Australians enjoy dirt cheap avocados amid record production
A record avocado crop in Australia has sent local markets prices down to just A$1 (US$0.77), just a couple of years after prices hit A$9 (US$7) in the summer of 2018. The eye-watering drop in price is due to a bumper crop – the result of good weather and new trees. Australia is home to three […]
U.S.: Lidl Builds Sustainable Presence by Listening to Customers
Today’s consumers are focused on produce purchases that fit their lifestyle and improve their health, but environmental sustainability is becoming an important buying factor too. And that’s something Retail Sustainability Award winner Lidl US is embracing in a big way. At a time when COVID-19, a related recession and a major lifestyle realignment have made consumers rethink […]
Retailer rescues 400 tonnes of British strawberries, puts them on sale in stores
A huge surplus of strawberries brought on by mixed weather conditions have ended up in Tesco stores. The UK retailer rescued 400 tonnes of the fruit and immediately put them on sale in supermarkets – £3 for one kilo boxes instead of the regular £2 for a 400g punnet. “Last week’s heatwave brought the strawberries […]
Total Produce, Dole get green light from European Commission
The European Commission has granted its clearance for the combination of Dole Food Company and Total Produce, moving the entities closer to creating the world’s largest fruit and vegetable company. Total Produce, which bought a 45 percent stake in dole for $300m in July 2018, reached the agreement with Castle & Cooke (C&C), which owns […]
New Initiatives in Southern Hemisphere Fresh Fruit
The Southern Hemisphere Association of Fresh Fruit Exporters (SHAFFE) was founded in the early 1990’s from the leading trade organisations from Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, South Africa and Uruguay. The idea was to form a common platform for exchange on the most crucial market access matters in Northern Hemisphere markets, including phytosanitary […]
Technology From Ocado, Others Drives Direct-to-Home Retail Deliveries, But Toronto’s Terminal Market Helps Independents Stay Competitive
Originally printed in the April 2021 issue of Produce Business. The Toronto marketplace is changing but what remains the same is the importance of fresh food and produce in particular at a time when health and wellbeing are of greater concern than ever. Under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, retailers of all dimensions, including the […]
Salmonella outbreak in UK, other countries tied to melons
Melons have been linked to a Salmonella outbreak that has affected 200 people in more than 10 countries. Patients have been reported in Denmark, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Canada and Switzerland. Illnesses started in late March, Food Safety News reports. Czech Republic and Spain have also recorded recent Salmonella […]
Consumer demand helps spark increase in organic land conversion
As shoppers are changing their habits toward embracing more organic food, so too are farmers across the UK, according to the latest Organic Statistics for 2020 report from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). There has been a more than 11% increase in the conversion of land to become certified organic – […]
