Category: datacrumb

A number of scientific journals are running stories in their November issues about species that routinely consume alcohol as a part of their diet. Naturalists argue that it would be strange if animals were to avoid naturally-occurring sources of alcohol, such as rotting fruit. The topic got a fresh airing in specialist titles, such as Science Daily or the news pages of Phys.org, as well as UK dailies such as The Independent and The Guardian.

The impetus for the current editorial interest comes from Trends in Ecology and Evolution. The journal collates behavioural observations from past years, to make a strong argument for removing anthropocentric assumptions about alcohol and the routine overlooking of certain aspects of dietary intake in wild populations. For instance, levels of Alcohol By Value (ABV) can top 10% in over-ripe palm fruit, while ethanol can be routinely detected in 29 of Costa Rica’s 37 fruits routinely eaten by the country’s frugivores.

After four years of test marketing, ASDA is taking down the refill stations that were installed at four UK stores. The proposition was simple: invite customers to bring in their own packaging (glass jars and the like) or use a new container from the refill station. They could then fill these from bulk containers, weigh the goods and take a till slip, to settle at the checkout. The fact that this project survived for four years suggests that ASDA did not lose any money with it: the retailer cites low consumer uptake as one of the main reasons for dropping the scheme. The story opens a whole raft of issues, far too broad to do it justice here, although there are some topics that we shall be revisiting in the coming weeks.

Since February 2021, liveweight prices for finished chickens have risen by 11% in the UK, while chicken feed costs have risen by up to 30%. Over the same period, UK exports of poultrymeat to the EU have fallen by 25% to 208,000 tonnes, while EU shipments of poultrymeat rose by 2.3% year on year to 275,000 tonnes in calendar year 2022. UK consumers buy white chicken meat and not the dark meat on the carcase, which UK poultry producers used to export to balance demand for their output. Without an export market for the dark poultrymeat and facing competition from increased volumes of imported product, the UK poultry sector is between a rock and a hard place.