Filed under: Packaged foods

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Study: 25% of meat has drug-resistant bacteria

A shopper at a Cub Foods grocery store in Burnsville, Minn. (AP/Jayme Halbritter)

A sampling of grocery store meat in five U.S. cities has shown a type of drug-resistant bacteria is contained in about one quarter of beef, chicken, pork and turkey for sale, a study said Friday.

Staphylococcus aureus, a bacteria that can cause skin infections, pneumonia, sepsis or endocarditis in people with weak hearts, was found in 47 percent of samples, said the study in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. Get the full story »

Kraft to bring Gevalia coffee to grocery stores

Just weeks after losing its contract to distribute Starbucks coffee in grocery stores, Northfield-based Kraft Foods announced that it is prepping a successor, Gevalia. Get the full story »

Jewel parent’s shares surge on strong profits

A shopper outside of a Jewel-Osco at 370 N. Desplaines in Chicago. (Chicago Tribune photo by Antonio Perez)

Stock for SuperValu Inc., the Minneapolis-based grocery giant that owns Jewel-Osco, soared 20 percent Thursday when the company’s full-year income fell less than expected — despite poor performance in the Chicago and Northeast markets.

The company was able to stem its drop in gross margins, helped by better timing of special offers and more financial backing for deals from vendors. Get the full story »

Free CaramelCrisp popcorn at Garrett today

A tub of Garrett's caramel popcorn. (Garrett)

Chicago’s iconic Garrett Popcorn is giving away free snack-sized bags of its CaramelCrisp from 11 a.m, until 2 p.m. at all of its stores today, in a promotion celebrating National Caramel Popcorn Day.

Garrett’s will donate $1 to Save the Children’s Japan Earthquake Tsunami Children in Emergency Fund. Through the end of today, Garrett is also donating $2 from every popcorn tin sold to Save the Children.

Get the full story »

Diamond Foods buying Pringles in $1.5B deal

Cans of Pringles on display in New York, April 5, 2011. (Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)

Diamond Foods Inc. is buying Procter & Gamble Co.’s Pringles chips business in a deal valued at $1.5 billion.

Analysts have been speculating for years that Procter & Gamble might shed Pringles, as the world’s biggest consumer products maker had indicated in the past that the food business didn’t fit in with the rest of its portfolio. Get the full story »

Dunkin’ Donuts parent eyes IPO

A Dunkin' Donuts in Posen, Ill. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune)

Private equity-backed Dunkin’ Brands Inc. is considering an initial public offering of about $500 million in the second half of 2011, sources familiar with the situation said.

The IPO could be as large as $750 million, one of the sources said. Two or the sources said that there is disagreement among the sponsors over the company’s valuation. All of the sources said the discussions are preliminary and could change. Get the full story »

Expect fewer bags at Jewel-Osco

A shopper outside a Jewel at Roosevelt and State Street, April 29, 2008. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)

Jewel-Osco parent Supervalu Inc. hopes to save millions of dollars a year by training workers to avoid double-bagging, putting more items in each bag or skipping the bag altogether.

“We’re in a very competitive industry. Anything we can do to lower our expenses will help us keep our prices as fair as possible,” says Supervalu spokesman Mike Siemienas. Get the full story »

Laughing Cow, Boursin parent moving HQ to Loop

The maker of Laughing Cow cheese wedges, Bel Brands USA, is moving its corporate headquarters to downtown Chicago later this month from Elk Grove Village. About 80 workers will make the move to 30 S. Wacker Drive, where Bel Brands is leasing 27,000 square feet. Get the full story »

Starbucks maps out plan to conquer grocery aisles

Starbucks Corp. coffee on a shelf at a grocery store in New York. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg)

Starbucks Corp. wants to make sales of its coffee and other products in the grocery aisle rival its traditional cafe business, according to Chief Executive Howard Schultz.

The world’s biggest coffee chain is betting it can use the power of its brand to sell a portfolio of goods — such as Via instant coffee and bottled Frappuccino — everywhere food and beverages are sold, whether in a supermarket in the United States or a vending machine in Asia. Get the full story »

Fox & Obel may face eviction in Streeterville

Baked goods at Fox & Obel, May 12, 2008. (Candice C. Cusic/Chicago Tribune)

From Chicago Real Estate Daily | Gourmet grocery store Fox & Obel could face eviction from its Streeterville location after falling more than four months behind on rent. The receiver for the former North Pier Terminal filed a petition in Cook County Circuit Court on Jan. 26 seeking possession of the nearly 22,600-square-foot space occupied by Fox & Obel, alleging the grocer had missed rent payments totaling about $330,600. Get the full story>>

Nestle says it will hold price hikes to 1.6%

Nestle AG , the world’s biggest foodmaker, expects to raise prices by 1.6 percent in 2011, the company chairman said Tuesday, similar to last year’s increase despite soaring raw material costs.

Peter Brabeck-Letmathe told Reuters Insider that the company, which makes Nescafe coffee and Gerber baby food, would spend an extra $3.5 billion on raw materials in 2011, with more than half of that would be absorbed internally. Get the full story »

Starbucks raises grocery packaged coffee prices

(Michael Nagle/Bloomberg)

Starbucks raised its price for grocery packaged coffee on Friday by 12 percent, on average, due to still climbing coffee commodity prices.

The increase affects both Starbucks and Seattle’s Best Coffee brands and is the company’s first price increase on grocery packaged coffee since March 2008. Get the full story »

General Mills in talks to buy Yoplait

Yoplait yogurt at a grocery store. (AP/Dawn Villella)

General Mills said Friday that it has entered into exclusive negotiations to buy a majority stake in French yogurt company Yoplait. General Mills, based in Minneapolis, has licensed the Yoplait brand since 1977, and is Yoplait’s largest licensee. Get the full story »

Wal-Mart set to announce 2 more S. Side stores

Wal-Mart will open two more stores on the South Side next year, city officials and the giant retailer announced today.

A store with a grocery and pharmacy will open at the corner of 76th Street and Ashland Avenue in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, said Ald. Latasha Thomas, 17th, said in a news release.

Lean Cuisine meals recalled for plastics inside

More than 10,000 pounds of Lean Cuisine frozen spaghetti and meatball dishes have been recalled because of the possible presence of foreign materials, the Department of Agriculture said late on Monday.