Unilever Puts Salmonella Scare Behind It — For Now

YERUSHALAYIM
Unilever’s Delipecan (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
Unilever’s Delipecan (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Unilever Israel not only successfully rode out the salmonella scare of last summer but it has improved its market position, according to Globes on Tuesday.

Since the beginning of the year, sales by Unilever rose 0.6 percent locally, while the rest of the food and cosmetics market saw a 0.4 percent decline. The company’s cereals sales plunged at the time, but Israeli consumers have remained loyal to the brand overall. Unilever continues to dominate the cereals shelves with its Telma products, as well as leading the lists in mayonnaise, margarine, ice cream market and deodorants, with Dove, Rexona and Axe brands.

The salmonella saga may not be over, however. Victory supermarket chain CEO and controlling shareholder Eyal Ravid pointed out that the government regulator has not yet completed its review of Unilever’s operations and that it will soon face curtailment due to its negligence.

Globes warned its readers there are other things to look out for besides contaminated cereals. It reminded them that two years ago, Unilever reduced the number of units in a package of Krembo Strauss from 40 to 32 units, effectively raising the price by 27 percent. The package looks almost identical to the old one, and shoppers did not notice the change. In a similar ploy, the company had reduced the amount of cereal in a Delipecan package from 450g to 400g — an 11 percent reduction.

The two changes drew no complaints, though, and Unilever stayed with the new package, of course.

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