British supermarkets have drawn up “feed the nation” contingency plans that would help the country cope with any panic-buying brought on by a sudden escalation of the coronavirus outbreak. Under the plans, supermarkets would work with suppliers to scale back the variety of foods and groceries available, and instead focus on maintaining supplies of staple products. (The Guardian)

Food, medicines and other essentials are being stockpiled by people across the UK over fears the coronavirus outbreak may leave them house-bound or unable to buy necessities. (The Guardian)

Retailers have seen a rise in demand for hand sanitisers and hygiene products in an apparent response to the coronavirus outbreak, the BRC has said. (Sky News)

A Thai billionaire appears to have stepped up his interest in Tesco’s Asian business by securing a $10 billion two-year loan to finance the deal. The TCC Group of Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi is looking at the British grocer’s operations in Thailand and Malaysia and is said to have lined up debt agreements with international and domestic banks in order to fund a bid. (The Times £)

Tesco is issuing new cards to 600,000 Clubcard account holders after unearthing a security issue. The supermarket giant said it believed a database of stolen usernames and passwords from other platforms had been tried out on its websites, and may have worked in some cases. (The BBC)

Just Eat Takeaway.com has launched arbitration proceedings against Delivery Hero, claiming that its rival broke a share ownership agreement. (The Times £)

Supply chains have been hit by the coronavirus outbreak, dampening the post-election recovery in manufacturing. The IHS Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index measured 51.7 last month, well above the 50 mark separating growth from contraction but slightly weaker than the previous “flash” reading of 51.9 for February. (The Times £)

Chlorinated chicken is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to foods a US trade deal could bring to the UK. The Guardian identifies “five other unpleasant foods” that could make their way to our menus as part of a UK-US trade deal: antibiotic meats, GM foods, more pus (in milk) and pesticides, unsafe baby foods and all-American Stilton cheese and Cornish pasties. (The Guardian)

The founder of a personalised multi-vitamin business has raised the second-largest seed funding for a sole female entrepreneur. Melissa Snover, 40, raised more than £2m from angel investment houses to expand Nourished internationally and widen its range of products. (The Daily Mail)

Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky has stepped into the high-stakes restructuring of heavily indebted Rallye, the parent company of French supermarket group Casino, by effectively bailing it out from a problematic derivatives deal. (The Financial Times £)

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