July 29, 2012 The Age Coles now has five home brands, including Coles Smart Buy. As the supermarket wars intensify, our consumption of private-label products is going through the roof. The stigma associated with ”home-brand” goods a decade ago is gone, along with the ugly black-and-white packaging in many instances. In the year to June 2008, private-label brands accounted for 13.5 per cent of total supermarket sales but that number is forecast to surge to 33 per cent by 2017-18, according to a new report by IBISWorld. Private labels at Coles and Woolies include: Heinz, Pace Farm, White Wings, Sorbent, McCain, Crisco, Leggos, Flora, Sunrice, Golden Circle, Edgell, Impulse, and Dairy Farmers. Source: Smart Investor Money. Prices in brackets are full-price. Prices taken on 25 July, 2012 from www.aldi.com.au, Woolworths and Coles online shopping websites. There are two reasons for our growing love affair with the supermarkets’ own brands. First…

John Thistleton July 30, 2012 The Canberra Times Small shops across Canberra say they’re being bullied by a major bread supplier, with one terminating more than 40 years of dealing with the baker. Ainslie IGA owner Manuel Xyrakis says Tip Top Bakeries, part of George Weston Foods Limited group of companies, is being unreasonable with trading terms and conditions. ‘‘I have kicked them out of our shop after trading with them for more than 40 years and other shops have also stopped trading with them.’’ Customers are being greeted with this sign in the bread section. Michael Hronopoulos of IGA Palmerston said Tip Top demanded to be his sole supplier in return for a discount, but as demand for multiple varieties grew, did not provide enough supply and left him with empty shelves. Mr Xyrakis said Tip Top withdrew discounts of between 10 and 15 per cent on products, which…

July 25, 2012 Institute of Food Technologists Corn prices have soared since late May as drought conditions in the U.S. Midwest fueled expectations of lower yields and tighter supplies, according to a report issued by BMO Capital Markets. “The production shortfall is making already-stretched supplies even tighter,” said Sam Miller, Managing Director and Group Head, Agriculture, BMO Harris Bank. “The states most heavily affected by the drought are Indiana, followed by Illinois, Missouri, and southern Wisconsin. If sustained, the surge in corn prices will raise production costs for many agricultural and food enterprises.” While the latest jump in crop prices is unlikely to cause overall inflation to run rampant, it will impart some upward pressure. According to Kenrick Jordan, Senior Economist for BMO, “Corn prices had begun to rise sharply well before the latest drought and heat wave, climbing from $3.75/bushel in the summer of 2010 to an average of $7.15…

25th July 2012 Institute of Food Technologists A study published in Chemosensory Perception shows that fats in food may activate certain regions of the brain, thereby influencing how flavors are perceived. The researchers aimed to determine how the brain responds to changes in the fat content of four different fruit emulsions participants tasted. The researchers used a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner to view the participants’ brain activity upon tasting the emulsions. All samples were of the same thickness and sweetness, but one contained flavor with no fat, while the others contained fat with different flavor release properties. The researchers discovered that when the non-fatty sample was tasted, the somatosensory cortices and the anterior, mid, and posterior insula, regions (that control perception of flavor) were significantly activated more than when the fatty emulsions were tasted, even though they had the same flavor perception. They noted, however, that increased activation in…

AAP July 31, 2012 OIL refiner Caltex Australia plans to raise $300 million through capital markets to help fund changes to its operations. Caltex said today it would issue subordinated notes, priced at $100 each, to retail and institutional investors to raise the funds. “The notes represent Caltex’s first retail targeted capital markets transaction since listing on the ASX, and provides investors with a new investment opportunity in Caltex,” chief financial officer Simon Hepworth said in a statement. The funds raised will be used to pay down existing debts, which would increase the company’s funding flexibility as it implements changes to its supply chain and marketing operations, Caltex said. The company last week announced it would close its Kurnell refinery in Sydney in the second half of 2014 as part of a supply chain restructure. Hundreds of jobs are to go from the Kurnell operation over the next two years

STEPHANIE CLIFFORD July 30, 2012 Ravi Raj, standing, of @WalmartLabs with Pankaj Risbood and Ken Turner examining social media data. Now, it uses Facebook. Visitors to the new Lay’s Facebook app are asked to suggest new flavors and click an “I’d Eat That” button to register their preferences. So far, the results show that a beer-battered onion-ring flavor is popular in California and Ohio, while a churros flavor is a hit in New York. “It’s a new way of getting consumer research,” said Ann Mukherjee, chief marketing officer of Frito-Lay North America. “We’re going to get a ton of new ideas.” While consumers may think of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare as places to post musings and interact with friends, companies like Wal-Mart and Samuel Adams are turning them into extensions of market research departments. And companies are just beginning to figure out how to use the…