Consumer group CHOICE has recommended gift cards for both of Australia’s big two supermarkets over more specialised cards this Christmas, and gave top honours to Wesfarmers’ hardware chain, Bunnings. According to Choice, many gift cards offer limited and confusing options to recipients, commonly with time limits, which are often allowed to expire unused. CHOICE said that gift cards and vouchers had been the subject of numerous complaints to them over the years. “About $1.5 billion... ...Read more »

Parmalat today approved its third 2010 Interim Report on Operations, reporting a net increase in revenues of 9.5%, to 3117 million euros, citing strong performance in Australia and Canada, thanks in part to the consolidation of the Parmalat Food Products operations, including former National Foods asset FreshCo, acquired in July 2009. The company was also assisted by the devalued euro, compared to the strong currencies in many of its operating countries. While the result was positive, it wasn’t... ...Read more »

Women are much more likely to be persuaded to either eat healthily or undertake dangerous dieting by other women, rather than men, according to new research from The Australian National University. The research by PhD student Tegan Cruwys, released during National Psychology Week, found that both healthy and unhealthy messages delivered by men had little effect on the female participants. Additionally, she found that when a healthy eating message is delivered by someone women identify with, it was... ...Read more »

Food and personal care giant Unilever said it will increase prices on some of its products in a bid to recoup higher commodity costs. A spokesperson for the firm told just-food that globally, its prices will increase between now and the end of this calendar year, partly due to an increase in input costs. “For 2010 overall, we are expecting commodity cost inflation of about 2%,” the spokesperson said. “Every business within the consumer goods industry will be affected by these volatilities... ...Read more »

French dairy group Lactalis has submitted an offer for the entire share capital of Yoplait. The yoghurt and milk dessert maker is jointly owned by private-equity firm, PAI Partners and French co-operative dairy group, Sodiaal. In Australia, Yoplait is manufactured and marketed under license to National Foods. Last week, PAI Partners’ chairman and CEO, Lionel Zinsou, said his firm’s 50% stake in Yoplait would be put up for sale “in the coming days.” However, there is uncertainty... ...Read more »

DuPont and the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG) announced that they have extended their long-standing research collaboration and commitment to increasing productivity in leading production crops. DuPont business Pioneer Hi-Bred and ACPFG partnered in 2005 to discover and develop traits to increase drought tolerance and to decrease the need for soil-applied nitrogen fertilizer, as well as to grow overall crop yields in corn, soybeans, rice, wheat, canola, sorghum and barley.... ...Read more »

Today Australia’s peak farm body, the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF), elected Alexander ‘Jock’ Laurie as its 10th President, with outgoing President David Crombie stepping down after completing his full four-year term.Mr Laurie, 51, returns to farm representation after a year off, following his four years as President of the NSW Farmers’ Association (NSWFA), during which time he also served on the NFF Board, Members’ Council and as a Trustee of the Australian Farmers’... ...Read more »

Iconic Australian poultry brand Steggles enters the chilled chicken meat category with the launch of an exciting new product that will make entertaining easy – Steggles Entertainers. Steggles Entertainers offer a selection of tasty and convenient chicken serving options for the busy party season.With something for everyone, Steggles Entertainers contain oven roasted wings, premium crunchy chicken fingers, southern style chicken chunks and peri peri chicken strips. We all take our turn to entertain... ...Read more »

As summer heats up the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) is encouraging people to be cool about food safety in the wake of a new study that shows three out of four Kiwi fridges are not running at the recommended cool temperature range of 2-4°C to keep food safe.NZFSA microbiology principal advisor Roger Cook says keeping your fridge suitably cool is important because not only does it maintain the expected quality of the food but it helps prevent harmful foodborne bacteria from growing as... ...Read more »

Australia’s delectable array of high quality dairy products has allured prominent US dairy expert Dr Mark Johnson to judge Dairy Australia’s 2011 Australian Grand Dairy Awards (AGDA).Dr Johnson arrived in Australia this month to share his invaluable insight and expertise to help decide which products will be crowned ‘best of the best’ at the AGDA awards ceremony in February 2011. His international experience coincides perfectly with the theme for the 2011 awards, which celebrates... ...Read more »