Sampler Platter: Sprinkles sued, Surfas shutters website, Kraut Fest celebrates cabbage, Mario Batali in hot water [Updated]

Sprinkles is involved in another trade infringement conflict; San Francisco's got its own boom in fancy new food trucks; a celebration of cabbage; and fun food safety alerts in today's food news roundup.

-- Sprinkles, which plans to enter the retail ice cream market, is sued by a Philly fro-yo chain in yet  another trademark conflict. Philadelphia Inquirer
-- Surfas, one of L.A.'s premier culinary supply stores, is shutting its website. After Sept. 11, Surfasonline.com will be Culinarydistrict.com.
-- A police dog lost the trail of an armed robbery suspect because it smelled stolen meat hidden in another man's pants. MyFox Boston
-- Delicious Coma visits Kraut Fest 2009 at Machine Project.
-- A list of nouveau food trucks in San Francisco. Zagat
-- The more you drink, the more you exercise? Reuters
-- Who needs gasoline if you have old beer? MicroFueler makes ethanol out of organic waste. Los Angeles Times
-- Cadbury rejects Kraft Foods' surprise $16.7-billion takeover offer. Chicago Tribune
-- Gourmet Pigs visits Lousin's Arakadz Cuisine, a mom-and-pop Armenian restaurant in Pasadena.
-- FDA requires faster food-safety alerts. Wall Street Journal
-- Mario Batali owes nearly $75,000 in rent on his recently shuttered Chelsea seafood restaurant, the John Dory. New York Daily News

UPDATE: An earlier version of this story said Sprinkles cupcakes had sued Sprinkles Yogurt. It is the other way around.

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: Dave Inglis, right, a buyer and trainer of dogs used in police K9 units, stands next to a handler and his dog at a training facility in Santa Paula. Credit: Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times.