The Grocer – 17 August 2019

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Three variants are aimed at

‘time-poor’ consumers

Danone has expanded its

Actimel range with the

launch of new fruit & veg-

based cultured yoghurt

shots aimed at “time-

poor” consumers.

The shots come in

three variants: straw-

ber r y, blueber r y,

Actimel gets fruit &

veg yoghurt shots

blackberry, elderberry

& chai spices; mango,

orange, peach, manda-

rin, carrot & turmeric;

and apple, kiwi, pear,

cucumber, spinach, spir-

ulina & mint (all rsp:

£1.25/100g).

They were so -

launched into Ocado

along with Nisa, Spar

and other c -stores at the

end of July and will roll

out across the mults from

September.

Each shot contains

fewer than 50 calories

and includes l.casei cul-

tures as well as vitamins

D and B6.

Kevin White

Iceland has come bottom

of a league table of the

top 10 UK supermarkets

based on their actions to

help shoppers eat “less

and better” meat and to

reduce its impact on the

environment.

The ‘Meat us Halfway’

scorecard was published

by environmental cam-

paign group Feedback

this week. It looked at

factors including com-

mitments to zero defor-

estation from animal

feed supply chains, and

whether retailers had tar-

gets to reduce sales of

non-sustainable meat.

But despite its “head-

line-grabbing” move

to ban plastics in store

and high-pro le work

on palm oil, Iceland

Iceland ranked worst

UK supermarket in

sustainable meat table

achieved just 14% ag-

ainst Feedback’s list of

criteria.

The chain lost points

due to being one of just

two retailers with no

publicly available cor-

porate policy on sus-

tainable animal feed,

and for being the only

retailer not to have pub-

licly signed up to the

Cerrado Manifesto –

which supports a halt to

deforestation in Brazil’s

Cerrado savannah.

Meanwhile, its fresh

meat o er consisted of

products meeting “only

the regulatory minimum,

without any provision of

‘better’ meat, such as free

range”, said Feedback.

In response, Iceland

MD Richard Walker said

the retailer “rarely per-

formed well in ‘trawler’

surveys like this”, which

were based on “an exam-

ination of the public

statements on our web-

site rather than on direct

engagement with us”.

He added that while

he would “personally

love to sell only organic

and free-range food, his-

tory shows us this would

not be a ordable for our

customers”.

It achieved a score of 14%

against Feedback’s criteria

Waitrose small eggs: Waitrose is to sell smaller

than average eggs laid by young hens in a bid to

reduce food waste. The pullet eggs, about a third

of the size of those produced by older hens, will

go on sale later this month in 79 stores (rsp: £1.99/

pack of four). Waitrose said they were “ideal for

poaching”. Historically, pullet eggs have not been

widely available as they fall outside of size regula-

tions set by supermarkets.

Dairy campaign: AHDB and Dairy

UK have hailed the success of the

second year of its spoof public

information marketing cam-

paign. Research found that 11% more young par-

ents said they were certain to buy dairy products

than before the campaign launched. The study

also showed a success in ‘reducing the reducers’,

with an 8% fall in the number of people cutting

dairy consumption now or planning to in future.

Frubes & Star Wars: Squeezable

yoghurt brand Frubes has

announced a tie-in with Star

Wars ahead of the December

release of the next  lm in the franchise. The lim-

ited-edition tubes and boxes, which will be avail-

able from 26 August, will each resemble a

di erent coloured lightsaber.

SSPO hires chair: The Scottish

Salmon Producers Organisation

has appointed Atholl Duncan as

its new chair. Duncan was previ-

ously head of news and current a airs at BBC

Scotland and is a former executive director at the

Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.

He will be in post from September and replaces

Gilpin Bradley, the MD of Wester Ross Fisheries.

Brexit welfare concerns: The RSPCA has warned

farm welfare standards could collapse in the

event of a no-deal Brexit. Speaking in the same

week the American Farm Bureau reiterated calls

for the UK to accept US standards, the charity

said chlorinated chicken and hormone-fed beef

on supermarket shelves was “now much closer to

being a terrifying reality”. Instead of short-term

help for the farming industry to maintain markets

following a no-deal Brexit, the government “must

plan for long-term sustainability” and avoid low-

ering standards, insisted RSPCA head of public

a airs David Bowles.

Whitby boost: Whitby Seafoods

has seen a dramatic rise in sales

over the summer. An NPD push

and an expansion of its range in

Sainsbury’s and Asda helped the Yorkshire-based

supplier’s year-on-year value sales rise 45.3%, on

volumes up 41.3% [Kantar 4 w/e 16 June]. It has

released a whitebait product as well as three  sh-

cake SKUs while also reducing plastic in its pack-

aging by 40%.

fresh digest

This year’s extreme

weather is likely to lead

to brassica shortages

across the mults, growers

have warned.

Cauli ower and

sprouts, plus white and

red cabbages, were all

likely to be in short sup-

ply due to the weather,

leading to a “very con-

cerning” situation, said

the British Growers

Association this week.

It follows record rain-

fall, with as much as six

inches of rain falling a

week across key grow-

ing county Lincolnshire

during June.

Rainfall set to

cause brassica

shortages