A new government report has highlighted the extent to which Australia’s two major supermarket chains, Coles and Woolworths, are monopolising the retailing of food in Australia. The market position of each of these two major supermarket groups is so powerful that Australian food suppliers feel they are facing a duopsony despite the competition existing between the two supermarket groups. The report, titled ‘Foodmap: An analysis of the Australian food supply chain’, was launched on... ...Read more »

Kellogg’s have released a new product for Australian shelves, All-Bran Fibre Toppers, to be marketed as a convenient way to improve digestive health. Made with natural wheat bran, oat fibre and psyllium husks, the small buds can be spread onto any food item. The marketing claims include the product being high in fibre, low in fat, and rich in vitamins and minerals B1 and B2, niacin, folate, iron, magnesium and zinc. The product promotes digestive health through consumption of fibre. Half a cup... ...Read more »

Coles has announced that it will be the first Australian supermarket group to apply a sustainable seafood message to all fresh fish in stores giving customers an option of sustainability when shopping for seafood. The new Coles sustainability message will be introduced to fresh fish counters at the end of February 2012 and follows a year-long review of all Coles’ fresh fish by leading marine experts from World Wildlife Fund (WFF) – Australia. The WWF made nearly 300 assessments covering every... ...Read more »

KR Castlemaine has  launched a campaign for a pre-packaged ham product with the claim to be “natural”, using new technologies to become the “first Australian pre-packaged ham that is artificially preservative-free”. This new range of ham is said to be produced using cutting-edge High Pressure Pasteurisation (HPP) technology. The company claims that it “does not use heat”, thereby preserving texture and nutritional value for the product. HR Castlemaine also says  the new technology ... ...Read more »

Australia’s most talented chocolatiers and pastry chefs will descend on the Foodservice Expo on 27-29 May, 2012 at Moore Park, Sydney to compete for a spot in a prestigious World Chocolate Masters competition. The World Chocolate Masters, an initiative by Cacao Barry and Callebaut Chocolate, is the world’s premier culinary competition devoted solely to the art of chocolate. During the Australian Qualifier, the talented pastry chefs will go head-to-head as they create a range of chocolate masterpieces. The... ...Read more »

New Zealand based Cookie Time Limited (CTL) and Australian health-food giant Sanitarium have partnered in a major licensing deal to launch CTL’s new ‘breakthrough’ meal bar, ‘One Square Meal’, into the Australian market. The product features New Zealand’s famed manuka honey. The One Square Meal is described as “the total meal to go”, consisting of one-third of the recommended daily intake of energy, protein, carbohydrates, good fats and dietary fibre. The meal bar is presented in... ...Read more »

Nestle has created a new brand, “Maison Cailler” as the launching pad for a new form of direct marketing. The campaign will create a new marketing channel that bypasses conventional retailers. Consumers will register online to order a box of Maison Cailler, with five different testing flavors, such as milk, caramel, nut, fruit, vanilla and cocoa flavors. Consumers then use a profiling system where they “discover their chocolate personality” by sharing their preferences online with friends. Within... ...Read more »

One of Australia’s leading public health research bodies, The George Institute, has launched a new smartphone app which gives a Traffic Light rating based on the amount of total fat, saturated fat, sugars and sodium per 100 grams – green for ‘low’, amber for ‘medium’ and red for ‘high’. The new app, called ‘FoodSwitch’, is able to rate 20,000 packaged food products found in Australian supermarkets. The initiative is part of a new partnership with Bupa, one of Australia’s... ...Read more »

Food advertising network, Gourmet Ads, has issued its predictions of what the online advertising landscape has in store for those who are looking at advertising in the food sector.  Speaking from Australia and operating as a global business, Gourmet Ads’s founder and managing director Benjamin Christie has tipped the following trends: 1. Media Buying with Data In 2011, one of the buzz terms was DMP (data management platform). Christie  predicts that digital media buyers will seek out media-buying... ...Read more »

A free smartphone app, developed by the Western Australian State government agency Consumer Protection and called iShopWA, is now available for shoppers in the State of Western Australia to easily access information about their rights under the new Australian Consumer Law. WA’s Commerce Minister Simon O’Brien said this would be the first Christmas that West Australians have the protections of the new laws, and it was important that they knew their rights regarding refunds, warranties and lay-bys. “Many... ...Read more »