Grocery sector news updates

Shoppers at Morrisons will be encouraged to bring their own containers to take home fresh meat and fish as part of the supermarket’s new plan to tackle plastic pollution. By 2019, the retailer will also phase out the hard to…

Tesco is removing “Best before” dates from almost 70 lines of fruit and vegetables. Best before labels are a quality indication, showing products are no longer at their best but are still good to eat. “Use by” labels have to…

Food manufacturers have reduced sugar in the average shopping basket by 12% over the past five years, according to a new report from the Food and Drink Federation (FDF). The Feeding Change report sets out how reformulation efforts by FDF…

Edinburgh City Council has come under fire for joining the Meat-free Monday campaign. Edinburgh is the first local authority in Scotland to drop meat from its Council-run lunch menus every Monday, joining others across England and Northern Ireland, as well as…

A palm oil supplier to Mars, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever is destroying rainforests in Papua, Indonesia, according to Greenpeace International. Photos and videos taken in March and April 2018 show “massive deforestation” in PT MJR, a palm oil concession controlled…

Prices of some of the highest strength lagers, ciders and spirits are set to increase in Scotland when new minimum pricing legislation comes into effect next week. From 1 May, anyone with a licence to sell alcohol won’t be allowed…

Plastic packaging is failing to reduce food waste, and in some cases may be fueling it, according to research by Zero Waste Europe and Friends of the Earth Europe. The study showed that 37% of all food sold in the…

Sainsbury’s has formally withdrawn from the Good Chicken Award, which recognises companies that have committed to use higher welfare chicken. The move has raised concerns that animal welfare is “slipping down the agenda” in the UK. Sainsbury’s was amongst the…

The government has dropped its opposition to more stringent recycling targets and has suggested it may even go beyond EU targets once Britain leaves the EU. The U-turn comes after an investigation by the Guardian and Greenpeace’s Unearthed unit found…

Brexit must herald a “step change” in farming practice in which environmental standards are raised and food production better protects nature. The recommendations are in a new report published by the Green Alliance, which noted the “danger that the UK…