Diet habits of Britons have changed for the healthier and more plant-based food choices become more popular, research reveals, saying most people’s inclination towards products that are healthier, vegan, and more sustainable.
According to research conducted by Toluna, 49 percent of respondents said they want to consume food and drink products that are healthier, vegan, and more sustainable.
Toluna asked 1,160 adults about their food choices and preferences and found that 50 percent of consumers have started or continued to reduce their meat intake.
Furthermore, the proportion of meat-eaters has reduced from 83 percent to 78 percent since 2019, and 76 percent of respondents have bought a plant-based alternative food, a 12 percent increase since 2019.
One in 14 said they were planning to continue or go vegan while 12 percent said the same for vegetarianism.
The survey further adds that over half (57 percent) f the respondents felt that plant-based products were healthier while 10 percent thought they were unhealthy, saying they are highly processed, lack nutrients and contain higher additives. The remaining 33 percent of consumers were unsure.
“With healthier, plant-based food and drink products an increasingly popular choice among consumers, there’s a clear opportunity for food and drink brands to be more innovative with the products they’re offering to consumers in order to make them switch brands and try a new alternative,” Toluna research director Magda Jablkowska-Citko said.
Independent retailers have weathered one of their most challenging years in 2024, with multiple headwinds affecting the sector, according to the British Independent Retailers Association (Bira).
With pressures mounting throughout the year, independent retailers have faced an increasingly difficult trading environment marked by changing consumer behaviour and economic uncertainties.
"2024 has presented unprecedented challenges for independent retailers,” said Andrew Goodacre, CEO of Bira. “Consumer spending on non-food items has declined significantly, while persistent footfall problems and fragile consumer confidence have impacted high streets nationwide. Despite inflation coming under control, interest rates are falling slowly, affecting both business and consumer spending."
"The retail landscape has become increasingly competitive, with large chains implementing deeper and longer discount periods. The rise of ultra-fast fashion retailers like Shein and Temu has created additional pressure on margins, whilst deflation on non-food items has further squeezed profits," he added.
The sector has also grappled with retail crime, with Bira's latest survey showing 78.79 per cent of businesses reporting increased frequency or severity of theft incidents.
Research from PwC earlier this year also highlighted the scale of the challenge, with 6,945 outlets shutting – equating to 38 store closures per day, up from 36 per day in 2023. The figure outnumbered the rate of new store openings, which rose modestly to 4,661, averaging 25 openings each day.
Mr Goodacre said: "The key difficulties independent retailers are grappling with include low consumer demand, as consumer confidence remains fragile and shoppers are highly value-focused. Independent shops struggle to compete on price as large chains are able to discount more deeply and for longer periods."
Looking ahead to 2025, retailers face new challenges. He added: "Medium-sized retailers will see a significant increase in employment costs, while thousands of smaller retailers will be hit with higher business rates as relief drops from 75per cent to 40 per cent."
However, Mr Goodacre said he sees reasons for optimism and added: "We expect 2025 to bring some positive changes. Wages are set to rise faster than inflation, which should boost consumer spending. Both inflation and interest rates should continue to fall, helping to rebuild consumer confidence."
"The circular economy presents a growing opportunity for independent retailers, and with economic growth set to improve, we anticipate better trading conditions. While challenges remain, independent retailers who stay adaptable and resilient will find opportunities in the year ahead."
Nestlé Waters is facing a potential halt to its production of the iconic Perrier mineral water in southern France due to health risks, French media reported.
A confidential report published by French newspaper Le Monde and Radio France revealed that health authorities are recommending a production stoppage due to concerns over the sanitary quality of the water source.
Le Monde said the sparkling water brand, obtained at its source in Vergèze in the Gard prefecture, is under threat of losing its natural mineral water label, noting that “a confidential report from the Occitanie regional health agency leaves little room for any other outcome” and that the “blow could be fatal for Perrier”.
The report, citing an inspection conducted at the Perrier bottling plant in Vergèze, highlights the “regularly degraded sanitary quality” of the water catchment areas. Specifically, the report points to a “virological risk” associated with the water source.
In response to the findings, the regional health agency (ARS) has “invited” Nestlé Waters to “strategically consider another possible food use for the current mineral water catchments,” contingent upon the provision of “additional health safety guarantees.”
Nestlé Waters has not yet issued a formal statement regarding the potential production stoppage. However, the company has previously acknowledged contamination issues at the Vergèze site. In April this year, authorities ordered the destruction of millions of Perrier bottles due to “fecal” contamination detected in one of the water sources.
“Presented at the time by Nestlé and the prefecture as a one-off event linked to intense rainfall, this situation was in fact the consequence of a general deterioration in the quality of the groundwater exploited by Nestlé at Vergèze,” said Le Monde.
The future of the brand and its production site in Vergèze will be decided by the Gard prefecture, which must rule on Nestlé’s application in October 2023 to renew the operating permit for the ‘Perrier spring’. The prefecture told the paper that the decision could be made in the “first half of 2025” after receipt of an “opinion by approved public health hydrogeologists”, in addition to the ARS report.
Earlier in September, Nestlé Waters has agreed to pay €2 million (£1.7m) to close French probes over illegal wells and treatment of mineral water.
The deal ends preliminary probes into the use of wells without authorisation and fraud for filtering its mineral waters - a practice that is illegal in France where mineral waters are supposed to be natural.
The Swiss group will in addition spend €1.1m over two years on projects to restore the environment in several French towns where it operates.
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A screengrab of Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry chair Sir Wyn Williams during the final day of hearing
After three years of gathering evidence and hearing harrowing testimonies, the public inquiry into the Post Office Horizon scandal has officially closed its hearing. The final day of closing statements took place on Tuesday (17 December), marking a significant milestone in the fight for justice for hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly accused of theft and false accounting.
The inquiry, chaired by retired high court judge Sir Wyn Williams, was established in non-statutory form on 29 September 2020 to investigate the failings of the Horizon IT system, developed by Fujitsu, which led to widespread discrepancies in Post Office branch accounts.
These discrepancies resulted in the wrongful prosecution and conviction of numerous sub-postmasters between 1999 and 2015, devastating lives and reputations.
It was converted to a statutory inquiry on 1 June 2021 and started preliminary hearing on 8 November 2021.
Over the past three years, the inquiry has heard from a wide range of witnesses, including former sub-postmasters, Post Office executives, Fujitsu employees, and government officials. The evidence presented painted a disturbing picture of a flawed IT system, a culture of denial within the Post Office, and a failure to adequately investigate the concerns raised by sub-postmasters.
“[This] is an Inquiry that is about people: about people whose mental and physical health has been impacted; about people whose marriages and partnerships have deteriorated and failed; about people who thought about taking their own lives; and, in some cases, who took their own lives,” Jason Beer KC, counsel to the inquiry, said at the start of closing submissions on Monday.
“We have disclosed 270,785 documents to the core participants in the inquiry … I am reliably informed that the page count for that disclosure is 2,214,858 pages. We have presently obtained 780 statements (including disclosure statements)... We have heard oral evidence from 298 witnesses, including a wide range of expert evidence.”
The inquiry has published a video outlining its journey so far, including key moments throughout its seven phases of investigationwww.youtube.com
The last day of the inquiry has heard from lawyers representing the Post Office, Fujitsu, and the Department for Business and Trade as well as the legal representatives for former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells and Gareth Jenkins, the former Fujitsu engineer.
On Monday, lawyers acting for sub-postmasters told the inquiry the Post Office's “cruel” and “malignant culture” had “destroyed the innocent”.
Following the conclusion of oral evidence, the inquiry has published written closing submissions received from core participants to the inquiry. As part of the its continued investigation, the inquiry has published 53 further witness statements from former sub-postmasters, Post Office senior executives, and current and former government ministers. This includes 27 statements from the inquiry’s Human Impact phase, where Sir Wyn heard evidence from people affected by the Post Office scandal on how it had impacted their lives.
With the inquiry now concluded, Sir Wyn will continue gathering and analysing evidence, drafting the final report. The inquiry will also begin a process known as Maxwellisation, giving anyone who it is proposed significantly or explicitly to criticise in the report a reasonable opportunity to respond.
The inquiry report is expected to provide a comprehensive account of the scandal, identify those responsible, and make recommendations to prevent similar injustices from happening again.
Fed member and Northern district president Martin Ward recently took to the airwaves to slam the rise in shoplifting saying, “it is an everyday occurrence” and opening his doors on a morning fills him with dread.
On Tuesday morning, December 17, Mr Ward, who owns Cowpen Lane News, in Billingham, joined other concerned members of the public to discuss the damming effects of retail crime with Nicky Campbell on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Retail crime in its true nature has blighted retail over recent years and still there is very little being done. An increase of 28 per cent on 2023 reporting levels of shoplifting was reported by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) earlier this year.
Introduced to the show, Mr Ward advised how, for him, “It is an everyday occurrence unfortunately, now, you don’t know what you’re going to get when you open the doors every morning. It has definitely got a lot worse over the last five to ten years.”
Mr Campbell pressed Martin, asking how members of the public can help. “Should I shout or stop them?” he asked.
Martin replied: “Shouting at them is fine, as long as you are at a distance. The problem you’ve got is these people are dangerous, they don’t want to get stopped, they’ll do whatever they need to not get stopped.”
Martin then recounted when three shoplifters came into his store and, after narrowly missing them to challenge the assailants, he later learnt from the police that one of the criminals was known to carry a knife.
When discussing what actions members of the public could perform to stop this, Michael, a recently retired former police inspector who was also on the call, said that anyone who reports shoplifting, public or shopkeeper, needs to be clear.
He said: “You have got to report it every time. You may or may not get the response you hoped for. Sometimes we would listen to a 999 tape of a report that someone had a shoplifter in the store, and when we got there we would find out there was a violent robbery with a weapon.
“It is really important when ringing the police to actually mention what is happening. If there are weapons involved or violence threatened, please say that as there will be someone who decides which 999 calls get priority and the rule of thumb with those decisions is people become a bigger priority than property every single day.
“If the shoplifting is in progress and involves violence, it is a 999 call every time and you need to mention the violence and that it is ongoing, as that does affect the assessments and priority of the call.”
However, it was also discussed just why witnesses don’t want to get involved and simply let the criminals get away with it, as Martin also explained: “I understand why people do it, they don’t want to get involved, they don’t want to have to go to court and don’t want to make witness statements.
“What I have found with shoplifters is, if you are watching them, they don’t do it directly in front of you, so if everyone is watching it there might be less of it. But it does run the risk that they may just move on to somewhere else.”
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Signage is pictured outside an Aldi Local store on Kilburn High Road in London on January 2, 2023
Aldi Wednesday said it will invest around £650 million across Britain in 2025.
This includes the development of new stores in Fulham Broadway in London, Billericay in Essex, and Cheadle in Stoke-on-Trent, with the supermarket targeting around 30 new store openings in total in 2025.
This forms part of Aldi’s package of annual investment to accelerate its expansion across Britain’s towns and cities.
The rate of investment in 2025 continues from an equally busy new store opening programme in 2024 with Aldi opening in new locations such as Totton in Hampshire, Cribbs Causeway in Bristol and Pwllheli in Gwynedd in recent weeks.
“At Aldi, our unwavering commitment has always been to provide Britain with the best value groceries. The demand for our unbeatable prices is now at an all-time high, which gives us the confidence to continue investing in Britain to provide greater access to our award-winning products at the lowest prices,” Giles Hurley, chief executive, Aldi UK and Ireland, said.
“We recognise that there are still areas without an Aldi store, so our expansion plans for 2025 are designed to address some of these gaps as we work towards our long-term goal of 1,500 UK stores.”
In May, Aldi announced its second pay increase for Aldi store colleagues this year, paying a minimum hourly rate of £12.40 nationally and £13.65 within the M25.