Supermarket ASDA has today (Thursday, 1st February 2007) taken the dramatic step of banning sales of monkfish from all of its stores across the UK*.

It believes the move is vital to save stocks of the vulnerable fish plunging to levels where it may disappear from our seas all together. And it is calling upon leading chefs Rick Stein, Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay to support the move.

Chris Brown, ASDA’s sustainable and ethical sourcing manager said: “Our customers expect us to do everything we can to protect wild fish stocks, so we’ve decided to ban monkfish sales as a precaution until the industry takes appropriate action to ensure its long term survival.”

ASDA has teamed up with the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) and fishermen in Sri Lanka in a bid to save thousands of endangered marine turtles that are accidentally snagged by longline fishing hooks each year.

As a result of ASDA’s initiative, more than 30,000 circular ‘turtle friendly’ hooks are being implemented by a fleet of seven longline fishing vessels in Sri Lanka.

The new circular hooks have replaced traditional “J” shaped hooks that snag turtles or can be swallowed by them, leading to suffocation or internal bleeding. If the trial is successful, ASDA will work with its supplier, Young’s Seafood, to investigate ways of making even more hooks available to other boats in the Sri Lankan fleet.

Fresh fish counters at ASDA have been officially certified under the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) traceability programme to sell products from well-managed and sustainable fisheries, following an independent audit.

The certification means ASDA has successfully met strict standards for traceability enabling it to promote MSC labelled fish for the first time on its fresh fish counters.

Products bearing the distinctive MSC blue label will now start appearing on ASDA’s fresh fish counters, joining the growing numbers already found on its chilled and frozen shelves. The move will make it even easier for customers to make an informed choice about the fish they purchase.

Asda has sparked a War Of The Roses by slashing the price of a dozen red blooms to just £2 – an all time low for Valentine’s Day.

It’s less than HALF the price charged by many High Street retailers – and up to TEN TIMES cheaper than prices charged by some floral delivery firms.

The supermarket’s move will knock millions of pounds off the price of declaring your love – but infuriate rivals hoping to make a killing.

Said Asda flower buyers Liz Butcher: “We want Cupid’s arrow to hit your heart, not your wallet.

Asda has launched a radical study which could virtually eliminate the need for packaging on fresh fruit and vegetables.

It is boosting dramatically the amount of fresh produce sold loose from boxes – recreating the look and feel of a traditional greengrocer shop from the 1950s.

At the same time, the range of pre-packed items on sale will be restricted substantially, cutting overnight the amount of plastic and cardboard used to wrap our food.

ASDA is creating 8,000 news jobs and building a minimum of 18 new stores across the UK this year, the company announced today.

In addition, it is to carry out major extensions and improvements to 15 of its existing stores and roll out the successful non-food format ‘ASDA Living’ to a further 10 sites within the next 12 months.

News of the expansion was announced today ( Wednesday Feb 21st ) by ASDA President and Chief Executive Officer Andy Bond after the release of parent company Wal-Mart’s full year financial results.

In addition, ASDA will be opening its first ever Living store in Belfast on Friday (February 23rd ). The new 41,000sq ft store will be the first ASDA non-food format to launch in Northern Ireland.

George Baby/Girls Snow Boot

Sizes four through to 10

Price £8

Barcodes

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What’s Happened?

Our George kid’s snow boot would be great except that a toggle that tightens it, could in some cases, come off. Quite clearly this is not on and as we take product safety very seriously indeed we’ve decided that you need to know about this fault. Thankfully no one has been hurt.

London, February 1, 2007 – As the keynote lecturer at the Prince of Wales’s Business and the Environment Programme, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) President and CEO Lee Scott today unveiled

“Sustainability 360” – a company-wide emphasis on taking sustainability beyond reducing the company’s direct environmental footprint to engaging Wal-Mart’s associates, suppliers, communities and customers.

“Sustainability 360 takes in our entire company – our customer base, our supplier base, our associates, the products on our shelves, the communities we serve,” said Scott.