MARKET ANALYSIS I'RiCKKl'RYKY I'ROFILKS TALKING SHOP TRADE NEWS IRISH GROCER'S MAGAZINE VOL 13. NO. S. MID MAY 1M7 PRICK GUp

m I INIS-mf —10970 3 ppo jig? y Sardines in new colourful packaging,"; r we're launching a xoassxvei nazd-liiimig P*~*— advertising campaign on "EM. and radio sure to make waves in the marketplace. " Consumers will be falling hook line and sinker for these tasty snacks that still don't cost a stack retailing at about 30p. Catch o'n to Rob Roy Sardines now and net yourself some tasty profits. CONVENIENT ANSWER TO PRICE WAR lthough the price war between the multiples has in various multiples find themselves in a tight corner and reality been a continuous fact of life in the grocery the result, in the short to medium term at least, will be A trade since supermarketing began in Ireland, there corporate cannibalisation. are indications that it has intensified this year. For a start Where does this leave Ireland's independent grocers? there have been two cases of what RGDATA's Michael Independents should be concentrating on competing Campbell describes as 'product sabotage' — the bread with the multiples on grounds other than price. war and the milk war. Then last month H. Williams set According to the 'theory of the retail life cycle' developed the ca! amongst the pigeons by opening its Giant cut- by the American academic McNair, the price store on Dublin's northside. may be approaching middle age as a retail structure, to The pressure is likely to increase. This is because the be replaced by other emerging retail concepts. Whether multiples, for the first time, are competing in a saturated there is any truth in the theory or not, an emphasis on market which has stopped growing. Where do they go convenience is definitely gathering pace among small from here? Ben Dunne will expand into the U.K. For retailers in the U.S.A. Forward-looking independent Don Tidey this is a time for consolidation and fine- grocers would do well to read the two feaiurcs on tuning. But Richard Smyth, fighting to carve out a solid convenience retailing in this issue of Checkout. You ma\ market niche for H. Williams, will keep the price war pick up some profitable ideas! •oiling. For this reason the top managements of the

Checkout Publications Ltd., Checkout is published by Checkout News pg 2 Publications Ltd., 22 Crofton Road. 22 Crofton Road, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. Dun Laoghaire, Xorth Dublin price war. Eugene O'Brien leaves lhc Telephone 808415. Co. Dublin. trade. Food Hall at the Spring Show. And more. Telephone 808415 All articles are the copyright of the The corporate momentum of 7-Eleven pg 6 Publisher and cannot be reprinted without the written permission of Publisher/Managing Editor 7-Eleven, the international evangelists of the the editor. Kevin Kelly convenience store, plan their first Dublin store in September.

Editor Rebel with a cause pg 10 Robin Challis A profile of Michael Campbell, national director of RGDATA. the man who speaks — or rather shouts — for the independent grocer. Advertising Manager Sandra O'Callaghan Should food be treated with radiation? pg 12 The irradiation of foodstuffs is becoming a relatively widespread process. But the debate about its safety Senior Advertising Executive intensifies. Patrick E. Kelly Boomtime for Barryspg 18 Barrys of Mallow, one of Ireland's most progressive cash Advertising Executive and carrys, plans to double its size. Paul Nugent Fresh Foods pg 20 Deputy Editor Trading in convenience — when time is Fionnuala Mulcahy money pg 22 Reporters The U.S. convenience industry involves more than just The average net stores — anything from shopping-by-phone, to home circulation as Marianne Kelly 'certified by the Christine Doherty plant care to visiting shoe-shine. Audit Bureau of Circulation for the period July-December 1986 was Premium products take the biscuit pg 28 6,67? copies per issue. Production Manager Although there is little growth in the£80m biscuit CHECKOUT magazine is circulated Eric Dineen market, there is a strong trend towards premium to all relevant manufacturers anj products. distributors, to every cash and carry, every multiple, supermarket, Typesetting The snacking factor pg 32 group head office and wholesaler. Liam Donnelly Super Valu. Spar, M.N.C. . Cake-makers are responding to a tough market by and shops in launching new products, many of them designed for the addition to over 2,500 unaffiliated 'impulse' buyer. independent retailers and the Circulation country's leading off-licence outlets. Jean Swift Trade News pg 38 This statement is inserted in accordance with the requirements laid down by the Audit Bureau of' Primed by Seamus pg 44 Circulations. Subscription £25.00 Mercury Print, Blackrock Intelligence briefing from our undercover grocer. post paid.

Checkout Mid May 1987 1

I 11 ray is defined as one joule of energy irradiated lood is eaien in Ireland. j per kilogram. A Joule is die amount There arc a number of bodies in I ol energy required to accelerate an Ireland cither examining or pro- object weighing one kilogram at a moting the use of irradiation. The rate of one metre per second per Nuclear Energy Board, set tip by (he second over a distance of one metre. government in 19715. actively pro- So lliere you have it!) motes the process and has held a The conclusions of this supra- number of seminars. In 1985 Or. national report on irradiation an' Fergus Hill from the Laboratory of now being reviewed by national the Dublin Region Public Analyst governments. For example, in the came out in favour of irradiation. I' K. the Advisory Committee on And the Kinsealy Research Centre, Irradiated and Novel Foods (ACINF) par! of An Foras Talunlais. is also chaired by Sir Arnold Burgen con- satisfied with the safety of irradiation. cluded in 1986 that radiation up to Dr. David O'Beinie from the Centre ten kilogray is acceptable and has feds that in industrialised countries, recommended that there be a general which already have advanced systems clearance of food irradiation. At of distribution, refrigeration and I present, however, irradiation is storage in place, irradiation will be banned in the I'.K. and its safetv is used to increase lood salety rather being hotly disputed by a number ol than extending the shell life of bodies, mostly notably the London horticultural products. Says Food Commission. In Germany also O'Beirne, "people aren't being fair food irradiation is banned. In the to technology. Irradiation is ana- I'.KC. Belgium. France. Italy and the logous to pulling food into a micro- Refrigeration costs are eliminated ,u Netherlands permit its use for one or wave oven, it is exposed to some wholesale and retail levels as well ,iv more food products — potatoes, rigours but it doesn't become radio- in transportation. Irradiation reduces onions, garlic, shallots, strawberries, active. There may be some nutrient peppers and spices. Irradiation of damage but not any more than in wastage of perishable foods. For ;l|i these reasons the promoters of loud wheat, rice, fish, chicken, soft fruits other forms ol lood processing such as irradiation claim it has much (o nllci .ind beans is in use or proposed in canning or free/ing." food maniifaclurecs. distributors ;nnl oilier countries. An EEC directive retailers. harmonising legislation is currently being prepared. A poll on consumer- pparently irradiation of fond is attitudes to a process that has been experi- n Ireland an official line on A mented with for nearly 70 years irradiation has yet to be formul- irradiation i'ouml and as long ago as ! 953 food Iated. The Department of Health intended for the crews of submarines told Checkout that a decision has not widespread hostility. was treated with radiation in the been readied. In the meantime, U.S.A. Now there are approximately there are two companies in Ireland But that is not the view ofihe anti- 115 plants throughout the world — both in the pharmaceutical lobby. In the l.S.A. the National %vhere food and medical equipment industry rather than food — using Coalition to Stop Food Irradiation is are subjected to irradiation and the irradiation, and irradiated food can an increasingly powerful consumer process is now used in some thirty be legally imported provided it is group using increasingly radical countries — to treat food as diverse appropriately labelled. So whether methods of disruption, just last as prawns and frogs legs in tin- people are aware of it or not. month members ol a so-called 'shell-• Netherlands, sausage and meal paste in japan, onions in Thailand and oranges in South Africa.

But it is only relatively recently that national and international advisory bodies have started churning out reports. The most heavyweiglu uf these is surely the 1981 report from the Expert Committee on Irradiaiiou — a joint committee which included representatives from llie F.A.O., or Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, the I.A.I'..A., International Atomic Energy Agency and W.H.O., the World' Health Organisation. The committee con- cluded that irradiation of food up i<> 10 kilogray presents no hazards or special nutritional or microbiological problem. (A kilogray is one thousand Grays — a measure of the amount of radiation absorbed by an object. ()ne watch' to block sales of irradiated but that at present there has been questions the use of irradiation to kill foods in American grocery stores insufficient research into possible bacteria that causes food spoilage. .swooped into a group of California adverse effects. He raises a number of Using the process to control salmon after Hawaiian growers quesions. The Burgen report, for ella, for example, "is like using a tried to sneak irradiated papayas on example, states that irradiation up to chainsaw to cut butter," according to supermarket shelves in Los ten kilogray "will not lead to a to Lang. Irradiation to kill salmonella Angeles. The most prominent organ- significant change in the natural also destroys organisms that are isation in the anti-lobby in the UK. is radioactivity of the food." "What," natural competitors of botulism that the London Food Commission, an asks Lang, "is meant by no significant can cause the more serious food independent body which has a core change?" The Commission claims poisoning. Irradiation also destroy: of twelve researchers (all with highly that irradiation destroys some of the organisms that cause spoiled meats t< academic backgrounds) and which nutrients, especially some vitamins, give off a warning putrid smell. It ii was set up two years ago backed by a in foods. The Commission therefore also possible that irradiation ma grant from the now defunct believes that consumers would be actually create new chemicals in the reater London Council. deceived because while irradiated food "and that these may be toxic and Dr. Tim Lang, the Commission's food would appear fresh it wouid be even, according to the American director, told Checkout that he was less nutritious than food that is NCSFI, carcinogenic. Anyway, not necessarily against irradiation genuinely fresh. The Commission argues the Commission, food hygiene can be adequately controlled using conventional methods. FOOD IRRADIATION A U.K. Government CAMPAIGN CHARTER committee has rradiation - the treatment of food with very large Environmental Health and Trading Standards Officers) who recommended that doses of ionising radiation - has been experimented monitor food safety have no tests jet to detect irradiation. Iwilb for nearly 70 years. It Is currently illegal in They fear the process will lead to a lowering of food hygiene there should be a Britain and several other European countries but there standards without actually removing the risk of food is strong .nlemalJonaJ pressure for this ban to be poisoning. And consumers have a right to know if any food general clearance of removed. It is claimed that irradiation will: they are buyiag has been irradiated, what damage has been • delay ripening of fruits and sprouting of vegetables dooeaad bow old tbe food really Is. we need laws to make sure food irradiation. • stop insect pests from breeding, or kill them It b dearly labelled - but, without tests to detect irradiation, • kill some bacteria that cause food poisoning. these cannot be enforced.J TT»e aim is to extend 'shelf life* - or the lime food can be he Commission is also con stored In shops of warehouses before going "off". IS IT NEEDED? cerned that irradiated foods — In 1986 the government received a report from its Any technological' enznge to our food must not only be whether sold loose or packaged Advisory Committee on Irradiated and Novel Foods1 that T 4 safe but be necessary Irradiation offers little (hat — should be clearly labelled. A claimed (here were no special proNems with the safety cannot be done by existing food processing. But In addition it or wholesomeness of irradiated food. If this were the may require more additives to hide 'off-flavours' and texture present, for example, irradiated food hole story then all would be well - but it is not. There changes it causes. 84\ of consumers have said theydo not from Holland and South Africa is are four main issues that need to be resolved before we want H* aad the food industry itself is divided o*er its 2 labelled "RADURA". "Why is the llow this process to be used in Britain. benefits1. Some pressure for its use appears co be coming from food industry reluctant to have such the nuclear iadastr* seeking coifed nevcommmisl uses for SAFETY? radioactive material and nuclear waste. But there is #0 food identified as 'IRRADIATED'?' Irradiation does not make food r»dio«ctiw bui It does evtcteacc that irradiation Is needed forgoo d quality food. And asks Lang. But even when legislation produce chenkat changes. Many of tfcese haw not It maybe used » increase tbe price of food of lower quality In 1 1 does insist that irradiated food be tesud evea as stringently as fte require for additives, the return fora foager shelf-lire . clearly labelled, this is very difficult ilstoryofsafefy testing of Irradiated food isasad story of bad wd fraudulent science. Evea so some Miaul studies show to enforce since, although it is erse effects that have not beea adequately explained. And • THE CAMPAIGN • scientifically feasible to detect irradia- government committee Itself adnltted that there Is The kaaoa Irradiation should not be lifted until »e aui be tion in laboratory conditions, public Inadequate diu on miny Issues, itorfccr safety ud effects on SMtlstkdit Is safe, »6oJe34MMe, amavttabtemod tuxded. The health agencies at present have no lunitks living new Irradiation plants arc kgaorcd despite Uck ilcrilact toe u) o( die* conditions should be • CUB* evidence of safety violations by plants In other countries.1 for raacera. Taken together they offer • compelling OK for practical tests or equipment for more detailed, public Investigation of food Irradiation before detecting irradiated food. "Con- H Is gtea the all-dear. Reversing premature dectekxB later FOOD WHOLESOMENESS? will be aora difficult. Todiy *t hart • unique opportunity to sumers have a right to know if any Irradiation is designed to keep food longer - to ensare t safe ud sensible outcome. lood they are buying has been 2 counterfcIt the appearance of Jrtshncss and Quality. irradiated, what damage has been some nutrients, especially vitamins, are destroyed by Irradiation. These losses are fa addition to those that • WHAT YOU CANDOR done and how old the food really is," normally occur la cooking and storing food. They will also l.JolaIke Food IrradUdoa Campaign, and get your says Lang. "We need laws to make ccur in tbe very foods the government is encouraging us to orgaabatJoa, cMc or community group, trade unhMi branch sure it is clearly labelled — but, more of to Improve health, such as cereals, chkken, fish, aad Meads lo (oln. seafoods, fresh fruit and vegetables. There has been no study 2. Make a wtatctry donatioa and help raise money for Ihe without tests to detect irradiation, i.Se impact of these losses on ihe diets of the population as a these cannot be enforced." *ole - or on the health of those people whose diet Is already J. Ask lor details of our petition: A Marplan poll on consumer ficfent. The government committee suggests this will not be > write lo yoar MT. M.E.R. local coancll - ask them lo (ol» *e problem 'because Irradiated foods are unlikely to form a <*maaiaa aad sead us their reply attitudes to irradiation, carried out rge part of anyone's diet*. This comes dangerously dose to • wrile to vuar local retailers aad supermarkets and sead as 1 for the Commission, found wide- laying Irradiated food isO.K. as long as you dont eat It. topics of tVdr reply spread hostility: 84% of respondents 4. Set ap a load campaign group to lobby retailers and said the ban should remain; 85% said CONTROL OF FOOD poUticuutt; collect signatures for Ihe petilloa and encourage IRRADIATION? local aempaper aad radio (oumillsB to raise the Issue In Hie if it was allowed they would not buy local media 3 Major food companies fn Britain have already used treated products; and 95% believed if radiation Illegally to conceal bacterial contamination oa permitted its use should be clearly K foods. Irradiation can kill some bacteria but leave identified. The Commission is also ers untouched. Similarly the poisons created by bacteria unaffecled. fuMIc health •gencies (Publk Analysts, concerned that irradiation, which it says involves "extremely large doses" DSter from the Food Irradiation Campaign ol tho London Food Commission. of radiation, may be dangerous for

14 Checkout Mid May 1987 workers in the processing plants. words death) compared with the "calls for a ban on imports o Finally, the Commission asks, why is control group after a year of eating irradiated food and animal feed from irradiation necessary and why is it irradiated potatoes in another case. non-Member Stales." being pushed? The answer, they The report is also at pains to point Many senior people in the food suspect, is that food irradiation is out that the World Health Organisa- industry itself are also hesitant to being pushed by the nuclear industry tion has been misquoted by the pro accept irradiation. To take just one as a useful way of reutilising radio- irradiation lobby. "Advocates of food example, in the U.K. Tesco's director active waste. irradiation claim that the W.H.O. of technical services. Dr. Richard Such arguments cause great con- has confirmed that this technology is Pugh, has expressed concern abou ternation amongst those in the pro- efficient, has no harmful effect on the research carried out in the safety irradiation lobby. "The food industry human health and can be used safely. of irradiation. Pugh, who is is a little bit spooked by the adverse But the W.H.O. expressly stated that radiation chemist by training, has reaction", says a spokesperson for the the Committee of Experts had noi said, "I feel concerned about the National Food Processors Association considered the general safety aspects quality of research going into this in the U.S.A. A spokesman for the of the food irradiation process nor process, it is not robust enough." U.K.'s Food and Drink Federation had it claimed that food irradiation Food irradiation may be a perfectly says "Irradiation suffers from post- was safe ... After a general survey, acceptable and safe process with hernobyl connotations. We have a however, the Committee of Experts many benefits for food glowers and campaign to educate the public had come to certain conclusions on processors, distributors, wholesalers about the subject." In Ireland Dr. the toxological, microbiological and and retailers. But it may also be Fergus Hill, the Dublin Region physiological acceptability of food dangerous. From the information ublic Analyst of the Eastern Health irradiated with a total dose of up to available at present, it is clear that Board is outspoken in his anger. 10 kGy." The Committee recom- considerably more research is needed "The consumer is being seduced by mends, among other things, that the before irradiated products arc anti food industry lobbies... the anti European Parliament "rejects the allowed to become standard fixtures food industry lobby tends to under- gener.il authorisation of irradiation on the retailer's shelf or the con- mine confidence in government as a method of conserving food" and sumer's table. • ;ontrol of dietary safety and indus- trial integrity. Their approach is to use unsubstantiated assertions about Summary and conclusions of the European Parliament's Committee on ealth ... the effect is to raise the Environment Public Health and Consumer Protection on the unnecessary alarm among customers whose standards of scientific literacy irradiation of foodstuffs. is such as may incline them to accept :he pronouncements of the anti food ndustry lobby ... Certainly the jullible are deceived ... The motiva- WHY EUROPE MAY ion behind the campaign may be political ambition, profit in boosting SAY NO magazine sales or the desire for mischevious (sic) activity and atten- 1. Despite decades of research, it is 6. irradiation could be used to ion in immature adults." not possible to prove that food deceive consumers as regards irradiation causes no harm to the freshness or ripeness of food. t is possible, although not neces- health. sarily accurate, to question the 7. The microbicidal effect of Ipedigree of independent groups 2. Practically all scientific studies irradiation varies considerably >uch as the London Food Commis- admit a considerable degree of and may even lead to an sion, which was sponsored by the uncertainty as regards effects on increase in germs. 3reater London Council — an human health. irganisation perceived as left-wing 8. All the desired objectives of food and radical under the leadership of 3. It is not possible to prove that irradiation can be achieved by Red' Ken Livingstone. But it is not food has been irradiated. There other methods. Radiation does :asy to dismiss as ioony lefties' two is no technical means of not provide greater protection ;ub-committees of the European checking. for consumers against spoilt Parliament. A report published last food. [anuary on the irradiation of food- 4. As a method of conservation, tuffs from the Committee on the radiation is no better or cheaper 9. The use of ionising radiation to invironment, Public Health and than other methods. conserve food is potentially Consumer Protection, which incor- TechnoJogica! improvements io more dangerous than lorates an 'opinion' from the certain foods are of interest to conventional methods. Workers Committee on Energy, Research and manufacturers but not to ^t / in radiation plants are exposed Technology, comes out strongly consumers. to greater risks. This may lead igainst food irradiation. The report to major problems particularly mblishes extensive experimental in the Third World. indings which include evidence that 5. The use of the technology [nimals fed with food irradiated even involved is potentially morer with low doses of radiation suffered dangerous than with other types 10. The construction and operation 'mutagenic effects' (in other words of conservation. Employees are of radiation plants leads to an genetic mutation) in one case, and a exposed to considerable risk. even greater geographical • ignificant rise in mortality (in other This would lead to problems spread and circulation of particularly in the Third World. radioactive materials.

16 Checkout Mid May 1987