US: Tesco's US c-store venture Fresh & Easy is renewing its efforts to attract Spanish-speaking consumers living near its 145 shops across California, Nevada and Arizona. It plans to increase the volume and visibility of brands that are popular with the Spanish-speaking community.

In its recently opened shop in South Los Angeles, more than 90% of the population speaks Spanish. Previously the company has attracted Hispanic customers through the creation of a Spanish-language website that mirrors its English website, as well as advertising on Spanish-speaking radio.

EUROPE: Leading supermarkets in Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain are not taking adequate responsibility for labour conditions and fair trade relationships in their supply chains, according to a new report by Consumers International.

Only five of the 16 companies surveyed had a commitment to a living wage and only three had a complaints system. Coop Italia was found to have the most consistently good policies overall, followed by Coop Denmark.

POLAND: Russia is conducting an inspection into the Polish food industry following its ban on imported Polish meat products in November 2005 for poor quality controls and failure to meet health standards. The ban was lifted in December 2007 when the two countries signed a memorandum, but few Polish meat processing plants have sold to the Russian market since.

AUSTRALIA: Sydney Fish Market is to embark on a A$40m redevelopment in partnership with the government over the next two years, subject to the finalisation of a Deed of Agreement between Sydney Fish Market and the NSW Government. The plans offer new outlets for retailers and wholesalers, as well as multi-level parking.

"The redevelopment is fantastic news," said Grahame Turk, MD of Sydney Fish Market. "Not only will it enable tenants to upgrade their own premises, it will provide for safer access to our weekday wholesale auction by removing interaction between the general public and trade."

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