We delivered organic net sales growth of 8.1%, adjusted operating margin of 19.6%, and adjusted earnings per share of $0.81.
These results enabled us to reach our fiscal '21 net leverage ratio target of 3.6 times ahead of schedule.
Total Conagra retail sales grew 10.4% year over year with strong growth across each of our snacks, frozen, and staples portfolios.
Total Conagra household penetration grew 14 basis points versus a year, ago and our category share increased 26 basis points.
And you'll recall that we established a goal of having 15% of our annual retail sales come from products launched within the preceding three years.
As you can see on Slide 10, our innovation performance has continued to exceed our 15% goal.
The products we introduced in the first half of this year have achieved 37% more sales per UPC, and 28% more distribution points per UPC during the comparable time period.
1 branded new item in frozen indulgent single-serve meals.
Duncan Hines has delivered the top 3 highest velocity new items in the single-serve baking, and our modernized Hungry Man brand is outpacing category growth by more than two times.
1 position in the category, more than twice the category share of the closest branded competitor.
In addition to strong retail sales growth of 7.2% in quarter, Birdseye gained an impressive 261 basis points of share from Q1 to Q2.
Our basket of the total staples category grew retail sales by 12.7% in the second quarter.
Reported and organic net sales for the quarter were up 6.2% and 8.1%, respectively, versus the same period a year ago.
We continued our strong margin performance from Q1 as Q2 adjusted gross margin increased 139 basis points to 29.9%.
Adjusted operating margins increased 250 basis points to 19.6%.
Adjusted EBITDA increased 16.7% to $712 million in the quarter.
And our adjusted diluted earnings per share grew 28.6% to $0.81 for the second quarter.
Slide 23 breaks out the drivers of our 6.2% second-quarter net sales growth.
As you can see, the 8.1% increase in organic net sales was primarily driven by a 6.6% increase in volume related to the growth of at-home food consumption.
The strong organic net sales growth was partially offset by the impacts of foreign exchange and a 1.7% net decrease associated with divestitures.
The grocery and snack segment experienced strong organic net sales growth of 15.3% in the quarter.
Our refrigerated and frozen segment delivered organic net sales growth of 7.8%.
Quarterly organic net sales increased 9.1%.
This quarter, our food service segment reported a 21.4% organic net sales decline, primarily driven by a volume decrease of 25.3% due to less restaurant traffic as a result of COVID-19.
As you can see, in the second quarter, our adjusted operating margin increased 250 basis points to 19.6%.
Strong supply chain realized productivity, favorable price mix, cost synergies associated with Pinnacle Foods acquisition, and fixed cost leverage combined to drive 440 basis points in adjusted operating margin improvement more than offsetting the impact of cost of goods sold inflation and COVID-related costs in the quarter.
Collectively, these drivers resulted in a 139 basis point increase in our adjusted gross margin versus the same period a year ago.
A&P increased 4.7% on a dollar basis primarily due to increases in e-commerce marketing A&P was flat on a percentage-of-sales basis this quarter versus Q2 a year ago.
Finally, our adjusted SG&A rate was favorable by 110 basis points primarily as a result of fixed cost leverage on higher net sales, the Pinnacle cost synergies, and temporarily reduced spending as employees work from home and significantly reduce their travel.
As I just mentioned, operating margin expanded 250 basis points for the quarter well ahead of our expectations.
Of this 250 basis point expansion in operating margin this quarter, approximately 60 basis points reflects our ongoing progress toward achieving our fiscal '22 margin target of 18% to 19%.
We also saw an approximate 180 basis point margin benefit from price mix in the quarter primarily driven by mix, and to a lesser extent, favorable pricing in lower-trade merchandising.
Additional 10 basis points of net margin expansion came from favorable fixed cost leverage across the entire P&L and COVID-related SG&A benefits, mostly offset by COVID-related cost of goods sold.
We do not expect this net benefit to repeat next year.
EPS increased 28.6% to $0.81.
We captured an incremental $27 million in savings during the most recent quarter bringing total cumulative synergies to $246 million.
Since the close of the Pinnacle acquisition in the second quarter of fiscal '19 through the end of the second quarter fiscal '21, we have reduced total gross debt by $2.3 billion resulting in net debt of $9.2 billion.
We are pleased to report that at the end of the second quarter, we achieved our net leverage ratio target of 3.6 times, down from five times at the closing of the Pinnacle acquisition and 3.7 times at the end of the first quarter of fiscal '21.
We remain committed to solid investment-grade credit ratings as we continue to be opportunistic using our balance sheet to drive shareholder value such as our increased investment in capex and the recent 29% dividend increase.
For the third quarter, we expect organic net sales growth to be in the range of plus 6% to 8%.
We expect Q3 operating margin to be in the range of 16% to 16.5%, implying a year-over-year increase of 30 to 80 basis points.
Given these sales and margin factors along with expected improvement in below-the-line items, we expect to deliver third-quarter adjusted earnings per share in the range of $0.56 to $0.60.
We are selling the business for approximately $102 million and the expected annualized impact of the divestiture is a reduction of approximately $110 million of net sales and $0.03 of adjusted EPS.
Lastly, we are reaffirming all metrics of our fiscal '22 guidance which also excludes the impact of the pending sale of Peter Pan.

Summary:
We delivered organic net sales growth of 8.1%, adjusted operating margin of 19.6%, and adjusted earnings per share of $0.81.
And our adjusted diluted earnings per share grew 28.6% to $0.81 for the second quarter.
We do not expect this net benefit to repeat next year.
EPS increased 28.6% to $0.81.
For the third quarter, we expect organic net sales growth to be in the range of plus 6% to 8%.
Given these sales and margin factors along with expected improvement in below-the-line items, we expect to deliver third-quarter adjusted earnings per share in the range of $0.56 to $0.60.
Lastly, we are reaffirming all metrics of our fiscal '22 guidance which also excludes the impact of the pending sale of Peter Pan.