Food

Dozens of Lidl stores in Belgium are closed due to a strike for the third day this week and on Saturday, the unions even hope to keep all 309 of them closed. The problem is the workload, and the fact that management has postponed reconciliation talks to Monday.

France is taking drastic measures against plastic waste: as of next year, dozens of fruits and vegetables can no longer be wrapped in plastic.

French media report that Auchan has attempted to take over Carrefour. But the latter put a halt to talks last week.

After a successful trial in Valenciennes (Northern France), Dutch online supermarket Picnic will expand its activities into neighbouring Lille on 13 October.

Belgian chocolate producer Galler is going to fully rebuild its factory in Vaux-sous-Chèvremont (near Liège), which was destroyed in July's floods. Meanwhile, production has temporarily restarted in other locations.

Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn is trying to make money out of the huge number of customers visiting its app and website. It has started a test in which it sells online advertisement space to brand manufacturers, in a manner similar to Google's AdWords.

As costs for raw material, wages and transportation have risen significantly, food and drinks giant PepsiCo says it is forced to raise its prices next year. Consumers will accept to pay more for brands such as Pepsi, Lay's and Quaker, the multinational thinks.