"walmart" news and stories

Wal-mart opened their first store in Shen Zhen, China 10 years ago. Now, the retailing behemoth is eying India, with speculation that a store will be open within a year or two.

Opponents to what China called "the wolf," say that Wal-mart will, as is always the accusation with the store, crush healthy competition and increase unemployment, where India is already "struggling to feed and house its one billion citizens." However, proponents believe that India will embrace Wal-mart, as the retailer will do its best to adapt to local tastes by stocking popular spices and food items. Hm...bulk curry? Ready-made ghee? We'll see...

Wal-Mart is already the number one seller of organic milk, but in the next few weeks, the retail giant plans to increase its selection of organic products, according to a recent Reuters article. Wal-Mart's head of dry grocery told Reuters that customers can expect the amount of organic offerings at Wal-Mart to soon double. While the stated goal is to offer organic products at a low price, some worry that the enormous quantities required by a retailer like Wal-Mart may continue to push organic suppliers and lawmakers to weaken organic standards. A New York Times article explains, citing both the Organic Trade Association and the Organic Consumers Association.

A mouse was found in a UK ready-made meal. To be more specific, only the head of the rodent was actually in the meal and the rest of the body was presumably lost during processing. After purchasing the microwaveable curry at an Asada market in England, the pregnant Tricia Rankin only ate two bites before she spotted the head. She told reporters that she threw up all night as a result of the incident. The company, which is owned by Wal-Mart, has issued an apology to the woman and assured her that they would issue "an appropriate amount of compensation" after the product has been tested. I wonder if she will receive more "compensation" if they find other bits of the mouse in the meal. As far as value per piece, I strongly feel that the head of the mouse is the most traumatic bit to encounter, followed by the tail.

Source

Last year, retail giant Wal-Mart pulled Splenda brand products from its shelves and began to test market a product called Altern. Altern is Wal-Mart's own brand of the artificial sweetener sucralose. According to CNN, a spokesperson for Wal-Mart revealed that the company is planning to have all of its supercenters fully stocked with Altern by the end of this month, while a spokesperson from Tate & Lyle, the company that distributes Splenda, issued a statement assuring investors that this new product would have no effect on its own sucralose division.

Despite the T&L assurance, it seems likely that Splenda would experience some drop off in direct-to-consumer sales as Wal-Mart replaces its products. Altern's release should not have an effect on the use of Splenda by food and drink manufacturers, however.

Source

Dateline NBC, after interviewing health inspectors and touring dozens of supermarkets all over the country, compiled a list of the 10 least hygienic supermarkets in the country. From expired milk and deli meats to lack of hot water in employee bathrooms, there were many violations that were not immediately obvious to the customer's eyes, but the hidden cameras caught blatantly unhygienic practices and major health and sanitation violations, like dead insects in food products. After analyzing the data from inspections in 2005 of 1,000 stores in 27 states from the each of the top ten grocery chains, the list was final. From fewest violations to most, the least sanitary supermarket chains are:

• Food Lion
• Wal-Mart
• Save-a-Lot
• Costco
• Sam's Club
• Wynn-Dixie
• Kroger
• Publix
• Albertsons
• Safeway

According to the company responses received by Dateline, all the companies are vowing to improve in every area where a critical violation was received. They emphasize that customers who see a violation should report it to the store manager immediately so the problem can be dealt with.

Source