Research & Analysis

AUSTIN, Texas - Whole Foods Market will announce today that it is adopting humane animal treatment standards, becoming the first supermarket chain to do so.

LOS ANGELES - The strike by 70,000 Southern California grocery clerks entered its second week on Sunday, with no new negotiations in sight, according to local reports.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - A new survey conducted by the Food Policy Institute at Rutgers University finds that only 26 percent of Americans surveyed think they've eaten food made from a genetically modified crop, Scripps Howard News Service reports.

AMSTERDAM - Dutch retailer Ahold today warned that the accounting scandal that broke earlier this year will have "a significant impact" on its 2003 results, according to a Dow Jones Newswires report.

GAITHERSBURG, Md. - MedImmune Inc. has announced that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has decided not to establish a large-scale, national flu vaccination program this season and, therefore, will not be offering FluMist (Influenza Virus Vaccine Live, Intranasal) in its pharmacies this year.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Applebee's International Inc. has filed a lawsuit against Nestle SA, accusing the food company of infringing the restaurant chain's "Skillet Sensations" trademark.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. -- In honor of the 20th anniversary of its Kings Cooking Studio, Kings Super Markets here has created a cookbook featuring over 160 recipes and 115 color photos arranged in seasonal meal themes prepared by the chain's Cooking Studio teachers and guest chefs.

WASHINGTON -- Although producers have a favorable opinion of country-of-origin labeling, a study released today shows that nearly two in three (62 percent) of the nation's meat, vegetable, and fruit producers oppose the country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law in its current form and want Congress to change or repeal the law before it goes into effect.