Skip of food waste delivered at various UK supermarket HQs

Netto Marken-Discount sells “ugly” German apples and carrots
Last week Netto Marken-Discount, the German supermarket, sold different looking apples and carrots. The taste and quality of the German products are fine but they didn’t meet the beauty ideals of the standard fruit and vegetable shelf. The supermarket started this sustainable initiative two years ago and repeats it often. This way the company wants to increase the appreciation for fresh fruit and vegetables.

UK: Stop the Rot: Skip of food waste arrives at supermarket HQs
A skip full of food waste has been delivered to various supermarket headquarters across the UK, as part of a new campaign supported by celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and environmentalist George Monbiot. The Stop the Rot campaign group brought the skip, along with a 190,000 strong petition, to the offices of Tesco and Sainsburys last week (26 November), with campaigners calling on the supermarket giants to commit to more ambitious food waste reduction targets of at least 30% by 2025. (edie.net)

Dia and Lidl are fastest growing FMCG retailers in Spain
Grupo DIA and Lidl are the fastest growing FMCG retailers in Spain this year, according to the report El sector de la Distribución en 2015 produced by Kantar Worldpanel. Grupo Dia, which includes the retailers Dia, El Árbol, La Plaza and Clarel, is the second biggest FMCG retailer in Spain. It achieved a market share of 8.7% between January and September 2015, an increase of 0.5 points from the same period in 2014. Lidl is the retailer that attracts more buyers, and increases 0.4 points its market share to 3.5%. Mercadona continues to dominate the Spanish FMCG landscape. It holds 22.9% of the market share and grows 0.2 points this year, up from 22.7% in the same period of 2014. Carrefour also grows 0.2 points, rising from 8.3% to 8.5%. Grupo Eroski is the only retail group to see a decline in its market share. It lost 0.1 points. (kantarworldpanel.com)


Source: Kantar Worldpanel

Celery E. coli Recall includes Walmart, Target, Albertons, Safeway and Starbucks
An E. coli outbreak that has sickened 19 people in seven states has been linked to tainted celery produced by Taylor Farms. So far, most of the E. coli illnesses have been linked to rotisserie chicken salad sold at Costco, but 71 products sold by other retailers have also been recalled. Retailers affected by the recall include Walmart, 7-Eleven, Target, Costco, King Soopers, Pantry, Savemart, Safeway, Vons, Albertons, Tony’s and Starbucks. The recalled products include deli salads, salad kits, sandwiches and wraps. (foodpoisoningbulletin.com)

AU: Metcash grocery earnings drop 23%
Supermarket wholesaler Metcash has lifted its first half profit by 20% despite a drop in food and grocery sales. Metcash, which suffered a $384 million loss in 2014/15, says its net profit rose to $122 million in the half year to October 31, from $101.7m a year earlier. The group, which supplies IGA, Foodland and Foodworks, said food and grocery earnings fell 22.9% to $91.9 million, while liquor and hardware earnings enjoyed solid gains. (news.com.au)

France: Carrefour reveals new banner
Carrefour is testing the Contact Marché banner on a number of former DIA stores in France. It is adapting its existing Contact format to have a greater focus on fresh produce, if necessary at the expense of grocery. (igd.com)

South-America: Cencosud Q3 revenues rise
Cencosud today announced its consolidated financial results for the third quarter of 2015. Revenues rose a modest 2% to 2.6 trillion CLP, impacted by the depreciation of the Colombian peso and the Brazilian real. (stockhouse.com)

Asia's largest Carrefour store opens in Beijing
French retailer Carrefour SA opened its largest store in Asia on Friday in Beijing to cash in on the growing demand for imported food from medium- and high-end consumers, amid testing times for international retailers in China. (chinadaily.com.cn)

Simply Italia opens first premium store in Milan
Italian supermarket chain Simply Italia (part of Auchan Group) has opened its first Simply City store in Milan. The supermarket in the city center (located in Vincenzo Monti Street) devotes considerable space to fresh produce. (esmmagazine.com)

Supermarkets across the UAE scale down in size
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Spain's fragmented supermarkets squeezed towards mergers
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