Supermarkets

It was evidently good enough for Gilligan and Robinson Crusoe. But is coconut water a healthy choice for people who aren't stranded on a deserted island? A longstanding treat in tropical regions across the globe, coconut water hit U.S. supermarkets a few years back and is now being marketed with a vengeance. Sometimes billed as nature's sports drink, the slightly sour beverage has also acquired a reputation for being able to improve circulation, slow aging, fight viruses, boost immunity, and reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and stroke.

We're fat, in case you hadn't heard. And as we learned last week, 42% of American adults will be obese by 2030, according to researchers at the Weight of the Nation conference sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If that's a party you'd rather miss, the grocery store is a place to start. Nutritionists often advise us to buy fresh food and stick to the perimeters of the store (instead of the middle aisles that are stocked with Oreos, Doritos and Froot Loops)

So how many omega-3 fatty acids are enough — and how should you get them? That likely depends on your age and your specific health concerns. The United States does not yet have guidelines for DHA or EPA, and consensus among nutrition experts is elusive. But specialty groups, some governmental agencies and individual experts have started to take a stand. For healthy adults without major medical issues, the European Food Safety Agency recommends a daily dose of 250 milligrams of combined EPA and DHA, while the National Heart Foundation of Australia suggests 500 milligrams.

A basket of meats, cheese and other goodies from the grocery store cost 6.9% more in the first quarter of 2012 than it did a year earlier, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. A group of 16 items, including cheddar cheese, sirloin-tip roast, salad, orange juice and eggs, cost consumers $52.47 during the first three months of the year, the farm group said . During the same period last year, the price was $49.07. In the fourth quarter of 2011, it cost $49.23. The cost of meats such as sliced deli ham and bacon were up due to strong demand and tight supplies, said AFBF senior economist John Anderson in a statement.

Furthering the consolidation of California's agriculture sector, Foster Farms, the state's largest chicken producer, has agreed to purchase the chicken business of its largest rival, El Monte-based Zacky Farms. The deal would give Livingston-based Foster a dominant position in the poultry aisles of California supermarkets, and analysts expect it to be subject to intense antitrust scrutiny. Terms of the deal between the two privately held companies were not disclosed.

A man wielding a samurai-style sword killed two people and wounded three others at an Irvine supermarket Sunday before his bloody rampage ended with a fatal volley of police gunfire. The deadly attack occurred about 9:35 a.m. inside the Albertsons at Culver Drive and Irvine Boulevard, when Joseph Parker, a 30-year-old bagger known for erratic behavior, entered the market where he worked and began slashing employees and customers, witnesses said.

First gas, now food. The household budget in Southern California is getting no relief these days. Southland residents already pay among the highest grocery prices in the nation, and the forecast is for even higher costs. Federal statistics released Tuesday for April show that food prices in Southern California rose 5.7% from a year earlier.

A tangy, sour, fermented milk drink may not sound like a likely candidate to move from health food stores to mainstream supermarkets, but that's exactly what kefir has done. The beverage is steadily gaining fans convinced of the health benefits -- proponents tout its purported ability to help cure cancer, reduce high cholesterol and treat high blood pressure -- yet the scientific studies to support the claims are still few. Kefir's closest cousin is yogurt, also made by fermenting milk with bacteria.

Anne Marie Sablock said she regularly drives past an Albertsons, a Whole Foods Market and several other supermarkets to shop at the Ralphs on Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach. The Seal Beach mother of two teens is price sensitive and likes a broad selection of goods. She buys house brands and private label products. "I shop here because there is more choice and better prices," Sablock said as she dropped a box of Ralphs brand instant oatmeal into her cart last week.

It's not all hearts and flowers in the blossom business this Valentine's Day. The traditional corner florist shop is finding itself squeezed on all sides in its pursuit of your flower funds, and the biggest culprit is the local supermarket. If you think ham and eggs don't mix with baby's breath and carnations, think again. Just last week, Hughes Markets Inc.

A Los Angeles City Council committee moved forward Wednesday with a plan to end the use of paper and plastic bags at supermarket checkout lines, saying such a move would spur consumers to switch to more environmentally friendly reusable ones. The council's Energy and Environment Committee forwarded its strategy for banning bags at 7,500 stores to the full council, comparing the change to laws requiring seat belts or banning smoking in restaurants. The vote occurred despite objections from workers at a plastic bag manufacturer who said their company would be devastated if bans are passed throughout the country.

  The last thing a supermarket shopper wants to see is long lines and empty registers. Ten years ago, shoppers envisioned a day when radio-frequency identification tags would enable them to whisk shopping carts through a checkout without unloading them - or bypass the checkout lane and ring up groceries as they walked through the store. But RFID never got cheap enough for razor-thin grocery margins. And we're still stacking groceries on conveyor belts, a 19th-century invention.

The nation's third largest supermarket chain announced Wednesday that it was joining with other major retailers and would stop selling ground beef containing “pink slime,” also known as “lean, finely textured beef.” Supervalu Inc. announced its decision in an e-mail to reporters. Earlier Wednesday,  Safeway Inc., which operates Vons in California and Nevada, announced it was dropping the product. “While it's important to remember there are no food safety concerns with products containing finely textured beef, this decision was made due to ongoing customer concerns over these products,” Supervalu said in its statement.

Billionaire Ron Burkle has added movie production and concert promotion to the arenas he wants to play in. The man who made his fortune bagging supermarket chains and selling them off for billions went into the live music business Thursday by purchasing Artist Group International, a New York agency that books concerts for Billy Joel, Metallica and others. He concurrently invested in the movie business by taking a stake in independent movie studio Relativity Media. Y Entertainment group, a newly formed subsidiary of Burkle's investment firm Yucaipa Cos., made the two deals separately for undisclosed sums of money.

Gripping plastic bags filled with milk, eggs and a two-liter bottle of orange soda, Itzel Hernandez made her way down Pasadena's Orange Grove Avenue one recent evening, keeping a brisk pace and wearing a gray hoodie to keep away the fall chill. Hernandez, 18, said she expected her trip home from Latino Market to take 25 minutes. The convenience store is the closest market to Hernandez's home. "Supermarkets aren't that far if you have a car, but I don't, so I have to walk," Hernandez said.

In the end, Southern California's big three grocery chains and their unionized workers settled their labor fight because of this economic reality: Another strike would have severely damaged both sides. On Monday, negotiators for Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons and the United Food and Commercial Workers reached a tentative deal, averting a strike that would have sent more than 54,000 workers across Southern California off the job. After months of public posturing and private wrangling, the negotiations grew urgent Sunday evening after a key deadline passed, clearing the way for a labor stoppage at any time.

The "Hamburger Hoax" (June 14) deserved no more coverage than this childish action was given. There was a statement in the article, however, which gives me cause for concern, and which may deserve further investigation. According to police accounts, the plastic finger was discovered in the hamburger "as it was about to be repackaged." Why would this meat be repackaged and not disposed of? If it was because the package had been opened, was it intended that steps be taken before repackaging to assure there was no contamination?

The first major supermarket in the city's troubled northwest area opened Monday, marking the first store to open in the city-subsidized Fair Oaks Renaissance Plaza shopping center. Developer Danny Bakewell and Mayor Chris Holden attended ceremonies to open the Vons at the southwest corner of Fair Oaks Avenue and Orange Grove Boulevard. The 80,000-square-foot center was built on land the city acquired for $15.1 million, which was then sold for $1.

In a bid to speed up negotiations that have dragged on for more than eight months, union officials representing supermarket workers in Southern California took a step closer Thursday night to going on strike. Officials from the United Food and Commercial Workers gave 72 hours notice to cancel their labor contract extension with the region's three leading grocery chains, a mandatory step before a walkout. Once the contract is no longer in effect, grocery workers can strike at any time.

Rob Gokee and Allison Vanore know that buying wine at their neighborhood Fresh & Easy near the USC campus can be something of a production. After scanning two bottles at one of the store's self-checkout stands, all heck broke loose. An alarm sounded. A red light flashed. And the checkout computer froze until a clerk came by to confirm the buyer was at least 21 years old. California politicians, egged on by the grocery clerks union, want to put an end to such four-alarm checkouts.