 27 restaurants under the Stanford's, Newport Bay, Manzana, Newport Seafood Grill, Portland City Grill, Henry's 12th Street Tavern, Portland Steak & Chophouse, Marina Fish House, and Billy Heartbeats names. Full Story

LKN Investment Partners LLC committed to opening 25 Unique Pizza and Subs locations in North and South Carolina over the next 36 months. LKN also purchased the rights for "first right of refusal" in these two states and plans to open 50 additional locations. Full Story

Noble Roman's, Inc. signed an area development agreement for 19 units of its dual-branded concepts, Noble Roman's Pizza and Tuscano's Italian Style Subs, in Kern County, CA plus the cities of Santa Clarita, Palmdale and Lancaster. Full Story

A Roundy's Supermarkets Inc. subsidiary sold former warehouse properties in Milwaukee to investor groups affiliated with HSA Commercial Real Estate Inc. for $8.5 million, according to documents filed with the Milwaukee County Register of Deeds, reported Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Full Story

Tesco's Fresh & Easy supermarkets will move away from a traditional approach to food store staffing and will feature a "customer assistant," whose main role will be to ensure customer satisfaction. Its stores will also feature a "Kitchen Table" information desk, where staff will be available to answer questions and make suggestions about products and possible menus, reported the Financial Times. Full Story

North American consumers are on pace to spend over $525 billion at self-checkout lanes, ticketing kiosks and other self-service machines in 2007, an increase from $438 billion in 2006, according to IHL Consulting Group. Expenditures made at self-service kiosks are expected to increase by 20% this year and 18% in 2008, reported CSP Daily News. Full Story

Retail food prices at the supermarket increased slightly in the second quarter of 2007, according to the latest American Farm Bureau Federation Marketbasket Survey. The informal survey shows the total cost of 16 basic grocery items in the second quarter of 2007 was $42.95, up about 4% or $1.61 from the first quarter of 2007. Regular whole milk showed the largest quarter-to-quarter price increase, up 34 cents to $3.46 per gallon. Full Story

Meanwhile, consumers are making changes to deal with increased food prices, including buying more generic products, switching to cheaper meats or simply cutting out extras they normally would buy, reported the News & Observer. Full Story

Tyson Foods, Inc. introduced a line of restaurant-style frozen snacks called Tyson Any'tizers. The new products include Buffalo Style Boneless Chicken Wyngs, Honey BBQ Boneless Chicken Wyngs, Cheddar & Jalapeno Chicken Bites, as well as a variety of other chicken items. Full Story

Microgravity Enterprises, Inc.'s Antimatter Energy Drink and Space2O purified water are now available for sale on the company's website. The products are advertised as the first beverages made from ingredients that have been to space and back. Full Story

Hardee's is rolling out its new Blueberry Biscuits, which will be available in packages of one, two or six. Full Story

Sobeys Inc. and Thrifty Foods entered into an agreement that will see Sobey's purchase the British Colombia -based grocery retailer. The transaction is based on an enterprise value of C$260 million. Thrifty's business includes 20 full-service supermarkets, a distribution center and a wholesale division on Vancouver Island and British Columbia. Full Story

Workers at Coca-Cola Co.'s distribution center in Wakefield, England, plan two 48-hour strikes in July and August in a dispute over pay, reported The Associated Press. The strikes are planned for July 26-27 and Aug. 13-14 at the distribution center. Full Story

A court fined Cadbury Schweppes PLC £2 million for salmonella contamination of its chocolate. Cadbury, which pleaded guilty to violating food and hygiene regulations, was also ordered to pay £152,000 in legal costs, reported The Associated Press. Full Story

China's pork supply is likely to tighten if the deadly blue-ear disease continues to spread among the country's hog population at a time when Beijing has also imposed an import ban on select frozen-meat products from the U.S., reported The Wall Street Journal. Full Story (WSJ Subscription Required)

Unilever will close three offices dedicated to sales and marketing in England by the end of next year. The company has been restructuring the business under its One Unilever program over the past two years in an attempt to improve performance, reported BBC News. Full Story

EU farm ministers are debating on whether to approve a genetically modified potato for growing. The potato yields high amounts of starch and would be grown in Europe's fields, however, it is not intended for direct human consumption, reported Reuters. Full Story

Essential Services Commission awarded a license to GrainCorp Ltd, which will allow the company to export barley in bulk from Southern Australia, reported The Sydney Morning Herald. Full Story

An isolated a compound in turmeric, a spice that gives curry powder its distinctive color, appears to stimulate a specific response against Alzheimer's symptoms, according to U.S. researchers at the University of California Los Angeles, reported Reuters. Full Story

There are signs that allergen warning labels on food products are creating confusion for consumers, even as new testing shows there is a real, if probably small, chance that foods with even the most vaguely worded warnings truly pose a risk, reported The Associated Press. The disconnect is generating calls for standards on what are now voluntary warning labels. FDA plans to seek advice from consumers and food makers, possibly by year's end, before considering whether to intervene. Full Story

The Codex Alimentarius Commission adopted 44 new and amended food safety standards, reported NutraIngredients.com. Full Story

FDA issued a Q & A on benzene in soft drinks, noting that although it originally found Benzene levels above 5-ppb in a total of ten products tested, the products have since been reformulated and samples of these reformulated products were less than 1.5-ppb. Full Story

Dent Fresh U.S.A., Inc. initiated a nationwide recall of toothpaste made in China involving all DentFresh Fluoride Mint Toothpaste in 9-oz. tubes. The products may contain the poisonous chemical diethylene glycol. Full Notice

The Raisin Bargaining Association reached a three-year agreement on minimum field prices to be paid by packers. Each year of the agreement, prices for raisins will be paid on a sliding scale based on availability. A price minimum for 2008 of $1,310 per ton already was agreed to by several packers, reported The Fresno Bee. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

The January freeze contributed to a 21% drop in lemon production this season in California, according to crop estimators. Coastal farmers will have fruit until their season ends in early autumn. Typically, at that time, production starts in the California desert, but observers say farms in the desert have much less fruit due to the freeze. Imported lemons from the Southern Hemisphere may fill the gap, reported California Farm Bureau Federation.

Although the International Sugar Organization predicts a large sugar crop this year, it will not hurt sugar beet growers in state's such as Nebraska, according to an agricultural economic research analyst at the University of Nebraska, reported Omaha World-Herald. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

A drought in the Southeast increased demand for hay from producers. In response, states like Kentucky launched a "Hay Hotline" on its Department of Agriculture's website, where farmers needing hay can meet with those looking to get rid of it, reported The Associated Press. Full Story

USDA proposed to amend the gypsy moth regulations by making editorial and nonsubstantive changes to several terms and providing necessary updates throughout the regulations. Full Notice