Survey finds more tinned food Continued over page...

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1 Survey finds Australians eating more tinned food Continued over page... brought to you by Innovation Fridge Keg a Winner Homegrown Unilever Supports Climate Action

2 cont. Survey finds Australians eating more tinned food An independent consumer survey by ratings agency Canstar Blue has revealed that one in five Australians surveyed have begun eating more tinned food to combat rises in the cost of fruit and vegetables. The results confirmed the length many Australians are going to in order to protect themselves against the rise in fruit and vegetable costs following the 2011 flood and cyclone disasters, said Canstar Blue manager Rebecca Logan. The results showed that New South Wales residents were most likely to eat more tinned food to save money, at 22 per cent of those surveyed, compared with only 10 per cent of ACT residents. The survey also found that the ALDI supermarket chain has established itself as a genuine alternative to the major players by beating Woolworths, Coles and IGA for overall customer satisfaction. ALDI has focused on introducing high quality brands to the Australian market at permanently low prices and it seems Australian consumers are jumping on board, voting ALDI number one not only for overall satisfaction but also for price, store layout and specials, Ms Logan said. It was also interesting that despite Coles reporting a large spike in online grocery sales last week, only 6 per cent of survey respondents have their groceries delivered to their home. Gen X respondents were most likely to have their groceries delivered at 10% compared with only 3% of Baby Boomers. The independent survey was undertaken in conjunction with professional market researchers Colmar Brunton. The outcomes reported are the results from those who had purchased groceries in the last six months within the survey group. The full Canstar Blue results are available at 02

3 INNOVATION NEWS Fridge Keg a Winner One of a number of metal packaging products showcased in May at Interpack in Germany by Ardagh Group was a 3.1-litre beer keg, as reported in The Canmaker. It is similar in design to the shaped five-litre kegs which have been used by high-profile customers like Heineken, but it is shorter to fit more easily into domestic refrigerators. The Heineken beer keg won Metal Pack of the Year at the 2010 UK Packaging News Awards in London. The five-litre party keg is an excellent way to serve draft beer at any time. The convenient tapping technology allows an easy and efficient no-drip method to serve a fresh beer. An increase in consumer demand for the convenience of draft beer when entertaining at home has made the beer keg a growing market. The beer kegs are light and 100 per cent recyclable. In Memory of Bruce Bell It s with sadness that we report Bruce Bell, Customer Relations Manager, Aerosols, Ardagh Group passed away at Westmead Hospital on Saturday 16 July following a number of ongoing health issues. Bruce had been in the industry for more than 40 years, and over that long period of time it is difficult not to have a positive impact on the industry and to make a lot of acquaintances, and more importantly, friends. To his work colleagues he was not only a mentor, but also a loveable larrikin who constantly provided comic relief. He was the master of one-liners and we re sure those who knew him can all quote a classic Bruce comment that will live with us forever. Bruce had a long relationship with Pax Australia. CEO Paul Curryer has provided the following tribute: In my 25 years in the business, Bruce was the standout for the best in customer relationship management of all people we do business with. He was highly regarded for his honesty, integrity, intellect and effort to serve his customers. I have known no one else in the industry to have the same standing of credibility as Bruce. It was indeed a pleasure and honour to have known and worked with Bruce, he will be missed by all his business colleagues and friends at Pax. 03

4 HOMEGROWN Recallnet Launched GS1 Australia, AFGC and ECRA have launched a national product recall service GS1 Recallnet to remove potentially harmful grocery, food, liquor and other products from the supply chain. The service was launched in Sydney by Catherine King, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health, with Maria Palazzolo, CEO of GS1 Australia and Kate Carnell, CEO of the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC). Food and consumer product organisations can use the service to reduce errors, decrease the amount of time it takes to respond to a recall and mitigate the costs associated with managing the recall process. Coles, Woolworths, Metcash and Costco as well as Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) have registered and are ready to receive notifications. Ms Palazzolo said the organisation was building consumer safety into the supply chain by extending GS1 Australia services to help industry manage product recalls and withdrawals. Ms Carnell welcomed the initiative, saying innovations such as Recallnet would enable Australian food and grocery manufacturers to stay at the forefront of global best practice. Product recalls pose a significant challenge to Australian manufacturers and this portal will enable them to manage recall notifications easily, ensuring the food safety of all Australians. Australia s food and grocery industry has an excellent food safety record and Recallnet provides a world-class tool for manufacturers to ensure we maintain this record, said Ms Carnell. GS1 Australia has worked with the AFGC, ECRA, the Liquor Merchants Association, Food Standards Australia New Zealand, the Food Service Association of Australia and leading Australian retailers and manufacturers to establish GS1 Recallnet, initially to be used by the Australian grocery and liquor sector. Global supply chain standards are foundational to effective product recall. GS1 global standards are used by millions of companies around the world to enhance the safety, security and efficiency of their supply chains, Ms Palazzolo said. Tracking of products through the supply chain into the hands of consumers has been identified by the ACCC as fundamental to improving recall effectiveness, and the use of GS1 Recallnet and GS1 Standards provides industry with this ability. 04

5 NEWS HOMEGROWN Unilever Supports Climate Action Upcoming Course on Food Processing CSIRO Food and Nutritional Sciences will be running an Approved Persons Course for Thermal Processing of Low-Acid Foods from October. The course, approved by AQIS, will provide participants with the necessary skills to design a safe and commercially viable thermal schedule for the processing of low-acid food products in hermetically sealed packaging. It will include four days of lectures in thermal processing, practical heat penetration work, process calculations, tutorials and preparation for exams. Two examinations will be given on the fifth day, which will cover theory and practical thermal calculations. Participants who successfully pass the examination will be authorised to submit new thermal process schedules for approval by AQIS. For more information contact Diana Castree, CSIRO, on (03) , or go to: Australian Food News reports that Unilever has released a statement encouraging political leaders to take ambitious steps to tackle climate change, while rejecting media suggestions that it will oppose the Federal Government s carbon tax. Climate change is likely to have a growing impact on our business and we are planning ahead and reshaping our business on the assumption that we will be operating in an environment where there is a price on carbon, said a release from the company. Media reports questioning our position on carbon pricing or suggesting that we will participate in a campaign against the government s carbon tax are misleading and false. We strongly encourage political leaders to take ambitious steps to tackle climate change, both in Australia and elsewhere. Our European business recently signed up to a declaration calling on the European Union to increase its climate ambition and move to a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent by 2020 from 1990 levels. Unilever said it supports action that provides industry with incentives to pursue lower carbon solutions, and that pricing carbon and emissions trading schemes have a role to play in doing this. 05