Voice of The Food Industry Blog

Consumers Are Weary. Foodservice Retail Programs Can Help.

Food retailers can come to the rescue – as they have throughout this year’s pandemic – with solutions. In addition to being a resource for household staples and health and wellness products, retailers can provide ready-to-cook, ready-to-prepare and ...

Implementing a Strong Omnichannel Strategy to Avoid Supply Chain Waste

Today’s retailers need a strong omnichannel strategy in place to meet rapidly changing consumer needs resulting from the pandemic. As more people choose to take advantage of ecommerce for delivery of their essential food items, retailers must ensure ...

The SNAP Online News That Few of Us Saw

A great deal of time and energy went into authorizing additional retailers to accept SNAP online, and while this work wasn’t front page news, it has been steadily progressing. In addition to announcing the independent retailer in North Carolina ...

Our 2020 Grocers Doing Good Winners

Each year at FMI, we take a moment to recognize food retailers and the innovation they bring to acts of kindness. It’s my pleasure to announce this year’s winners of recognition we call Grocers Doing Good in their Neighborhoods. Our Community ...

Innovation Takes on New Meaning in Private Brands

When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, many companies temporarily put at least some private brand product innovation on hold to address the crisis. More recently, we’re starting to see a renewed commitment to innovation. Food retailers saw the pandemic ...

Food Retailers Put Technology Front and Center

Consider how technology experimentation has played out in the food retail industry. In recent years, retailers have made progress in fits and starts, going after use cases ranging from better customer experience to improved efficiency. ...

How the Food Industry Prepares to Keep Shelves Stocked

We continue to experience a convergence of challenges in this country – the COVID-19 pandemic; a historic hurricane and fire season; economic distress; and heightened political and social expression – all of which are influencing changes in the way ...

Innovation is the Future of Food Safety

As we move into the New Era of Smarter Food Safety, innovation in food safety will be the foundation of maintaining consumer trust and confidence. FMI supports the advancement of food protection technologies and best practices throughout the supply ...

Witnessing the Food Industry

Recently, I was able to share insights gleaned from my experience by speaking at the Retailing Summit hosted by FMI’s newest university member, Texas A&M and the Mays School of Business Center for Retailing Studies. My talk at the virtual event was ...

Celebrating Food Industry EPA GreenChill Award Winners

In a typical year, the FMI Energy & Store Development Conference would feature a special presentation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) GreenChill Awards, which celebrates leaders and innovators in the world of refrigerant management. The ...

Preparing With Confidence During a Time of Uncertainty

Since originally drafting our civil unrest guide, we continued to learn from our food industry members, host conversations among crisis, risk and safety practitioners, and produce the most reliable guide in the ...

Who Will (or Will Not) Be Sitting at Your Thanksgiving Table?

As I look at FMI’s most recent U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends COVID-19 Tracker, I see that we are not alone with our dilemma. Nearly a third of Americans are planning to do less this Thanksgiving than in previous years (30%). ...

Uniting the Worldwide Food Safety Community

SQF Global launched today and will conclude on October 30, 2020. The program is offered in multiple languages and time zones to provide collaborative exchange for enhancing food safety and security across the ...

What the Food Industry Needs to Know about the FDA Food Traceability Proposed Rule

The proposed rule on food traceability is in response to Section 204 of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and applies to those who manufacture, process, pack or hold foods on the Food Traceability List....

Checking In With Walmart on Seafood Sustainability

In honor of October, National Seafood Month, we checked in with one of our members that has been making headlines recently on the sustainable seafood front. Considering their global reach, Walmart has been making strides on sustainable seafood ...