This week, a few of the food industry's biggest names made headlines, with Hormel's Skippy peanut purchase from Unliever and Starbucks announcing plans to expand into Vietnam. The week also brought good news for Whole Foods, as the grocery giant topped of a list of 2012's best food retail stocks.

Here are the links to those stories, as well as a couple of others that you might have missed. Have a look, and get caught up:

• Hormel buying Skippy from Unilever for $700 million—The Spam company will become the owner of the world's No. 2 peanut butter brand as a result.
• 'Fiscal Cliff' averted for now, Farm Bill extended—The future doesn't look as dire for the food safety industry now, but FDA and USDA cuts could still occur.
• Whole Foods tops 2012 retail stocks list—A list of stocks followed by Supermarket News put the grocery giant ahead of competitors with its supplier in second place for the year.
• Starbucks finalizes deal with Teavana—A few months in the making, Teavana is now a full fledged subsidiary of the Starbucks brand.
• MDP officially shuts its doors, leaving U.S. produce unchecked—The program shut down leaving many in the produce industry happy, but many concerned with the safety of our food dissapointed.

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