Advertisements for high fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) foods aimed at children now only make up a very small portion of all food and beverage advertisements on children’s television in Australia, according to new research released by the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) today. The study found just 2.4 per cent of all HFSS food and beverage adverts on children’s TV between March to May 2010 targeted children aged under the age of 12, according to data sourced from Commercial Monitors,... ...Read more »

2011 can be a profitable year for consumer packaged goods brands but they must learn from 2010′s successes and failures. Research by Datamonitor identifies these successes and failures and the key factors behind why 2010 was a bumper year for some brands and the end of the road for others. Mark Whalley, consumer analyst at the independent market analyst said: “2011 will be a difficult year for brand innovators, so they can’t afford to make errors and will need to identify exactly... ...Read more »

Germany-based discount grocery chain Aldi’s has opened its new outlet in Ambarvale, a suburb of south-western Sydney, Australia.The new store is situated in the Campbelltown area, which is already home to four Aldi stores. Plans for the opening of the new discount supermarket were approved by the Campbelltown Council in December 2010. The Aldi store will be part of the old Ambarvale Shopping Centre. Campbelltown Mayor Russell Matheson welcomed the opening of another Aldi supermarket in the... ...Read more »

Goodman Fielder, Australia’s largest food group, has announced yesterday (18 January) that CEO Peter Margin has resigned from the company.Shares in the breads and spreads producer fell almost 3% to A$1.31 a share at the close of trading today after the announcement that Margin would be leaving to “pursue the next stage of his career”. Chairman Max Ould said Margin had done an “outstanding job of leading the company” through its IPO in late 2005 and “establishing... ...Read more »

Kraft Foods has insisted it has “no current plans” to sell Green & Black’s amid rumours that bosses at the former Cadbury-owned organic chocolate maker are mulling a management buy-out. A report in The Financial Times had claimed that Green & Black’s management was struggling to retain an entrepreneurial spirit at the business, which Kraft acquired as part of its takeover of Cadbury a year ago. However, Michael Clarke, president of Kraft’s European operations,... ...Read more »

A study in the Medical Journal of Australia shows that blood folate levels have significantly improved since the introduction of mandatory fortification of bread flour with folic acid in 2009. The news has been welcomed by the Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing, Catherine King. “Since September 2009, Australian millers have added folic acid (a form of the B vitamin folate) to wheat flour for making bread,” King said. “I congratulate industry for the work they’ve done in implementing... ...Read more »

Food businesses around Australia have pitched in for relief efforts in the Queensland floods, offering donations, matching employee contributions, allowing customers to donate directly, and supplying food for those affected and volunteers. Supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths have both allowed customers to donate to flood charities at point of sale, with Coles raising $2.6 million and donating a further $1 million to the Premier’s Flood Relief Appeal, and Woolworths raising over $5.3 million... ...Read more »

Restaurants, supermarkets and manufacturers across Australia are picking up after flood damage this week, assessing damage and beginning the cleanup. Dairy giant Murray Goulburn’s Rochester milk processing plant, which manufactures mainly cheese and milk powders, was flooded on Friday, with the site remaining closed and milk now being transported to Murray Goulburn Cobram and other locations for processing. A number of Coles and Woolworths supermarkets were flooded, with 8 Coles stores in the... ...Read more »

The management running UK-based premium organic chocolate maker Green & Black’s is reportedly considering buying the business from parent company Kraft Foods. A report in The Financial Times said bosses at Green & Black’s, which Kraft acquired as part of its acquisition of Cadbury last year, are looking at possible plans for a management buy-out. The FT cited sources familiar with Green & Black’s that claimed the chocolate maker’s management were struggling to... ...Read more »

Eating blueberries can guard against high blood pressure, according to new research by the University of East Anglia (UEA) and Harvard University. High blood pressure, or hypertension, is one of the major cardiovascular diseases worldwide. It leads to stroke and heart disease and costs more than $300 billion each year. Around a quarter of the adult population is affected globally, including 10 million people in the UK, over 2 million Australians and one in three adults in the United States. Published... ...Read more »