Nuts for Boomers

Ads play up the Zen-like nature of the pitch. A TV spot shows almonds falling in rows like dominos that present the image of flowers when they land. A print ad showing another nut mosaic explains: "Some movements start with a rally. Others, a concert. Ours started with an almond."

BrandWeek

Shoppers beware: Products shrink but prices stay the same

"Downsizing is nothing but a sneaky price increase," says Edgar Dworsky, former Massachusetts assistant attorney general in the Consumer Protection Division, now editor of Mouseprint.org, a consumer website. "I'm waiting to open a carton of eggs and see only 11."

It's not that bad, yet. But as packaged goods makers' costs rise, they eventually have just two choices: raise prices or put less stuff in the package. While most are trying a price boost first, a growing number are shrinking the contents of their packages — from Frito Lay's chips to Dial soap to Dreyer's ice cream.

USA Today

A Genetic Quest for Better Chocolate

So to protect its long-term supplies and help sustain cocoa farmers, Mars approached researchers at the United States Department of Agriculture and then sought big-time computing firepower at I.B.M. Labs. The result, to be formally announced Thursday, is a five-year project to sequence and analyze the entire cocoa genome.

NYTimes.com

Running From Dunkin'

Corn muffin: 510. Sticky pecan roll: 780. Little ol' Munchkin: 80. Eighty calories for a mere mouthful of fun? It was more than many New Yorkers could bear. Off they ran to the fruit stand, just as the Health Department hoped.

New York Sun

Kraft May Trim Fat From Shop Roster

"Kraft's growth strategy calls for innovation across the board," the rep said. "We're looking for breakthrough ideas that motivate customers and help drive sales."

Ad Week

Starbucks bringing back bolder coffee: report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp is planning to add back bolder varieties of brewed coffee at some locations after replacing them with a smoother roast this spring, according to story in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

Reuters

P&G seals ConAgra deal

For ConAgra, besides the ability to commercialize packaging technology that before now hasn't been applied to food, the company will also get access to food ingredients that P&G developed. ConAgra's statement about the deal mentioned P&G's Calsura, a form of calcium that is billed as easily absorbed and able to build stronger bones. ConAgra will have exclusive rights to use Calsura for certain kinds of foods and will have access to all of P&G's research and clinical trials.

Cincinnati Enquirer

Smucker Stuck On Costs

The stock-price decline means the Smucker shares are worth $308.7 million less to P&G owners on Thursday than it was on Wednesday and $554.4 million less than it was on the day the deal was announced earlier this month. The overall purchase was valued at $3.3 billion.

Forbes

Hershey Splits Market Into Pieces

The company discovered that different people ate for different reasons. Hershey grouped the consumers into six segments, ranging from frequent snackers dubbed "loyal indulgers" to infrequent candy snackers known as "detached occasionalists." Those groups are coupled with consumer "need states," which refer to needs that drive consumers to buy certain products. The company hopes the new segmentation strategy will help it fight back against Wrigley and Mars, which are merging.

Brand Week

Baby boomers eat their way to health and beauty

The generation aged between 44 and 62 are seeking health and youth-enhancing effects from nutrient-rich foods, according to the report.

FoodNavigatorUSA.com

NPD Finds Fewer Americans Dieting But More Eating "Better for You" Foods

Eating “better for you” foods rather than dieting appears to be the weapon of choice against the battle of the bulge, according to The NPD Group, a leading market research firm. NPD reports that the percentage of adults on a diet has decreased by 10 percentage points since 1990, while the percentage of Americans eating healthier has increased.

The NPD Group

Hershey ad spending to rise

Advertising will rise by 20 percent in 2008 and 2009 as it invests in brands to counter competition from the pending merger of its two biggest rivals, the Hershey, Pa.-based company said Tuesday.

Hershey, which also makes Kit Kat bars and Twizzlers, is overhauling its supply chain and marketing as it faces rising costs for cocoa, energy and milk, and loses sales to Mars.

Chicago Tribune

Filtering Through the Coffee Studies

Coffee drinking -- even more than six cups a day over the course of almost 20 years -- won't kill you, and may even help you live longer, says a new study.

ABC News

How America's Children Packed On the Pounds

It's hardly a secret how American children have come to this sickly pass. In the era of the 64-oz. soda, the 1,200-calorie burger and the 700-calorie Frappuccino, food companies now produce enough each day for every American to consume a belt-popping 3,800 calories per day, never mind that even an adult needs only 2,350 to survive. Not only are adults and kids alike consuming far more calories than they can possibly use, but they're also doing less and less with them. The transformation of American homes into high-def, Web-enabled, TiVo-equipped entertainment centers means that children who come home after a largely sedentary day at a school desk spend an average of three more sedentary hours in front of some kind of screen. Schools have contributed, with shrinking budgets causing more and more of them to slash physical-education programs. In 1991, only 42% of high school students participated in daily phys ed—already a troublingly low figure. Today that number is 25% or less.

Time Magazine

Cookies' place is crumbling to fruit as top kids' snack

Parents seem to be serving healthier products, which may partly explain why the number of overweight children is holding steady, Balzer says.

Recent government statistics show that 32% of children and teens ages 2 to 19 — about 23 million — were overweight or obese in 2003-2006 compared with 29% in 1999. The increase is not considered statistically significant.

USA Today

Nestle, Kellogg et al sign junk ad pledge

Major global food companies have this week signed a pledge to stop advertising 'junk' food to children under 12, in an effort to self-regulate and avoid a ban being imposed by the European Commission.

foodnavigator-usa.com

Smucker Adds Coffee to Its Breakfast Lineup -- And Does It Tax Free

What I like best about this transaction is that although Smucker affects a Midwestern naivete -- its corporate symbol is a big red strawberry, its headquarters are at 1 Strawberry Lane in Orrville, Ohio -- it can play tax games with the big boys.

Washington Post

Kraft Foods reports $10.4B in 1Q revenues

Company officials say the results reflect continued momentum as Kraft enters the second year of its three-year turnaround plan.

“We expect our results to continue to strengthen as the year progresses,” said Chairwoman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld, in a news release.

Springfield Business Journal

Coca-Cola Buys Honest Tea

Coke's decision to invest in Honest Tea, although unforeseen is unsurprising, given the company's strong growth rate and increasing popularity in recent years on the one hand, and a rising demand for beverages outside the traditional soft drinks/soda industry on the other.

Fast Company

Gut Check: What You Should Know About Digestive Health

Just what are prebiotics and probiotics? If you're not sure, you're not alone. The Kraft LiveActive survey revealed that 71 percent of Americans are not at all familiar with prebiotics, and 63 percent report they are not at all familiar with probiotics.

The Sun Chronicle

Pringles Can Inventor Buried in a—wait for it—Pringles Can

Like any proud inventor, Baur requested that his ashes be buried with his 38-year-old creation when he died. Correction: He requested they be placed inside the invention. When Baur passed on May 4, his family obliged, putting some of the ashes in a Pringles can, and the rest in a traditional urn.

Gizmodo
Cincinnati Enquirer

Water Proof

If you’ve come across any of the many media accounts of a consumer uprising against bottled water, you might well assume that makers and sellers of the stuff are on their knees. You might further assume that Fiji Water, which comes from an aquifer in the South Pacific, would be in particularly bad shape: it is a regular target of scorn in those accounts, cited to underscore eco-conscious consumers’ discomfort (or disgust) with something shipped halfway around the planet that also happens to come out of your kitchen tap. Maybe this would explain the brand’s decision to convert pretty much its entire marketing message to: We are an eco-friendly “green” company.

New York Times Magazine