When Kraft Foods splits into Kraft Foods Group and Mondelez International, the company will divide its research and development team as well, reports Reuters. "We want to create two powerhouse companies," said Jean Spence, executive vice president of research, development and quality. "We're trying to make sure we replicate the knowledge that we have right now for two companies instead of just the one." ... Kraft Foods Inc. will transfer its stock exchange listing to The NASDAQ Global Select Market from the New York Stock Exchange to yield greater cost efficiencies, while providing visibility advantages for the company's iconic brands. Kraft Foods shares will begin trading on The NASDAQ Stock Market on June 26, 2012, and the ticker symbol will remain KFT. ... PepsiCo Inc. hired a chief design officer, as the soft drink and snack company looks to infuse more style into its corporate brands and culture, reports Reuters. Mauro Porcini, formerly of 3M Co, will be responsible for managing design for the company's brands, with a strong focus on its top 12, which include Pepsi, Lay's, Gatorade, Quaker and Tropicana ... Sara Lee Corp. chose Hillshire Brands Co. as the new name for its North American business. Hillshire Brands will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol HSH. Sara Lee will become two independent pure-play, publicly-traded companies on June 28, 2012. D.E MASTER BLENDERS 1753 will focus on international coffee and tea and Hillshire Brands will focus on meat-centric food products and foodservice operations. Hillshire Brands will include several popular, market-leading consumer brands including Jimmy 0Dean, Hillshire Farm, Ball Park, Aidells, Gallo Salame and State Fair. As a pure-play company with strong momentum, we needed a name and identity that captures the potential of this new organization, said Sean Connolly, CEO of Sara Lee North American Retail and Foodservice, who will become chief executive officer of Hillshire Brands ... The Canadian government has introduced the 'Safe Food for Canadians Act', which is designed to strengthen the government's ability to protect consumers from potentially unsafe food, reports Food Business Review. It will improve food safety by instituting a more consistent inspection regime across all food commodities; implementing tougher penalties for activities that put the health and safety of consumers at risk; providing better control over imports and exports; and strengthening food traceability. "The Safe Food for Canadians Act strengthens and modernizes our food safety system to make sure it continues to provide safe food for Canadians," said Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz. The Act will consolidate the Fish Inspection Act, the Canada Agricultural Products Act, the Meat Inspection Act, and the food provisions of the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act ... European food makers including Nestle, Unilever and Danone are set for a strong year as commodity prices fall and demand for name brands grows stronger in developing countries, reports The Wall Street Journal. "Only about 30 percent of their sales are in Europe now. They are truly global players with a majority of their sales in emerging markets," said Bernstein analyst Andrew Wood ... Chobani is the U.S. leader in sales of Greek yogurt, with 47.3 percent of market share this year, reports Advertising Age. Danone Group gained ground, from 15.2 percent in 2011 to 19.7 percent this year. "From having started late to poor positioning of the product, we consider that General Mills is unlikely to become a major player in Greek yogurt," according to Bernstein Research ... David Dudick, with more than 30 years of experience at General Mills, has been named the company's chief of bakeries and foodservice. "I look forward to leading the continued expansion of General Mills' great brand portfolio in away-from-home channels," said Dudick, who was most recently senior vice president of U.S. sales ... Michael Rosenberg, president and CEO of Promotion in Motion, said the company will add as many as 100 jobs by 2013 as it expands capacity at its Somerset, N.J., factory, reports NewJersey.com. Rosenberg, who started the company from his American University dorm room in 1979, anticipates a 20 percent revenue increase this year ... Coinstar Inc. and Seattle's Best Coffee, part of Starbucks Corp. have agreed to roll out Coinstar's new Rubi coffee kiosk in the grocery, drug and mass merchant retail channels featuring Seattle's Best Coffee beverages. The Rubi kiosk marks Coinstar's latest innovation in automated retail. For Seattle's Best Coffee, the agreement adds another strategic channel of distribution for its premium coffee offering. The kiosks will begin rolling out this summer with approximately 500 kiosks serving Seattle's Best Coffee expected by the end of the year and thousands of machines in the next several years ... The average number of items in a supermarket is 38,718, more than a 200 percent increase from 35 years ago, according to FMI.org.
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