The discounter says net income was $5.16 billion, or $1.50 per share in the three months ended Jan. 31. That compares with $6.05 billion, or $1.70 per share, in the year ago period.

Including results from certain tax benefits, the retail recorded $1.51 per share for the quarter.

Net sales rose 5.9 per cent to $122.28 billion.

The company’s namesake business had a 1.5 per cent increase in revenue at stores opened at least a year, its second consecutive quarterly gain after facing a more than two-year slump.

Analysts were expecting earnings per share of $1.46 on revenue of $123.9 billion.

Stewart Samuel, IGD senior North American analyst, said: “While Walmart has once again delivered a strong set of results, with both sales and profit growth, what is interesting is that they are underpinned by an improving performance in its core domestic market.”

He adds that the focus on Every Day Low Prices (EDLP), significantly increasing the range of products offered and multi-channel has certainly had an impact on its performance, helping the US stores division to deliver two consecutive quarters of same stores sales growth.

Although its international operations continue to be the main driver of growth, a strong core domestic operation is essential to support this.

Going forward, Walmart will continue to invest in mature and emerging markets. In Canada alone over 70 new stores will be opened, while Mexico, Brazil and China will continue to account for the greatest proportion of its investment, said Samuel.

Walmart also recently announced it had taken a controlling stake in Yihaodian, a Chinese online retailer.

“E-commerce is an area that Walmart is aiming to lead in globally, a goal that is being driven by its @WalmartLabs division.  A number of acquisitions made in 2011 have enabled the retailer to significantly increase its capability in terms of both mobile and social commerce. While this has started to deliver new initiatives, such as iPhone apps and its Shopycat app for Facebook, we can expect to see much more experimentation in these areas,” said Samuel.

Wu will be in attendance at a pop-up shop at 363 King St. W. in Toronto on Feb. 23. It is slated to open at noon.

A Target-branded tote has also been created exclusively for the debut Canadian pop-up store, and prices for the collection range from $10 to $45.

Wu, who grew up in Vancouver, created the white, one-shouldered inaugural gown worn by U.S. first lady Michelle Obama.

“Working with Target has allowed me to reach a much broader audience and I’m so excited that my Canadian fans will have a chance to experience this collection for the first time,” Wu said in a release.

“My collaboration with Target reflects my classic design esthetic and is filled with feminine pieces that will brighten up any woman’s wardrobe.”

Target will donate an amount equal to 100 per cent of the sales from the event to United Way Toronto.

If so, what toppings should be on it? How about pancetta, to catch the current bacon trend? Or should it feature ingredients grown in Canada, to reach the local-food movement?

These are the sorts of questions food product developers ask themselves as part of their work day. Is cheese still hot? What can I do with Moroccan flavours? If meat on a stick is popular, would dessert on a stick also sell?

Sari Goldenberg, a food product developer for Loblaw, spends hours reading about food, thinking about food, travelling to other countries to taste food, and cooking food. If she sees a trend being yakked about on food blogs that she likes, chances are that you will be able to buy a product based on it in a few months.

“The Internet is my best friend,” says Goldenberg with a big smile.

Goldenberg is enthusiastic about all aspects of food. As one of 12 product developers working on branded lines such as President’s Choice and Blue Menu, she feels she has the perfect job.

She and her fellow product developers work from a large test kitchen at the grocery chain’s headquarters in Brampton, Ont. Two full-time chefs and three freelance chefs help them develop their ideas.

Developers have varied backgrounds but usually a degree in a food science or culinary skills. Goldenberg graduated from the George Brown Culinary Institute in Toronto, worked in restaurants and as a caterer served hors d’oeuvres to Bill and Hillary Clinton.

From their travels around the world and the Internet, Loblaw’s developers, who are assigned specific food categories such as deli, bakery or “frozen grocery,” bring their ideas to the test kitchen to bounce off their fellow foodies. Sometimes the chain will identify a particular hole in a product line that they would like to fill.

Goldenberg, who specializes in deli products, recently came up with a new President’s Choice-branded blue cheese using milk from Canadian cows, something the retailer had wanted to add to its lineup for ages.

“I know a lot about cheese. It is my specialty,” says Goldenberg. “I force myself to eat a lot of cheese.”

She doesn’t sound too unhappy at the assignment.

The concept for the new product is worked out around a table in the test kitchen, where product developers gather twice a day to discuss their own concepts and give feedback on others. They decide if the idea has a home in their product lines–is it Blue Menu (health-oriented) or does it fit somewhere else?

In the Case of the New Blue Cheese, for instance, Goldenberg first sampled cheeses from various shops to decide what direction she should go. Pungent or passive? What sort of sensory or visual appeal was wanted?

These questions were discussed with the team and when a decision was reached that an “entry-level” blue was the ticket, Goldenberg worked with a cheese maker to come up with some samples, which she brought back to the group at the test kitchen for feedback.

Once a sample got the thumbs-up, such issues as cost, packaging and the size of the production run were established and an order went back to the manufacturer for production. For some products, there might be some back and forth between the product developers and the plant as the final decisions are made.

Then it is committed to production and writers who create the copy for the packaging as well as the chain’s Insider’s Report magazine are brought into the loop to come up with descriptions to entice shoppers into tossing it into their shopping carts.

It’s a fast turnaround–Loblaw doesn’t do product testing with consumers in the traditional sense. This enables them to get new products on store shelves quickly.

It does use volunteers from among the 3,000 employees who work at its headquarters for testing. They can sign up to test products and give feedback to the product development team.

The ultimate test comes when the product hits store shelves. At Loblaw, there is no hard time frame put around when a product is deemed a success, says Ian Gordon, senior vice-president of Loblaw brands.

“We have a lot of products that are amazing, but they take two, three years for customers to find,” says Gordon.

Sheer volume in sales is not the only measure of a hit, says Gordon. They also look for “high repeat” sales–a product that maybe doesn’t sell in huge volume but that some customers just love and buy repeatedly.

And they know from experience that certain ingredients are “polarizing”–some people will never buy products that contain mushrooms or olives, for instance. “People either love them or hate them,” says Gordon.

Sometimes products don’t work out. Fresh mayonnaise, which Loblaw’s developers loved and thought delicious, didn’t sell. Shoppers conditioned to buying mayonnaise in a jar may have been confused by one sold alongside yogurt in the refrigeration aisle, says Maria Charvate, vice-president of product development.

Timing is everything, says Charvate. “We’ve launched products ahead of their time.”

For Goldenberg, the payoff comes when she sees something she developed on the shelves at her local store. She still remembers the time she saw her first baby–smoked meat rolled and packaged in a pouch–for sale.

“You see all the work you’ve done come to fruition. It’s very satisfying.”

Apple juice is a big part of Cott’s juice business in the United States and lower sales volumes have a substantial impact, chief executive Jerry Fowden told a conference call Friday after Cott reported it lost US$12 million in its latest quarter.

“As the consumer stays under pressure in these difficult economic times, it’s hard to see a quick rebound in juice sales, which are likely to stay pressured for some time given pricing is likely to remain at elevated levels,” Fowden told analysts.

Higher costs for resin, which coats aluminum cans, cost Cott almost $50 million in unbudgeted costs in 2011 and impacted its second-, third- and fourth-quarter results, Fowden said.

“We believe resin costs will continue to stay at a similar high level in 2012,” he said.

The main task for Cott this year will be to manage higher commodity prices and pricing to cover the increases, he said.

Cott said it will focus on gross margins–the difference between the cost of raw materials and revenue from product sales–which have been eroding largely due to the higher than expected commodity costs.

Fowden said dealing with the issue will take more than this year, adding “we’ll need commodities to soften somewhat to get to a position we are truly happy with.”

He noted that pressure on gross margins affects Cott “all the way through to the bottom line.”

The Toronto-based company reported it lost US$12 million or 12 cents a share for the three months ended Dec. 31 as the company faced higher costs for raw materials used to make its bottled and canned pop, juices and other beverages.

That compared with a net profit of profit of US$15 million or 16 cents per share in the year-earlier quarter.

The company’s shares fell 6.7 per cent or 45 cents to $6.32 in morning trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Cott warned late last fall that it faced higher input costs for things like energy, along with rising prices for commodities like corn syrup, sugar and certain fruits and has already raised prices to offset some of those costs.

Cott, which reports in U.S. dollars, said revenue increased four per cent to US$549 million from $529 million, falling short of analysts’ expectations.

Analysts, on average, had expected earnings of five cents per share on US$552 million in revenue, according to those surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

For the full year, Cott’s profits dropped to US$38 million from $55 million, while annual revenues rose 29 per cent to more than $2.3 billion from $1.8 billion, reflecting the $500-million acquisition of Cliffstar Corp., a privately owned U.S. juice producer.

Cott is the world’s largest distributor of store-brand beverages, with about 4,000 employees and soft drink, juice, water and other beverage bottling plants in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Mexico.

The study, published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, is a meta-analysis of 41 controlled feeding trials looking at the effect of fructose on body weight.

“It’s about moderation,” said lead author Dr. John Sievenpiper of St. Michael’s Hospital, who conducted the study–funded primarily by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research–with other scientists in Toronto, Saskatoon and Boston.

It might seem like a seductive message to simplify instructions to patients and give them one particular food to avoid if they’re trying not to pack on the pounds, he indicated.

“The patient says ‘OK, I just have to try to avoid fructose in my diet,’ when in fact they need to be concentrating on the entire diet, and the energy that their diet is providing and making sure that they’re meeting their energy requirements for weight and maintenance and not exceeding them.”

In recent years, attention has focused on increasing amounts of fructose in the diet as a possible contributor to an overweight or obese North American society.

“It’s caused people to actually question whether they should be consuming fruit, which is a tremendously nutrient-dense source providing wonderful nutrition,” Sievenpiper said.

“We’re saying don’t worry so much about the fructose. Concentrate on the energy. And certainly don’t discount fruit.”

Fructose is found naturally in fruits, vegetables and honey. In most of the trials in the meta-analysis, Sievenpiper said fructose was incorporated in foods or crystalline fructose was added to them–for instance, baked goods, beverages, cereals and yogurts. Trials in which fructose was administered exclusively as sucrose or high-fructose corn syrup were not included.

The 31 isocaloric studies had 637 participants. Control and fructose-fed subjects were given the same number of calories and followed for a median of four weeks. There was no difference in weight gain.

The 10 hypercaloric feeding trials had 119 subjects. Fructose-fed subjects received more calories than the controls for a median of 1.5 weeks, and they gained more weight.

“The paper has the great potential for being misinterpreted to mean that excessive intake of fructose is safe,” said Dr. Richard Johnson, a University of Colorado scientist in Denver who has conducted research on fructose and who wasn’t involved in the meta-analysis.

“The way fructose increases weight gain is by altering appetite, such that it stimulates increased food intake, by inducing leptin resistance or by acting on dopamine centres in the brain. Thus over time fructose-fed subjects will want to eat more calories than others. If food intake is forcefully kept equal, however, then how can one expect any difference in weight gain between groups?”

He said the hypercaloric studies are “terribly flawed” because of their short duration–and obesity doesn’t occur overnight but takes years.

“To conclude anything from studies of this short duration gives full meaning to the word short-sighted,” Johnson wrote in an email to The Canadian Press.

“On a more important note, one must consider the effects of fructose on body composition rather than on body weight. Fructose increases the risk for fatty liver, elevated triglycerides and visceral fat. We have shown in animals that we can induce these types of changes in the setting where calories are kept equal. In other words, the effect of fructose to increase fat does occur even when calories are kept the same. This paper only addresses weight gain, and hence misses this key aspect about fructose.”

Johnson also cautioned that not all sources of fructose are the same, and not all people respond the same way to it. Fructose in fruits tends to be safer because of all the nutrients and antioxidants in fruit, he said.

Fructose in sugar and high-fructose corn syrup is much less safe, he said.

“The glucose present in these sugars can accelerate fructose absorption. Likewise, the response to fructose in young healthy people is much less than in older obese subjects. Hence, pooling the studies that contain diabetics, obese, old and young, as well as subjects (who) received fructose in different ways carries the great risk for diluting out any real findings.”

Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, who runs the Bariatric Medical Institute in Ottawa, said people want to believe there is “a dietary bad guy,” but it’s an exercise in futility to look for a single scapegoat.

“We eat too many calories and we eat too many calories from sugar, and from many sources of sugar. It’s not just high-fructose corn syrup that’s a problem–it’s all of the sources of sugar,” he said.

“I think people need to stop kidding themselves about sugar source mattering.”

Freedhoff said he’s in favour of fruit consumption because of the benefits of fibre and satiety–providing a feeling of being full. But he said he would treat fruit juices as cautiously as soda pop in terms of health benefits.

Some of the co-investigators involved in the meta-analysis have unrestricted grants from Coca-Cola, although this particular study was not funded by the company.

“They’re obviously looking for _ to be frank _ they’re looking for a more balanced debate on the topic, so I think research like this which draws into question this (fructose) controversy, obviously they would see as beneficial,” Sievenpiper said.

“They’re a highly diversified company … but sugar is a big part of their portfolio.”

Sievenpiper acknowledged most studies in the meta-analysis were small, of short duration and poor quality, and there’s a need for better-designed higher-quality trials. But he said the controversy around fructose has really directed attention away from the issue of over-consumption, which should be the main focus.

“Fructose is likely not the culprit,” he said.

Comments made Feb. 7 by Loblaws’ chief Galen Weston about the safety of farmers markets may have caused an unintended stir in the industry, but it’s raised some important questions about how food is monitored once it gets to shelves and stalls.

“Farmers markets are great …” Weston began during a speech to a crowd of 600 at the Canadian Food Summit in Toronto. “One day they’re going to kill some people though.”

“I’m just saying that to be dramatic though,” he quickly added.

But Jim Chan, manager of food safety for Toronto Public Health, said food safety comes down to who’s running the show, not the type of operation they run.

“I won’t say that the risk level in all farmers markets is higher than other food premises. You cannot say that,” Chan said. “It’s all depending on the person who is operating that particular site.”

Municipal health inspectors are in charge of inspecting all food premises, including grocery stores and markets.

Permanent operations like grocery stores and restaurants are subject to provincial food premises regulations under the Health Protection and Promotion Act.

In 2006, the province announced that farmers markets that had 50 per cent of its vendors farmers selling their own products would be exempt from that set of regulations, along with special events like the Taste of the Danforth, because of their temporary nature.

Market organizers are still required to inform municipal health units of their opening, who then inspect to ensure food safety standards are being met by each vendor.

“We would apply all food safety requirements as we usually enforce during inspection, except that we would look at them as not a fixed type of establishment,” Chan said.

The difference is that market vendors are not required to have things like plumbing or mechanical refrigeration that permanent operations would have, but proper food handling like handwashing stations and temperature control are still required.

Grocery stores undergo a minimum of three mandatory inspections a year, while farmers markets are typically inspected at the start of each season and at the midway point, plus any follow-up visits to ensure compliance, Chan said.

Bert Andrews of Andrews’ Scenic Acres farm in Milton, Ont., said it’s wrong to assume products that reaches the grocery store shelves are any different than the ones on sale at farmers markets.

“We supply some grocery stores and 10 farmers markets,” Andrews wrote in an email. “It is an identical product.”

Chan stressed big grocery store chains can’t hide behind their brand banner, as each individual store is scrutinized for health and safety compliance.

“We have actually shut down large supermarkets because of a health hazard,” Chan said.

Organizers provide Toronto Public Health with a list of vendors and their products before each season. Sometimes they request public health employees conduct information sessions with their vendors.

“Lots of the vendors or the organizers are trying to bring the standard up as high as possible,” Chan said

Anne Freeman, co-ordinator of Dufferin Grove Farmers’ Market, said vendors are highly motivated to ensure food safety because they meet face to face with their clientele and rely financially on keeping their competitive spots at markets.

“It’s their livelihood,” Freeman said. “So they’re more aware than anybody that if they aren’t careful and they did do something wrong, then that would have very serious consequences.”

The American chain picked the Seattle-based coffee company to open in the majority of its up to 135 Target stores, it said Wednesday.

The agreement extends the 12-year relationship between Target and Starbucks in the United States.

Starbucks has already struck has numerous partnerships with retailers in Canada, including bookseller Indigo Books & Music Inc., as well as Safeway and Longos grocery stores.

Target, known for offering designer fashion collaborations at discount chain prices, plans to open its first Canadian stores in 2013.

The company has also signed a supply agreement with Canadian grocery store chain Sobeys to supply food items to its stores.

“Our goal is to bring the true Target brand shopping experience to our Canadian guests, so expanding our relationship with Starbucks as we enter the Canadian marketplace is a natural fit,” said John Morioka, the senior vice-president of merchandising at Target Canada.

With Europe’s debt crisis raging and Europe’s economy struggling, the maker of Activia yogurt and Evian water is pushing into new markets. Chairman and CEO Franck Riboud said Wednesday that those efforts were bearing fruit, and that 2011 marked the first time that emerging economies accounted for more than half of group sales.

Sales in Asia, which make up 15 per cent of the company’s total, grew by 20 per cent in 2011. The company said it also saw double-digit growth in Latin American and Africa and the Middle East, though it did not give specific figures.

The company reported that its sales rose 13.6 per cent in 2011 to C19.3 billion ($25.4 billion). On a like-for-like basis, which excludes currency effects and acquisitions, that represented a 7.8 per cent over the previous year, at the top end of the company’s goal of 6 to 8 per cent growth.

The group’s net income, however, fell 11 per cent to C1.67 billion. Riboud blamed the high cost of raw materials. The company expects those costs to remain high in 2012 but said that it could at least partially offset them in its pricing policies.

“The year 2011 was both tough and positive,” Riboud said. “Tough because of the increasingly gloomy macroeconomic environment in Europe, plus a steep rise in commodity prices that put pressure on our costs and entire organization. But also positive because we came through successfully.”

The company said it would aim to achieve a 5 to 7 per cent increase in sales this year.

Diamond Foods, which makes Emerald Nuts and Pop Secret popcorn, and Procter & Gamble said Wednesday that they mutually agreed to end their proposed deal.

With Diamond out of the picture, the Pringles brand is headed to Kellogg. The company said the transaction will help to strengthen its snacks business, which it is trying to make as big globally as its cereal business. Kellogg’s snack brands include Keebler, Cheez-It and Special K Cracker Chips.

“Pringles has an extensive global footprint that catapults Kellogg to the number two position in the worldwide savory snacks category, helping us achieve our objective of becoming a truly global cereal and snacks company,” Kellogg President and CEO John Bryant said in a statement.

Diamond’s stock gained $1.10, or 4.9 per cent, to $23.40 in premarket trading, while Procter & Gamble’s stock dipped 16 cents to $64.32. Kellogg’s stock added $2.15, or 4.3 per cent, to $52.45.

Speculation had been growing that Diamond’s proposed acquisition of Pringles was in trouble, particularly after the San Francisco company announced a week ago that it was replacing its CEO and CFO following an internal investigation that found that the Diamond improperly accounted for payments to walnut growers. The company now needs to restate two years of financial results.

After those announcements, Diamond’s stock slid, which hurt its ability to finance the Pringles’ deal.

Diamond Foods’ proposed buyout of Pringles was worth $1.5 billion when it was announced in April. It would have been the company’s biggest acquisition ever and made it the second-largest snack maker in the nation behind PepsiCo Inc.

Last week, Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble said it was evaluating the deal and keeping all options open, even stating that Pringles had “attracted considerable interest from other outside parties.”

No breakup or other fees will be paid tied to the Diamond deal. Industry experts had believed that Diamond would possibly have to pay a $60 million breakup fee to Procter & Gamble and potentially up to $6 million in related costs.

Kellogg will pay Procter & Gamble $2.7 billion in cash. The company said that its outstanding debt will like increase by about $2 billion and that it will limit buybacks to proceeds received by the company from employee option exercises for about two years to allow the company to reduce its debt.

Kellogg expects to complete the Pringles acquisition during the summer, possibly on June 30.

If the deal closes around that time, Kellogg anticipates that the acquisition will add about 8 cents to 10 cents per share to its 2012 earnings before accounting for the acquisition and one-time costs and changes to its buyback program.

The website, dubbed the Facebook for Groceries, provides recipes and grocery suggestions based on shoppers’ eating and purchasing habits, according to an article.

The side also provides a shopping list to Tesco.com to allow shoppers to make sure the products are available before payment.

Tesco has also launched Foodie.fm as a free mobile app available on Facebook.