Research Topic

NSF International and the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) recently announced their joint roles in administering the Smart Choices Program™ — a new nutritional front-of-package labeling program.

Natures Choice Produce, Inc., a leading grower/shipper of watermelons, has renewed its contract to ship products on pallets from CHEP, the global leader in pallet and container pooling services. The Pensacola, Fla.-based company uses CHEP pallets to transport its Natures Choice brand watermelons from farms in Immokalee, Zolfo Springs, Marianna and Malone, Fla., to supermarket retailers, wholesale clubs and distributors throughout the eastern half of the United States.

The U.S. retail sector, headed by specialty retailers, grocers, mass merchants and department stores, now accounts for the largest collective market for U.S. loyalty reward program memberships, outpacing Travel-Hospitality and Financial Services aggregate memberships, according to the 2009 COLLOQUY Loyalty Census shows.

RedPlum and popular consumer advocate (and Progressive Grocer contributor) Phil Lempert, a.k.a. “The Supermarket Guru,” have formed an exclusive partnership that will enable millions of the former’s Web site visitors to have exclusive access to Supermarket Guru product reviews not available on any other coupon- or savings-focused Web sites.

A recent survey Hitachi Consulting and AMR Research found out from manufacturers that lower costs are behind the need improve responsiveness, but success is limited because of resistance to change and company culture.

A new survey from Boston-based L.E.K. Consulting shows that despite optimism expressed by many economists and some media figures about the economy, U.S. consumers are actually more pessimistic currently than they were when a similar survey was conducted in October 2008.

According to Eric Claus, president and CEO of The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. (A&P), based in Montvale, N.J., sales of bologna tend to spike during a challenging economic climate. The accompanying chart outlines sales of bologna at A&P stores from March 2007 to June 2009, which illustrates a significant increase in bologna sales over the past five months.

Findings from the “2009 U.S. Families’ Organic Attitudes and Beliefs Study,” which will be released next week at the Organic Trade Association’s (OTA) All Things Organic Conference and Trade Show in Chicago, indicate that U.S. families aren’t giving up on organic products despite the uncertain economy.