Trading Partners

As the low-carb/high-protein craze continues, the sausage industry is smoking with new flavors and convenient products to augment continued category growth.

Look for low-carb cocktails and packaging advances to re-energize the juice aisle in 2004.

MELVILLE, N.Y. - Synergy Brands, a distributor of groceries, health and beauty aids, fragrances, and hair care products, increased revenues for the fourth quarter of 2003 by 28 percent to $12.3 million.

NEW YORK - Joseph Fedele has stepped down as chief executive of FreshDirect, the New York City online food delivery company that he helped to found just over a year ago.

CHICAGO - Leading food manufacturer Kraft Foods Inc. announced Tuesday it plans to cut 6,000 jobs, or 6 percent of its work force, and close up to 20 plants worldwide by 2007 in a restructuring effort to reverse sluggish sales, The Associated Press reports.

PITTSBURGH - Giant Eagle last week announced it would lay off 115 management, administrative and clerical workers as part of a restructuring effort. The majority of the cuts are being made at the company's headquarters office in Pittsburgh.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last week that it plans to revamp its regulations for bioengineered foods next year. The new rules are considered to be broader than the existing regulations.

TULSA, Okla. - About 200 workers at Hale-Halsell Co. will lose their jobs today after the grocery distributor announced layoffs in a series of meetings yesterday at its headquarters here, according to the Tulsa World.