Supermarket & Grocery Industry News

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.

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- Distributor Core-Mark Holding Company, Inc. here said Friday that net sales climbed 9 percent for the quarter ended March 31, 2006, coming in at $1.2 billion.

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.

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.

WESTPORT, Conn. -- Shoppers would like more dynamic and exciting companies such as Starbucks, Whole Foods, Nordstrom's, or Disney to take over and run their local supermarkets, according to a research study conducted by New England Consulting Group (NECG) here.

CHICAGO -- Market research firm Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), yesterday launched a Web-based store-level reporting suite that provides quantifiable performance metrics for beer, wine, and spirits manufacturers and distributors.

CHICAGO -- Associated Grocers of Baton Rouge, La. and Tree of Life are the latest grocery distributors to sign partnerships with Chicago-based InXpo, a producer of online trade shows, as more companies supplement, enhance, or replace their bricks-and-mortar selling shows with online trade shows.