A round-up of supermarket news and gossip
The big four supermarkets have been accused of being involved in a cartel with dairy companies to fix the prices of milk, butter and cheese, according to the Office of Fair Trading. The watchdog claims to have evidence of collusion over two years when the chains passed future milk prices to dairy companies, which then exchanged the details among themselves to reach a fixed price. The allegations will be fiercely contested, but if the charge is proved, retailers and dairy companies can expect swingeing fines running into millions.

Asda, Safeway (now Morrison), Sainsbury and Tesco and the dairy companies Arla, Dairy Crest, Lactalis McLelland, the cheese company and Wiseman were each sent 66-page dossiers setting out the provisional case against them.

Research suggests Hass avocados have been shown to inhibit the growth of mouth cancer cells in the laboratory, and even cause the death of precancerous cells and cancer cell lines, leaving normal cells untouched.

To continue the line of food and health, Britain’s food watchdog is warning all parents of a clear link between additives and hyperactive behaviour in children. Research for the Food Standards Agency and published in The Lancet has established the effects of taking a mixture of artificial extras.

Police and retailers are backing proposals for short term “Supermarket Jails”, for shopping malls and sporting venues as a way of speedily dealing with shoplifters, drunks and football hooligans. Suspects would be held for up to four hours in the units to allow police to establish their identity, take a DNA sample or handout a reprimand or caution. Shoplifting cost the retailer £767m in England and Wales in 2006.

The country’s cheapest bottle of champagne is to go on sale at Woolworths and will cost £5. This will considerably undercut its rivals Asda and Tesco who sell at £10.74. Woolies customers will be advised of the best “pick and mix” sweets to blend with the bubbly.

The Qatari government may be asked to underwrite the £6bn lending provision needed to land its planned takeover of J Sainsbury. One insider said “In the current climate, there’s no way Delta Two can borrow £6bn without the support of the Qatari government.”

Morrison saw its market share fall in the 12 weeks to September 9, while its main competitors all lifted their shares compared with a year ago. The same company said recently that a £1bn sale of investment properties had been put on hold because of the credit squeeze. The company finance director said that the company had reached a stage where it was ready to invite offers from third parties but that discussions had been affected by problems in the debt market.

Morrison is due to raise its market spend as it attempts to build its image as a high quality fresh food retailer. Capital expenditure is likely to exceed £360m in the second half of the year.

Waitrose is understood to be finalising an investment programme resulting in the supermarket chain investing about £800m in store openings. It is anticipated that the company would open 50 stores over the next five years.

Sainsbury could be in the hands of its Qatari suitors by Christmas after the supermarket’s board confirmed it would open its books to Delta-Two the state- backed fund that is planning the £10.6bn take-over bid. As retailers strive to reduce the distance their products travel from source to shelf, consumers can become greener by actually making more trips to the supermarket. According to Somerfield’s landmark report, Local Life, many Brits are cutting carbon emissions by exchanging the weekly with more regular, but smaller, shopping trips. This should help alleviate the amount of waste with the UK disposing of over 43 million unwanted food items per week.

GEMINI