Jul 19, 2012 CSNews ROCKVILLE, Md. — Convenience stores account for 12 percent of all retail prepared food and ready-to-eat food sales, according to Prepared Foods and Ready-to-Eat Food at Retail, a new report from Packaged Facts. Despite selling about one-eighth of all prepared and ready-to-eat food at retail, c-stores trail Walmart, which accounts for 15 percent of sales, and supermarkets, which hold a dominant share at 60 percent of sales. According to Packaged Facts, c-stores are missing out on a golden opportunity. “Most convenience store foodservice platforms…still operate under the assumption that the people buying them do not want to put health concerns first,” the report stated. “…[T]his ignores the fact that millions of consumers do want to eat healthier fare — and many might appreciate a tasty but health option just at the point when impulse and efficiency directs them to a convenience store.” Overall, prepared food and…

Sarah Michael July 20, 2012 news.com.au PRICES of bread and chicken are set to go up in Australia as the US faces its worst drought in more than 50 years. Corn and soyabean prices surged to record highs overnight, with large agricultural regions of US declared “a disaster zone” after weeks of scorching temperatures and low rainfall. The rise in wheat prices – which have surged more than 50 per cent in five weeks – is the biggest worry for Australians, Profarmer senior commodities analyst Malcolm Bartholomaeus said. “Anything that uses flour will go up,” Mr Bartholomaeus said. “And the price of chicken is likely to go up because feed grain has gone up and [producers] are likely to pass those costs on.” The drought also spells bad news for any products made with corn or soyabeans, Mr Bartholomaeus said. He added that the price rises will hit products in…

Jessica Irvine July 20, 2012 The Age You are what you eat, they say. If so, Australians are shaped rather like a takeaway container filled with booze and meat, with nary a vegetable in sight. Two reports released this week highlight the dire state of the nation’s nutrition. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s report, Australia’s Food and Nutrition 2012, found 91 per cent of adults do not eat enough vegetables and only half eat enough fruit. One in five drinks alcohol at risky levels. Households spent an average of $237 a week on food and beverages in 2009-10. By far the biggest component of spending was on food prepared outside the home, at restaurants and takeaways, where the average outlay was $63 a week. In second place was spending on alcoholic drinks, $32 a week, followed by meat, fish and seafood, $30 a week. Australians spent just a…

NACSOnline Jul 19, 2012 Ikea has introduced a private-label beer at its U.K. stores — no assembly required. NEW YORK – Ikea recently launched a private-label beer at some of its stores in England, Geekosystem.com reports. ÖL Mörk Lager, emblazoned with the Ikea logo, is available for sale in stores only. The dark lager contains 4.7% alcohol and is sure to make those long nights fumbling with allen wrenches as one assembles bookcases and a stand for a flat-panel TV more palatable (if slightly more challenging). The beer has received somewhat favorable reviews: beer review site Untapped gave it an average rating of 3.46 rating out of five, based on 11 reviews.

Tim Colebatch July 20, 2012 The Age THE international legal campaign against Australia’s controversial plain cigarette packaging laws is spreading, with a third country joining in a formal challenge at the World Trade Organisation. The WTO announced overnight that the Dominican Republic, a leading cigar exporter, had joined Honduras and Ukraine in claiming that the plain packaging legislation breached Australia’s commitments under global trade rules. The case is shaping up to become the biggest trade dispute Australia has ever faced as a defendant. And while anti-smoking campaigners see it as driven by the big tobacco companies – Ukraine has not exported tobacco to Australia for years – it has the potential to overturn the anti-smoking law. The WTO was set up to spread free trade, and defendants rarely win cases before its disputes panels. In recent times WTO panels have ordered Australia to end export subsidies (the Howe Leather case),…