NACSonline 17 July 2012 The sandwich chain is printing saturated fat, sugar and sodium levels on its product labels. CHAPEL HILL, NC – While menu-labeling laws in New York and California have led to menu boards packed with calorie counts, sandwich chain Pret A Manger has begun adding far more detailed nutritional information, including saturated fat, sugar and sodium levels, to its product labels in stores and online, reports QSR.com. With stores in New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., the news source writes that Pret has included calorie counts on its labels for the past several years (even when not required to do so), but this new level of information is designed to provide greater transparency to consumers, according to Martin Bates, the company’s president of U.S. operations. “People are getting more discerning — and our customers are certainly getting more discerning — and they want to know more,” he…

BLAIR SPEEDY The Australian July 18, 2012 DEEP petrol discounts of up to 40c a litre are under threat, with the competition regulator launching an investigation into the fuel price wars estimated to save motorists about $400 million a year. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission is seeking detailed information from Coles and Woolworths about their popular “shopper-docket” schemes. In 2007, an ACCC petrol inquiry report found the schemes benefited consumers and promoted competition. However, it is understood the regulator is now concerned about the expansion of the schemes, which generally reward supermarket shoppers with a 4c a litre price reduction if they spend more than $30 in Coles or Woolworths supermarkets but increasingly feature discounts of up to 30c a litre. ACCC Petrol Commissioner Joe Dimasi in 2009 ruled that 40c-a-litre discounts offered by Coles and Woolworths for a three-day period were not anti-competitive, but the commission has received…

July 17, 2012 The Age Australians eat almost three times as much meat as the world average. It’s no wonder that Australia is the fifth-fattest nation on earth. A report released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows that many Australians are consuming too much food that is high in fat and sugar and not enough vegetables or wholegrain cereals. The report, Australia’s Food and Nutrition 2012, says that Australians exceed the world average consumption of alcohol, sweeteners, milk and animal fats. But Australian consumption of vegetables and cereal is below the world of average. The AIHW report said that 90 per cent of people aged 16 years and over failed to eat the recommended five serves of vegetables each day. Most adults didn’t eat enough fruit and adolescent girls failed to eat enough dairy foods or alternatives. People in remote areas had difficulty accessing a variety of…

Dan Oakes July 17, 2012 The Age AFTER 15 years of trading in the centre of Footscray, Grant Miles could no longer stand by and watch the havoc wrought by alcohol abuse and public drunkenness on the streets of the inner west. In a move that could cost him tens of thousands of dollars this year – but has been applauded by local police – Mr Miles has torn up his liquor licence and stopped selling alcohol at his discount grocery shop. Mr Miles, who owns Cheaper Buy Miles in the mall section of Nicholson Street and is the president of the Footscray Traders Association, said he could no longer sell alcohol with a clear conscience while it was causing such damage to the community. ”I feel that in some small way I might have been contributing to problems of alcohol abuse in Footscray and the surrounding areas,” he told…

Madeleine Heffernan July 17, 2012 The Age WOOLWORTHS and Coles say their private-label milk will become free of permeate, a watery waste product from the production of cheese. The shift follows a report by The Age revealing that milk from National Foods – home of popular milk brands Pura and Dairy Farmers, and supplier to both supermarkets – contained up to 16 per cent permeate. The report, released in April and citing internal documents, showed that almost $23,000 could be saved by adding 16 per cent permeate to the production of 350,000 litres of whole milk. Coles spokesman Jim Cooper said Coles’ private-label milk is already permeate-free in some parts of Australia. ”We’re working with our milk processors to make all Coles brand milk permeate-free in the coming months.” Woolworths has also confirmed it is in discussions with suppliers about shifting to permeate-free milk. More than half of Australia’s milk…

Kim Christian AAP July 16, 2012 PATTIES Foods hopes to post a seven per cent increase in full year profit as its Four’N Twenty pies sell well despite tough trading conditions and pressure from the major supermarket chains. The maker of other famous brands, such as Nannas and Herbert Adams, on Monday said its margins had come under pressure in the supermarket category as the popularity of private label products continued to grow. But Patties managing director Greg Bourke said the popularity of Four’N Twenty pies at football matches and new national distribution contracts at Brumbies and BP service stations had contributed to sales growth in fiscal 2012. “We sourced supply rights in most NRL and AFL stadia and our view the great Australian sporting event is having pie at the footy,” Mr Bourke said. “If consumers have a good experience at the footy, they’re more likely to buy some…