Nonfoods

PHOENIX, Ariz. - Consumers are continuing to scale back their trips to the grocery store, opting instead for supercenters, dollar stores, and warehouse club stores, according to the latest "Channel Blurring" study from ACNielsen U.S., an operating unit of ACNielsen, a VNU company.

LONDON - Dutch food retailer Ahold defended itself on Sunday against criticism that it waited too long to inform shareholders of accounting irregularities.

ROME - People should get no more than 10 percent of their calories from sugar, eat more fruit and vegetables and exercise moderately to cut risks of chronic disease, two United Nations agencies said on Monday.

Retailers can't do anything to keep E. coli out of a batch of frozen hamburgers. But there's plenty they should be doing to make their perishables departments safer for valued shoppers.

Alcoholic beverages can be a supermarket cash cow -- if they are merchandised correctly.

The latest ACNielsen study on trade promotion practices shows both retailers and manufacturers increasingly unhappy with spending and results.

It's not a Y2K-level headache, but the move to a larger scanning code will demand major hardware and software upgrades over the next two years.

The industry is sounding off about upcoming country-of-origin labeling regulations, but there appears to be little chance of easing the burdens they will bring.