| March 15, 2012 | News for the food, beverage and consumer packaged goods industry |  |  |
- Sara Lee prepares to spin off coffee and tea company
D.E. Master Blenders 1753 is the name of Sara Lee's coffee and tea company that will be spun off. Chief Operating Officers Harm-Jan van Pelt and Eugenio Minvielle will oversee the Amsterdam company. D.E. Master Blenders plans "an aggressive global campaign that will reinforce our marketplace positioning and introduce the new company to our customers, recruits and the public at large," said Ingrid Baron, Sara Lee's chief marketing officer of international beverage. Chicago Tribune (3/14), The Wall Street Journal (3/14)        - Consumers push sales of fair trade products up 75%
Despite higher costs, consumers are flocking to fair trade products. Sales on everything from coffee to chocolate with the Fair Trade USA seal rose 75% in the last quarter of 2011. The growth comes as more leading companies embrace fair trade practices. "If price and quality are similar, over half of consumers now say they will switch brands in favor of a company with more ethical practices," said Fair Trade USA's Mary Jo Cook. The Huffington Post (3/14) - Price hikes don't put a dent in bottled water sales
Commodity prices forced water companies to raise the price on bottled water, but brands including Nestle Pure Life still saw sales increases last year. The price increases are likely here to stay. "This industry has been operating at substandard margins for the last five years due to all the competitive desire to gain market share," said Nestle's Kim Jeffery. Reuters (3/12) - Database seeks to standardize list for food apps
 Heroku is hosting a new open food database, seeking to compile a central repository for organic foods. So far 1,000 of the planned 7,000 foods have been indexed and are available through API. The group intends the database to be used across food apps to standardize names so people searching for rocket salad will actually find arugula. "It's absurd that everyone has to build a whole new list of foods to build an app," said Foodtree CEO Anthony Nicalo. GigaOm (3/14)  | How to Get the Package You Need—Without Breaking the Bank
A robust benefits package can be the difference between someone choosing to work with you versus a more established competitor. But with the cost of benefits rising each year, providing a benefits package that helps you attract, retain and motivate talented people gets harder all the time. Download, 5 Ways To Manage The Rising Costs of Benefits. |
 - Challenges remain for manufacturers' emissions reduction efforts
As companies focus on reducing their carbon footprints, they face the challenges of applying those efforts to their supply chain partners. While 43% of companies have reduced emissions, only 28% of suppliers have done so, found a study. Training costs for procurement staff account for most of the lag. IndustryWeek (3/14)  | ROI of Social Media: Myths, Truths and How to Measure
This guide provides real social media ROI calculations and measurements, proven social media success stories, and social media metrics for different professionals - PR, Customer Service, Marketers and more. Learn to measure your metrics and distinguish your brand. |
 | Advertising & Marketing |  |  | | | Retail Spotlight | | | | - Xtreme Values provide a large bargain at Price Chopper
Price Chopper Supermarkets customers hunting for a bargain will find Xtreme Values at five Connecticut stores. The grocer is offering rotating deep discounts on fresh and packaged food, closeouts and nonfood items such as laundry detergent. "Xtreme Values brings the fun and excitement of a treasure hunt to the Price Chopper shopping experience," said CEO Jerry Golub. Progressive Grocer/Store Brands (3/14)
| Health & Wellness | | | | - Low-carb diet isn't easy for children to follow, study finds
Portion control, a low-glycemic-load diet and a low-carb eating plan each showed effectiveness in regulating weight gain in obese children, but the low-carb diet was more challenging for them to follow, according to a study in the Journal of Pediatrics. All three diets improved cholesterol level, and portion control and the low-glycemic-load diet appeared to improve blood-glucose control. Reuters (3/14) | GMA News | | | | - Does your team have the right tools to identify risk factors of salmonella?
Preventing contamination by salmonella in ready-to-eat products is essential for all food manufacturers, and GMA has designed a webinar that will provide industry expertise focused on the identification of risk factors associated with salmonella contamination.
Facilitated by subject matter experts from GMA and its member companies, participate in the Aggressive Control Measures for a Wily Pathogen: Salmonella in Low-Moisture Foods webinar on Wednesday, April 25 from 1-4 p.m. Attendees will gain the tools to design an environmental monitoring program to detect potential changes in sanitary conditions in the processing environment, as well as learn actions that can be taken to assure sanitary conditions are maintained, the need to conduct extensive investigative sampling when a potential harborage is identified, and when to escalate sampling/environmental analysis and potentially finished product sampling. Click here for more information.
| Government & Food Safety | | | | - CDC: Imported seafood, spices cause majority of illness outbreaks
As imported food increases, so do disease outbreaks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said imported seafood and spices accounted for 60% of imported-food outbreaks from 2005 to 2010. However, the CDC said Americans don't need to change their food-shopping habits. "Consumers should approach safety the way they always have," said epidemiologist Hannah Gould. "Cook, separate, chill -- follow prevention measures." National Public Radio/The Salt blog (3/14), USA TODAY (3/14)
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