Confectionary manufacturer Wrigley has taken its new caffeine-added chewing gum, launched in the US in April 2013, off the market after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began an investigation into the safety of caffeine-added foods. Wrigley, which is a subsidiary of Mars Inc, said that it will temporarily stop sales and marketing of its ‘Alert’ caffeine-added gum after discussions with the FDA. Casey Keller, Wrigley President, said in a statement to US media that the Company made the... ...Read more »

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it will investigate the safety of caffeine in food products, particularly its effects on children and adolescents. The investigation is a response by the food safety authority to a growing trend in the US for caffeine-added food products, and the announcement came just weeks after confectionary company Wrigley’s began promoting a new chewing gum that contains caffeine. Launching the new caffeine-added gum, Alert Energy Caffeine Gum, in... ...Read more »

A leading UK convenience food manufacturer, Symington’s Ltd (Symington’s) has reached an agreement to license Unilever’s wet sauces portfolio in Australia and New Zealand. Symington’s will take on three brands from Unilever: Chicken Tonight, Raguletto and Five Brothers. Under the terms of the deal, the three brands will continue to be produced at Unilever’s factory in Tatura, Victoria. “Symington’s is delighted to have this opportunity to invest in and reintroduce Australian consumers... ...Read more »

Three information technology students from the University of Sydney have won the Microsoft Asian Cup with their BlueClover mobile phone app, which is designed to help diabetics manage their condition. The students have been invited to showcase the app at the annual Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank Forum held in Delhi, India in early May 2013. The meeting is a major forum for policy makers, key industry leaders and non-government organisations to discuss solutions to economic and development... ...Read more »

The proportion of consumers satisfied with German-owned Australian supermarket Aldi is once again comfortably higher than Australia’s other three major supermarket chains, according to market research organisation Roy Morgan Research. In November 2012, both Coles and Woolworths came within 1 per cent point of Aldi, making it the closest race in five years. But the latest results from the Roy Morgan Supermarket Satisfaction report show Aldi edging back toward the nine-out-of-ten mark, with 89.7... ...Read more »

Global market research organisation Nielsen has launched the first Australian ShopperLAB research facility, which has been installed in the Company’s Sydney head office. Nielsen said the lab, which will be announced this week at the Consumer 360 conference in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, will enable manufacturers and retailers to better understand shopping behaviour and test concepts through “observation, interviews, eye tracking and neuroscience”. Aimed primarily at marketers, category... ...Read more »

Australians are expected to spend almost $1.4 billion spoiling their mums this year, according to research from market research organisation IBISWorld. This figure is an increase of 2.7 per cent from 2012, and almost three times the amount Australian spend on Father’s Day. Positive consumer sentiment, increasing disposable incomes and low unemployment are all expected to contribute to more lavish spending on Australian mums this year, according to IBISWorld. Adult Australians are expected to spend... ...Read more »

Australian fruit cannery SPC Ardmona has called on the Australian government to put in place emergency tariffs on cheap imported fruit and tomatoes in an attempt to save the local industry. The Australian newspaper reported that SPC Ardmona Managing Director Peter Kelly had written to Australian Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig asking him to activate protection measures permitted under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules where a surge of imports causes or threatens to cause damage to a domestic injury. “The... ...Read more »

Drinking one 12 ounce (about 336ml) serving size of sugar-sweetened soft drink a day can be enough to increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 22 per cent, a new UK study has found. The risk increases by 22 per cent with each extra soft drink consumed. The research, published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes), found that the increased risk of diabetes among sugar-sweetened soft drink consumers in Europe is similar to that found in a recent... ...Read more »

Sales of bottled water will overtake carbonates as the leading global soft drinks category in the next two years, according to data from beverage market research company Canadean. Canadean said the global trend toward bottled water is being bolstered by its healthy image, as well as necessity in areas of the world that are lacking alternative safe water supplies. Asia The main driver behind the category re-positioning is coming from Asia, according to Canadean. Volume sales in Asia are predicted... ...Read more »