Megan Schaltegger Sep 20, 2019 Delish  It’s already selling out!  Personally, I’m of the camp that we should keep classics classic, but Coca-Cola does not give a damn about my opinion, so they just keep on releasing weird variants of their iconic cola. This time, we’ve got an apple flavor.  According to snack news source @JunkFoodOnTheGo, the fruity new flavor has made its official debut in Asia (in Hong Kong and Japan, to be exact). And while I might not be dying to try it myself, everyone else apparently is. They’re reportedly “super difficult to track down” and already sold out all over.  “The Apple coke is quite light but the flavor is amazing. It tastes like a bit of apple juice is mixed in with the classic Coca-Cola formula,” the caption reads. “The flavor is not artificial at all which is great.”  Though the fruity new flavor hasn’t made…

BBC News Walmart has said it will no longer sell e-cigarettes in the US, amid mounting calls to ban the products entirely. The retailer said its decision was due to “uncertainty” about the rules governing e-cigarettes, which US health authorities have linked to more than 500 cases of lung injury. US President Donald Trump last week said the US would prohibit sales of all flavoured e-cigarettes. Two states – New York and Michigan – have already imposed such bans. On Friday a group of US senators called on health authorities to remove all pod and cartridge-based e-cigarettes from the market until it can be proven the products are safe. The crackdown has also spread overseas, where this week India said it would ban e-cigarettes. “Given the growing federal, state and local regulatory complexity and uncertainty regarding e-cigarettes, we plan to discontinue the sale of electronic nicotine delivery products at all…

Chris Stokel-Walker 21 September 2019Telegraph UK Follow  The recent headlines have been as stark as they have been relentless: vaping has now been linked to eight deaths in the United States, hundreds of cases of respiratory illness and scare stories of fatal vapes abound on both sides of the Atlantic. Certainly, the numbers of vapers are booming. In 2011, there were seven million worldwide, according to analysts Euromonitor International. By 2021, they’ll be 55 million. Worldwide, we spend more than £15.5 billion on vaping products, up from £5.5 billion five years ago. More than two new vaping shops a week opened on British high streets in the first half of this year, according to the Local Data Company. So, how worried should we be? “Very few things in life are entirely safe, but vaping is less risky than smoking,” says Dr Linda Bauld, deputy director of the UK Centre for Tobacco and…

Lara Walsh Elite daily  On the heels of Starbucks’ announcement that it will be opening its largest Reserve location ever on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile on Nov. 15, the coffee giant is revealing that it also plans to provide an alternate option for customers who want to streamline the process of getting their coffee. According to CNN Business, Starbucks is opening pickup-only stores in select locations in the future, and the new concept is mixing brick-and-mortar storefronts with the ease of mobile ordering. Here’s how it will reportedly work. Elite Daily reached out to Starbucks for comment on the reports, but did not hear back by the time of publication.  Per a Thursday, Sept. 19 story from CNN Business, the Seattle-based coffee corporation has begun work on a new model of Starbucks storefronts that appears to be going in the opposite direction of the Reserve Roastery locations that it’s been debuting…

Sue Mitchell Sep 9, 2019 AFR Sales of groceries such as toilet paper and nappies are falling in supermarkets as shoppers seek better value elsewhere or cut back consumption. According to research by IRI, sales of non-food groceries fell 0.7 per cent to $15.1 billion in the 12 months ended May while sales of packaged food rose 2.3 per cent to $47.9 billion, lifting the total packaged groceries sector more than 2 per cent to $73 billion. Woolworths and Coles have been adding non-food merchandise such as homewares and clothing to their shelves to boost margins and have expanded their range of health and beauty products to take market share from pharmacies and specialty retailers. But IRI’s latest industry insights report shows sales growth in non-food products has fallen well short of growth in packaged food, which outpaced non-food growth for 47 of the 52 weeks. Sales of general merchandise…

Matthew Perrone September 9, 2019 Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health authorities on Monday blasted vaping giant Juul for illegally pitching its electronic cigarettes as a safer alternative to smoking and ordered the company to stop making unproven claims for its products. The Food and Drug Administration also upped its scrutiny of a number of key aspects of Juul’s business, telling the company to turn over documents on its marketing, educational programs and nicotine formula. The FDA action increases the legal pressure on the nation’s best-selling vaping company, which has been besieged by scrutiny from state and federal officials since a recent surge in underage vaping. Federal law bans sales to those under 18. The FDA has been investigating Juul for months but had not previously taken action against the company. A Juul spokesman said the company is reviewing the FDA comments and “will fully cooperate.” In a sternly…