(LCBO.com)

Australia takes Canada to WTO over wine rules

Geneva | Reuters — Australia has complained at the World Trade Organization about Canada’s rules on wine sales, expanding a similar U.S. complaint against one province. In October, Washington accused British Columbia of providing an unfair advantage to local vineyards by giving their wine an exclusive retail channel in grocery store shelves and cutting out

Preparing the bill at a restaurant to be taken to a table

The pursuit of convenience

Food costs are falling but many Canadians are paying as much or more than ever

Food inflation continues to be an illusion in Canada. According to Statistics Canada, food prices have dropped once again over the last month, by almost one per cent. Food prices are below the general inflation rate, just as they have been for most of the year to date. The food distribution landscape is much more


Amazon set to take a bite out of the food industry

Given its ability to fuse efficient distribution and strategic market insight, 
the e-commerce giant could well become the leading food retailer in North America

Amazon is intent on becoming the world’s most powerful retailer, with the help of food sales. Amazon’s US$13-billion takeover of Whole Foods isn’t shocking. It’s been rumoured for months. Now the mammoth Amazon, with its large revenues and small profits, has confirmed those rumours by making the biggest deal in its history. And acquiring troubled

Woman in supermarket shopping groceries

Multinationals face new pressures in grocery stores

Consumers increasingly want fresh, unprocessed food. The middle of the store now sees less traffic and that’s clearly affecting sales for most grocery products

Skippy peanut butter and Dad’s chocolate chip cookies are gone from the Canadian marketplace. If you feel sad about seeing these iconic brands go, brace yourselves. It’s just the beginning. Within days, two major U.S.-based food multinationals pulled well-known brands from the Canadian market. Mondelez International discontinued the iconic Dad’s cookies and Hormel Foods pulled

From farm to fork, brought to you by artificial intelligence

From farm to fork, brought to you by artificial intelligence

With AI, yields can be improved and grocers can understand consumers — and predict 
their behaviour — better than consumers know themselves

Many Canadian consumers have noticed that lettuce and celery prices have skyrocketed recently. Such fluctuations happen all the time. But artificial intelligence is about to change that. AI has us on the cusp of a revolution in how we make decisions and how we manage virtually every aspect of our daily lives. The agri-food sector


Be aware of grocery store psychology

Be aware of grocery store psychology

Plan menus and make a list before going to the store

I think I will curl up by a pallet of baked beans and take a nap,” my husband commented. I think he was in a “food coma.” My husband and I had just completed a hearty breakfast at a nearby restaurant. We followed our breakfast with a trip to a warehouse-type grocery store. “I don’t

Food prices are… falling?

Food prices are… falling?

I stopped in my tracks recently when I heard food prices actually dropped last year. It was nonsensical… how could an essential such as food be going down in price, with the cost of living marching forward? “It’s true,” says Mike Von Massow, a University of Guelph agriculture and food economics researcher. “The price of

Opinion: Fighting food fraud

Opinion: Fighting food fraud

Food fraud is everywhere. It can take many forms such as adulteration, substituting one ingredient with a much cheaper one, or misrepresentation including selling an organic product when it’s not. Once food fraud is described, a whopping 63 per cent of Canadians are generally concerned about food fraud. Worse still, more than 40 per cent


Female hands holding a vegetable

Food production for and by consumers

A strong consumer connection can let a 
small farm be a big economic success

Technology has significantly changed agriculture, reducing the amount of labour required to produce food. As a result there are larger farms with more acres and many more animals per farmer. This means a small percentage of farmers produce a large percentage of the total. However, this does not mean that big is the only way

Food deflation troubling

Food deflation troubling

Consumers may welcome cheaper food, but it spells challenges for the food industry 
right through to the primary producer

It is becoming cheaper to buy food in Canada. Canada experienced deflationary food prices in August for the first time in years. While consumers may be delighted to see food prices decline, August numbers are pointing to a significant challenge for the food industry. Making money in the food business is not what it used