Supermarket Perimeter

🛒 Fresh from Supermarket Perimeter today: 🧀 New products from Lactalis American Group's Galbani Cheese, Schuman Cheese and Saputo Inc. show the versatility and growth of the Italian cheese industry. 🥩 Atkins Ranch Inc announced the launch of a unique blend of ground lamb to provide customers with improved nutrient density and a complete protein. 🧀 Artisan organic cheese maker Cowgirl Creamery partnered with another Bay Area brand, organic baked goods maker Rustic Bakery, to create a new soft-ripened cheese. ✔️ Truly Good Foods has promoted Eric Leonard, CPA from chief strategy officer to president, effective Sept. 1. 🥐 Workforce challenges in the commercial baking industry are at the center of industry benchmarking research that will be presented by Marjorie Hellmer, Cypress Research, at the International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE). ✔️ Hobart Food Equipment and Service mixer-grinders are popular in commissary kitchens, due to their durability and consistency for high-volume meat processing — and for the ease with which they can be cleaned and sanitized, said Hasan Amin, product line manager. #GroceryIndustry #FoodRetail #GroceryRetail

📈 The latest US tariff hikes, which took effect in early August, have everyone from big tech to small farms scrambling to regain their footing. However, specialty cheese importers have been feeling the squeeze since the start of the year. Rates now run from 15% for most European Union nations to more than 35% on Canadian products and nearly 40% on certain Swiss cheeses. For a while, Gourmet Foods International (GFI), a national specialty foods distributor, managed to shield customers by working closely with suppliers to absorb the added costs during the first 60 days after the new tariffs were announced. This temporary buffer gave retailers and restaurants time to prepare for higher prices without an immediate impact on their customers. But as supplier cooperation waned, the cost increases began moving down the chain. “Now, the grace period has ended,” said Brewster McCall, vice president of brand development for GFI. The tariff math is rarely straightforward. The new 15% EU rate may replace higher stacked duties – separate charges that used to be added together – trimming costs slightly on certain fresh cheeses like Brie. Others, such as Gouda, see little or no change. Swiss cheeses have been hit hardest, with Gruyère and Emmentaler now carrying a 39% tariff. While GFI can’t control tariff rates, it has built its business to stay as steady as possible when markets shift. “We do our best to be really transparent with our vendors and to be an advocate for them,” McCall said. “The best referral we could ever get is from a vendor to a customer. That is worth its weight in gold to us.” By Emily Wenerstrom #DairyIndustry #FoodRetail #GroceryIndustry

🧀 “Beautiful merchandising helps strengthen sales, but it’s not just about making the cheese section look great,” said Michelle Grimm Trowbridge, Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin (DFW) director of retail channel marketing. “Good merchandising helps customers easily find the cheese they want, increases basket ring through cross-merchandising, and ensures a great shopping experience that keeps shoppers returning to your store.” Based on a recent survey from DFW, 6 in 10 of what the group categorizes as Heavy Specialty Cheese Buyers believe that the specialty cheese case has “a major impact” on their overall perception of a store’s quality. 🎄 When the holidays roll around, specialty cheese merchandising becomes more important than ever. “Holidays play a pivotal role in specialty cheese merchandising,” Trowbridge said. “They present prime opportunities to spotlight unique cheese offerings and elevate the overall shopping experience.” ❄️ The fourth quarter holidays, not surprisingly, are especially important. During this time, Trowbridge said, consumers are preparing for a variety of gatherings, from intimate dinners to large-scale celebrations, and actively seek premium, crowd-pleasing products to elevate those and other moments. “A beautifully arranged cheese case can attract customers from across the store, but effective merchandising goes beyond simply grouping like cheeses together,” she said. “It’s about displaying the product so that it, and your store, look well-maintained and enticing.” 🎁 Attention to detail, frequent touch-ups, and going the extra mile to create that visual “wow factor” will make the cheese counter a destination that delights customers and keeps them coming back. By Andy Nelson #DairyIndustry #GroceryIndustry #FoodRetail 📸: sonyachny — Adobe Stock

🛒 Fresh from Supermarket Perimeter today: 🥐 Global bakery ingredient leader Puratos has announced the appointment of Andrew Brimacombe as its president of North American markets, effective January 1, 2026. 🌯 The latest wrap innovation from Toufayan Bakeries are 100% seed oil-free Classic Plain and Wheat Wraps, which are made with pure avocado oil. 🍗 Devin Cole will take over as chief operating officer at Tyson Foods, where he will oversee the company’s business segments, including Poultry, Beef, Pork, Prepared Foods and International. 🍣 The top must-haves for sushi offerings in 2025 are sustainability, bold flavors and quality. Sushi Avenue and FujiSan Sushi are excelling in all three. #GroceryIndustry #FoodRetail #GroceryRetail

🛒 Fresh from Supermarket Perimeter today: 🍩 Rich Products Corporation is offering convenient, no-bake bakery items that can be enjoyed as grab-and-go snacks with its new Fully Finished Cinnamon Rolls and its Our Specialty Treat Shop Microbite Donuts. 🖥️ Infor, which creates cloud-based recipe management and other software solutions to food and other industries, has inked a deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to accelerate the adoption of generative artificial intelligence (AI) among its shared customers. 🐮 Meat snack brand Archer Meat Snacks is launching its first national brand campaign — “Stick to Real,” which highlights the importance of being rooted in what’s real in the midst of a world that verges on the absurd. ✔️ Kraft Heinz is planning to break up the company into two independent, publicly-traded companies. The split is intended to maximize Kraft Heinz’s capabilities and brands while reducing complexity, according to the company. #GroceryIndustry #FoodRetail #GroceryRetail

#FoodSafety is a top concern for suppliers and retailers who understand that all it can take is one incident for consumers to lose trust in a brand. The recent extension on the Food Safety Modernization Act’s Traceability Rule (FSMA 204) compliance deadline to 2028 does not mean companies should slow down their efforts to strengthen their food safety practices. To spotlight produce companies getting it right, the International Fresh Produce Association hosted a panel discussion titled “Industry Innovations in Food Safety” June 11 at The Washington Conference. The panel featured the following speakers: ✔️ Skip Hulett, chief legal officer, NatureSweet ✔️ Teri Simmons, quality assurance manager (produce), Compass Group ✔️ Kate Burr, director of food safety and quality assurance, Ocean Mist Farms ✔️ Deadra Holloway, director of food safety, DNO Produce ✔️ Drew McDonald, executive vice president of food safety and quality, Taylor Farms Everything NatureSweet grows is tracked and includes QR traceability codes from the greenhouse, Hulett said. Tomatoes are harvested, washed, disinfected, packaged and shipped in less than 24 hours. Simmons expressed the importance of everyone in the industry getting on the same page with traceability, to not let outbreaks go on for weeks. “There are young people working at grocery stores,” Simmons pointed out. “The outbreaks will happen on the days their managers are out, and they need to know what to do.” Burr’s presentation emphasized the importance of every employee having a thorough understanding of food safety as their responsibility. Halloway said DNO Produce brings employees to the schools they serve so they can see where their products end up and form a personal connection. Taylor Farms also tries to make food safety both serious and exciting, McDonald said. All speakers suggested the #ProduceIndustry needs more collaboration on food safety efforts. “We all have a common goal; we want to learn from each other,” McDonald said. “What’s important is understanding what we’re doing and why. If we can’t explain why, that’s a good conversation to have. What does collaboration look like?”

🛒 Fresh from Supermarket Perimeter today: 🦺 Supermarket Perimeter asked Gary Fleming, Inteligistics CEO, about the role of traceability and data-sharing in #FoodSafety and the hurdles the food industry currently faces. 🧀 Since President Donald Trump took office in January, there has been a great deal of uncertainty on exports, as he has ignited a series of on-again, off-again US tariffs, confusing stakeholders and governments alike. The US #DairyIndustry has been paying close attention to what’s happening as exports make up a large percentage of many companies’ overall business. 🐖 Niman Ranch, a subsidiary of Perdue Farms, recently held its annual Hog Farmer Appreciation Celebration, which included its Next Generation Foundation awarding more than $280,000 in scholarships and grants to 64 young farmers and future rural leaders. 🥔 Potandon Produce L.L.C. | Green Giant Fresh Potatoes & Onions has named Mike Behrendt as regional director of produce procurement. #GroceryIndustry #FoodRetail #GroceryRetail

🛒 Fresh from Supermarket Perimeter today: 🍩 Delicious escapes: Limited-time-offers drive demand for creative bakery items. Two flavor trends influencing the future of the fresh bakery sector are globally inspired and “upscaling products.” 🥪 Hillshire Farm, a brand of Tyson Foods, announced the debut of its Sandwich Style Lunch Meats in three flavors. 🦺 Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) officials confirmed it would take over inspection of the Boar’s Head Jarratt, Va., facility. 💡 General Mills plans to invest $54 million to expand its James Ford Bell (JFB) Technical Center, which the company called a key hub for its innovation, technology and quality capabilities. 🧀 Canadian dairy manufacturer Saputo Inc. shared that it renewed its partnership with Ronald McDonald House Charities Canada, with a contribution totaling $2.25 million over the course of five years. #GroceryIndustry #FoodRetail #GroceryRetail

🛒 Fresh from Supermarket Perimeter today: 🛍️ It takes more to disrupt a category than a great idea. It takes a scalable concept supported by an easy-to-understand story that is grounded in science. That was the top-line advice dispensed during an education session that featured a panel of Whole Foods Market executives at Newtopia Now. 🥩 New research from CoBank's Knowledge Exchange highlighted that the demand for beef products continues to hold — even grow — as grocery prices are moving upward throughout 2025. Recent USDA data showed that the all-fresh retail beef demand index for the second quarter was the highest level in at least 25 years. 🍊 Tropicana Brands Group is introducing a new product line: Tropicana Essentials, an orange juice blend with a lower price point, according to the company. 📦 Lineage announced its first customs bonded warehouse in Louisiana in partnership with the Port of New Orleans (NOLA). Lineage’s Jourdan Road facility in New Orleans is now certified as a Class 3 Public Bonded Warehouse. #GroceryIndustry #FoodRetail #GroceryRetail

🛒 Fresh from Supermarket Perimeter today: 🧀 Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese LLC secured five awards, including a first-place finish for its Mascarpone, at the 2025 World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest. 🥖 As International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE)'s official media provider, Sosland Publishing produces the IBIE News, the onsite daily newspaper reporting on the events of IBIE 2025. Within the pages of each issue of IBIE News, distributed at the Las Vegas Convention Center Sept. 14, 15 and 16, attendees will find the Daily Dough contest. 🍞 Suppliers to the bread industry offer many plant-based proteins. The most concentrated formats, typically referred to as isolates, come as flour. But others may be pulverized or even come in whole format, adding to the appearance and texture of the bread. 🐖 The US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) recently announced a proposed rule to amend the post-mortem swine inspection staffing standards table applicable to swine slaughter establishments operating under traditional inspection. ✔️ A Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice posted in Georgia stated that Hormel Foods Corp., expects to lay off 135 people at its Tucker, Ga., bacon facility. #GroceryIndustry #FoodRetail #GroceryRetail