It was a merry Christmas for parts of produce departments across the country as the holiday season has boosted produce sales. According to Mark Campbell at ProduceIQ, high-end categories such as grapes, berries, avocados, melons and asparagus have seen prices increase since Thanksgiving.

A few categories got coal in their stockings, most notably green Bell peppers, which saw prices fall to a nearly 10-year low. Cucumbers are at a 10-year low, now below $6. Campbell said that a flooded cucumber market will likely keep prices low for a few more weeks at least.

Blueberries have been on a huge

Schnuck Markets Inc. and its customers donated $125,000 to support Midwest tornado victims. Schnucks’ week-long “Round up at the Register” campaign concluded last week and allowed customers to choose to round up their grocery purchase to the nearest dollar. Schnucks customers donated more than $113,000, and a Schnucks’ corporate donation brought the total to $125,000. All donations will go to the American Red Cross to support the relief efforts for those impacted by the tornadoes earlier this month.

“We thank our customers who, once again, demonstrated their generosity to not only help their

Albertsons Cos. has partnered with Picadeli, one of Europe’s leading food tech companies dedicated to disrupting the healthy food industry. Picadeli offers a modular store-in-store salad bar concept with the mission to make fresh, healthy food accessible and affordable to the masses, delivering on convenience and taste at a time when so many fast-food options fall short.

The salad bar concept has launched in six Safeway, ACME and Kings locations across Washington, DC, Maryland, and New Jersey. While new to the U.S., Picadeli’s award-winning salad bars are in over 2,200 stores across seven

Hy-Vee Inc. will host its fifth Best of Local Brands summit in February to expand and enhance the product offerings at its more than 280 retail stores in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. One hundred new brands were selected from the first three summits combined and are available to Hy-Vee customers.

The summit will consist of 15- to 30-minute virtual presentations from selected suppliers. The summit will take place from Wednesday, Feb. 16 to Friday, Feb. 18.  

Hy-Vee is currently accepting submissions for its summit online.

In 2022, Hy-Vee

Dole Food Company has renewed its partnership in 2022 with No Kid Hungry, a campaign to end childhood hunger in America. The company’s alliance with the national campaign first began in summer 2020 in response to the impact of COVID-19 when schools closed and millions more U.S. children were left facing hunger.              

The strategic partnership between No Kid Hungry and one of the world’s largest providers of fresh fruits and vegetables resulted in direct product donations in impacted cities, nutrition education and at-retail initiatives to address hunger and ensure all children have

More than 6.6 million meals are helping feed food-insecure neighbors thanks to the generosity of Food Lion customers who supported Food Lion Feeds’ “Holidays Without Hunger” campaign. Customers purchased and donated a specially marked, pre-packed "Holidays Without Hunger" food box for $5 or made a cash donation at the register during the campaign, which ran Nov. 10 through Dec. 14.

The box of food was then donated directly to the 33 local Feeding America® member food banks or their partner feeding agency in the store’s community. All cash donations benefitted Feeding America, the largest