Ahold Delhaize

NEW YORK -- Wal-Mart was the top traditional retailer of any kind on Fortune Magazine's annual list of Most Admired Companies, but a number of other retail food merchants made the grade on various specialty sub-lists as the business magazine recognized hundreds of firms for being named companies worth admiring by businesspeople.

LANDOVER, Md. -- Ahold USA Giant Food here called in the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to investigate a case of apparent food tampering after a manager at a store in Dundalk, Md. discovered two pins in a loaf of raisin bread.

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Thanks to ongoing cost-cutting and new in-store initiatives at its U.S. banners, the Delhaize Group here saw 5.3 percent sales growth and a net profit increase of 66.7 percent for the fourth quarter. For the year, sales grew 4.2 percent, while net profit was up 23.4 percent.

AMSTERDAM -- Confidential letters will prove that four former Royal Ahold top executives, including the onetime c.e.o., perjured themselves, a prosecutor said today in opening arguments in the trial of the four men, who have been charged with, among other things, falsely reporting sales from Ahold subsidiaries in Scandinavia and Latin America as part of a scandal that helped plunge the retail conglomerate into financial chaos. The four defendants maintain their innocence.

SALISBURY, N.C. -- For a fifth consecutive year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will recognize Food Lion here with an Energy Star partner award, the retailer said yesterday.

CHICAGO -- Internet grocer Peapod, LLC, based here, and Quincy, Mass.-based Stop & Shop are expanding their online grocery purchasing and delivery service to more areas on Long Island, NY, with deliveries starting March 6.

Some supermarket operators are gaining the expertise needed to make their stores more health-minded destinations -- but there's no miracle diet plan.

AMSTERDAM -- Ahold said yesterday that Marc Smith, c.e.o. of Ahold's Stop & Shop/Giant-Landover Arena, based in Quincy, Mass., will retire. The company said Smith will stay on for an indefinite period of time to allow for a smooth transition, and added that it has launched an internal and external search for Smith's successor.