Food Industry Archive

Anheuser-Busch shareholders approve $52B sale to InBev — Wednesday’s vote cleared the last hurdle for Belgium-based InBev to purchase Anheuser-Busch, thus forming the largest brewer in the world. The companies plan to close the deal by the end of the year, barring problems with regulatory approval. [Source: AP] FDA to detain food imports from China — In light of the melamine...

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Store brands are saving many grocers from suffering from the downturn as much as they otherwise might, says Forbes.com’s Joshua Zumbrun. Price-conscious consumers are looking for bargains, and the increased presence of house brands means that grocers like Wal-Mart, Safeway, and Kroger benefit because they don’t have to pass along as much of the gross profits to manufacturers. In...

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Grocers in Europe will soon be free of laws preventing the sale of fruits and vegetables that are too curvy, too small, or too odd-looking. The EU voted Wednesday to get rid of marketing standards requiring produce to meet certain aesthetic guidelines — for example, the arc height of a Class I cucumber could be no more than 10 mm per 10 cm of the cucumber’s length. These...

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A new study suggests most fast-food beef and chicken items come from corn-fed animals. It’s not a new revelation; Michael Pollan’s 2006 book The Omnivore’s Dilemma documented the ubiquity of corn products — or corn-fed products — in supermarkets as well as fast-food restaurants, thanks in no small part to huge government subsidies for corn. But according to the...

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Some analysts and stockholders might not like it, but Tyson Foods CEO Richard Bond is willing to sacrifice some profits now if it means squeezing the life out if Pilgrim’s Pride, the world’s largest poultry processor, which might go bankrupt this month. He didn’t say that, of course, but here’s what he did say during a conference call with analysts on Monday: “As...

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Squeezed by high ingredient and energy prices, companies are in a bind. They don’t want to see profits drop, but raising prices could be risky. Instead, a lot of companies have indulged in the time-honored recessionary practice of holding product prices steady while shrinking package sizes by tiny amounts — an ounce here, a half an inch there — and hoping that customers...

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Bunge on Monday pulled out of its planned deal to buy Corn Products International a few days after Corn Products’ board withdrew support for the merger. When the deal was struck in June, it appeared that big grain processors like Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill would have a new peer. Monday’s news keeps the status quo pretty much intact. The value of the all-stock deal had...

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CPI board to withdraw Bunge merger support – Corn Products International has notified Bunge of its intent to withdraw its support for a planned merger. Bunge can either terminate the agreement and seek compensation from CPI, or force a meeting of CPI stockholders to vote on the issue. [Source: FoodNavigatorUSA] Philadelphia passes restaurant law — As of Jan. 1, 2010, Philly...

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A company that makes something called “Enlyten SportStrips” (which work like those breath-fresheners that melt in your mouth), and that has a stock trading at 12 cents per share, is causing Gatorade-maker Pepsico some real headaches. The company, HealthSport (market capitalization: $5.2 million; latest quarterly revenues: $440,000), had already sued the Gatorade unit of Pepsico...

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Though it hasn’t gotten the media attention of the successful Proposition 8 that banned same-sex marriage, California passed another significant referendum on Tuesday. Proposition 2 “requires that calves raised for veal, egg-laying hens and pregnant pigs be confined only in ways that allow these animals to lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs and turn around freely.”...

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