McCartney to be gobbled up

[Guest guest]

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/food_and_drink/news/article358202.ece

 

Nestlé looks set to swallow up McCartney range of frozen meals

By Matthew Beard

Published: 17 April 2006

Devotees of ethical consumerism were dismayed when The Body Shop was sold last

month to a company part-owned by Nestlé.

 

They may now have further food for thought following reports that the company

set up by the vegetarian trailblazer Linda McCartney is also about to be

swallowed up by the Swiss food giant, which is named today among a top 10 of

" unethical " multinational companies.

 

The late wife of Sir Paul McCartney popularised a meat-free diet in the 1980s

through her best-selling cookbooks, and in 1991 launched her eponymous range of

frozen meals.

 

The McCartney range, benefiting from celebrity endorsement and early entry into

the market, has been a staple of British supermarket freezers for 15 years and

is even popular among some non-vegetarians. Her guide to vegetarian cooking,

Linda McCartney's Home Cooking, became the best-selling vegetarian book in the

UK and has sold more than 250,000 copies.

 

Now the food giant Heinz, which has owned the range for seven years, is thought

to be preparing to sell it and other frozen foods lines, which are suffering a

slump as consumers turn to chilled, ready-prepared microwave meals in the belief

that they are healthier. The same trend caused a 13 per cent drop in sales of

the Birds Eye range, which is being sold by Unilever.

 

Nestlé owns 50.1 per cent of Israel's Ossem, whose subsidiary Tivall is

understood to be preparing an offer for the McCartney range. Tivall already

sells similar products to the British supermarkets Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury

and Tesco.

 

Heinz would not comment on the McCartney range, but a spokesperson told The

Business: " We continue to explore options to maximise the value of the frozen

food business. " It is thought that Heinz rejected recent bids for some parts of

its frozen food division for being too low but is determined to sell off the

McCartney range.

 

If the deal goes ahead, the association with Nestlé may provoke a strong

reaction from some consumers, based on the experience of The Body Shop, the

champion of ethical beauty products formed by Dame Anita Roddick.

 

L'Oréal, the world's largest cosmetics producer which is accused of flouting

bans on animal testing, paid £625m for The Body Shop last month. Campaigners

against animal testing and Nestlé, which has a 26 per cent share in L'Oréal,

called for a boycott of The Body Shop. Last week a market research company found

that " satisfaction " with The Body Shop had slumped by almost half since the

deal. The daily BrandIndex found that since the announcement the satisfaction

rating had dropped by 11 points to 14.

 

Campaigners against Nestlé, which was recently voted the world's least

responsible company in an internet poll, said The Body Shop was paying the price

for allying itself with the firm.

 

Nestlé is among a top 10 of " unethical " multinational companies in an Ethical

Index by the market research firm The Fraser Consultancy published today. The

Swiss company is 10th on a list headed by McDonald's, with Nike and Shell in

second and third place respectively. About 1,300 respondents rated the burger

chain unethical, a response thought to have been influenced by the hit

documentary film, Supersize Me.

 

Devotees of ethical consumerism were dismayed when The Body Shop was sold last

month to a company part-owned by Nestlé.

 

They may now have further food for thought following reports that the company

set up by the vegetarian trailblazer Linda McCartney is also about to be

swallowed up by the Swiss food giant, which is named today among a top 10 of

" unethical " multinational companies.

 

The late wife of Sir Paul McCartney popularised a meat-free diet in the 1980s

through her best-selling cookbooks, and in 1991 launched her eponymous range of

frozen meals.

 

The McCartney range, benefiting from celebrity endorsement and early entry into

the market, has been a staple of British supermarket freezers for 15 years and

is even popular among some non-vegetarians. Her guide to vegetarian cooking,

Linda McCartney's Home Cooking, became the best-selling vegetarian book in the

UK and has sold more than 250,000 copies.

 

Now the food giant Heinz, which has owned the range for seven years, is thought

to be preparing to sell it and other frozen foods lines, which are suffering a

slump as consumers turn to chilled, ready-prepared microwave meals in the belief

that they are healthier. The same trend caused a 13 per cent drop in sales of

the Birds Eye range, which is being sold by Unilever.

 

Nestlé owns 50.1 per cent of Israel's Ossem, whose subsidiary Tivall is

understood to be preparing an offer for the McCartney range. Tivall already

sells similar products to the British supermarkets Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury

and Tesco.

 

Heinz would not comment on the McCartney range, but a spokesperson told The

Business: " We continue to explore options to maximise the value of the frozen

food business. " It is thought that Heinz rejected recent bids for some parts of

its frozen food division for being too low but is determined to sell off the

McCartney range.

 

 

You can bomb the world to pieces

You can't bomb it into peace