Vegetable news
The findings come from a study conducted among over 1,000 British children, aged six to ten years old
Six in ten of UK children have ‘no idea’ how the food they eat is grown, with one in ten (11%) reportedly not knowing that an apple grows on a tree.
The findings come from a study conducted among over 1,000 children, aged six to ten years old, and revealed confusion about the origins of strawberries, pineapples, grapes and watermelons.
The study follows a report by the BBC children’s news show, Newsround earlier this year which found that 52 in every 100 kids eats no veg, and 44 in every 100 children has no fruit on a daily basis.
The Fabulous Bakers conducted this latest piece of research to mark the launch of its new online film, which aims to educate and entertain children about how “fascinating and fabulous the natural world and its natural ingredients are.”
Percentage of UK children who don’t know how the fruit is grown:
Kent-based strawberry and pear farmer will be representing the interests of all growers in the south-east region
David Long has joined the NFU’s horticulture and potatoes board.
Long runs DG Long, a 1,500-acre family-owned farm near Rochester, Kent, producing pears and strawberries, among other crops.
Long has overseen an expansion of the business in the last decade which has focused on the planting of new pear orchards.
NFU horticulture adviser, Chris Hartfield, commented: “The NFU would like to congratulate David on his appointment to the national horticulture and potatoes board. We have no doubt that his experience in growing pears and strawberries will make his input invaluable to the challenges we face as a sector.
“As well as representing the interests of fruit growers, David will also be representing the interests of all growers in the south-east region.”
Premium retailer said food sales in Christmas week were up a record 17%, and like-for-like sales grew by 0.1%
Marks and Spencer’s food business grew like-for-like sales by 0.1% in the 13 weeks to 27 December.
Total food sales rose by 2.8%, while sales in the Christmas week were up 17%.
The premium retailer said it had seen “record Christmas sales” in food, which “strongly outperformed the market”.
Despite a strong performance in the category, total like-for-like UK sales for the company fell by 2.7%, after a terrible performance in its general merchandise division, which includes womenswear, and where like-for-like sales were down 5.8%.
“Our food business delivered another excellent quarter, significantly outperforming the market by around three percentage points,” said CEO Marc Bolland.
“We saw record sales over the festive period, up 17% in the key Christmas week. Customers once again turned to us for our highly differentiated food offer, combining the best of quality, seasonal speciality and convenience, all at competitive prices.
“We launched nearly 750 new products giving customers more choice than ever, with record results in turkeys, party food, desserts and deli,” he said.
Bolland said disruption at the company’s Castle Donington distribution centre “strongly impacted” .com and general merchandise performance in December.
And he said overall international business was “heavily impacted” by the worsening currency and economic issues across its Middle East and Russia franchise region, but the business had performed well in other key markets such as India.
M&S will report its fourth quarter trading results on 2 April 2015.
Family allowed to keep ‘Broc’ as family pet while retailer stresses broccoli is ‘thoroughly inspected’ at point of harvest
A family found a live gecko in a bag of Spanish broccoli they were preparing to cook over the Christmas period, the Daily Mirror has reported.
The Martin family, from Powys in Wales, said the vegetable had been kept in the shed for four days and four nights before being taken out for the Christmas meal.
Jolene Martin removed the plastic wrapping from the broccoli, before chopping it up and placing it in a pan, when she spotted the creature.
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “Our broccoli is thoroughly inspected and checked while it’s being harvested, however this gecko clearly had other ideas and we’re glad it’s found a new home.”
After contacting the RSPCA, the family were told they could keep the gecko, now christened ‘Broc’, as a family pet as it was “too difficult to send it back to Spain”, the Mirror reported.
Follows 2013 holidays, when Aldo, Lidl and Dunnes Stores were selling some produce items for as little as 5 cent a kilo
Ireland’s new Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has warned the nation’s Department of Agriculture against asking supermarkets not to engage in Christmas vegetable price wars.
The minister for agriculture, food and the marine, Simon Coveney, was questioned on the issue in the Dáil recently, and said Tom Hayes, the junior minister in his department, had been told by supermarkets they would not run promotional campaigns this Christmas.
Last year, the Irish Times reports, Aldi, Lidl and Dunnes Stores were selling some produce items, including onions, carrots, sprouts and potatoes, for as little as 5 cent a kilo.
The retailers claimed they were covering the cost of the promotion, but the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) said farmers were being forced to take the hit and staged multiple protests over Christmas week.
The National Consumer Agency merged with the Competition Authority this year to form the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.
According to the Irish Times, in a letter to the Department of Agriculture, Dr John Evans, head of competition enforcement, said he was aware of a response by Coveney to a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil’s Eamon O’Cúiv.
Coveney said Hayes “had been assured by the individual supermarkets that they would not run a promotional campaign for fruit and vegetables in the lead to Christmas 2014.”
The commission has also written to a number of supermarkets on the issue and, while the Department of Agriculture does not fall under its remit, Dr Evans said “any agreement or concerted practice whereby undertakings such as retailers coordinate their prices is one of the most serious forms of competition law infringements, which the commission has a statutory duty to investigate”.