"Tasty Tidbits #1"

• Real personal consumption expenditures for all food (including supermarkets and restaurants) decreased 14.8% in the 4th quarter of 2008 versus the prior quarter, more than doubling the 7.3% drop between the 2nd & 3rd quarters, the largest decline recorded by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which last reported a digit decline in the final quarter of 1947.

• Information Resources reports 76% of consumers are now making purchasing decisions at home, up from 60% in the first quarter of last year. The trend will have an adverse impact on in-store marketing spend.

• Wells Dairy has been hit by the peanut salmonella outbreak and has joined the ranks of companies recalling products with peanuts or peanut butter in them.

• More good news for you Java hounds: a preliminary study says caffeine might ward of skin cancer. Forget the SPF, splash some BK JOE on my back!

• No more jug wine? Almaden Vineyards switched from its 5-liter bottles to a bag-in-the-box product.

• UK candy giant Cadbury has decided burping cows are the biggest contributor to their carbon footprint accounting for more than 60% of emissions. The cows produce 80-120 kg of methane gas each year, one of the most-potent of the various “greenhouse” gasses. The burps are the carbon equivalent of driving your car for a year. Cadbury promises to address the problem, perhaps through giving the cows clover to sweeten their digestion. Seems as though Tums might have a new product extension possibility. Cadbury is in a good position to pay for cow antacids, since worldwide chocolate sales by the company rose 6% last year.

• Target is quietly moving in Wal-Mart’s direction, offering lower-priced fare, including food, health care and personal care products so it can retain its higher-margin items.

• With a variety of chains offering BBQ ribs— or planning to— click here to listen to a podcast featuring an interview with Chicago restaurant legend Sweet Baby Ray.

• Mickey Dee’s has its sweet tea, but Jeremiah Weed launched Jeremiah Weed Southern Style Sweet Tea: 70 proof sweet tea-flavored vodka!

• Apparently others think the Golden Arches could use a little “buzz,” with police in Edgewater, MD busting an employee of the local McDonald’s for selling pot in the drive-thru window.

• While long available to retailers in the US and Europe, electronic POS systems are being introduced in Latin America in a big way. Latin American retailer Falabella is introducing the Retalix StoreLine POS system in more than 1,700 POS lanes in its supermarket division, part of an effort to include state-of-the-art technology throughout its operation. StoreLine offers self-checkout, electronic-payment services and other options.

• A new salmon “gutter” won’t keep fish from raining down on your roof, but will clean up to 24 of them per minute.

• Some 40% of US adults use a recipe once a week to make any kind of dish, and a cookbook that is owned for over two years is the top recipe source, according to The NPD Group’s Complete Kitchen Audit. The survey also found that 61% of households read or look at newspaper food sections and 17% own a sandwich maker/press.

• Is Lance going public? The NC-based snack maker won’t say, but it has filed a “universal shelf registration statement” with the Securities and Exchange for $250 million that will allow the company to sell up to $250MM of debt, common stock, preferred stock, depositary shares, warrants, stock purchase contracts or stock purchase units. The company’s president, David V. Singer, said Lance has no specific current plans to offer securities, but wanted to be able to finance opportunities as they become apparent.

• Bad news for you chocolate lovers: Cadbury has already raised chocolate prices for 2009 to reflect the higher price of cocoa and may have to increase prices for 2010 further if cocoa remains at current high levels. The average cost of cocoa for the group was 40% higher on average in 2008 compared with 2007, though cocoa prices fell 15% in recent weeks.

• Mygrocerydeals.com has seen a big jump in hits in the new economy. The site features online coupons that can be searched by ZIP code.

• A survey by retailing giant Tesco finds that college graduates entering the retailing field have some of the highest earning potential by 25, but that students who choose retail like the variety of career options.

• A study of 300 Chinese consumers shows they’re concerned about food safety following melamine scandals that sickened and killed young children. While the study ratio is approx. 1 respondent to every 3.67MM residents of the country, the immediate reaction would seem to be “duh!”

• In a related development, China’s Xinhua official news agency has said a new commission will be named to oversee Chinese food safety replacing the many overlapping agencies who clearly don’t know what they’re doing.

• Concerned Chinese consumers aren’t alone in worrying about food safety. German authorities have discovered the migration of 4-methylbenzophenone, a component of the inks used in the food packaging, in the chocolate crunch cereal of a Belgian manufacturer. Packaging inks are not covered by specific legislation on food contact levels. Rules generally state they should not transfer to food in quantities which could endanger human health (always a controversial requirement). A 2006 UK study showed 61 out of 350 samples of foods analyzed tested positive for benzophenone, though in levels below the maximum toxicological standard. Frozen foods are of particular concern, given the increased likelihood of chemical migration at low temperatures.

Excerpted from BSLG's weekly subscription news reader service Food Business News. To subscribe or for information about licensing, contact Broad Street Licensing Group (tel. 973-655-0598)