Wal-Mart owned supermarket chain Asda has been named as one of the top 20 best performing retail websites in the last quarter of the year. The rating, which was done by Sitemorse on the UK’s top 500 retailers’ sites, gave the company a score of 5.72 out of 10—up 3.58 points from its Q3 ratng of 2.14.

To calculate these results, Sitemorse used automated software to read each retailer’s online platform to check quality, user experience, accessibility, performance and SEO. This generates a ranking figure that is represented on a 10-point scale.

Asda is one of two grocery retailers in the top 20, the other being family baker Waterfields.

Thayers Natural, Inc. has named John Reppucci as their new vice-president of sales. In this position, he will serve a strategic role, working to maintain and develop the business, provide strong leadership to the sales team and identify strategic opportunities for the Thayers brand.

Reppucci comes to the company with over 15 years of experience in the natural products industry. For the past nine years, he worked at Kiss My Face, LLC, where he was also the vice-president of sales.

Thayers looks forward to many years of collaboration with Reppucci and is grateful to have someone of his experience and reputation on their team.

In its latest industry analysis, Future Market Insights reported that the global dietary supplements market is projected to register a healthy CAGR of 7.4 per cent by 2025.

North America is estimated to lead the dietary supplements market with 32 per cent value share by the end of 2015, and is projected to remain dominant through 2025. Moreover, North America and Western Europe are collectively estimated to account for over 56.9 per cent of value share by end of the year.

Additionally, the market in Asia Pacific—excluding Japan—is projected to register the highest CAGR of 9.2 per cent in terms of value between 2015 and 2025.
The report also discusses global trends and offers detailed analysis and insights about the potential of the dietary supplements market across various key regions.

Food products containing potentially E.coli-contaminated celery have been recalled by the FDA. The recall, which began at Costco in late November, now includes more than 155,000 items at several major grocery stores.

The tainted goods, manufactured by Taylor Farms Pacific Inc., have now been removed from Walmart, Sam’s Club, Costco, Albertsons, 7-11, Target and Safeway.

Also affected were over 45,000 Starbucks Holiday Turkey Sandwiches, which contained the celery in their stuffing. The FDA has posted a complete list of recalled products on their website, urging consumers who bought possibly contaminated goods to throw them out as a precaution.

David Holmes, president of Pharmachem Labororatories, passed away Monday, November 30 at his home. Mr. Holmes, 65, is survived by his children David Addison and Christina Marie, his wife Catherine, his sisters Katherine and Christine and his brother Paul. Funeral Mass is held today 11am at St Lukes Roman Catholic Church in Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ.

“Dave Holmes donated generously to Vitamin Angels for many years,” says Howard Schiffer, founder and president of Vitamin Angels. “I remember when I first told Dave about Vitamin Angels at a Pharmachem industry reception, he didn’t hesitate and said ‘Whatever you need, just call me.’ This commitment continues today. When I told Dave about Dr. Nancy Harris, a friend of ours who had done a nutritional survey in Tibet and found the children there to be incredibly vitamin deficient, Pharmachem immediately jumped on board and began supplying 2-3 million children’s multiples every month. Pharmachem also became Vitamin Angels’ first $1 million dollar donor, when Dave committed to an ongoing yearly donation with a 5-year commitment. He was always a class act, a real stand up guy. He called me a few weeks ago and before he hung up he said, ‘Just remember Howard, if you ever need anything, help is on the other end of this line.’ We will all really miss him.”

Mr. Holmes, a tremendous entrepreneur and humanitarian, was a great man who is terribly missed already.

Donations may be made in David’s memory to:
Eva’s Village
393 Main St.
Paterson, NJ 07501
http://evasvillage.org/donate.shtml

In less than two years since publicly announcing its sustainable seafood policy with SeaChoice, Buy-Low Foods has become the first North American major grocer to remove all fresh and frozen red-listed “Avoid” seafood and replace these products with seafood from more sustainable sources at its corporately-owned locations including Nesters Market.

Buy-Low Foods implemented an aggressive work plan to successfully replace red-listed “Avoid” seafood with more ocean-friendly choices, discontinuing the sale of many high demand species such as open net-pen farmed salmon, Atlantic cod and Russian king crab.

“Buy-Low Foods has worked extremely hard to find innovative solutions to many challenging seafood issues, including farmed salmon and shrimp, in an effort to meet the goals of their robust sustainable seafood policy,” says Bill Wareham, SeaChoice member from the David Suzuki Foundation.

Buy-Low Foods President, Dan Bregg states, “We are proud to be the first retailer to achieve our sustainable seafood commitment to remove all red-listed items from our stores. With our dual-focus on sourcing more responsible alternatives, we continue to have a great selection of choices that customers can feel good about feeding their families. Our stores will continue to work with SeaChoice to find new ways to support healthier oceans for today and tomorrow.”

PureSource has announced the opening of a new production and manufacturing facility adjacent to its head office in Guelph, Ontario. The 40,000 square foot modern facility more than quadruples its production and manufacturing space, and prepares PureSource for short-term and long-term double-digit growth of the company’s business.

Here’s a summary of this GMP facility:

• Climate-controlled 40,000 sq. ft. facility
• Clean-room manufacturing to eliminate allergen cross-contamination
• Hepa-filtration in all manufacturing and product preparation areas
• Energy efficient LED lighting
• Expanded capacity with high-speed encapsulation – increasing maximum production three-fold
• Water recycling/treatment to reduce water usage and waste – up to 90% recapture
• Re-usable Room/Partition walls – portable/reusable walls to accommodate future renovations – reduces material waste

By moving its manufacturing facility to be adjoined to the head office facility, improved communications, logistics, and increased production capabilities will help contain costs, improve efficiencies, and help PureSource manage future growth from their continued high levels of customer service, enjoyable delivery, and high fill rates.