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WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration issued an alert Monday on cantaloupes imported from Mexico after four Salmonella outbreaks in the last three years were traced to the fruit.

CHICAGO - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. increased its lead over Safeway Inc. in the 2002 Power Rankings, a key performance survey that examines how retailers and manufacturers rate each other in areas that are most important to their ongoing relationships, such as strategy, service and profitability.

DENVER - As Albertsons celebrated a new store opening in Denver this week, the retailer announced plans to significantly expand its presence in the state of Colorado.

NEW YORK - More than 130,000 visitors from across the globe embarked upon Paris last week to attend SIAL 2002, a biennial trade show for food industry executives.

HAMMOND, Ind. - Food 4 Less, a price-impact supermarket chain owned and operated by the Kroger Co., is expanding its reach in the greater Chicagoland area with a new store in Hammond, Ind.

LANSING, Mich.-- Leaders of two Michigan retailer groups called a white paper issued by Attorney General Jennifer Granholm a "slap in the face to the retail industry."

PHILADELPHIA-With 39,000 Pennsylvanians on its payroll, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has become the biggest employer in the Keystone State, according to a report in Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer

AUSTIN, Texas -- Some 55 percent of Americans have tried organic foods and 87 percent of regular organics buyers rate them as being of higher quality. Those are the findings of a just-released nationwide survey commissioned by Whole Foods Market, a natural and organic foods supermarket chain based here.