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Walmart launches Digital Health Hub


Better Care Services connects customers with third-party providers for same-day telehealth services. Walmart is launching a new digital health platform aimed at simplifying the way customers find care, fill prescriptions and make healthier food choices. The retail giant's new Better Care Services hub serves as an all-in-one destination that connects shoppers to third-party telehealth providers, prescription services and nutrition resources. According to Walmart, the goal is to reduce the friction that can prevent people from seeking medical care, especially as concerns surrounding cost and convenience continue to mount... Progressive Grocer

Walmart
 

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Sam’s Club – a division of Walmart: its pharmacies will start prescribing oral Wegovy at $149 per month


At the end of 2024 , I wrote: The results - above Walmart's expectations - wereachieved thanks in part to an extensive promotional package and the sale of GLP-1 anti-obesity pharmaceuticals. In the meantime, Walmart has 'grafted on the fifth': the pills will be available from next week and Plus members will be entitled to free same-day pharmacy delivery. GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide 1) drugs mimic the effects of the hormone they are named after, triggering the post-prandial insulin response. They inhibit the flow of sugar in the blood, making them an effective treatment for type 2 diabetes. These drugs also slow digestion, reduce food cravings and appetite, effects that have cemented their status as powerful weight management tools in the general consciousness. Previously only available in injectable form, the advent of GLP-1 pills has sparked renewed public interest in weight management therapy. As the first - and currently the only - FDA-approved GLP-1-based oral drug for weight loss, Wegovy has drawn crowds of onlookers to Sam's Club pharmacies across the country. Sales of GLP- 1 drugs worldwide have exceeded $80 billion.

 

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Pam has to decide if it is a supermarket or if it wants to be a discounter


Luigi Rubinelli writes: 'At Pam there is an obsession with comparison with the discount store. This can be seen in the price communication variations. Too much repetition" I would add that this fixation was already there years ago, see the first picture below which is from 2021 . The second picture below is from 2026 and is from Alimentando: I included it to make it clear that slogans and colours are always the same. Note that in 2024 the group's growth was lower than inflation but above all that Pam, in the same year, did NOT rank among the cheapest chains in Italy. If Pam wants to measure itself against the discounters, instead of doing useless generic communication, why does it not do comparative advertising against the discounters, like - for example - Leclerc against Lidl, in France? N.B.: in 2025 Pam only 'distinguished itself' - so to speak - by having some of its cashiers do the 'trolley test', sacking them and being obliged to reinstate them, making a big impression.

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France: Ferrero, Lactalis, Coca-Cola, Mars and Unilever block mandatory use of Nutriscore


The Équipe de Recherche en Épidémiologie Nutritionnelle (EREN), the academics who devised the system: the rejection on 2 December is a 'victory for the lobbies' that have prevailed over scientific evidence and the desire of the vast majority of citizens (94% of French people are in favour of compulsory education). Ferrero is supported by the Italian government which proposed a failed labelling system : the Nutrinform.

Coca-ColaFerreroUnilever
 

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Cultured meat in crisis: market at a standstill, the ‘hybrid route’ is explored rather than the radical alternative


Cultured meat, the honeymoon is over: closures, slowdowns and the 'hybrid way' to survive...the sector of alternatives to meat - and thus also cultured meat, together with vegetable substitutes - is now growing barely between 0 and 1% per year. This is not just a slowdown, but a sign of stagnation. According to Marco Tschanz, Director of Bell Food Group Switzerland, the reason is not mysterious: for many consumers these products remain niche products, held back above all by a trivial and very powerful problem, the oldest of all: taste. The taste does not compare with that of meat, and there is also the image of food perceived as highly processed, 'with numerous additives', admits Tschanz... The only ones to bet on it, for now, are the Chinese.

Meat
 

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Ham: why is it called that?


with a dozen different types and qualities on the list of PDO (an acronym that indicates that processing and elaboration take place in the same production area) and PGI (certain qualities of the product are derived from the area of origin). But why is ham called this? There are various hypotheses, but they all agree that ham is about to dry up... the etymology derives .. from the processing: once slaughtered, the leg of the pig is put to cool, and salted so that the salt dries out the meat to stop the development of bacteria and thus enable preservation. A technique already known in Roman times, which has evolved over time..

Prosciutto
 

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US duties on pasta increase from 92% to a maximum of 14%


The duty for La Molisana would be reduced to 2.26 per cent, while the rate for Garofalo would be set at around 14 per cent. The remaining 11 pasta producers - including Barilla - would face duties of 9.09 per cent, the Italian Foreign Ministry said. Financial Times The proceedings began after some US companies accused Italian pasta makers of selling at prices they considered too low, opening an anti-dumping procedure that included duties of up to 91.74% on top of the standard EU tariff of 15%. The prospect of such heavy charges had ignited a heated political and economic debate, with fears about the possible impact on Italian exports to the US, one of the most important markets for the sector. Red Prawn Drafted 2 January, updated 3 January 2026

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The President of the Council has the same positions as Trump but shows more diplomacy: she admits climate change but does nothing concrete


rather demonise the ecological transition. Indeed, Trump has just suspended the operating permits for all major offshore projects under construction in the USwith immediate effecton 22 December (Le Monde). The announcement concerns in particular five projects located on the east coast that represent a total investment of $25 billion (around €21 billion). These fields, which had received federal credits under Joe Biden's tenure, were supposed to provide electricity to more than 2.5 million households and businesses and create nearly 10,000 jobs (Le Monde). The political risk is great as the cost of electricity in the US has risen by 5% this year, the power grid is obsolete, and the 'inflation theme' is hot (Le Monde). . While in our country, industrial production is retreating, also under the blows of an Italian energy cost that is among the highest in Europe. Below: the ecological transition does not stop (Lifegate December 2025), despite Trump and Meloni.

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