Sustainability

Efforts to make food healthier and healthy food more affordable took center stage last week in Washington, D.C. when Walmart unveiled its new “Great For You,” packaging icon. This week in Orlando food safety took center stage at the Consumer Goods Forum’s annual Global Food Safety Conference where Frank Yiannas, VP food safety at Walmart and co-vice chair of the conference weighed in on collaboration, food safety at a cross roads and Tiramisu.

Lancaster, Pa. -- One of the supermarket chains operated by Netherlands-based Royal Ahold has installed rooftop solar panels at two of its stores.

Carlisle, Pa.-based Giant Food Stores — also known as Giant-Carlisle to distinguish it from Landover, Md.-based Giant Food, also owned by Ahold — said it had installed solar photovoltaic systems at stores in Lancaster and Pottstown, Pa.

LAKELAND, Fla. — Publix Super Markets has promoted Kelly Williams-Puccio to executive director of Publix Super Markets Charities.

In her new position, Williams-Puccio will be responsible for the strategic direction of the foundation, managing foundation giving policies and processes and maintaining the charitable legacy of company founder, George Jenkins.

Austin, Texas -- Whole Foods Market announced that two regional presidents, David Lannon and Ken Meyer, have been promoted to executive VPs of operations, joining the executive leadership team. The company's 12 regional presidents will report to them.

AUSTIN, Texas — Michael Besancon, senior global VP purchasing, distribution and communications for Whole Foods Market, will retire from the company after more than 17 years of service.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — As the Greenpeace's most sustainable U.S. grocer for seafood, Safeway already has a sterling reputation for providing its customers with a wide variety of responsibly-sourced fish. Now, the company is taking that even further by announcing that its Safeway brand skipjack (chunk-light) canned tuna will be responsibly caught using free-school purse-seine methods. The company will transition to the purse-seine method by the end of the year.

East Palo Alto, Calif. -- Ikea said Thursday it has plugged in four Blink Level 2 electric vehicle charging stations at its East Palo Alto, Calif., store. The initiative is in partnership with ECOtality and represents the eighth EV project for IKEA in the United States.

To charge an EV at Ikea East Palo Alto, drivers pull into a designated parking spot, swipe their Blink InCard (RFID card), and plug the charger into the EV to charge the vehicle.

New York City -- San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a proposal to expand the city’s bag on plastic bags from grocery stores and pharmacies to all retailers, including restaurants.

The expanded regulations also call for customers to pay a 10-cent surcharge for paper bags at the point of purchase. The businesses charging the fee will keep the money to use how they see fit.