Nonfoods

BOULDER, Colo. -- With the start of a new school year just weeks away, Wild Oats Markets, based here, is seeking to offer inspiration and information on lunchbox staples, to keep kids healthy and happy.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart's newest supercenter, in McKinney, Texas, which opens today, will also serve as an experimental store, according to the world's largest retailer, which adds that the location "could profoundly change the way the retail industry designs, constructs, and manages facilities as it relates to the environment."

CHICAGO -- In the same month that Interstate Bakeries Corp.'s Wonder brand has launched its White Bread Fans 100% Whole Grain bread, Sara Lee, based here, yesterday introduced nationwide a similar concept: Soft & Smooth Made With Whole Grain White Bread -- a product that the company describes as looking, smelling, and feeling like white bread, but providing a "good source of whole grains." The idea behind both new breads is to allow consumers who love white bread, particularly kids, to receive the health benefits of whole grains.

CINCINNATI -- Chiquita Brands International, Inc. has named Tanios E. Viviani president of Fresh Express, the Salinas, Calif.-based bagged-salad maker it acquired last month for $855 million.

CAMDEN, N.J. -- Campbell Soup Co. disclosed plans to build a new $80 million, 220,000-square-foot culinary campus in Everett, Wash. for its fast-growing premium refrigerated soup business.

Washington, D.C. -- The United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association, based here, announced it has surpassed its 2005 membership goal of 150 new members as a result of new programs, the excitement and success of the United Produce Show at FMI, and the growing opportunities to change government policy to help children consume more fresh fruits and vegetables.

WASHINGTON -- Self-regulation remains the best way to ensure marketing that fosters healthy children's lifestyles, the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) said on Friday during the second day of the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Health and Human Services Public Workshop on Marketing, Self Regulation, and Childhood Obesity. However, the trade group issued several recommendations to the National Advertising Review Council and the Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) to make self-regulation an "even more effective tool."

MINNEAPOLIS -- General Mills will give away $35,000 in products to a retail bakery operator in a recently launched "Free For All" Sweepstakes that will award a $25,000 grand prize plus a trip to the 2006 American Bakery Expo Trade Show to one winner, in addition to four $2,500 first prizes.