Jan. 10 at 5:00 p.m.
Filed under:
Food,
Restaurants,
Updated
Alfalfa sprouts.
By Alejandra Cancino and Monica Eng | Jimmy John’s is replacing the alfalfa sprouts on its menu with clover sprouts, the company said today.
The popular restaurant chain pulled alfalfa sprouts from its menus in December after a number of customers tested positive for salmonella. The recent outbreak has infected more than 100 people in 18 states.
Jimmy John’s said the switch will take place immediately in their corporate-owned stores, and that it will ask its franchises to follow suit. Get the full story »
Jan. 10 at 10:27 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Food,
International
By Reuters
Rising food prices are stoking global inflation with many agricultural commodity markets on the rise, driven by adverse weather in key producing countries, a senior trader at JPMorgan said on Monday. Get the full story »
Jan. 10 at 8:45 a.m.
Filed under:
Food,
M&A,
Packaged foods
By Reuters
Shares of Sara Lee Corp. rose more than 2.5 percent Monday on reports that a group of private equity firms is interested in a buyout of the coffee and meat company. Get the full story »
Jan. 10 at 6:08 a.m.
Filed under:
Agriculture/Farming,
Food,
M&A
By Associated Press
DuPont Co. says it is buying Danish food ingredients maker Danisco A/S for $5.8 billion as it looks to broaden its food and biofuels operations. The deal has a total value of $6.3 billion, which includes the assumption of $500 million in debt. Get the full story »
Jan. 9 at 10:44 p.m.
Filed under:
Food,
M&A,
Packaged foods
By Dow Jones Newswires-Wall Street Journal
Private-equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC and investor C. Dean Metropoulos have formed a group of investors to explore a purchase of Sara Lee Corp., people familiar with the matter said.
Apollo and Metropoulos, a Connecticut entrepreneur who acquired Pabst Brewing Co. last year, are leading a consortium that includes Bain Capital LLC and TPG Capital LP, the people said. Get the full story »
Jan. 7 at 4:08 p.m.
Filed under:
Food,
Packaged foods
By Associated Press
The Illinois Department of Agriculture says Chicago company Columbus Meat market Inc. has recalled about 200 pounds of ground beef patties because of possible E. coli contamination.
Jan. 7 at 3:27 p.m.
Filed under:
Chicago executives,
Food,
Personnel moves
By Emily Bryson York
Quaker Foods and Snacks North America, the Chicago-based division of PepsiCo, has tapped Jose Luis Prado as its new president.
Prado replaces Jaya Kumar, who will lead PepsiCo’s Global Nutrition Group, which is based in Chicago. Kumar served as president of Quaker for one year. Before that, he was senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Frito-Lay. Get the full story »
Jan. 7 at 1:47 p.m.
Filed under:
Advertising/Marketing,
Beverages,
Food
By Dow Jones Newswires
Hawaiian Punch is giving Punchy more pop.
Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc., which owns Hawaiian Punch, is giving the fruity drink’s mascot a 21st-Century facelift with new computer-generated design. Punchy’s new three-dimensional surfer look, to be featured on packaging now being shipped and in Internet campaigns starting in February, will try to appeal more to the drink’s target audience of 13-year-olds, who have grown up watching cartoons like Pixar Animation Studio’s Toy Story. Get the full story »
Jan. 7 at 6:21 a.m.
Filed under:
Beverages,
Food,
Packaged foods
By Reuters
Starbucks Corp. told a federal judge it gave Kraft Foods Inc. ample warning of its plans to end their grocery partnership and that the food maker is now standing in the way of an orderly break-up.
In legal filings on Thursday, the world’s biggest coffee chain asked U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Seibel to deny Kraft’s request to stop Starbucks from ending their 12-year-old deal and moving the business to a new partner. Get the full story »
Jan. 7 at 6:11 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Food,
International
By Reuters
The Group of 20 leading economies will discuss ways to tackle soaring food prices that are stoking fears of a repeat of the 2008 food crisis, as some Asian countries sought to reassure nervous consumers on Friday.
Global food prices hit a record high last month, outstripping the levels that sparked riots in several countries in 2008, and key grains could rise yet further, the United Nations’ food agency said this week. Get the full story »
Jan. 7 at 6:02 a.m.
Filed under:
Beverages,
Food,
M&A,
Packaged foods,
Updated
By Dow Jones Newswires-Wall Street Journal
Sara Lee Corp. is moving ahead with plans to split up its meats and coffee businesses into two separate companies after it rejected Brazilian beef processor JBS SA’s takeover offer last month, people familiar with the matter said.
JBS hasn’t ruled out its interest in buying the company, which has a market capitalization of about $11 billion, and could yet come back with a higher offer, these people said. But they cautioned that JBS, which has a market cap of about $10 billion, could have trouble securing financing for a deal. Get the full story »
By Zoe Galland
A view of Sportsman's Park in Cicero as it is demolished, Jan. 5, 2009. Wirtz Beverage Illinois has its eye on the now-vacant land there. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
Wirtz Beverage Illinois announced Thursday that it plans to build a $70-million, 600,000-square-foot distribution center in Cicero, which would include 100,000 feet of office and conference center space. The new center, if approved, would incorporate Wirtz’s other offices and warehouses in Schaumburg, Wood Dale, Bensenville and Elk Grove Village.
Most of Wirtz’s 1,000 employees would move to the new center as well, the company said in a statement. Get the full story »
By Emily Bryson York
Kraft's new "voice" of its Mac & Cheese, Ted Williams, appears on NBC's "Today" show on Jan. 6, 2011. (Reuters/Handout)
Here’s an unusual way to get a job: Ted Williams, a Columbus, Ohio, panhandler, garnered the attention of the Columbus Dispatch, which posted a video of him doing sample voiceovers by the side of the road.
From this, Williams appeared on the “Today” show Thursday morning, announcing that he’d gotten a job as the voice of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.
In the video, a disheveled Williams explained that he’d studied voice in school, but developed a drug and alcohol problem. With two years clean, he said, he was hoping that a company would notice him. Get the full story »
Jan. 6 at 1:21 p.m.
Filed under:
Beverages,
Energy,
Food,
Government
By Associated Press
Truckloads of Four Loko and other alcohol-laced energy drinks are being recycled into ethanol and other products after federal authorities told manufacturers the beverages were dangerous and caused users to become “wide-awake drunk.”
Wholesalers from Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland and other East Coast states started sending cases of the high-alcohol, caffeinated malt beverages to MXI Environmental Services in Virginia after the Food and Drug Administration cracked down on the sale of such beverages in November. Get the full story »
Jan. 6 at 11:54 a.m.
Filed under:
Food,
Regulations
By Associated Press
The Food and Drug Administration is launching a website explaining its regulations to companies as part of a broader effort to rebrand itself as a more transparent, accessible agency.
The website, dubbed “FDA Basics for Industry,” features answers to frequently asked questions about the regulation of food, drugs and medical devices. The FDA also pledged to respond to questions from manufacturers within five business days. Get the full story »
