Supermarket & Grocery Industry News

CHICAGO -- The growing appeal of store brands, with their modest marketing and packaging, have been giving national players like Kraft a run for their money, reports Reuters.

SAN FRANCISCO - Nearly 30 percent of participating manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers reported decreases in the cost of unsaleable consumer packaged goods, according to the 2003 Unsaleables Benchmark Report released on Friday at the Joint Industry Unsaleables Management Conference.

RA'ANANA, Israel -- Retalix Ltd. today announced that the Arab Palestinian Shopping Centers P.L.C., a national publicly traded developer and retailer, has selected the Retalix StoreLine solution to be installed in its first supermarket, located in the Palestinian city of Al-Bireh, on the West Bank.

MINNEAPOLIS - PM Beef has selected Digital Angel Corp. and IMI, Platte City, Mo., as a new information alliance partner to capture data from proprietary RFID and software products for use on cow/calf farms, feedlots, and PM's harvest and fabrication facility in Windom, Minn.

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. -- Publix is the latest supermarket company to announce it will begin implementing UCCnet's item registration service. The Florida-based chain will use the service in its more than 750 retail stores in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores has unexpectedly canceled its planned trial of a so-called smart-shelf system with Gillette, ending one of the first efforts to bring radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to store shelves in the United States.

WASHINGTON -- After 10 years of debate, the government is requiring food labels to reveal exact levels of trans fat.

ST. LOUIS -- Aurora Foods, Inc., the manufacturer of Duncan Hines cake mixes, Aunt Jemima frozen waffles, and a host of other supermarket staples is in the process of selling a majority stake in the company to J.W. Childs Associates L.P. for $200 million as part of a prenegotiated bankruptcy plan.