Have you ever thought that what you see is sometimes different from what you are really seeing?
The famous Arcimboldo's "Vegetables In A Bowl Or The Gardener" painting is a clear example ....
Aldi Nord-owned Trader Joe’s in the US is to open its first store in New Hampshire sometime next year, the Union Leader reports. The outlet will be located in Nashua, replacing an existing nearby store, just across the state border in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts. The new store will offer a range of alcoholic beverages while the existing outlet is not licensed to do so. Trader Joe’s currently operates 366 stores across the US. Sister company Aldi Süd is expected to open its first New Hampshire outlet in the coming months. The Aldi-bannered discount store is planned for Salem, on the border of Massachusetts.Source: Planet Retail
by Helena Bottemiller - Food Safety NewsFederal and state budget cuts are taking a measurable toll on the food safety system, according to a new analysis by the Trust for America's Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Economic slowdown and widening deficits have led to scaling back programs that respond to foodborne illness outbreaks, bioterrorism, and other incidents, and, unfortunately, disasters tend to not discriminate between good times and bad. The authors of the ninth annual report, Ready or Not? Protecting the Public from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism, are concerned the trend towards fiscal austerity is having a negative impact on public health.
"We're seeing a decade's worth of progress eroding in front of our eyes," said Jeff Levi, PhD, executive director of Trust for America's Health (TFAH). "Preparedness had been on an upward trajectory, but now some of the most elementary capabilities - including the ability to identify and contain outbreaks, provide vaccines and medications during emergencies, and treat people during mass traumas - are experiencing cuts in every state across the country."
Since 2008, just under 50,000 state and local public health department jobs have been lost to layoff and attrition, according to the most recent data released by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). NACCHO's July 2011 survey data also showed that between July 2010 and June 2011, more than half -- 55 percent -- of all local health departments reduced or eliminated at least one program. Emergency preparedness ranked second on the list of programs experiencing significant reductions.
According to NACCHO, the Bay County Health Department in Bay City, Michigan illustrates the tough position many health departments are in. The Bay County HD workforce is 20 percent smaller than it was when H1N1 broke out and 40 percent smaller than it was six years ago. Between 2010 and 2011 the HD's budget shrank 10 percent, and there are more cuts on the horizon.
Bay County Health Director Barbara MacGregor worries the county won't be prepared if a disaster or emergency situation strikes.
"We're prepared as best we can be, but you have to have human beings," said MacGregor. "You can have all the equipment you want in the world, but if you don't have the people on the ground doing the work, you're not going to be successful. With continued federal cuts to emergency preparedness and local health department funding in general, we are being set up to fail."
When it comes to food safety, the report warns that 24 states are at risk of losing Career Epidemiology Field Officers -- from Arizona to Maine to Florida. The report also lists weaknesses in biosurveillance as an ongoing gap in preparedness, an issue that has been raised by food safety experts for many years.
"There is no standardized, interoperable system using up-to-date technology," notes the report. "Currently, there are major differences in states' ability to collect and report data, which hampers bioterrorism and disease outbreak identification and control efforts."
The Food Safety Modernization Act was a positive step towards greater coordination and oversight, according to the report, but some state and local public health officials will be forced to balance fewer resources with the new responsibilities required under the law. Rebuilding a system based on prevention and better detection will take investments, and the report expresses concerns about properly funding the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to implement the measure.
Though the agency received a boost in the final appropriations bill for the next fiscal year --when most other agencies faced caps or cuts -- the report notes that future funding is uncertain and suggests creating a more stable source of funding for food safety, such as a registration fee for food facilities.
The report is meant to be a wakeup call to policymakers.
"During the anthrax attacks and Hurricane Katrina, we witnessed what happens when public health doesn't have the technology, resources, workforce or training needed to respond to emergencies," said James S. Marks, senior vice president and director of the Health Group of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "The old adage is that it's better to be safe than sorry. Unfortunately if we ignore preparedness now, we'll be sorry later when the next emergency strikes."
Source: Food Safety News
Discounters Aldi and Lidl have beaten many of their larger rivals to come close to topping an annual UK supermarket satisfaction survey, carried out by consumer association ‘Which?’ In its ‘Best and Worst Supermarkets’ report, Which? found that Aldi had overtaken mainstream retailer Marks & Spencer to take second place in its survey with a 72% positive rating, following only Waitrose.The 11,000 members of the Which? Connect online panel, who were surveyed in October 2011, judged that Aldi was one of the few retailers to improve on its 2010 performance, rating it strongly for its “value and special offers”.However, the German-owned discounter was also given a four star rating for the quality of its own-brand goods and fresh produce.Third-placed Lidl also improved on its rating from 2010, scoring 68%, although panelists judged that the gap had widened between the company and rival discounter Aldi.Despite this, Lidl was given four stars for its discounts and multibuys, while the quality of its fresh and own-brand produce also scored highly.Topping the chart was Waitrose, which achieved a satisfaction rating of 83%, scoring five stars for its fresh produce, own-brand food and its perceived support for local food producers. UK grocery retail market leader Tesco came joint bottom of the survey with the Co-operative, with a satisfaction rating of 46% and only two stars for its value and special offers. Tesco was also judged by panelists as being the retailer they were “least likely to associate with trustworthiness”.
Source: Fruitnet
Kraft Foods plans to introduce 70 products, including a Fresh Take line with six varieties of seasoned bread crumbs and cheese. Also new will be Kraft Sizzling Salads and refrigerated MilkBite Milk and Granola Bars. European products debuting in the U.S. include belVita Breakfast biscuits.
US discount retailer Family Dollar has announced the appointment of Paul White as Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer. White will report to Chief Operating Officer Michael Bloom. He previously held the role of Senior Vice President of Apparel, Home and Seasonal for the company, to which he was appointed in 2011.
Bloom said: "Through Paul's leadership and strategic vision, Family Dollar has created a compelling mix of discretionary merchandise which has led to a more fun place to shop for our customers. Paul's promotion will help us continue to broaden our appeal and deliver greater value to our customers."Source: Planet Retail
UK grocery retailer Morrisons plans to open hundreds of convenience M Local stores in upmarket areas over the next few years. The company is looking to attract wealthier consumers than those that typically visit its city centre or out of town stores. “They [convenient stores] are a format that we are looking to build on over the next couple of years and we will continue to keep you updated as we have further news,” said a spokesperson.Richard Hodgson, Morrisons Commercial Director, is understood to have told a Sunday newspaper: “We’re pursuing an aggressive space strategy and convenience stores is at the heart of this. We want to open several hundred in the next few years and continue growing our market share.”Source: Planet Retail
US regional retailer Bi-Lo is to acquire local peer Winn-Dixie Stores, in a deal that will create a company operating 690 stores across eight states.Bi-Lo has tabled a bid worth $9.50 a share for Winn-Dixie, which has recommended the offer to its shareholders. Winn-Dixie said the bid was a 75% premium on the price at which its shares closed on Friday.Bi-Lo chairman Randall Onstead said the retailer was "very excited" about the deal. It operates 207 supermarkets across four US states; Winn-Dixie has around 480 outlets in five states but Onstead said there was "no overlap" between the two retailers' operations."The combined company will have a perfect geographic fit that will create a stronger platform from which to provide our customers great products at a great value, while continuing to offer exceptional service," Onstead said.In August, Winn-Dixie reported annual losses of over $70m and a fall in sales. Chairman, CEO and president Peter Lynch said the deal was "in the best interest of our shareholders". He added the combination of Bi-Lo and Winn-Dixie would build a company "that is stronger than our individual businesses". Both banners will remain in place after the deal goes through.The acquisition is subject to the approval of Winn-Dixe shareholders but is expected to close within the next four months.
Walmart Stores in a strongly worded statement rebuked a report from the Manhattan Borough president’s office concluding that a Wal-Mart store in New York City would put dozens of other food stores out of business.“A new report from Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer that predicts that a Walmart in Harlem would hurt small businesses is nothing but a repackaging of a flawed Loyola University Chicago survey that tried unsuccessfully to make the same point,” the statement said. “In fact, one of the Chicago study’s authors was forced to conclude that his study contained no evidence of a net job loss in the Chicago neighborhood after Walmart moved in and admitted the company actually created jobs in Chicago.”Stringer’s report estimated that between 41 and 66 businesses selling food in a one-mile radius of a Wal-Mart store in New York’s Harlem neighborhood would go out of business within two years of the retailer’s opening, reducing access to fresh food and running counter to initiatives to bring more such stores to the city. With Walmart reportedly looking at sites for a new stores in the city, Stringer advocated that city officials “take measures to protect small-scale, fresh-food retailers and the residents who rely on these stores to help maintain their health.”Walmart defended its record in providing additional access to food in places like Chicago, and pointed out Stringer had previously supported the arrival of big-box rivals Target and Costco to New York. It said city residents were on pace to increase their spending at Wal-Mart stores outside of the city by 26% this year.Source: Supermarket News
A new study, described as the largest of its kind in the US fresh produce industry, has been unveiled by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), bringing together a number of organizations to back food safety standards in the leafy greens and tomato industries.The $9.4 million study, to last over three years, brings together the USDA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), seven universities – led by the University of Maryland – and the fresh produce industry, The Packer reported.A $5.4 million grant has been released by the USDA for the study, which is being supplemented by $4 million from tomato and lettuce-grower-shippers in the country.The goal of the project is to use science to provide practical food safety solutions across the leafy green and tomato supply chains, with University of Maryland's Robert Buchanan hoping that the study's findings will be used in the implementation of the National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement.Source: Fruitnet
Restaurant industry same-store sales remained flat in November, mainly because guest traffic tapered off from prior months, but operators remained bullish on sales outlooks for the next six months, according to the latest NRN-MillerPulse survey.The December survey found that industrywide same-store sales rose 2.5% in November, in line with the 2.5-percent increase in October. However, sales did slow slightly on a two-year basis, rising 5.3% in November versus a 6.3-percent increase in October.MillerPulse, an operator survey exclusive to Nation’s Restaurant News, polled around 70 restaurant operators in December regarding November sales, profit trends, performance and outlooks. Respondents cover all regions of the country and represent the quick-service, casual-dining, fine-dining and fast-casual segments. Those surveyed in December represented restaurants that booked about 17 percent of industry sales.Same-store sales for quick-service restaurants, which include both fast-food and fast-casual brands, increased 3.4% in November, compared with 3.6% in October, and sales for full-service restaurants, which include both fine-dining and casual-dining brands, remained consistent with a 1.6-percent increase in November, compared with a 1.4-percent uptick in the prior month.The modest same-store sales numbers are a reflection of a dip in guest traffic, which increased just 0.1 percent during the Thanksgiving month, compared with a 1.4-percent increase in October. The biggest concern was a traffic decline in the full-service category, said Larry Miller, restaurant securities analyst at RBC Capital Markets in Atlanta and creator of the monthly MillerPulse surveys and research.Source: Nation's Restaurant News
Aldi Nord-owned Trader Joe’s in the US is to open its first store in New Hampshire sometime next year, the Union Leader reports. The outlet will be located in Nashua, replacing an existing nearby store, just across the state border in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts. The new store will offer a range of alcoholic beverages while the existing outlet is not licensed to do so. Trader Joe’s currently operates 366 stores across the US. Sister company Aldi Süd is expected to open its first New Hampshire outlet in the coming months. The Aldi-bannered discount store is planned for Salem, on the border of Massachusetts.
