AFRICA'S NO.1 FOOD, BEVERAGE & MILLING INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

7 food companies featured in Times 100 most influential companies

Apr 30, 2021Apr 30, 2021 Editor

US – 7 food companies have been featured in TIME100 Most Influential Companies, a new list—and an expansion of Time Magazine’s iconic TIME100 franchise—that highlights businesses making an extraordinary impact around the world. In developing the list, TIME says it solicited nominations across sectors including health care, entertainment, transportation, technology and more from its global network of editors and correspondents, as well as from industry experts. The magazine then evaluated each one on key factors, including relevance, impact, innovation, leadership, ambition and success. Oatly, Beyon Meat, Tilray- food pioneers Oatly,…

Amazon introduces Aplenty private label line, opens third UK grocery store

Apr 19, 2021 Editor

US – American multinational technology company and e-commerce giant, Amazon has introduced its own private label line known as Aplenty featuring a number of products including crackers, condiments, grahams, cookies and pita chips. The e-commerce giant says that it’s new line have been formulated with clean label in mind and does not contain artificial flavors, synthetic colors or high-fructose corn syrup. The cracker varieties are available in white cheddar, cheese pizza, sweet cream butter and sriracha flavors. A second variety of flatbread crackers are available in everything, olive and sea…

Amazon says altering India’s e-commerce investment rules could erode investor confidence, hurt small businesses

Mar 28, 2021Mar 28, 2021 Editor

INDIA – E-commerce retail giant Amazon has called on the Indian government not to alter e-commerce investment rules as such a move could dent investor confidence in the sector and potentially have devastating consequences on suppliers and small businesses. Amazon calls come against a backdrop of disquiet among Indian retailers that foreign e-commerce giants like Amazon and Walmart backed flipkart were creating complex structures to bypass federal foreign investment rules and damage small traders. Both Flipkart and Amazon have denied any wrongdoing and say they are helping small businesses in…

India targets Amazon, Walmart with new Ecommerce laws as Tata seeks CCI approval to acquire BigBasket

Mar 14, 2021Mar 14, 2021 Editor

INDIA – India is targeting Amazon and Walmart with new laws that seek to clip their influence on India’s US$1 trillion retail market in an effort to protect and promote the growth of local startups. According to a report by Bloomberg, the new policy seeks to prescribe a code of conduct for online retailers and define the cross-border flow of user data and may raise costs and stymie expansion plans of these multinational retail behemoths. The new laws are seen as a reaction to complaints from India’s small retailers- which…

Amazon to open its first-ever physical store outside the United States in Britain

Mar 4, 2021Mar 4, 2021 Editor

UK – American e-commerce giant Amazon.com will open a cashier-less store dubbed “Amazon Fresh” in Britain that will allow consumers to skip the checkout line when they buy groceries from the store. Located in Britain, in the London Borough of Ealing, the establishment will be the first-ever physical store outside the United States. According to a report by Reuters, the opening is a sign of the Seattle-based company’s ambition to sell food globally. It is also testimony to the company’s belief that physical stores are a key way to capture…

Meat processor JBS to monitor its supply chain by 2025 over claims of Amazon deforestation

Sep 28, 2020Sep 28, 2020 Editor

BRAZIL – JBS, the world’s largest meat processing company, has announced that it will monitor its entire supply chain by 2025, to ensure the traceability of the tens of thousands of cattle it processes every day in Brazil, following intense pressure from both investors and activists over its environmental record. JBS has long faced criticism from non-governmental organisations for not doing enough to ensure that cattle coming from indirect suppliers, ranchers that provide animals to JBS’s direct suppliers, are not being raised on illegally deforested Amazonian lands. In July Nordea…

Amazon set to open tech-enable grocery stores with smart devices, Alexa guides in USA

Aug 28, 2020Aug 28, 2020 Editor

USA – Global retail and e-commerce giant, Amazon has announced it is set to open a supermarket with high tech shopping carts that allow customers to skip checkout lines. The first of the new tech-enable stores will be located in the Woodland Hills neighbourhood of Los Angeles. It will be the first store to open out of seven confirmed cites in southern California and greater Chicago, reports Foodbev. “We’re announcing our first Amazon Fresh grocery store. It’s a new grocery store designed to offer a seamless shopping experience whether customers are shopping in-store or online,”…

Amazon launches US$2bn climate venture investment program

Jun 24, 2020Jun 24, 2020 Editor

USA – Global retail and e-commerce giant, Amazon has launched ‘The Climate Pledge Fund’ to support the development of sustainable technologies and services that will enable the retailer and other companies to meet The Climate Pledge – a commitment to be net zero carbon by 2040. Amazon said that the dedicated venture investment program – with an initial US$2 billion in funding – will back visionary companies whose products and services will facilitate the transition to a zero-carbon economy. Last year, Amazon and Global Optimism co-founded The Climate Pledge, a…

Jeff Bezos donates US$100m to Feeding America’s COVID-19 Response Fund

Apr 3, 2020Apr 3, 2020 Editor

USA – Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of American multinational e-commerce giant, Amazon, has donated US$100 million to the Feeding America’s COVID-19 Response Fund to support food banks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Feeding America is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States with a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs and a capacity to provide meals to more than 40 million people each year. Bezos said that the US$100 million contribution will be distributed through the organization’s national network of food banks…

Cargill joins efforts with Imaflora to increase cocoa productivity in Brazil

Mar 20, 2020Mar 20, 2020 Editor

BRAZIL – Cargill has partnered with the non-profit organization, Imaflora to implement two projects to support cocoa producers in Pará, Brazil with an aim of increasing productivity and provide sustainable cocoa for the chocolate industry. According to the agribusiness company, the projects are also designed to simultaneously improve the well-being of farmers and promote adoption of environmental conservation actions and good agricultural practices. The projects are expected to help 150 families in São Felix do Xingu by restoring approximately 740 acres of degraded farmland while at the same time increasing…