California has passed a new law that opens the door for lawsuits to be filed against farmers who make false claims that their products are “organic”.
Morrison & Foerster LLP, a global law firm, commented in a client alert: “In reaching this decision, the California Supreme Court may have opened the floodgates for ‘organic’ claims, permitting anyone to stand in the shoes of a regulator to police (and demand payouts) for technical violations of this complex and developing area of law.”
Wal-Mart Stores has promoted Tony Rogers to be the new U.S. chief marketing officer (CMO). He will spearhead the large retailer’s marketing efforts in the United States.
The newly-appointed CMO has worked at Wal-Mart for a decade, who had, most recently, worked as the marketing chief for Wal-Mart’s operations in China. Rogers succeeds Stephen Quinn who has been the Chief Marketing Officer since 2007.
Manitoba Harvest, the Winnipeg-based manufacturer of seeds and hemp snacks, has purchased Hemp Oil Canada, a bulk wholesale producer who processes hemp foods and ingredients, for $42 million.
In a press release, Mike Fata, CEO of Manitoba Harvest, stated that the company now has a “greater capacity to educate people on hemp foods, intensify innovation and expand accessibility to hemp food products”.
Hemp Oil provides ingredients in bulk to roughly 400 customers in 13 countries. In 1998, Hemp Oil and Manitoba Harvest opened their doors within the same year that Health Canada legalized the cultivation of industrial hemp.
The Kroger Co. has recently completed its acquisition of Roundy’s Inc. The completed acquisition means that Kroger is now the grocery market share leader in metro Milwaukee.
“This merger blends Roundy’s complementary markets with Kroger’s strengths in scale and merchandising,” said Rodney McMullen, Kroger’s chairman and CEO, in a release. At the moment, Roundy’s Pick ‘n Save has roughly 39 per cent of the Milwaukee market. Additionally, the recent acquisition gives Kroger Roundy’s 32 per cent share of the grocery market in the state of Wisconsin.
Kroger, considered one of the world’s largest retailers, has more than 422,000 employees in 2,774 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 35 states and the District of Columbia.
Sobeys has combined a gas bar and a grocery outlet together—using a convenience store format. Recently, the grocery retailer opened such a store, known as Sobeys Express, in Nova Scotia. This new grocery shopping hybrid combines traditional grocery store products with healthier, and quicker, meals and snacks to a Shell-branded gas station.
“Consumer research has shown us that customers are looking for more fresh food options to meet their on-the-go needs. They also want a one-stop shop for food and fuel and Sobeys express meets those customer needs in a larger and brighter store,” remarked Valerie Ryan, vice president, convenience and fuel, Sobeys Atlantic.
Sobeys opened a similar store in Quebec two years ago. The grocery retailer plans to open more Sobeys Express stores, combined with Shell’s-branded gas, across the Atlantic Canada.
According to a team of scientists at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and Longevity Biotech, Inc., neuroprotection could be attained in preclinical models by a novel drug candidate that changes immune responses. The results, published on December 16 in the Journal of Neuroscience, describe the prevention of nerve cell damage in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease. Notably, the drug protected nerve cells that produce dopamine, which is the chemical responsible for agility and movement that is lost in human disease.
“The idea was birthed nearly a decade ago when specific types of circulating blood cells called lymphocytes were found to damage the types of nerve cells responsible for disease,” says Howard Gendelman, M.D., the Margaret R. Larson Professor and chair of the UNMC Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience. “The new Longevity Biotech drug (LBT-3627) was able to change the function of these cells from killing the nerve cells to protecting them. This is especially significant for the Nebraska team, as the mechanism parallels closely the human trials nearing completion for Parkinson’s patients.”
According to Longevity Biotech, LBT-3627 is similar to the naturally occurring vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), a well-established anti-inflammatory peptide. It is rapidly degraded by the body and is unable to distinguish between its two naturally intended receptors (VPAC1 vs. VPAC2). These limitations have stymied prior translational success using VIP.
In contrast, LBT-3627 specifically targets VPAC2 and demonstrates impressive biological durability. Scott Shandler, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Longevity Biotech, says LBT-3627 has the potential to be administered orally, which would further improve its clinical prospects and make it more accessible for people with Parkinson’s disease.
Preclinical studies performed by the UNMC team demonstrated that LBT-3627 could achieve up to 80 per cent protection of dopamine-producing nerve cells in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease. Furthermore, the immune transformation also affected primary scavenger cells, called microglia cells, that were found ultimately responsible for the neuroprotective activities observed that halted brain damage.
A new survey from the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) and polling firm Leger suggests that 58 per cent of Canadians find that music makes shopping in the supermarket more enjoyable.
Additionally, 28 per cent of consumers feel music slows their shopping, while 24 per cent believe music causes them to stay in the supermarket longer. Moreover, 33 per cent admitted to singing and dancing in the aisles, while another 33 per cent said they’ve lingered in a store to finish hearing a song they’ve especially enjoyed.
“Every minute you stay a store is another product you buy,” says Leslie Craig, director of licensing operations for SOCAN. Craig adds that more Canadians enjoy hearing music in grocery stores than she had assumed prior to doing the survey.
“You’d expect those kinds of numbers in restaurants and other types of retailers, but maybe not in a grocery store, which people shop so often,” she says.
However, not everyone enjoys rocking out in the supermarket—19 per cent of those surveyed do not want to hear any music.
Older shoppers are among those who prefer the sound of silence: 42 per cent of those 65 and up said they don’t like to hear music in a grocery store, followed by 22 per cent among the 55-to-64 set.
Fiddleheads Health and Nutrition has launched Fiddleheads Smoothie Bar Café, located across from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo. The company, which was launched in 1999, has been providing to provide natural health products out of its retail locations for the past 16 years.
Kim Boril, founder of Fiddleheads, notes that the smoothies sold in Fiddleheads’ Cambridge store were a popular attraction. As such, she decided to create a higher-level destination for whole, local food options and nutritious smoothies.
“I think people are ready for the healthy, faster food type of thing now,” said Boril. “I don’t think this concept would have worked as well five years ago, but I think enough people are used to smoothies that they understand it.”
The Café currently produces 20 different smoothies and offers certain add-ins like fibre and immune boosters.
“Our smoothies are different than other smoothies in that we’ve really looked at lowering the sugar content,” said Boril. “They taste delicious but they still have the health properties we promote, and they have tons of good stuff in them, including greens and proteins.”
For more information, visit fiddleheadshealth.com.
Canadian hemp growers are pushing Health Canada to recognize their plant as a beneficial natural health product. At the annual meeting of the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance, members voted to push for a health claim on food products.
Like marijuana, hemp is part of the cannabis plant family, and is grown for industrial purposes such as food, fibre and fuel.
Canada’s hemp oil products contain less than 10 parts per million of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the ingredient’s psychoactive component. Additionally, it carries high levels of omega fatty acids and other chemicals, some of which are showing potential as antidepressants.
“Canadian farmers are suffering because they are missing out on a traditional revenue stream that other farmers in other jurisdictions are gaining,” says Sara Zborovski, a lawyer who works with companies seeking approval from Health Canada for food products. As such, a health claim rating could be extremely profitable for hemp farmers.
Zborovski adds that it would have to be made clear that hemp products are not the same as medical marijuana. Instead, the claim must focus on hemp oil and other byproducts.
Work on a proposal for Health Canada could start by February.
Vancouver-based grocer Choices Market has announced plans to open its 11th location this spring. The new 12,000-square-foot North Vancouver store will be located in Capilano Village at 801 Marine Drive.
“North Vancouver is a hub for active health-conscious, community-minded citizens, and the population is definitely growing,” says Choices CEO Ishkandar Ahmed about his decision to open in the area.
This announcement follows The 25-year-old company’s 2015 openings of stores on Commercial Drive in Vancouver, as well as in Burnaby and Abbotsford.
