South Australian pickles and preserves company Spring Gully Foods has experienced an massive turnaround in sales after the company’s financial struggles became public. Support from shoppers had boosted Spring Gully’s turnover to $1.5 million last week, in a turnaround that the company’s administrator has dubbed “extraordinary”.Managing director Kevin Webb made a heartfelt plea via the media for South Australians to support his company, a call that seems to have been successful. [source]
Speculation of a Mondelez / PepsiCo merger is in the news again with US billionaire Nelson Peltz acquiring stakes in both companies worth $2.7b. Peltz’s influence was key in the spinoff of Dr Pepper Snapple Group from Cadbury, Kraft’s purchase of Cadbury, and the subsequent breakup of Kraft into Mondelez and Kraft Foods Group Inc. He is also a board member at HJ Heinz, which just agreed to be bought by 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway. [source]
After a few teething problems with our online shop we have finally got all the wrinkles out of our postage calculations. Apologies to those who paid a little more postage than usual, and to anybody who was put off by excessive postage charges. Please come back – all is good now! Online shop
Oxfam’s new Behind the Brands Scorecard assesses the agricultural sourcing policies of the world’s 10 largest food and beverage companies. It exclusively focuses on publicly available information that relates to the policies of these companies on their sourcing of agricultural commodities from developing countries. Seven companies in our database now have shiny new criticisms, including General Mills, Kellogg’s and Mars.
Nestlé has become the first major chocolate manufacturer in Australia to source all the cocoa for its retail confectionery business from UTZ certified farms. This ensures the cocoa is sourced and produced sustainably on farms with safe working conditions [source]. However unlike Fairtrade certification, UTZ does not offer a minimum or guaranteed price, and the environmental standards of UTZ Certified are far weaker than those of either Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance [source].
After three years of research and countless requests, the Clothing edition of the Shop Ethical! Guide is here at last. Find out about the issues, the products and the companies behind the major fashion and clothing brands. Search our directory for buying organic, fair-trade, second-hand, vegan or locally sourced clothes and footwear. [source]
Global food giant, H. J. Heinz, has agreed to be bought by private equity firms Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital for $28bn. The deal is pending approval by the company’s shareholders. Heinz bought Golden Circle in 2008. [source]
Greenpeace has welcomed Asia Pulp & Paper’s new commitment to end deforestation in Indonesia’s rainforests. The announcement comes after a decade of public pressure from Indonesian and international NGOs. During this time many global companies including Adidas, Kraft, Mattel, Hasbro, Nestlé, and Unilever suspended contracts with APP and introduced policies removing deforestation from their supply chains. Greenpeace and other NGOs will continue to monitor APP’s progress. [source]
