Private Label

NEW YORK -- Almost two dozen retailers large and small -- Wal-Mart, Kroger, Target, CVS, Costco, Trader Joe's, Harris Teeter, ShopRite, Lund Food Holdings among them --will receive Salute to Excellence Awards at the 2007 Private Label Manufacturers Association Trade Show scheduled for Nov. 11 to Nov. 13 in Chicago. The awards are presented each year for outstanding new products offered by retailers under their own store brands.

KANSAS CITY -- Ball's Food Stores based here has added five varieties of Naturally Iowa, Inc.'s Good Natured Family Farms brand of organic milk. The 30- store retailer, which operates under the Hen House and Price Chopper banners in the metro Kansas City market, is well known for supporting natural and organic products and the local farming community.

KANSAS CITY -- Ball's Food Stores based here has added five varieties of Naturally Iowa, Inc.'s Good Natured Family Farms brand of organic milk. The 30- store retailer, which operates under the Hen House and Price Chopper banners in the metro Kansas City market, is well known for supporting natural and organic products and the local farming community.

NEW YORK -- Consumer concern over pet food safety, stemming from the spring 2007 pet food recalls, combined with an already high consumer interest in natural and organic products, will propel the market for natural pet products from to $2.5 billion by 2012, $1.3 billion in 2007 according to a new study by market research firm Packaged Facts.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores said yesterday it has launched a line of private label compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) under the Great Value brand label. The energy-efficient light bulbs are hitting shelves in more than 3,000 Wal-Mart stores and Supercenters nationwide, and they're being sold at the value price of four bulbs for the cost of three regularly priced brand name CFLs, according to Wal-Mart.

ABINGDON, Va. -- The folks at Food City, the regional banner operated by K-VA-T Food Stores here, have officially begun the chain¿s annual Food City/Food Club $100,000 Treasure Hunt, which c.e.o. and president Steven C. Smith described as "one of [K-VA-T's] most unique and exciting promotions."

NEW YORK - Functional pampering -- the willingness to spoil pets by providing them with the most high-end and super-nutritious products available at almost any cost - is quickly becoming one of the key drivers of the $47 billion pet market, according to new research by market research firm Packaged Facts.

CINCINNATI -- The Kroger Co. here said last week it had ithdrawn its own-brand mustard and Southern-Style potato salad with a "Best If Used By" date of September 5, 2007 from its shelves because it may contain E. coli O157:H7. At press time, no illnesses had been reported.