In the next few years, Unilever has pledged a worldwide effort to reduce the salt content of almost its entire food portfolio, covering 22,000 products. Unilever’s aim is to reduce the salt content of its products by the end of 2010, with a further reduction likely by 2015. The Dutch-based conglomerate believes they are the first food company to set worldwide goals for salt reduction across its entire product range. The targets were announced overnight by Gaby Vreeken, Vice President Marketing... ...Read more »

Fonterra’s The Pastryhouse business will begin supplying premium pastries to McDonald’s McCafés across Australia and New Zealand this month as the fast-food giant looks to capture a greater slice of the market. The move is an extension on a 25-year relationship, which has seen them work together to create dairy-based products for McDonald’s in 30 markets worldwide. Currently, they supply McDonald’s with slice-on-slice cheese in 25 markets in the Asia Pacific Middle East and... ...Read more »

Trampoline, the Melbourne born gelato franchise, is in the middle of a month-long celebration of its fifth birthday, with the opening of its eighth store in Melbourne and the announcement of plans to launch interstate within the next year. Grant Crothers, co-founder and CEO of Trampoline and parent company – dairy manufacturer Burra Foods, believes the company is now ready to make the big step interstate after five years in which development has been consistently strong. “Trampoline’s... ...Read more »

WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) has recently begun a scoping project with the aim of enabling retailers and brands to use recycled polypropylene plastic in food packaging.Polypropylene is regularly recycled into industry plastics application (such as buckets and pallets) but, until now, recycling it into food grade packaging has not been possible. WRAP has commissioned Axion Consulting, in partnership with Greenstar WES, Fraunhofer IVV and Pira Consulting, to undertake the scoping study... ...Read more »

Coles boss Ian McLeod has today informed analysts of the rapid change taking place at Coles but remained cautious about the future despite announcing third quarter sales growth of 6 per cent – well above that recorded in the third quarter. Mr McLeod joined with Wesfarmers Chief Executive Richard Goyder to report what is now a prettier picture at Australia’s second largest supermarket chain, but both noted that there remained “a lot more to do”. “We have a business which... ...Read more »

PepsiCo has proposed to acquire all of the outstanding shares of common stock it does not already own in its two largest anchor bottlers, The Pepsi Bottling Group and PepsiAmericas, in a move that has surprised analysts. The offer, which represents a premium of 17.1 per cent over the closing price of each company on April 17, has been made to provide the world’s second largest non-alcoholic beverage group with greater control over distribution and to cut costs. The total value of the deals... ...Read more »

Sydney restaurant Tetsuya’s has again been named best restaurant in Australia at an awards ceremony in London overnight, where a list of the World’s Best 50 restaurants was announced. The renowned S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list celebrated its eighth year, with Spanish restaurant El Bulli* coming out on top for the fourth straight year. Once again London’s The Fat Duck came second, while Joel Robuchon won the Lifetime Achievement Award. A total of 4,185 votes... ...Read more »

Food security and the role of agriculture in the recovery from the global recession was high on Australia’s agenda for the G8+ Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting, the Federal Government has advised. The G8 – Canada, the US, France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Japan and Russia – extended invitations to Australia, the African Union, Argentina and Egypt, as well as the G5 nations of Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa for talks in Treviso, Italy. Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries... ...Read more »

The Coles turnaround continues to gather momentum, with their third quarter food and liquor sales up 7.6% to $5.3b. After an adjustment for the late Easter third quarter sales rose by 8.3%, with comparable store sales up 6.6%. Comparable store sales growth for the company over the first three quarters suggests real progress is being made. In the first they managed just 1.3 per cent, while in the second sales grew by 3.8% – both paling in comparison to the 6.6% Easter adjusted figure. More importantly,... ...Read more »

A global survey released last week has demonstrated that support for Fairtrade is on the rise. Ahead of World Fair Trade Day on 9 May, the survey on Fairtrade discovered that shoppers increasingly expect companies to be more accountable and fair in dealing with producers in developing countries. The survey by GlobeScan was commissioned by Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO) with 14,500 participants from 15 countries. Among those surveyed, almost three quarters of shoppers believe... ...Read more »