Cargill has come up with a new flavor technology it calls Freshzone. The product's website appears to show a lab technician preparing a glass of Tang. The orange powder is actually one of two sample flavors prepared by the Minnetonka-based company. Cargill said the customizable powder is safer for manufacturers than liquid flavorings. It's nonflammable, and it maintains its flavor longer and more consistently than alternatives, it said.

For the second time in as many days, mechanical malfunctions aboard a Northwest Airlines plane prompted an emergency landing. The Associated Press reports that a pilot on a flight from Minneapolis to Chicago noticed gauges indicating a loss of pressure on board. The plane landed in Madison. No one was injured and the 115 stranded passengers were, like the day before, transported by bus to their destination.

SuperValu is blaming a slow economy and rising food and energy costs for a flat quarter. It rung up $13.3 billion in sales between April and June, the same as last year for that period. Grocery sales were down slightly, but it saw small growth from its supply chain services. Financial blogger Mark Krieger, writing at Seeking Alpha, said Monday that SuperValu still stacks up favorably, compared with its peers.

Imation is taking steps to "optimize" its magnetic tape business. And by "optimize," it means closing all but one plant and eliminating 140 jobs. The Oakdale company previously announced plans to close a Wahpeton, N.D., facility that makes the tape, which is similar to video or cassette tape but used to store data. Today, it said it will also close a California facility and consolidate the work at its remaining magnetic tape plant in Weatherford, Okla.

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