Nonfoods

NEW YORK -- Given their current momentum natural/organic foods ought to grow 63 percent to surpass the $46 billion mark by 2010, according to "Natural and Organic Food and Beverage Industry Trends: Current and Future Patterns in Production, Marketing, Retailing, and Consumer Usage," a new report from market research publisher Packaged Facts here.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Food/beverage/grocery online sales are expected to reach $6.2 billion this year -- a 17 percent increase from 2005, according to The 2006 State of Retailing Online, the ninth annual Shop.org study of online retailing conducted by Forrester Research, Inc. That gain is part of a larger trend that will see online sales will top $200 billion this year, Forrester said yesterday.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Private label sodas from two supermarket chains were among the soft drink products tested over a number of months by the FDA that were found to contain the cancer-causing chemical benzene in some soft drinks, but not at high enough levels to cause harm, the U.S. agency said last Friday.

WASHINGTON D.C. -- A task force comprised of the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Marketing Institute plans for a fall launch of a new multi-year, in-store promotion campaign to promote the USDA's new food pyramid dietary guidelines, and it has picked Pittsburgh-based retail marketing firm MatchPoint Marketing here to create the campaign.

AMSTERDAM -- At the 2006 Ahold Annual General Meeting yesterday, president and c.e.o. Anders Moberg struck an overall positive note in a speech to shareholders. However, despite Ahold's success in bouncing back from an accounting scandal that rocked the company in 2003, Moberg acknowledged that there had been "setbacks," and outlined such strategies as value repositioning, the introduction of private label products, and the rollout of a new general merchandise line to drive identical-store sales.

LONDON -- Leading U.K. food retailer Tesco has chosen Los Angeles and Phoenix, Ariz. as its markets of entrance for the United States in 2007, the Financial Times reported yesterday. Job advertisements indicate that Tesco will brand its convenience stores as "Tesco Fresh & Easy."

PALM DESERT, Calif. -- RFID gains ground, Wal-Mart hits $500 billion, metal detectors at supermarket entrances -- these are some of the predictions made by market research firm ACNielsen at its Consumer 360 Conference yesterday.

CINCINNATI -- The Kroger Co. here promoted Robert Moeder to president of its Indianapolis-based Central division, which includes Kroger, Hilander, Owen's and Pay Less stores in parts of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio.