Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) has announced the launch of Capri-Sun Multivitamin Squash to the wholesale and convenience channel.
Consistent with the rest of the Capri-Sun portfolio, the new Multivitamin Squash range contains no artificial colours or flavours, or added sugar, and is enhanced with vitamins. Available now, Capri-Sun Multivitamin Squash comes in Orange and Apple & Blackcurrant variants in 1L packs made from 100% recycled and recyclable plastic (rPET).
The Apple & Blackcurrant variant contains vitamins B1, B3, B5, B6 and Biotin, which contribute to reduction of tiredness and fatigue, to the normal function of the immune and nervous systems, and to normal mental performance and psychological function. The Orange variant is also enhanced with vitamins B1, B3, B6 and Biotin, and contains Vitamin C support a healthy immune system.
As part of Capri-Sun’s multimillion-pound investment in the brand this year, the new range will benefit from a £3million above-the-line campaign, including a TV ad that will run across the summer on social media, broadcaster video on demand (BVOD) and VOD.
Simon Harrison, Vice President, Commercial Development at CCEP GB, said: “Squash is a large and growing segment within soft drinks, and as well as accounting for 25 per cent of drinks occasions among children, it appeals to adults too.
"Moving into Squash is a natural progression for Capri-Sun, and with research having revealed a purchase intention of 74% among GB consumers, we’re confident it’s going to be a success – especially as the rise in home-based consumption occasions means Squash is relevant to more people, more often.”
Majority of 1,200 crisps, nuts and popcorn snacks sold in stores contain such high levels of “hidden salt” that they fail to meet government’s criteria for healthier food, a new report has warned, raising alarm ahead of October 2025 advertising restrictions.
From October, there will be a pre-9pm television watershed on junk food adverts, as well as a blanket ban for online and social media ads.
The Action on Salt and Sugar research team, based at Queen Mary University of London, analysed sugar and salt in nuts, crisps and ready-to-eat popcorn on supermarket shelves.
According to the report released today (18) by the research group, one in three bags of ready-to-eat popcorn contain more salt than a packet of cheese and onion crisps.
Additionally, 77 per cent of crisps, 56 per cent of nuts and 88 per cent of popcorn would fall foul of healthy eating criteria.
The saltiest popcorn was Joe & Seph’s Sweet & Salty Popcorn, with 2.25g salt per 100g, higher than most crisps.
As well as often being too salty, 42 per cent of popcorn would also receive a red warning label for sugar content. The worst offender was Morrisons Market Street Toffee Flavour Popcorn with 59.1g of sugar per 100g.
Some crisps also continue to provide excessive levels of salt in our diets, with one in three products requiring a high (red) salt warning label on the front of the pack.
Among the worst offenders is Eat Real Lentil Chips Chilli & Lemon, which contains 3.6g of salt per 100g – a staggering amount that’s saltier than the concentration of seawater and exceeding the government’s salt target, states the report.
Meanwhile, plain nuts are naturally low in salt, but many flavoured varieties fail to meet healthier standards.
Nearly one in four flavoured nuts exceed salt targets, with Forest Feast Slow Roasted Colossal Cashews containing 2.60g of salt per 100g – more than double the government’s salt target, states the report.
Total sugar levels are just as concerning. Whitworths Shots Chocolate & Hazelnut packs an alarming 51g of total sugars per 100g10, meaning a small 25g serving contains over three teaspoons of sugars.
Whilst many snacks are high in salt and sugars, notably the data presents a wide variation in nutrition content demonstrating that, in many cases, it is unnecessary and they can be made with less salt.
The report adds that despite clear evidence that salt reduction is both achievable and necessary, only "eight companies have fully met the salt targets set for these snacks, with a further four achieving ≥95 per cent compliance".
Disappointingly, nine companies have failed to meet the targets in at least half their snacks portfolio, despite being given four years to succeed.
Sonia Pombo, Head of Impact and Research at Action on Salt, says, “It’s clear that voluntary efforts to improve food nutrition have largely fallen short. Yet this isn’t about feasibility as some companies have already shown that reformulation is possible.
"It's about time the government get tough with companies and implement mandatory targets with strong enforcement. Without this, the UK’s hidden salt and sugar crisis will persist, putting consumers at risk and leaving responsible brands at a disadvantage in an uneven marketplace.”
Dr Pauline Swift – Chair of Blood Pressure UK adds, “Reducing salt isn’t just a health recommendation – it’s a lifesaving necessity. Excess salt, often hidden in everyday foods, raises blood pressure, which is the leading cause of strokes, heart and kidney disease – all of which is completely avoidable.
"Without urgent action to cut both salt and sugar levels, we’re gambling with lives. The government must step up with enforceable targets to protect public health."
Philip Morris Limited (PML), the affiliate of Philip Morris International (PMI) in the UK and Ireland, is stepping-up its fight against the illicit trade with the appointment of Catherine Goger to the role of Illicit Trade Prevention Manager.
In this new role, Catherine is responsible for co-ordinating operations to tackle the sale of illicit products in the UK, continuing the company’s working relationships with local authorities and supporting PML’s Field Force and retail partners.
Since joining PMI in 2022, Catherine has led the Fraud Prevention Team at Philip Morris Japan. Prior to PML, Catherine’s career involved fighting money laundering and corruption across Latin America, Asia, and Europe. She also held senior positions at Ernst and Young, HSBC and Prudential. Her background in fighting illegal activity makes her well-equipped to understand how illicit operations impact legitimate retailers’ businesses and strategies to overcome them.
“I am passionate about fighting illicit trade, as I have seen first-hand the—often horrific—outcomes from these illegal activities,” said Goger. “Spending time out in the field joining test purchases with our undercover team, I was astounded by the brazenness of irresponsible retailers – with illicit tobacco products openly available. These retailers sell sub-standard products – some of which have been infested with vermin droppings and asbestos – often to under-aged consumers and vulnerable people. There needs to be more awareness of the illicit trade and the negative impact it has on both responsible retailers’ businesses and on public health.
“We stand by our retail partners, aiming to provide them with guidance and support in the fight against illicit trade. From tackling the trade at the local level – with educational campaigns and test-purchase operations – to building intelligence on a global scale with international organisations; we are taking meaningful steps to cracking down on illicit trade.”
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Bakkavor has declined a £1.14 billion takeover bid.
The UK’s largest fresh-prepared food manufacturer Bakkavor has turned down a £1.14 billion takeover bid from Irish rival Greencore.
Greencore, Britain’s biggest maker of convenience food-to-go, from sandwiches to quiche, has been stalking its rival sandwich-maker Bakkavor Group to create a dominant food-to-go supplier with around £4 billion in annual revenue.
Both companies mainly sell through stores as well as forecourts including Shell or BP petrol stations, so a merger would give the combined group much more pricing power against some of the world’s toughest corporate customers.
However, Bakkavor has rejected two bids from Greencore, the latest of which would have valued the food manufacturer at 1.14 billion pounds, the companies said on Friday (14).
Bakkavor said the offer significantly undervalued it.
Greencore, which operates in the UK and Ireland, has benefited from resilient demand for its pre-packaged sandwiches, chilled soups, and prepared meals, but it faces higher labour costs after the British government raised contributions from employers.
Greencore said its last proposal, made on March 7, provided a "highly compelling value creation opportunity" for both companies, with bigger scale and cashflows if merged, adding that it was evaluating "all strategic opportunities".
Bakkavor, which operates in Britain, China and the United States, reported 4 per cent revenue growth for 2024.
Under the latest proposal, Greencore shareholders would own about 59.8 per cent of the bigger group and Bakkavor investors would own the rest.
Greencore has until April 11 to make a firm offer for Bakkavor or walk away, under British takeover rules.
Meanwhile, the industry experts feel that last week’s eruption of hostilities between Greencore Group and Bakkavor Group suggests a return to normality on Britain’s high streets, following Sainsbury’s revelation that it is seeing a revival of the weekly shopping habit as working from home begins to fade.
The food-to-go market is reckoned to be back to only "85 per cent of pre-Covid capacity", and trade sources suggest it may take another two years to be fully restored.
Greencore has been grabbing new clients such as Asda, and put a positive gloss on opportunities such as other retailers closing cafés and in-store prepared food services in favour of Greencore’s menu.
As UK retail crime continues to accelerate, retailers must have the correct loss prevention solutions that deter theft, says an industry expert, citing a recent report highlighting rapid crime levels and its impact on the economy.
A recent report from the think tank Police Exchange revealed that rapid crime levels are costing the UK economy £250bn a year.
Highlights from the report state that mass shoplifting and other crimes are hitting businesses, the public sector and individuals, with an economic cost of £170bn a year, or 6.5 per cent of the gross domestic product.
Thieves continue to terrorise retail staff, snatching high-priced goods, including joints of meat, alcohol and baby powder, whilst throwing verbal abuse at those around them, with an influx of people sweeping items into bags.
According to Harrison Retail, thieves are deterred from sweeping products in-store with effective loss-prevention solutions.
Daryl Bedford, Manager Director at Harrison Retail, said, ”UK retail crime continues to accelerate, and retailers must have the correct loss prevention solutions to enable their customers to interact with products and deter theft.
"Loss prevention solutions such as gravity risers and shelf pusher systems stop thieves from sweeping products physically, forcing them to take a product one at a time.
“The primary cause of stock shrinkage for UK retailers is shoplifting. Retailers can deploy innovative fixtures and systems to limit thieves’ accessibility to high-value merchandise, deterring them from visiting stores and reducing stock loss.
"Limited shelf access with dispensers is the way forward for retailers in their fight against shoplifters. These are designed to limit access to products, meaning the customer can only retrieve a product through a small opening at the front of a shelving unit, preventing multiple products from being taken at once.“
Harrison Retail will offer a live demonstration of its loss prevention solutions at Retail Risk 2025. In the immersion zone at the show, Harrison will showcase its loss prevention solutions in a temporary mock-up shop.
The solutions on show will include Gravity Risers, FSDU Surrounds, Dispensers for chocolate, medicine and scent booster capsules and slow-moving Shelf Pusher systems.
“Amid the cost-of-living crisis in the UK, shoplifting has continued to worsen, and retailers must safeguard their stock and staff. Loss prevention solutions such as Gravity Risers could be the difference between a loss of £1,000 and £100.
"Blockers are enough to deter shoplifters from targeting retail stores due to the inability to sweep stock”, concluded Bedford.
Upcoming government legislation has been called the "nail in the coffin" for the hard-pressed convenience sector by Andrew Boff, a Conservative Londonwide Assembly Member, due to an ill-planned licensing scheme for tobacco, vapes and nicotine products which places retailers in financial and legal jeopardy.
Implementation of the scheme would impose on retailers up-front costs plus annual fees for accreditation, plus staff and security overheads in excess to those currently facing store-owners. Some fear such charges and costs could spell disaster for already struggling local neighbourhood shops.
With excessive taxes and underfunded enforcement leading to what is being described as an imminent collapse of the legal tobacco and vapes market (see our story, Black market tobacco boom axing legal tobacco sales), many now believe that the illicit market is set to eclipse the legal one, at the expense of conscientious, law-abiding c-store owners.
As far as enforcement is concerned, new research has uncovered the shocking fact that over 20 local authorities afflicted with the highest levels of illicit tobacco trading are the very ones that have made no or inadequate funding provisions to implement the new licencing scheme. This is an administrative incompetence that will not excuse the retailers from non-compliance, despite a lack of legal support from the places where they pay their business rates.
A total of 27 councils responded to a survey on the issue, with 92 per cent of them admitting they had not even started to prepare for the new licensing system, (which operates like alcohol licensing).
Just a single council was able to supply figures for their for alcohol licensing funding while none at all affirmed they had allotted a penny for applying the new tobacco and vape rules. Only seven respondents had any records to show what they had expended in tackling illicit tobacco in their catchments over the past five years, and eight of them (including boroughs such as Lambeth, Hammersmith & Fulham, the City of London, Waltham Forest, Bournemouth, Coventry, Wolverhampton, and Liverpool) said they were sure they had spent nothing at all on the problem.
The survey, consisting of a series of Freedom of Information requests, initially contacted 60 councils, of which less than half responded. Just three of them – Glasgow, Wolverhampton, and Camden – said they were undertaking any preparation for implementing the measures contained in the upcoming Tobacco and Vape Bill’s licencing regime.
The situation places retailers in the unenviable position of being forced to police all the points of supply to their shops without administrative support, leaving them liable for any accidental purchase of illicit goods that are flooding every part of the market: the number of cigarettes bought on the legal market fell by 45.5 per cent between 2021 and 2024.
Retailers will face fines and bans if illicit goods are discovered on their premises when, at the same time it will become increasingly difficult to be sure that they are buying legal goods.
In addition, they are liable if they do not possess the necessary licence to sell tobacco and vapes, and yet the machinery for obtaining one is inadequate and almost entirely unfunded – making retailers “low-hanging fruit” for enforcement agencies keen to show they are “tackling crime”.
The only perfectly safe option if obtaining a licence is impossible is for storeowners to cease the sale of products on whose revenue their businesses often depend.