Orders delivered in under an hour – classified in the report as ‘ultra-fast’ – accounted for 18 per cent of the volume of home deliveries and 10 per cent of the volume of orders with home delivery.
Walmart and Amazon were identified as the main beneficiaries of this obsession with convenience and speed. Walmart now boasts a market share of almost 40% in online grocery sales in the United States
...The measure was unanimously approved on 12 May by the 27 EU countries.
The decision concerns cattle, horses, poultry, eggs, aquaculture products, honey and casings, and was taken by a committee comprising experts from EU Member States due to the use of antibioticsandgrowth-promoting hormones in livestock farming, as reported in L’informatore zootecnico.
Brazil is a key trading partner for Europe in this sector: according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, between January and March 2026, Brazilian meat exports to the EUhad already reached508.7 million dollars, amounting to 116.5 thousand tonnes.
In 2025, the EU purchased animal proteins from Brazil worth approximately 1.8 billion dollars, equivalent to 368,100 tonnes. After China, it is the second-largest market for Brazilian meat...
It is a serious matter that Brazil is not considering removing the banned substances but is only thinking about lifting the ban. And that nobody knows anything about the illegal meat that has already been sold. Nobody is talking any more about Mercosur, which has already come into force.
The German group that owns the Lidl and Kaufland chains closed the financial year ending 28 February 2026 with a total turnover of 185.6 billion euros, up 5.8 per cent on the previous year’s figure of 175.4 billion.
Despite a climate marked by economic and geopolitical tensions, the group has further strengthened its position in the European market, whilst also increasing its workforce. The number of employees rose from 595,000 to 604,000, with 9,000 new jobs created during the year, 5,000 of which were in Germany...
The group also operates marketplaces (e-commerce with Kaufland, which is also present in Italy), manufacturing companies (bread, jams, etc.), tech companies (Schwarz Digits), circular economy companies (PreZero) and transport companies (ships; the company is called Tailwind).
Consumer prices rose by 4.2% in May compared with a year earlier, the US Department of Labour said on Wednesday, accelerating from 3.8% the previous month.
The figures highlighted by Andrea Montanino in the *Corriere della Sera* on 8 June 2026 arenoteworthy: the price of a gallon of petrol (= 4 litres) in the US rose from $2.91 (in February) to $4.43 in June, and the price of beef, partly due to climate change, has risen by 15% over the past year.
Today’s Wall Street Journal adds to this the AI boom, which will create a bottleneck for many supplies (for example: in IT, many components and equipment are no longer available except with long waiting lists and sky-high prices).
Then there is plastic, which is everywhere: from nappies to household and beauty products.
Drafted on 10 June, updated on 15 June 2026
... According to the study, global meat production rose from around 71 million tonnes in 1961 to 361 million tonnes in 2022, marking a more than five-fold increase. Over the same period, milk production almost tripled, whilst egg production increased more than sixfold.
Of all the categories considered, the poultry sector showed the most significant growth, with production increasing approximately fivefold. Pork and eggs also recorded strong increases, whilst beef production remained largely stable or declined in many regions of the world.
Asia has established itself as the world’s leading producer of animal-sourced foods, thanks mainly to economic and demographic growth over recent decades. However, per capita availability of these products remains lower than in the most advanced economies...
Esselunga tops the Goodwill rankings in Piedmont and Liguria, whilst Coop leads in Tuscany. Tosano and the discount chain Eurospin come out on top
First produced in 1946 thanks to the insight of agronomist Domenico Marchetti, this long, semi-round grain, native to the Vercelli area, has often been relegated by the supermarket chains to the role of‘salad rice’– a marketing strategy that, over the years, has ended up trivialising its identity. Yet the reality is quite different: Arborio remains one of the most effective varieties for achieving al dente grains, capable of absorbing cooking liquids well and yielding a creamy texture. It is no coincidence that, even though Carnaroli and Vialone Nano often dominate the culinary narrative, it continues to be the most sought-after risotto rice in the world...
Gambero Rosso
Carrefour’s own-brand is among the best. Esselunga and Coop are decent but not outstanding.
The only drawback of these rankings is that the starting point is always missing (i.e. the complete list of brands tasted). Below: the best.
Italy is projected to reach €10.4 billion in 2024 (a 6% increase on 2023). Cultivated land is growing by just 2%, highlighting a mismatch between demand and production.
Inside a fruit and vegetable section at Kroger (USA).
Drafted on 11 June, updated on 12 June 2026
Read the article here
I don’t believe in ‘comebacks’: Tosano is simply an exception.
According to Luigi Rubinelli, Tosano “is a bit of a hypermarket, a bit of a supermarket, but also a mini-market and a discount store. A bit of a cash-and-carry, a bit of an Autogrill due to the proliferation of large-format stores, but it’s also a bit like Trader Joe’s (a US chain owned by Aldi Nord)..."
Below: "catering-sized" fruit and vegetables.
In the US, price is the main barrier to purchase: consumers say they are loyal, but are hoping for special offers
Figures fromthe first quarter – a difficult period for Italian wine – showa13.3% drop in value. According to datafrom the Federvini-Nomisma Observatory,presented at Palazzo Alteri in Rome on 10 June during the association’s general meeting, the sharp slowdown in exports appears to be affecting all major wine-producing countries.
The reason is thegeneralised contraction in importvalue recorded across the 12 main target markets (-17.1%). The sharpest decline was in the United States, which recorded a fall of as much as 38.9% in the value of imports compared with the same quarter of 2025, followed by China (-10.6%) and Canada (-10.5%).
Excerpts freely adapted from this article: …The branded product becomes dominant and ubiquitous because it changes the purpose of the shop. In effect, we move from a food retail business model (frequent purchases of various items and brands, with a low average spend) to one more akin to that of fashion houses (sporadic purchases of a single main brand and a few items, with a high average spend). Obviously, as we are still talking about food, Eataly’s average spend will never be comparable to that of luxury clothing, but the logic is the same…
…Over the last few years, Eataly’s strategy seems to have changed significantly. Firstly, its locations are concentrated in areas where customer footfall is high and where people generally pay less attention to prices. We’re talking about petrol stations and airports, for example. Secondly, the focus is shifting more towards catering because, by reducing retail space, the problem of tied-up capital is alleviated…
Dear Massimo [Schiraldi] , the problem of stock – with all that it entails – such as expiry dates, wastage, loss of freshness, etc. – is reduced in larger outlets, but it is far from being resolved in larger outlets!
Just look at thephotos taken in Milan on 8 September 2025. ‘Small – in terms of floor space – is beautiful’, as we have already said.
As had already been highlighted, Eataly, in Italy, had no reason to exist.
Drafted on 5 June and updated on 10 June 2026
Over the last twelve months, the ‘fresh’ category has grown by 4%, whilst ‘fruit and vegetables’ (5.5%), ‘butcher’s & poultry’ (6.8%) and ‘packaged fresh products’ (3.7%). By contrast, categories such as “cold cuts” (-2.6%) and “packaged food” (1.3%) have slowed down …
purchase frequency is rising. Over the last year, it has increased by 7.6%: people are visiting shops more often, buying less to avoid stockpiling items that might end up being thrown away. Among young families with children under 24 – those facing the greatest financial difficulties – the trend is even more pronounced: the frequency has jumped by 12.8%. Despite all this, large-scale retail is showing stable growth of around 2%...
Repubblica, 10 June 2026.
Among the 20 categories mentioned in the headline, bananas and extra virgin olive oil stand out. It is unclear whether Nielsen’s figures are adjusted for inflation or not.
