Sustainability lead
Sir, In the wake of plastic bag charges and wonky veg, The Grocer has written a lot on sustainability lately.
Many British retailers are doing much for the environment without consumers noticing. On issues such as carbon reduction, responsible water use and reduced waste, it’s retailers - not consumers - leading the way. Over the past few years British retailers have cut their in-store carbon emissions by over a third and halved greenhouse gas emissions from refrigeration.
Rosie Riley, conference producer, Clean Energy Summit
Craving better sugar info
Sir, We conducted a survey of over 150 participants to examine public attitudes and opinions towards sugar consumption and additives. The results are astounding, with 91% agreeing we consume too much sugar in the UK, and 87% feeling that food manufacturers are not taking an active approach to reduce the amount of sugar in foods.
As many as 82% stated that a traffic-light rating on food packaging should be a legal requirement for all brands; 34% believe labels are not reflective of the contents of the full packet; 79% feel there is not enough education on the contents of food including sugars and additives; and 66% believe UK consumers would be more inclined to purchase healthier products if food manufacturers were given more incentives.
These results indicate a clear public outcry in terms of change within the food industry.
Greg Duggan, co-founder of Wheyhey
The mall the merrier
Sir, I’ve always thought that the ‘doomsday scenario’ of the large format stores, especially the Extras as being huge white elephants, was completely misplaced (‘Could Tesco’s turnaround prove Philip Clarke right on Extra strategy?’ thegrocer.co.uk, 13 April).
Yes there was a problem with Extras, which Phil Clark was trying to address and yes his philosophy of destination shop was the right route, but possibly the execution of Harris + Hoole and Giraffe was not really right. After all, who on earth would really want to lunch/dine in a supermarket? The large store format needs to be developed as a destination, rather than as a chore, which may well mean turning over increasing amounts of floor space to other retail franchises.
Brian George, via thegrocer.co.uk
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