Nonfoods

SAN DIEGO - Negotiations in the Southern California grocery worker strike and lockout broke off Friday night after a 12-hour session, local newspapers report. Federal mediation chief Peter Hurtgen said the talks had been "recessed indefinitely," a term not used before during the strike, which began Oct. 11.

ROME - Parmalat Finanziaria SpA executives are engaged in a desperate effort to rescue the foundering dairy products giant in the wake of press reports that it could be facing a hole in its accounts of as much as 10 billion euros (U.S.$12.5 billion), AFP reports.

SALISBURY, N.C. - Food Lion has teamed with Boston Market Corp. in an arrangement that will bring fresh, ready-to-eat Boston Market home-style meals to Food Lion supermarkets. The new concept debuted earlier this month in a Food Lion in Concord, N.C.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc., one of the world's largest producers and marketers of fresh and fresh-cut fruit and vegetables, has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase the assets of Country Best Produce from Agway Inc.

WASHINGTON - In an effort to optimize transportation cost savings and service throughout the food retail industry, the Food Marketing Institute and Grocery Manufacturers of America have issued the Manufacturer & Distributor Customer Pick-Up/Backhaul Fairness Statement.

AMES, Iowa - Consumers are supportive of locally grown food and the farmers who grow it, according to a study conducted by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich -- Spartan Stores, Inc. has entered into a supply agreement with Detroit-based Sherwood Food Distributors, the nation's largest independent meat distributor. Sherwood serves almost half of the United States from distribution centers in Detroit, Cleveland, and Cincinnati.

LONDON -- The U.K. government announced today that the country's three largest supermarket chains had agreed not to bid for Safeway, allowing their smaller rival, William Morrison, to make a new offer later in the month, Reuters reports. Morrison has 21 days to bid again for Safeway.