Food | featured news

European private-equity firm Permira said it would buy Japanese sushi chain Akindo Sushiro for around $1 billion, making a bet that the popular restaurant brand can expand beyond Japan.

A couple of handfuls of walnuts a day can make a man’s sperm stronger, faster and prettier, researchers said on Thursday -- and it’s possible the nuts could provide a natural solution for some men with fertility problems.

Though severe drought conditions have raised the cost of food this summer, consumers may have seen the worst of the price impact at the grocery store. Higher food prices helped lift the closely watched Producer Price Index by 0.3 percent in July, the fastest pace in five months. At the same time retail sales rose 0.8 percent, the first increase in four months and well ahead of expectations, signaling that the sluggish economy may be picking up momentum.

Leading members of the Group of 20 nations are prepared to trigger an emergency meeting to tackle soaring grain prices caused by the worst U.S. drought in half a century and poor crops from the Black Sea bread basket.

The punishing Midwest drought is expected to reduce the nation's corn crop to its lowest level in almost two decades. On Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut its estimate for the corn crop by nearly 17% and raised the upper end of its price forecast by 39% to almost $9 a bushel. In its report, the USDA forecast the nation's corn yield to be about 123.4 bushels per acre -- the lowest level in 17 years.

Global alarm over a potential repeat of the 2008 food crisis escalated on Thursday after data showed food prices had jumped 6 percent last month and importers were snapping up a shriveled U.S. grain crop, helping drive corn prices to a new record.

The Golden Arches are starting to lose some of their shine. McDonald's Corp. says a key revenue figure came in flat in July, its worst showing in more than nine years, as diners pulled back amid a rough economy. After years of outperforming rivals with a string of popular new items, the snag also suggests competition is intensifying for the world's biggest hamburger chain.

A unique, hard-hitting report just completed by a California attorney exposes a largely unknown federal food-stamp racket involving large grocery retailers, food manufacturing giants and other private players, including the Federal Reserve and JPMorganChase, which combine to channel food stamp spending into a gravy train for the heavy hitters in the food industry.

The record drought gripping half the country will help push food prices up by 3 percent to 4 percent next year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday. Milk, eggs,beef, poultry and pork prices will all be affected by the drought, which has pushed up prices for feed. Beef prices are expected to see the biggest jump at 4 percent to 5 percent. Dairy product prices are forecast to climb 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent; poultry and egg prices are projected to rise 3 percent to 4 percent; and pork prices are expected to rise 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent in 2013, the agency said.

A fight over genetically engineered foods has been heating up in the nation's grocery aisles. Now it's headed for the ballot box. Voters will soon decide whether to make California the first state in the country to require labels on products such as sweet corn whose genes have been altered to make them resistant to pests.