Source: Unilever

Unilever has begun a search to replace chair Nils Andersen in the latest stage of a leadership shake-up since the consumer goods giant became a target for activist investor Nelson Peltz. (Financial Times £)

High food inflation pushed up UK grocery spending last month, prompting many consumers to cut back on discretionary purchases, according to retail sector data published on Tuesday (Financial Times £).

Hard-pressed consumers feel they are becoming the victims of food industry “shrinkflation” amid signs the UK’s persistent cost of living crisis is making households more alert to the need to get value for money. (The Guardian)

Sliding German butter prices are spreading hope of lower food inflation. Economists and industry executives increasingly believe the factors behind a fall in the price of German butter — down almost 30 per cent since in December as dairy producers’ costs have fallen — will soon begin to have a broader impact. (Financial Times £)

Diageo’s new chief executive Debra Crew has taken up the position a month earlier than expected after the company said outgoing leader Sir Ivan Menezes was in hospital recovering from emergency surgery (Financial Times £, The Times £, Daily Mail)

Lidl will start vacuum-packing its beef mince in a drive to be more green, despite rival Sainsbury’s facing a backlash from shoppers over claims the process turns meat into “mush”. (Telegraph £)

Increased demand for Wotsits and Monster Munch snacks has prompted a £58m investment by PepsiCo at its Walkers crisp factory in Leicester. (The Times £)

The boss of the tobacco giant behind the iconic Marlboro Man said a date should be set to ban cigarettes. Jacek Olczak, chief executive of Philip Morris International, has made it his mission to make old-style gaspers a thing of the past – and he says cigarettes should be replaced by alternatives such as vapes. (Daily Mail)

Paediatricians have warned youth vaping is “fast becoming an epidemic among children” as they called for the government to ban disposable vapes. (Sky News)

John Lewis is investing more than £1m to shake up its children’s range as its boss fights for her future. (Daily Mail)

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