An eventful first week of 2012 saw Baxters Food Group’s chief executive handed a drink-driving ban, German retailers criticised over banana workers’ rights and Nestle move its UK head office.
“Wages are a particular problem, as they are insufficient to support a family” – Oxfam director of corporate social responsibility Franziska Humbert says the salaries received by banana workers in Ecuador supplying German retailers are too low.
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“Audrey Baxter fully accepts the judgement made today in court. She is extremely apologetic about her actions which were completely out of character and a complete misjudgement on her behalf” – UK soup maker Baxters Food Group says its chief executive apologises for drink driving, which landed her with a fine and a ban.
“Ultimately we have to respect the fact that Nestle are a footloose global company and can choose where they locate their business” – Miker Fisher, leader of the London borough of Croydon, reflects on Nestle’s decision to move its UK head office.
“Maintaining the momentum of our marketing activity and putting customer experience at the heart of every thing we do are key to delivering Morrisons’ ambitious plans for 2012. These moves ensure we have the right talent in the right places” – Morrisons commerical director Richard Hodgson reflects on the UK retailer’s latest executive appointments, including its third marketing director in a year.
“The performance is testament to Waitrose’s strategy of successfully balancing the price-quality equation which allows consumers to receive value on everyday products but trade up to premium products when they wish” – Neil Saunders, MD of retail analysis firm Conlumino, says Waitrose’s strategy works well at Christmas, a period when the UK retailer said its sales were “very strong”.
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By GlobalData“It is clear from the fact that the business went into administration that the current business model is not viable” – Young’s Seafood COO Pete Ward on the UK firm’s plan to cut jobs at new acquisition Cumbrian Seafoods.
“UK consumers could be eating eggs from illegal battery hens, and British egg producers will be seriously undermined, with the possible loss of thousands of jobs” – Andrew Parker, chairman of the British Egg Industry Council, says the failure of European egg producers to comply with the new ban on cage eggs could hit UK egg firms.
“From the lesson learnt from this incident, the group will reinforce its quality control procedures by closely monitoring products quality over each production process from raw milk collection to final products delivery to ensure product quality and food safety” – Chinese dairy processor Mengniu Dairy insists it will learn from the news that milk products it produced contained a cancer-causing chemical.
“We’re pleased with the FDA and CDC testing, which should reassure consumers, healthcare professionals and retailers everywhere about the safety and quality of our products” – Tim Brown, senior vice president and general manager for Mead Johnson’s North American operations, welcomes the news that US regulators have cleared the US infant formula maker’s products amid news that two children have died after consuming contaminated products.
“Despite a difficult economic environment in 2011, our food and drink sectors have exceeded all expectations and are now a huge success story” – Scottish rural affairs minister Richard Lochhead hails the country’s “record-breaking” food and drink exports in 2011.
