According to the Canada Organic Trade Association (COTA), the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has released new information on the Safe Food For Canadians act.

COTA’s Tia Loftsgard recently attended a two-day meeting held by the CFIA to gain feedback on their services. At the event, it discussed the mandatory changes that will come into force within the next year and a half.

CFIA notes that licensing and export certification will now be required for all companies in Canada—including the country’s 70,000 unregistered businesses. Additionally, CFIA will create a digital platform called “ASK CFIA” to help the organization to act as both a regulator and a service provider.

The aforementioned meeting also covered the topics of Import, Export and Domestic, and gathered roundtable feedback from members of the industry. COTA notes that it made requests for more information on how the CFIA staff is trained on organic goods, and learned that it may have more opportunities to do joint industry/CFIA trainings through the International Food Protection Training Institute.

For more information on the Safe Food for Canadians Act, click here.

General Mills has announced its partnership with Organic Valley. This relationship will help about 20 dairy farms to add around 3,000 acres to organic dairy production over the next three years.

This unique program will support General Mills’ commitment to double the organic acreage from which it sources its ingredients by 2019. It will also build General Mills’ relationships with the organic farmers who support its yogurt operating unit in the U.S., which manufactures brands like Yoplait, Annie’s, Liberté and Mountain High.

“To ensure we are able to deliver great tasting organic yogurt offerings to our consumers, we are committed to supporting a framework in partnership with Organic Valley that will not only ensure a consistent supply chain, but also make it easier for dairy farmers to successfully manage through the transition to organic,” says David Clark, president of the General Mills Yogurt Operating Unit.

Since 2009, General Mills has increased the organic acreage it supports by 120 per cent and is now among the top five organic ingredient purchasers in the North American packaged food sector.

Along with this announcement, General Mills will launch the Organic & Regenerative Agriculture Transition Council. This project will bring together sustainable agricultural leaders, farmers and industry stakeholders with the mission of advancing organic and regenerative agriculture practices.

Online health and beauty products retailer Well.ca is the latest e-commerce company to expand into bricks-and-mortar retail. The company’s first physical store, which will consist of a 900-square-foot outlet, is set to open in late June.

The store will be located at the shops of Don Mills mall in Toronto. This move comes as part of the company’s effort to broaden the business beyond just online buyers.

“We’re going back to our entrepreneurial roots and creating what we believe is going to be a unique retail experience,” says chief executive Rebecca McKillican. “It’s a great opportunity to attract different customers to our brand.”

Begun in 2008, Well.ca has become Canada’s largest online retailer of health and beauty products, with a focus on eco-friendly and natural goods. The privately held company, based in Guelph, Ontario, has 150 employees and hundreds of thousands of active customers, with its revenue growing 40 per cent year over year.

The Toronto shop is scheduled to be open for four months, with the possibility of extension and the opening of additional outlets around Canada. It will offer about 1,000 products in-store. Well.ca plans to review its sales data to predict which of the 40,000 products available online should be stocked at the retail location.

“We’re going to put what we feel is the right assortment of products in, but we’re also going to learn from our customers,” says McKillican. “We have the product portfolio to draw on and we have the data, so we can tailor it to what people are looking for across the country.”
The store will also offer staff-run workshops to educate customers about the products on sale. Employees will also carry tablets that they can use to showcase their online products, technology that will be supplied by Tulip Retail, a New York-based company started by Well.ca’s original founder, Ali Asaria.

“If you think about some of the other retailers in the health and wellness space, it can be an intimidating experience,” says Erin Young, chief marketing officer. “We want to have a welcoming environment.”

Well.ca’s new approach follows in the footsteps of other omni-channel retailers. According to Deloitte, this method sees up to 20 per cent higher conversions.

“The reality is, e-commerce doesn’t make money,” says Jennifer Lee, national retail leader at Deloitte. “By definition, an omni-channel customer is more profitable than a customer who comes through one channel.”

As such, an omni-channel approach is becoming necessary in today’s retail market. By considering the ways in which consumers shop both online and in stores, retailers may make the most of their business and even boost sales.

Walmart Canada has announced that it will no longer accept Visa cards at its stores due to “unacceptably high” transaction fees. Visa, however, notes that they offered “one of the lowest rates available to any merchant in the country.”

Information on Visa Canada’s website shows that for standard retail purchases made in-store, fees range from 1.42 to 2.08 per cent, while MasterCard charges 1.44 to 2 per cent for standard purchases at independent retailers. However, MasterCard offers lower rates to large retailers, going as low as 1.26 per cent for those that have a minimum “net purchase volume” of $3 billion.

In a statement, Walmart said that it pays “over $100 million in fees to accept credit cards each and every year.”

The first stores to stop accepting Visa, located in Thunder Bay, Ontario, will begin on July 18. The new system will then be adopted in phased across the country. Walmart has more than 400 locations in Canada.

Walmart isn’t the mass retailer to make this move—No Frills doesn’t accept Visa or American Express, noting that the fees are too expensive for their business. Additionally, Costco only accepts MasterCard when it comes to credit card payments. Walmart will continue to accept MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards.

A representative from Visa Canada adds that the company “regrets” Walmart’s decision, and that it will have a “negative impact” on Walmart’s shoppers.

Walmart Canada said the company is holding out hope that it will be able to “reach an agreement” with Visa for lower fees.

Seabuckthorn International Inc. (SBT Seabuckthorn) has announced that iLevel Management Inc. will now be representing its line of skincare and nutritional products in the Canadian marketplace.

“Seabuckthorn International Inc. is delighted to announce that we have engaged iLevel Management to broker our unique product line into the Canadian marketplace,” says Susan McLoughlin, the company’s president. “Jimmy [Vaid]’s solid experience in the brokerage industry, his innovative approach and the extensive experience of his team are a powerful trifecta, and we look forward to a productive and enduring partnership.”

About Seabuckthorn International Inc.

Established in 2003, SBT Seabuckthorn is committed to conserving the earth, improving your health, and healing your skin with products based on the exceptional nutrition found in Seabuckthorn. Its mission is to contribute to human health and wellness with pure, plant-based, sustainable products. At the core of all of its products is the healing power of the leaf, fruit and seed of the Seabuckthorn plant. Its nutritional and skincare line supports mucous membranes and digestive health, as well as cardiovascular, skin and mobility health.

About iLevel Management Inc.

iLevel Management was founded by Jimmy Vaid in 2013. Jimmy’s solid experience in the brokerage industry, his innovative approach and the extensive experience of his team provide solid and progressive support for iLevel vendors. The iLevel team works closely with vendors to execute long-term plans for success.

Ethical concerns are rising and influencing how consumers spend, especially among millennials. With information at our fingertips, it is no wonder why many consumers have started asking “where, how, why, who, and what?”
Leading companies have started to put social and environmental issues at the heart of their business strategy. The goal is to meet the demand of transparency and accountability for consumers, which adds value to their corporate brand.
Euromonitor has addressed this trend by developing a database, Passport Ethical Labels, with extensive research on Ethical Labels across packaged food and drink categories. You can request a demo of their database here.
Stay tuned as we find out more about their research.

With the health and wellness industry still fairly young, it’s been an interesting ride for those who have been a part of it since infancy.

Sales have recently shown a 6.5 per cent value growth (fixed exchange rates) in 2011. Products specifying health benefits or those with widely known health properties drove value sales with rates above 7 per cent. The development in emerging markets, such as China and Brazil, has contributed US$15 billion in new sales that same year. Real term growth is expected to stay steady at 7.2 per cent, which will bring the global health and wellness sales to hit a record high of US$1 trillion by 2017.

With health awareness rising, it translates into substantial sales gains. According to a report from Euromonitor, “the Health and Wellness top 100 world ranking saw their sales rising by over US$100 million that year, a clear statement that combining four key factors: health, convenience, fashionable packaging and affordable price is the winning strategy behind some of the most spectacular health and wellness developments.”
They are also predicting that pharmaceutical companies will soon start grabbing attention: “Whilst the movement towards prevention grows, convergence of nutrition and ‘pharma’ is starting to attract attention of the big pharmaceutical players with substantial investments likely to follow.”
The health and wellness industry has been developing over the last few years and has been gaining momentum as people start to take notice. With Euromonitor’s recent research, it’s clear that this is the industry to be in!

Barbara’s is celebrating 45 great years in business. They’re well known for their Puffins Cereal, which launched in the 1990s, but they have continued to introduce some other amazing products over the years, including Snackimals and Better than Granola.

Barbara’s has remained committed to creating wholesome foods that parents and children both love—boasting a portfolio that is non-GMO certified. The company was founded in 1971 by 17-year-old Barbara Jaffe. Their humble beginning as a small organic bakery has evolved into a multi-million dollar company—which was aquired by Weetabix in 1986.
“Inspired by family and good health, Barbara Jaffe was a true role model for young people – founding this company with a vision and mission to craft products with the most honest ingredients. This pledge remains at the core of Barbara’s, and serves as our guiding principle when we’re on the on the lookout for innovative ways to bring more great-tasting options with excellent nutrition into the marketplace,” said Steve Van Tassel, CEO of Weetabix North America. “We’re honored to be able to say that over the last four decades, this commitment has never wavered and we look forward to maintaining our authenticity in the future.”

The food industry has been facing an alarming amount of bacterial infections caused by bypotentially lethal bacteria like Listera monocytogenes and E.coli. With over 65 recalls made by Health Canada since March, many companies, including many organic and health-conscious companies, are incurring heavy losses from the repeated recalls of their products. These companies include Kashi, CLIF Bar, Trader Joe’s, Cookin’ Greens Organic, and Organic by Nature, just to name a few.
Some of these products are top sellers among retailers, who also face the question that consumers have started asking: is any food safe?
Listeria is known to cause serious infections in children, weak or elderly people. It can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women. Healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.
E.coli is normally found in the intestines of animals—though can be contracted from raw vegetables. Healthy adults usually recover from infection, but young children and older adults have a greater risk of developing kidney failure.
The best way to ensure the health of your consumers is to communicate with your suppliers. You can also stay informed by checking the Health Canada recall list, as there have been updates almost daily, and your stock to verify whether you may have an infected SKU.