Retailers have rebuffed MPs comments about food waste in the UK, following a government study that found the average household throws away £8 a week.

The Co-operative Group has secureed the purchase of Somerfield for £1.56bn meaning the Co-op will operate 3000+ grocery stores.

The Co-operative has scored another green hit, claiming to be the first UK retailer to roll out 100% rPET (recycled) bottles across its entire own-brand range of carbonated drinks and mixers.

International Development Minister Gareth Thomas has launched a £2m scheme intended to help more African-produced foods reach UK supermarket shelves.

Forty major food and drink companies have signed up to a pledge put together by the Food and Drink Federation to reduce food miles and reduce transport's environmental impact generally.

Yeah! to David Cameron telling roly poly Brits to get a grip, stop blaming everyone else and to eat less. For once a politician has jumped down off the fence and said something sensible.

Waitrose's new Delicatezze range, launched this summer, enables customers to treat their guests to a fabulous range of light summer appetisers. Influenced heavily by the "fresh flavours and relaxed outdoor eating of the Mediterranean", the range includes more than 30 varieties of nibbles and is intended to be mixed and matched.

Following its appointment of a 'head of convenience' Waitrose is believed to be starting a move into the convenience sector with a trial of smaller formats.

British asparagus growers and packers met in London recently to review the 2008 PR campaign for the vegetable, now in its sixth year. Demand from British consumers "remained very strong for home grown asparagus and trip spend and volume per customer increased". However "tricky" growing conditions meant a slightly later start to the season. The campaign theme 'Quick & Easy' successfully debunked the myth that asparagus is difficult to cook with.

You might expect a Kellogg's head honcho to say "expand the fixtures," but sales director Jean-Yves Heude has some interesting views on merchandising cereal snacks.

Morrisons has been one of the grocery success stories of 2008, and winning The Grocer's Gold Award for the Grocer of the Year 2008 was the icing on the cake.

They say revenge is a dish best served cold, and nobody knows this better than the Discount King. For years he's had to endure the taunts of friends and passers-by: "Cheapskate", "Skinflint", "Chav" and the like.

nOne of the toughest parts of keeping your seasonal store maximising its turnover is how and when to change stock levels to fit fickle shopping habits.

Waitrose's new Market Town store format, as the name suggests, is all about offering a range focused on local and fresh produce in convenient, small town-centre sites. In June the multiple opened its third Market Town store, in a former Budgens in Buckingham. For manager Darren Kimber, although he has plenty of retail experience, this was his first store opening.

From humble beginnings - when a fermented milk product from Japan first hit the shelves of UK multiples - to one of the fastest-growing markets, functional foods has been the sector to be seen in, with food and drink firms tripping over themselves to spice up mundane products with extra health benefits.

When Jamie Oliver waged his war against the standards of school dinners he missed one important area: lunchboxes.

Many of yesterday's certainties vanish in the face of the deep cut promotion. The latest headline-hitting venture being the 50p effort from Morrisons.