Woolworths Ltd has sacked three executives from their fresh food buying team for breaching the company’s code of conduct.

Discover B2B Marketing That Performs

Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.

Find out more


The breaches are thought to relate to supply arrangements made with wholesalers at the Sydney Market, but this has yet to be confirmed.


“Woolworths recently investigated an alleged breach of the company’s code of conduct,” a Woolworths spokeswoman told The Australian.


“We have a zero-tolerance approach for any breach of policy and unfortunately had to make the difficult decision to terminate the employment of three staff members.”


The shake-up has seen the general manager of Woolworths’ gourmet grocer subsidiary Thomas Dux, Pat McEntee, move to the post of head of fresh food buying.

GlobalData Strategic Intelligence

US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?

Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.

By GlobalData

The news comes as the fight for the fresh food dollar intensifies with all the major supermarket chains in Australia highlighting their fresh food division as one of the key areas of improvement.


In results released over the past fortnight, Franklins, IGA, Woolworths and Coles have all indicated that fresh food sales had been a major driver of sales growth.


Australian Food News is Australia’s leading resource for the food industry, delivering daily news from the grocery, retail and hospitality sectors to 40,000 professionals each month. http://www.ausfoodnews.com.au/

Just Food Excellence Awards - Nominations Closed

Nominations are now closed for the Just Food Excellence Awards. A big thanks to all the organisations that entered – your response has been outstanding, showcasing exceptional innovation, leadership, and impact.

Excellence in Action
Winning five categories in the 2025 Just Food Excellence Awards, Centric Software is setting the pace for digital transformation in food and FMCG. Explore how its integrated PLM and PXM suite delivers faster launches, smarter compliance and data-driven growth for complex, multi-channel product portfolios.

Discover the Impact