"Supermarket Guru" Phil Lempert served as emcee of the bagging showdown at the Paris Las Vegas on Thursday afternoon, where baggers from around the country were rated on speed, bag-building technique, weight distribution between bags, style, attitude and appearance. Perry not only claims the "bagging rights," he also took home a $10,000 prize and the coveted "Golden Grocery Bag" trophy.

"I never thought bagging groceries could end up being this big of a deal," Perry said. He said he plans to buy new tires for his car and put the rest of the prize money toward his college tuition.

Perry beat out Danny Goodwin of Georgia, who claimed 2^nd place and a $5,000 prize. Other top finishers included: Andrew Hadlock representing Utah; David Williams of Kentucky; and the only female top finisher, Arcola Pointer from New York, all of whom took home $1,000 for their efforts. ConAgra Foods increased the prize pool for the winners in this year's competition.

Twenty three states were represented at this year's Best Bagger Championship, a group that N.G.A. President Frank DiPasquale says was representative of the collective spirit and work ethic of the baggers across the country.

"With this competition, we aim to celebrate the bagger and the Independent Grocer. Watching the baggers compete with such enthusiasm, year after year, continues to reaffirm their commitments to this industry," said DiPasquale.

N.G.A. is the national trade association representing the retail and wholesale grocers that comprise the independent sector of the food distribution industry. An independent retailer is a privately owned or controlled food retail company operating a variety of formats. Most independent operators are serviced by wholesale distributors, while others may be partially or fully self-distributing. Some are publicly traded but with controlling shares held by the family and others are employee owned. Independents are the true "entrepreneurs" of the grocery industry and dedicated to their customers, associates, and communities. N.G.A. members include retail and wholesale grocers, state grocers associations, as well as manufacturers and service suppliers. For more information about N.G.A. and the independent sector of the industry, see the N.G.A. website: www.NationalGrocers.org.

ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) is one of North America's leading food companies, with brands in 97 percent of America's households. Consumers find Banquet, Chef Boyardee, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt's, Marie Callender's, Orville Redenbacher's, PAM, Peter Pan, Reddi-wip and many ConAgra Foods brands in grocery, convenience, mass merchandise and club stores. ConAgra Foods also has a strong business-to-business presence, supplying potato, other vegetable, spice and grain products to a variety of well-known restaurants, foodservice operators and commercial customers. For more information, please visit the ConAgra Foods website at www.conagrafoods.com.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6177567&lang=en

SOURCE: ConAgra Foods, Inc.

Ketchum for ConAgra Foods
Maura Comerford, 716-725-9822
Maura.Comerford@Ketchum.com
www.conagrafoods.com
or
National Grocers Association
Christine Cunnick, 703-516-0700
CCunnick@NationalGrocers.org