Safety & Security: Page 274

Software Solutions

BlueGrace Logistics Receives $255 M Investment, Will Add 700 Positions

BlueGrace Logistics LLC

BlueGrace intends to use the funding to fuel the rapid growth of the business, including hiring 500 to 700 new employees, accelerating its national expansion plans and pursuing strategic acquisitions.

Founded in 2009, BlueGrace has developed a proprietary software platform that provides customers who need to ship goods with multiple offers from trucking companies.

Cargill Ditches Antibiotics in Feeding Turkeys

Cargill has not used the drug, gentamicin, to prevent disease in turkeys that supply its two biggest brands, Honeysuckle White and Shady Brook Farms, since August 1, the company said.

FILE - In this Nov. 2, 2005 file photo, turkeys are pictured at a turkey farm near Sauk Centre , Minn. A deadly strain of bird flu has reached the Midwest, killing or requiring hundreds of thousands of turkeys to be euthanized.

Wendy’s to Remove Chickens Raised with Antibiotics

Wendy's, which purchases more than 250 million pounds of chicken annually, also said it would commit to specific goals for the reduction of antibiotics important to humans in pork and beef production in 2017.

Wendy's and its chicken suppliers have been working to eliminate all antibiotics important to human medicine from chicken production, the company told Reuters on Thursday. As of June 2016, half of Wendy's chicken supply was raised without medically important antibiotics. Wendy's said it would be at 100 percent by next year.

U.S. Senator Calls for New Federal Food Safety Agency

Food & Drug Administration (FDA)

Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal held a news conference in Hartford, Conn., Monday "calling for the creation of a single agency, an aggressive, pro-active single agency that can inspect, enforce and protect in a way that right now is not done.”

Food safety concept illustration with icons for hygiene, contamination prevention, and protection measures

GMO Labeling Law Presses Small Manufacturers

Small and medium-sized manufacturers may not have financial cushions like bigger businesses to absorb the cost of such changes, which can run into the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.

A new law that requires food makers to label the packaging of any products that contain genetically modified ingredients has small and medium-sized manufacturers facing some big decisions.

E-Commerce Puts Kroger Into Competition with Partner Procter & Gamble

The expansion of private-label brands could be a threat to consumer-product companies that fail to generate excitement for their brands with innovation and advertising.

Railex to Suspend Service in the Southeast

The Riverhead, N.Y.-based rail logistics transporter of refrigerated perishables plans to cease operations in Jacksonville, Fla., by August 13.

Railex is working with the Union Pacific and CSX railroads to identify a service plan that will allow timely deliveries to Southeastern customers through a new location.

Food Facilities Face Sept. 16 Deadline for FSMA Preventive Controls Rule

American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI)

Facilities also have to verify and document that their preventive controls are working. Also, according to the rule, the plans must be re-analyzed at least once every three years.

Fsma

Fast Food Gains on Fast Casual, Boosted by Promotions

In other words, fast-food giants such as McDonald's, KFC, and Taco Bell have figured out how to offer the best of both worlds, drawing from fast-casuals' upscale aesthetics while undercutting their competitors' prices.

'QSR giants are slowly but surely gaining share back from fast casual challengers as they offer cheaper food promotions, such as KFC’s $5 Fill Ups and updated in-store experiences including Taco Bell’s new higher-end cantinas,' reads the report.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Taps CommerceHub Boost E-Commerce Growth

BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc.

The platform will coordinate the process of buying, storing and shipping inventory from CommerceHub’s network of approximately 9,500 drop-ship suppliers that receive orders and ship products directly to consumers.

BJ’s joins a vibrant network of trading partners, which in 2015 powered an estimated $11.6 billion in gross merchandise value (total economic value of goods) through CommerceHub’s platform.

Software & Technology

Walmart Bids to Acquire Jet.com to Fight Amazon

The world's largest retailer is playing catch up with Amazon.com Inc. on distribution and technology, and acquiring Jet.com could give Wal-Mart access to their innovative pricing software, its network of warehouses and customer data.

Wal-Mart disclosed a total of $3.1 billion for e-commerce and digital projects, such as its platform and new warehouses, in the four fiscal years to January 2017.

BNSF and Los Angeles Appeal Ruling Halting Southern California International Gateway

The appeal could mean years of legal wrangling for the Southern California International Gateway, a project nearly a decade in the planning and opposed by the community, the city of Long Beach, its schools and several environmental groups.

In the latest twist of what has been a three-year-long legal battle, the city of Los Angeles and BNSF Railway rejected a Contra Costa judge’s finding that the city failed to adequately analyze the environmental impacts the rail yard would have on the West Long Beach community, as required by state law.

Page 274 of 620