Tasty Tidbits

• The latest round in fooling the consumer comes with “smell infusions” for food packaging. ScentSational Technologies is developing with a baby-food producer to add pleasant odors to the caps so when parents open the jars, they can smell “freshness.” Similar technology is planned for cereal bags to suggest “sweet” while using less sugar.

• Louisville, KY residents eat more donuts per capita than anywhere else in the U.S. according to Interstate Bakeries Corporation (IBC) the marketers of WonderBread among other baked products. Cincinnati, Roanoke, Knoxville and Indianapolis follow behind on the top five U.S. donut-lovin’ regions with the favorite flavors glazed, chocolate, powdered sugar and plain in that order.

• No kidding: last summer, the USDA studied the U.S. goat industry for the first time, focusing on meat and dairy production.

• The Universal Product Code (UPC), a row of 59 machine-readable black & white bars and 12 human-readable digits, celebrated its 35th anniversary June, 2009. The first “live” use of a UPC was at a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio, on June 26, 1974, when a cashier scanned a package of Wrigley’s gum. Every UPC incorporates 3 parts: the brand owner’s GS1 company prefix, the specific item’s reference number, and a check digit combining the other two groups to ensure accuracy. The next generation bar code, GS1 DataBar, will be introduced Jan. 1, 2010, and will be found on coupons and even loose produce like fruits and vegetables. It will include such information as “best before,” expiration dates or even lot numbers that will allow tracking for recalls.

• While not strictly-speaking a food industry development, we’re tracking the shift of the HBA market from department stores to drug stores. CVS and Walgreens in particular are revamping their departments, with CVS pushing its “Beauty 360” in-store boutique with a separate entrance that carries marquee brands once found only in Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s.

• The shift goes in other directions, too, as grocers expand their health and pharmacy sales: the Ralphs supermarket chain is giving away 30K sets of nicotine patches and gum at stores in Los Angeles after partnering with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and L.A. Care Health Plan to help publicize a stop smoking push.

• Coming on the heels of a report by The National Retail Security Survey that retail theft is up for the first time in six years is news from grocery retailer Winn-Dixie that internal theft is down 39% at the front end of the store with the amount per theft off 59% in the six months since the chain installed a new anti-theft technology system. The savings add up to more than $7MM. (The survey was compiled by the University of Florida).

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