Coles supermarkets have launched a new marketing campaign around Australia promoting low prices for domestic fresh fruit and vegetables. The Coles campaign takes advantage of a current glut in fresh produce around Australia. However the campaign also signals greater competition for the “fresh” descriptor crossing into the marketing cornerstone of its major competitor, Woolworths. Over the past decade, Woolworths has branded itself by the slogan “Woolworths – the Fresh Food people”. Hence,... ...Read more »

Queensland horticulture body Growcom, says it intends to assess opportunities for Australian fruit and vegetable growers to generate credits under the Australian Government’s Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) scheme. The scheme allows landowners to generate carbon credits, and ultimately income streams, by conducting projects that reduce emissions or sequester carbon in the environment. Growcom’s David Putland said the scheme involved around a set of ‘approved methodologies’ that determined... ...Read more »

The European Parliament has voted in favour of putting in place tighter legislation on the composition of fruit juices, ensuring companies stick to stricter labelling guidelines. Companies will no longer be able to add sugar and sweeteners to drinks labelled as “fruit juices” under the EU’s new labelling rules. It is already industry practice not to add sugar to juices, and that practice is now being written into law. The new legislation will apply to all juice products regardless of whether... ...Read more »

A University of Sydney survey has found that only 54 per cent of Australians aged between 18 and 24 know the recommended daily amounts of fruit and vegetables to eat each day. The survey of 106 university students aged 18 to 24 was published in the Dietitians Association of Australia’s journal, Nutrition and Dietetics. Many of the survey’s participants also did not know the correct serving sizes for three (grapes, carrots and lettuce) of the four foods tested in the study – although... ...Read more »

One of Australia’s main apple-growing districts, Batlow in southern New South Wales, has been declared a natural disaster area after a hail storm inflicted severe damage on apple orchards last week, destroying an estimated 60 per cent of next year’s Batlow crop. Batlow is located at the base of the Riverina Highlands, 450kms south-west of Sydney. Apples are a major crop in the State of NSW, with most grown in Batlow. They are grown from spring blossom and harvested from late summer through to... ...Read more »

The world’s largest coffee chain, Starbucks Coffee Company, announced today that it has bought American-based premium fruit juice company Evolution Fresh for US$30 million (A$29 million). Announcing the takeover deal today, Starbucks’ President Howard Schultz unveiled plans to establish a chain of juice bars. He said, “With Evolution Fresh, Starbucks will bring a unique, premium juice product to the marketplace, similar to what Starbucks did 40 years ago with coffee. “Not only are we able... ...Read more »

Summerfruit Australia, the peak industry body representing growers of stone fruits in Australia, has predicted a productive summer season for stonefruit growers this year. Chairman of Summerfruit Australia, Ian McAlister said conditions are as good as they could possibly be given the disruptions of last season. According to Mr McAlister, prospects for nectarines, peaches, plums and apricots this summer are positive with promising flowering and the moisture content in the soil at optimum levels. Last... ...Read more »

Scientists at the University of Birmingham, in the UK, have found that certain combinations of fruit and vegetable juice powder concentrates may help combat chronic gum disease when combined with conventional dental therapy. The results of their study, published today in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology, showed that taking a daily dose of capsules containing concentrated phytonutrients improved clinical outcomes for patients with chronic periodontitis (deep-seated gum disease) in the two months... ...Read more »

Almost half of Australian adults are failing to meet the recommended daily intake of vegetables due to ‘lack of convenience’, according to a survey by kitchenware brand Tefal. According to Tefal, the survey of 2,500 Australians revealed that 45 per cent of Australians failed to meet the recommended daily intake of five vegetable portions. Of these people, 39 per cent said that preparing and cooking vegetables wasn’t convenient as part of their busy lifestyle, and this was major impediment to... ...Read more »

An international team of scientists, led by researchers at McMaster and McGill universities, in Canada, has found that a diet containing plenty of fruit and raw vegetables could alter a gene that puts people at risk of heart disease. The researchers said the study involved analysing more than 27,000 individuals from five ethnicities – European, South Asian, Chinese, Latin American and Arab – and the affect that their diets had on the effect of the ‘9p21’ gene. The ‘9p21’ gene... ...Read more »