Frozen Foods

SALISBURY, N.C. -- Aiming to help families -- especially those who are culinary- or time-challenged -- gather at home and share a festive meal, Food Lion here is offering store-cooked dinners, including turkey, dressing and all of the fixings.

CHICAGO --It looks like consumers are demanding even more robust convenience-based products than ever, with attributes such as better nutritional benefits, according to a study released yesterday by Information Resources, Inc. (IRI).

PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Safeway, Inc. yesterday introduced its "2-Hour Turkey" recipe, which was developed to make Thanksgiving cooking easier by creating a moist, ready-to-eat turkey of up to 22 pounds in just two hours.

READING, Pa. -- Quaker Maid Meats, Inc., here is recalling approximately 94,400 pounds of frozen ground beef patties that may be contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced late yesterday.

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Scott Poole, v.p./division merchandise manager for Wal-Mart Supercenters, was recently elected chairman of the board for the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association (NFRA) during the trade group's annual membership meeting in San Francisco, Calif.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Leveraging its expertise in small-box retailing, produce procurement, and private label marketing, retailer/distributor Supervalu here is bursting onto the growing retail natural and organic foods scene with Sunflower Market, a new value-priced retail concept. The first Sunflower Market is scheduled to open in Indianapolis in January 2006, the company said yesterday at its investor conference.

Wholesalers are using creativity and market-specific touches to help their independents outdesign the chain competition.

PITTSBURGH -- In an ongoing effort to keep the Rollback Man and tactics of other large format retailers at bay, Giant Eagle based here yesterday launched its third round of price cuts, slashing roughly 10 percent off the prices of nearly 3,000 items.