Nonfoods

As upscale products continue to flow into mainstream supermarkets, the perimeter reaps the benefits.

Improved quality, line extensions, product innovation, and high margins crown private label as the dairy aisle's royalty.

SAN DIEGO - Negotiations in the Southern California grocery worker strike and lockout broke off Friday night after a 12-hour session, local newspapers report. Federal mediation chief Peter Hurtgen said the talks had been "recessed indefinitely," a term not used before during the strike, which began Oct. 11.

ROME - Parmalat Finanziaria SpA executives are engaged in a desperate effort to rescue the foundering dairy products giant in the wake of press reports that it could be facing a hole in its accounts of as much as 10 billion euros (U.S.$12.5 billion), AFP reports.

SALISBURY, N.C. - Food Lion has teamed with Boston Market Corp. in an arrangement that will bring fresh, ready-to-eat Boston Market home-style meals to Food Lion supermarkets. The new concept debuted earlier this month in a Food Lion in Concord, N.C.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc., one of the world's largest producers and marketers of fresh and fresh-cut fruit and vegetables, has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase the assets of Country Best Produce from Agway Inc.

WASHINGTON - In an effort to optimize transportation cost savings and service throughout the food retail industry, the Food Marketing Institute and Grocery Manufacturers of America have issued the Manufacturer & Distributor Customer Pick-Up/Backhaul Fairness Statement.

AMES, Iowa - Consumers are supportive of locally grown food and the farmers who grow it, according to a study conducted by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University.