September 1, 2010 Edition

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Fry's Food Stores opened a Signature Marketplace superstore in Phoenix. The store is targeted towards affluent shoppers with valet parking, custom car washes, a cooking school, wine bar and expanded selections of organic produce and high-end meats, reported Arizona Republic. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

USA Today profiles 50 of the top ice cream shops nationwide, including Arizona's Sweet Republic, which features flavors like salted butter caramel, cheese-course duo and honey lavender, and New Jersey's Cliff's Homemade Ice Cream, which offers flavors from bubble gum to Bavarian cream raspberry truffle. Full Story

Goldwater's Foods of Arizona launched its Mercantile line of all-natural and low-fat specialty foods into 50 select Circle K convenience stores throughout Arizona. Full Story

New Leaf Brands, Inc. added 17 distributors in California through its agreement with Coast Brands Group, LLC. Full Story

Run by 150 volunteers, Minneapolis Market is a nonprofit grocery store started by two churches to feed local families. Its fruits and vegetables are grown locally through Big River Farms, an organic farm that teaches immigrant workers how to farm sustainably, reported The Minneapolis Star Tribune. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

The Kroger Co. will build its largest Marketplace store, 135,000-sq. ft., in Centerville, OH by next summer, reported Dayton Business Journal. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Eat'n Park relaunched its Smiley Cookie website, which sells gift baskets and also cookies, coffee and chocolate. Full Story

Demand remains strong for sweet potatoes, and California farmers claim they are harvesting as fast as they can to keep up. Per-person consumption of sweet potatoes has been increasing, in part because of demand for products including sweet potato french fries, reported California Farm Bureau.

New Product News: PepsiCo introduced Tropicana Trop50 Farmstand Apple. Full Story ... Medora Snacks, LLC launched PopCorners in four varieties. Full Story

Contracted production for California processing tomatoes is forecast at 12.3 million tons, averaging 45.90 tons per acre, according to USDA. After a record processing tomato crop in 2009, forecast production is 7.6% lower for the 2010 crop. Above average rainfall during the winter improved water allocations in growing areas. In the spring, wet weather and cool temperatures continued, causing delays in field preparation and planting schedules. Full Report

Carrefour credits its recent rise in net profits to more budget-oriented price ranges and in-store baby-sitting services to encourage shoppers back into stores, reported BBC News. Full Story

The Canadian government invested nearly $4.4 million to help Nutra Canada develop a facility for producing fruit, vegetable and medicinal plant extracts. Full Story

Eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables may help protect some smokers from lung cancer, according to a European study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, reported HealthDay. Full Story

The DASH eating plan, known to reduce blood pressure and bad cholesterol, also reduces the 10-year risk of heart attack, especially among African-Americans, according to research reported in Circulation. Full Story