Produce / Floral

Pricing and product mix drive supermarket spa sections.

After thousands responses from shoppers asked to come up with recipes using only groceries from Save-A-Lot, The Save-A-Lot Food Stores Fuel Your Family meal solutions contest has closed and a grand-prize winner has been named: Toshwattie Ingram of Belleview, Fla.

Naturally healthy Jolly Llama Sorbets are blended from top-grade, vine-ripened fruit that’s pureed and frozen immediately, instead of being made from concentrates or juices.

The latest nutritious product from Ian’s Natural Foods is Fruitabits, which combines the crispy crunch of rice bits with a coating of real fruit purée.

Their products have already joined the mainstream, but natural/organic baby food manufacturers keep upping the ante for consumers by introducing exciting new items to the segment.

The Obama administration yesterday took the first step toward overhauling and modernizing the country’s food safety system, including stricter rules for the production of eggs, poultry, beef, leafy greens, melons and tomatoes.

Changes to the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, which will expand participants’ options to include fresh fruit and vegetables, require grocers nationwide to take note and follow some simple guidelines to ensure a smooth implementation phase, according to Brenda Berry, WIC account executive with St. Louis Park, Minn.-based MoneyGram International.

Sales in the long-established carbonated drinks segment have been flat to slightly down over the past five years, according to Mintel, a leading market research company. During 2003-08, Mintel estimates the regular soda segment lost 15.6 million consumers aged 18 and over, and the diet soda segment only added half as many, or 7.8 million adult consumers.