Private Label

CINCINNATI - The Kroger Co. here said it is expanding its offerings of organic foods with more than 60 new items in its store brand Private Selection organic food line. The new products, which will include pasta, waffles, tea, peanut butter, snacks and milk, will hit the stores by the end of September and will be integrated with like products, rather than segregated in an organics section.

NEW YORK -- The financial strengths and emotional strings of pet owners stand to grow the non-food pet supplies market from $9.9 billion in 2006 to nearly $15 billion by 2011, according to a new study by market research firm Packaged Facts.

NEW YORK -- The financial strengths and emotional strings of pet owners stand to grow the non-food pet supplies market from $9.9 billion in 2006 to nearly $15 billion by 2011, according to a new study by market research firm Packaged Facts.

MANITOWOC, Wis. -- Lakeside Foods, Inc. based here initiated a voluntary recall of 15,000 cases of 14.5-ounce French Style Green Beans-including store brand labels for Kroger, Schnuck Markets, Supervalu-Albertson's, HEB and other grocers-because some of the products might have been under-processed and some cans may have leaked, and thus raise a risk of botulism.

SALISBURY, N.C. -- Regional grocer Food Lion LLC here is the latest to advance its private label strategy by offering new tiers and product categories. The Delhaize Group unit said yesterday it will begin rolling out several new private label brands throughout its banners this summer.

QUINCY, Mass. -- Ahold banners Stop & Shop and Giant-Landover are introducing exclusive "Orchard Perfect" fruit, a specialty line of handpicked, sun-ripened California summer fruit that includes peaches, nectarines, plums, white-flesh peaches, and white-flesh nectarines, in all 389 Stop & Shop and all 186 Giant-Landover Stores.

QUINCY, Mass. -- Ahold banners Stop & Shop and Giant-Landover are introducing exclusive "Orchard Perfect" fruit, a specialty line of handpicked, sun-ripened California summer fruit that includes peaches, nectarines, plums, white-flesh peaches, and white-flesh nectarines, in all 389 Stop & Shop and all 186 Giant-Landover Stores.

ELIZABETH, N.J. - In a major bid for growth, Wakefern Food Corp. here, which has sold almost exclusively to its ShopRite cooperative members for the past 60-plus years, is now expanding its wholesale distribution business to serve other supermarkets and institutional customers, both within and beyond its longtime Northeastern market.