BWG Foods, owners and operators of the SPAR Ireland symbol brand, donated nearly 20,000 bottles of water to the Inner City Homeless appeal recently. Inner City Homeless, a volunteer run non-profit organisation providing outreach support services & Advocacy to Dublin’s Homeless, issued an urgent appeal last week for water to help keep some of society’s most vulnerable hydrated during the current heat wave. SPAR Ireland responded by donating 10 pallets – nearly 20,000 bottles – via our charity partner FoodCloud.
The donation was collected by Inner City Homeless representatives last week and was immediately distributed to those most in need.
UK retailer Sainsbury’s has posted a marginal like-for-like sales increase of 0.2% in the first quarter of its financial year, with total retail sales (excluding fuel) rising by 0.8% for the period. The retailer, which is in the process of securing a merger with Asda, said that grocery sales grew by 0.5% for the quarter, with online groceries and convenience retailing up 7.3% and 3.6% respectively. Its general merchandise sales, embodied largely by the Argos chain, grew by 1.7%
The world's top food companies and farmers of crops such as beet sugar are pitted against each other as they lobby the U.S. government over plans to label genetically-engineered ingredients. Nestlé, the world's largest food maker, and rivals including Hershey Co and Unilever Plc want the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to include on the label ingredients from crops that were genetically modified such as canola and soybean oils and sugar from beet.
Asda, the British supermarket arm of Walmart, has said that chief financial officer Alex Russo is to leave the business and will be succeeded by Rob McWilliam, who has held the finance chief role before. Asda, which agreed in April to be taken over by rival Sainsbury's for £7.3 billion, said Russo would depart at the end of the month after four and a half years in the job.
Australia's biggest soft drink makers, including Coca-Cola and Pepsi, have pledged to cut industry-wide sugar use by a fifth over seven years to curb obesity. Australia has the fifth-highest rate of obesity in the developed world, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a health condition that can exacerbate problems from diabetes to heart disease. Beverage producers in Australia have already seen some consumers switch away from sugary drinks because of health concerns and they have pledged the reduction as authorities press for a sugar tax similar to one introduced in Britain in April.
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
