Greenpeace update their Canned Tuna Guide 16th Jul 2010 — Greenpeace's updated Canned Tuna Guide reveals which brands to buy, and which brands still source overfished species or use destructive fishing techniques. Since Greenpeace launched their first tuna ranking, Australian tuna brands have started to clean up their act. For the first time, Australians can buy a sustainable canned tuna brand – Fish4Ever. Aldi and IGA have introduced sustainable seafood policies. Tuna brands play a key role in the overfishing crisis by selling us unsustainable tuna.
[source]
Wilmar buys CSR Sugar 6th Jul 2010 — (AUST >> FOREIGN) Diversified conglomerate CSR Ltd has agreed to sell its sugar division, Sucrogen, to Singapore-based agribusiness Wilmar International Ltd for $1.75 billion. Wilmar is the world's largest palm oil trader. [source]
Metcash to buy Franklins supermarkets 1st Jul 2010 — (FOREIGN >> AUST) South African owned supermarket chain Franklins has been acquired by its wholesale supplier, Metcash Trading Ltd for $215 million. The sale is still pending approval from the ACCC.
Metcash will acquire 85 supermarkets (77 corporate outlets and supply to 8 franchises) with a view to selling them to independent IGA retailers. In the meantime, Metcash will operate the Franklins stores. [source]
Objections raised over free-range eggs plan 28th Jun 2010 — Changing the definition of free-range eggs and lifting the maximum number of hens in an area would put Australia behind the rest of the world, critics say.
Discussions between the Australian Egg Corporation and farmers could see the maximum number of hens per hectare increase from 1500 to up to 20,000. [source]
New navigation bar on www.ethical.org.au 28th Jun 2010 — We have made some changes our navigation bar. Check out our new Spread the Word and Household Action Challenge pages under GET INVOLVED, as well as our new improved News area, now with RSS. [source]
Internal News
New navigation bar on www.ethical.org.au 28th Jun 2010 — We have made some changes our navigation bar. Check out our new Spread the Word and Household Action Challenge pages under GET INVOLVED, as well as our new improved News area, now with RSS. [source]
Labelling survey - Take action 11th May 2010 — As part of the Ethical Consumer Group's submission for the Food Labelling Review, due on Friday 14th May, we have put together this quick survey to assess what are the important issues for you in making an informed choice about your food purchases. We hope to ascertain: 1) consumer concerns in relation to adequate labelling of food products, and 2) the usefulness of present labelling.
Please take a minute to fill in our survey. [source]
New online database now includes Alcohol and Office Supplies 16th Feb 2010 — We've also completed a major upgrade of our assessment data, and introduced a more detailed ratings system. [source]
The Shop Ethical! iPhone app is now available 12th Feb 2010 — For those of you with an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can now get the Guide as an app! You'll never forget to bring the Guide to the supermarket again. [source]
The 2010 Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping is now available 10th Feb 2010 — To help you navigate through the issues connected to your everyday purchases, we’ve not only updated company information, but also added a more detailed rating system, new blurbs, and two new categories — Alcohol and Office Supplies. [source]
Campaigns / Victories
Greenpeace update their Canned Tuna Guide 16th Jul 2010 — Greenpeace's updated Canned Tuna Guide reveals which brands to buy, and which brands still source overfished species or use destructive fishing techniques. Since Greenpeace launched their first tuna ranking, Australian tuna brands have started to clean up their act. For the first time, Australians can buy a sustainable canned tuna brand – Fish4Ever. Aldi and IGA have introduced sustainable seafood policies. Tuna brands play a key role in the overfishing crisis by selling us unsustainable tuna.
[source]
Unilever commits to sustainable sourcing of paper packaging 5th Jul 2010 — Unilever has committed to sourcing 75 per cent of its paper and board packaging from sustainably managed forests or from recycled material by 2015, rising to 100 per cent by 2020. Unilever is the first global FMCG company to commit to sourcing all of its paper and board packaging from sustainably managed forests or recycled material within a clearly defined timeframe. [source]
Nestle's palm oil pledge 17th May 2010 — Following a two month campaign by Greenpeace, Nestle, the biggest food and drink company in the world, announced it was committing to stop using products that come from rainforest destruction. The new policy commits Nestlé to identify and exclude companies from its supply chain that own or manage 'high risk plantations or farms linked to deforestation'. This would apply to notorious Sinar Mas, a palm oil and paper supplier that Greenpeace has repeatedly caught destroying the rainforest - if it fails to meet Nestlé's new criteria - and also have implications for Cargill, one of Nestlé's palm oil suppliers which purchases from Sinar Mas. [source]
Fairtrade Dairy Milk chocolate hits Australian shelves 8th Apr 2010 — In a huge milestone for the Fairtrade movement, Cadbury Dairy Milk milk chocolate is now Fairtrade Certified and starting to hit shelves across both Australia and New Zealand. However the new Fairtrade Dairy Milk will not contain only Fairtrade ingredients. Instead, Cadbury (owned by Kraft) purchases "an amount of Fairtrade Certified cocoa and sugar equivalent to that required to make the Cadbury Dairy Milk milk chocolate products carrying the Fairtrade Label". The end result for cocoa farmers in Ghana is the same either way. [source]
Greenpeace targets Nestle in palm oil campaign 17th Mar 2010 — Greenpeace launched a campaign in March 2010 asking Nestle to stop buying palm oil from Sinar Mas, who is trashing Indonesian rainforests, threatening the livelihoods of local people and pushing orang-utans towards extinction. [source]
Greenpeace release Canned Tuna Guide 5th Mar 2010 — The biggest selling seafood item in Australia is canned tuna. As supermarkets sell more and more of this profitable product, tuna stocks are in a critical condition. Supermarkets play a key role in the overfishing crisis by selling us overfished tuna. It's time they take responsibility. Greenpeace's Canned Tuna Guide exposes the supermarkets selling us overfished species or using destructive fishing techniques. [source]
Green & Black's to go Fairtrade in 2010 28th Jan 2010 — Green & Black's has announced plans to go Fairtrade Certified across most of its block chocolate and beverages range this year [more]. Soon after this announcement, Cadbury (who own Green & Black's) was bought by Kraft. It is unknown whether Kraft will continue with Cadbury's push to increase it's range of Fairtrade chocolate. [source]
Unilever palm oil victory 11th Dec 2009 — Unilever has altered it's palm oil supply chain after Greenpeace presented them with a new report on Sinar Mas, an Indonesian conglomerate with extensive interests in both the palm oil and pulp and paper sectors. . A Unilever spokesman said that the claims were ?too serious for us to ignore? and they have stopped buying palm oil from Sinar Mas. [source]
WWF Palm Oil Buyers Scorecard 2009 28th Oct 2009 — From lipstick to ice cream, and even some breads and biscuits, palm oil is used in a variety of products we purchase every day. But the true cost of palm oil is being paid in high-biodiversity tropical rainforests, which continue to be cleared for ever expanding oil palm plantations. WWF's Scorecard is an assessment of the palm oil purchasing practices of major European companies that produce and sell everyday consumer products. [source]
2010 Truefood Guide 28th Oct 2009 — Greenpeace Australia have released the new 2010 Truefood Guide. It includes even more food and beverage brands, as well as incorporating the alcoholic beverages edition we launched earlier this year. It also sees leading brands Nestl?, Foster's, Schweppes and Lindt shift to GE-free. [source]
Nestle boycott over Mugabe averted 4th Oct 2009 — The South African civil rights initiative, AfriForum, launched an international campaign calling on people to boycott all Nestl? products, unless Nestl? decided by 7 October 2009 to stop buying milk from Grace Mugabe ? wife of the Zimbabwean dictator, Robert Mugabe. From 4 October 2009, Nestl? stopped buying any milk from Grace Mugabe. [source]
Cadbury Dairy Milk to go Fairtrade in 2010 26th Aug 2009 — Cadbury?s plans to achieve Fairtrade certification on their Dairy Milk chocolate by Easter 2010. The UK confectioner, which launched Fairtrade Dairy Milk in Britain and Ireland earlier this year, advised that they would extend their commitment to Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Canada. [source]
Cadbury takes palm oil out 17th Aug 2009 — Consumers secured an important victory with Cadbury reversing its previous decision to put palm oil in its dairy milk chocolate. This will include all dairy milk chocolate made in Australia and New Zealand. [source]
Palm oil labelling campaign 16th Aug 2009 — Zoos Victoria has launched it's Don't Palm Us Off campaign, which is pushing for Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) to change legislation to have palm oil labelled on all food products. Sign the petition here to tell FSANZ that you want the choice! [source]
Greenpeace Ends Its "Kleercut" Campaign - Kimberley-Clark Boycott is over! 5th Aug 2009 — Kimberly-Clark, the largest tissue company in the world and maker of Kleenex and Huggies, has committed to sourcing 100% of the wood fiber for its products from environmentally responsible sources. By the end of 2011 Kimberly-Clark will no longer use any pulp cut from endangered forests; instead they will increase the company?s use of FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified pulp and recycled fiber globally. [source]
Bottled Water Alliance victories 9th Jul 2009 — The Bottled Water Alliance is an Australian campaign run by "Do Something", aimed at reducing bottled water use in Australia. Recent victories include:* NSW Government is to place a ban on all agencies and departments buying bottled water.* The NSW rural town, Bundanoon, has become Australia's first bottled water free town. [source]
Ownership Changes
Wilmar buys CSR Sugar 6th Jul 2010 — (AUST >> FOREIGN) Diversified conglomerate CSR Ltd has agreed to sell its sugar division, Sucrogen, to Singapore-based agribusiness Wilmar International Ltd for $1.75 billion. Wilmar is the world's largest palm oil trader. [source]
Metcash to buy Franklins supermarkets 1st Jul 2010 — (FOREIGN >> AUST) South African owned supermarket chain Franklins has been acquired by its wholesale supplier, Metcash Trading Ltd for $215 million. The sale is still pending approval from the ACCC.
Metcash will acquire 85 supermarkets (77 corporate outlets and supply to 8 franchises) with a view to selling them to independent IGA retailers. In the meantime, Metcash will operate the Franklins stores. [source]
7-Eleven acquires Mobil service stations 1st Jun 2010 — 7-Eleven Australia has agreed to acquire the retail fuels business of Mobil Oil Australia, comprising 295 company owned or leased service stations, bringing the total number of outlets to more than 650. Most of the Mobil sites will be converted into 7-Eleven stores by the end of 2011 [source]
Kraft buys Cadbury 3rd Feb 2010 — Kraft Foods (USA), the world's second largest food company, clinched a takeover deal for UK confectioner Cadbury, after winning support from shareholders representing 72 per cent of the chocolate company. In Jan 2010 the Cadbury board unanimously recommended that it's shareholders sell to Kraft after Kraft revised their offer. [source]
Kraft to buy Cadbury. Will they keep fair trade agreements? 20th Jan 2010 — The Cadbury board has unanimously recommended that it's shareholders sell to Kraft after Kraft revised their offer. Shareholders have until February 2 to accept the proposal. This has possible implications for Cadbury's plans to use Fairtrade cocoa in their Dairy Milk chocolate bars. [source]
Lion Nathan National Foods 28th Oct 2009 — Lion Nathan and National Foods were officially merged into one entity on 21 October 2009. The merged entity, Lion Nathan National Foods, is wholly owned by Japanese drinks giant Kirin Holdings. Meanwhile the outcry continues from Tasmanian farmers, who are being paid less than 21c for every litre of milk by National Foods, well below the cost of production of about 39c a litre. A Senate inquiry has been called.
Pfizer buys Wyeth 15th Oct 2009 — Pfizer Inc. acquired Wyeth in a US$68 billion deal. Wyeth is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer Inc., the world's largest research-based pharmaceutical company. Both companies are based in USA. [source]
Kirin buys Lion Nathan 18th Sep 2009 — (AUST >> FOREIGN) Japanese brewing giant Kirin bought the 54 per cent of Lion Nathan it didn't already own in a $3.4 billion deal. Lion Nathan is Australia's #2 brewer, after Fosters. Kirin recently bought National Foods and Dairy Farmers, and will combine them with Lion to create Lion Nathan National Foods Pty Ltd, which will be the largest supplier to Australian supermarkets. [source]
Baiada to buy Bartter/Steggles 1st Jul 2009 — The ACCC rejected the deal in Feb 09, but now the proposed takeover of chicken processor Bartter has been approved after Baiada announced they would be prepared to divest all assets currently owned by Bartter in Victoria to La Ionica Poultry. Bartter Enterprises (Steggles) is the second largest producer and marketer of chicken and turkey products in Australia. Inghams is the largest, with Baiada the third largest. Together, the three companies hold around 65 per cent of the Australian market. [source]
Woolworths buys Macro Wholefoods 13th May 2009 — Supermarket giant Woolworths will expand its Thomas Dux premium grocery chain by acquiring Melbourne organic grocery chain Macro Wholefoods. All 8 Macro stores in Victoria and NSW will be rebranded Thomas Dux. [source]
