The UK's food regulator has issued another draft of its code of
practice under the country's food laws to take account of the EU's
hygiene regulations due to come into force at the end of the year.
After all the increased safety procedures put in place over the
past decade, one might have been lulled into thinking that
poisonings and deaths from food contamination would be rarer than
before. While it is true that the new regulatory...
SGS says it has issued the first ISO 22000 certification to a food
processor in Spain, marking one of the first general uses of the
supply chain standard in the EU.
A worrying 36 per cent of 8 to 14 year-olds could not correctly
identify the main ingredient in chips as potato, underlining again
the gap between need and reality in nutritional awareness.
Cargill's plan to construct a million-ton-per-year sugar refinery
on the Mexican Gulf would represent an enormous boon to the
regions' hurricane-hit food industry.
The responses by a food conveyor manufacturer and a chocolate maker
to the recent hurricane that hit New Orleans provide examples of
how a mix of disaster planning and staff initiative can save a
company's bottom line and build...
Increased demand for Tate & Lyle's calorie-free sweetener has
helped the company to record a first-half profit increase of 59 per
cent and successfully fend off spiralling raw material costs.
The UK ranks second behind Canada in the level of productivity of
its food, drink and tobacco products work force, but Austria,
Finland and the Netherlands are on the way to overtaking the
island, according to an international study.
Italian confectioner Ferrero has become the first company to
persuade Aldi to abandon its hard discount strategy, signing a deal
to supply the world's biggest discount supermarket chain with seven
of its chocolate brands.
Tate & Lyle's European food and industrial ingredients division
proposed increase of 10 to 15 per cent on new contracts for certain
products highlights again the impact of rocketing energy prices on
the ingredients market.
Ingredients giant Cargill has launched a new line of sweeteners
designed to reduce the number of calories in frozen dairy desserts
and sweetened bakery products such as cake, muffins and brownies,
without altering the taste.
A European Commission programme designed to promote EU food
products outside the bloc has been welcomed by the food industry,
though criticism over European bureaucracy remains a recurrent
theme.
Europe's food industry will significantly benefit from a
satisfactory WTO agreement, but for this to happen the EU must
maintain its multilateral approach and issues such as export
support must be addressed.
Cocoa manufacturing giant Barry Callebaut has underlined the
importance of the US in its global portfolio with the opening of a
new $20 million facility.
As supply and demand issues for non-GM lecithin propel ingredients
manufacturers to push alternatives onto the market, Danish
emulsifier firm Palsgaard launches citric acid ester as a lecithin
replacer.
Russian scientists say they have devised a cheaper and more
sustainable way of producing the common sugar substitute xylite, or
xylitol, by using left over grains from the brewing and spirits
industries.
UK sweetener supplier Tate & Lyle announces it will host a
series of presentations to American investors over the coming days,
news that sees the firm's shares jump.
The crusade to end world hunger has been a bitter failure. But with
the world set to sweep away a crooked food trading system, there is
a chance to get it right - if only we could revive the FAO from
dormancy.
Freshly created AarhusKarlshamn, a merger between former vegetable
fats competitors Aarhus and Karlshmans, completes the building
blocks of its new structure.
Two leading European manufacturers of oils and fats for the food
industry last week joined forces in a move the companies hope will
allow them to significantly expand their businesses in the US and
Northern Europe.
Sucralose supplier Tate and Lyle warns profits at its European
sugar refining business have been "substantially reduced"
due to higher costs and oversupplies.
The ban on junk food in UK schools announced yesterday by the
government is not an effective solution to tackling childhood
obesity, the nation's food industry has said.
Flavanols, the natural chemicals found in chocolate, fruits and
tea, can boost the levels of nitric oxide in the blood of smokers
and reverse some of the smoking-related damage to blood vessels,
say German researchers.
The UK government will announce plans to ban junk food in the
nation's schools, bringing an end to the sale of crisps, chocolate
and fizzy drinks in school vending machines.
Demand for spearmint oil in 2005-06 is set to exceed the five-year
average for an entire marketing year, as US agriculture authorities
move to keep the market stable.
There is nothing so redolent of a corporate mid-life crisis as the
strategic equivalent of a new car, new girl and new image, set
firmly on the shoulders of the same old idea. McDonald's, it seems,
is firmly in the throes of...
Novis, the publisher of ConfectioneryNews.com, 22 other business
news websites and more than 50 specialist e-newsletters, is
changing its name to Decision News Media, to convey the editorial
ethos that has made the group's news...
Confectionery companies could always count on consumers to boost
sales at Christmas and other holiday seasons, but a report
published by Mintel adds more support to the notion that consumer
trends are changing.
The words clinical trial or scientifically proven on a label carry huge cachet. But behind the claims of scientific evidence, consumers expect a base level of rigour in ensuring thatfood or personal care products actually deliver the benefits they claim.
Coffee futures are subdued after post-Hurricane Katrina price
spikes, with ongoing stability probable after reports that 700,000
bags of coffee stored in New Orleans warehouses were left undamaged
by the hurricane.
Cash, cash, cash. Castigated as simple asset-strippers out to make
a quick buck, the entrance of private equity onto the food industry
stage has participants chattering in the wings.
All vending machines are now banned from schools across France in
an attempt to tackle child obesity fears, but the move remains
controversial amid industry accusations of heavy-handedness.
Prices for the omnipresent beverage and confectionery ingredient
coffee leapt this week after flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina
put inventories of beans in New Orleans at risk.
Seasonal chocolate sales in the US are forecast to reach $3.3bn
(€2.6bn) in 2005, marking a substantial decline over the past five
years, according to a new report published by Research and Markets.
Key to successful premium chocolate product development is an
understanding of the varying consumer habits, expectations and
behaviour in different countries, according to leading Swiss
premium chocolate manufacturer Lindt &...
Praise where praise is due. And it is certainly due for one
small-time drinks firm in southern Britain, which is spear-heading
answers to global water shortages that threaten to wreak havoc on
food producers everywhere.
