Fake honey, fake wine, fake cherries … if there’s one thing that shook the media in 2018 (strawberry crisis excluded), it was food fraud. So what is food fraud? Food fraud refers to the sale of an inferior product represented as a more valuable one. It might be substitution, dilution, tampering or misrepresentation of ingredients […]
Does your product barcode check out? Without a good quality, accurate and scannable barcode, you can’t sell your products, retailers can’t stock your products, and customers can’t buy your products. With many retailers becoming increasingly intolerant of products causing scanning errors, a problematic barcode could spell the end of a relationship. But that’s not all.Barcode […]
By Samantha Blake, Director, Industry Affairs, Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) * Australia’s FMCG market presents myriad challenges for both suppliers and retailers – geographic scale and distance, relatively high costs of transportation, population density, supply chain complexity, and the diverse and fast-evolving expectations of our customers. In this environment, standardised, retailer-agnostic supply chain […]
Ecommerce might be growing at an explosive rate, but there’s still a huge opportunity for brands to win over customers in physical stores this festive season. Your Christmas product packaging could hold the key. In 2017, Australian consumers were expected to spend more than $20 billion on grocery items over Christmas, with an increase of […]
Food contamination is a real risk. If there’s one lesson all food processors should take away from the past 12 months, it’s that you need to do whatever you can to safeguard product safety and quality. Strawberry farmers don’t have a choice. Following the infamous strawberry scandal, where sewing needles were found in strawberries in […]
“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” – Peter Drucker One of the most important quotes in business management couldn’t be more important for Australian manufacturers today. With the right metrics, you can understand what’s working in your production line, and what’s not. You can find weak spots and barriers to efficient production. […]
Choosing the right code is a basic way of ensuring your product gets to the right place, at the right time – especially for fresh produce, which has a shorter life-span than other food products. In Part 1, we looked at Australian labelling rules for fresh produce, including what is and isn’t mandatory, and what […]
Confused about labelling rules for fresh produce? What’s mandatory? What’s not? What do retailers want? Here’s what Australian fresh produce suppliers need to know. Farming and agriculture remain vitally important to Australia’s economy, contributing almost $50 billion a year to our bottom line. But times are changing. Consumers are increasingly interested in what they’re eating and are looking […]
In light of the current strawberry-confidence crisis, what options can packers look at to protect their produce and businesses? Just now there is a crisis of consumer confidence in the Australian strawberry market: there have been some 100 reported instances of needles or pins being found in strawberries in Queensland, NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and South […]
Have you noticed how recall notifications have soared recently? From listeria outbreaks to undeclared allergens and even faulty condoms, it seems barely a week goes by without Aussie news headlines warning about another major recall. Fact: Recalls are a risk for every manufacturer. Chances are the risk of a recall or withdrawal weighs on your mind […]