Quote, unquote: just-food's week in words

Newly appointed Tesco CEO Philip Clarke's first outing as head of the world's third largest retailer garnered the most attention this week. He said that he plans to be more open, and in that spirit suggested its UK operations "can do better". Meanwhile, Nestle acquired a stake in Chinese food and drink manufacturer Yinlu. Here's the best of what was said this week:

"The ones [customers] who use Fresh & Easy now really love it, but we just need more of them, and I can see quite a few things we can do to drive customer traffic" - Tesco CEO Philip Clarke on how the retailer is working to turnaround its troubled US division.

"A retailer that claims to be as close to its customers as Tesco claims to be should have gotten it right the first place" - Arden Partners Analyst Nick Bubb strikes a cynical tone over Tesco's understanding of the US market.

"It demonstrates our long-term investment in China and our commitment to further developing local brands. We are proud to build this partnership to bring healthy, affordable and tasty products to our consumers in China by combining Yinlu's entrepreneurship, product expertise and consumer understanding with Nestlé's innovation and renovation capabilities" - Nestle CEO Paul Bulcke on the company's acquisition of a controlling stake in Chinese manufacturer Yinlu.

"With a complementary product range in a market where Nestle needed to strengthen its positioning, this looks like a perfect fit" - Helvea AG analyst Andreas Von Arx on Nestle's acquisition of a controlling stake in Chinese manufacturer Yinlu.

"We focus on just five categories, ten power brands and ten priority markets. South Africa is a priority market for us, where we focus on power brands like Cadbury chocolate" - Kraft Foods president of developing markets Sanjay Khosla on the company's plans to ramp up investment in South Africa.

"Out-of-stocks average at around 8%, they only have to move that down by a couple of per cent, and that's worth a lot of money" - SymphonyIRI Group Technology Services business consultant John McGiffin describes how retailers could benefit from improving out-of-stocks.

"The Milan court's judgement confirms unequivocally that Citi and its employees did not have any involvement in the execution of the most significant fraudulent bankruptcy in Italy" - Citigroup celebrates an Italian court acquitting it of claims that it failed to take adequate steps to prevent Parmalat's fraudulent presentation of accounts that led to the group's collapse in 2003.

"The sector and the company offers great potential" - Rahul Raisurana, Standard Chartered Private Equity's managing director, on its investment into Bush Foods Overseas.

"This difficult decision has been driven by commercial reality" - Storck managing director Thomas Huber explains why the confectioner will be closing its UK operations and consolidating production in Germany.

"This fourth batch of opinions saw the high failure rate continuing not because 80% of claims currently made are false, but because 80% of claims made have failed to meet the criteria defined by the EFSA" - A European Federation of Associations of Health Product Manufacturers (EHPM) spokesperson calls for EFSA to rethink the health claims assesment proces.