Fresh produce

Glanbia rescues TV Apprentice’s troubled food business

09-Oct-2012 - Irish dairy products manufacturer Glanbia has invested £339,000 (€420,000) in the troubled food business of BBC TV Apprentice Jane McEvoy.

Feature

Mash maker

02-Oct-2012 - Cold rainy weather always boosts sales at Mash Direct. Not surprisingly, 2012 has proved a busy year, general manager, Neil Houghton tells Mike Stones

Morrisons outsources to India with 145 UK job losses

24-Sep-2012 - Morrisons is outsourcing IT services from its Yorkshire-based head office to India, which will cause the loss of around 145 jobs.

High pressure food treatment extends shelf-life to up to 50 days

18-Sep-2012 - A new way of ‘naturally’ extending the shelf-life of products without the need for supplementary preservatives or additives is being offered to UK food manufacturers by savoury snacks manufacturer Deli 24.

Food manufacturers warned apple prices could double

10-Sep-2012 - A potentially disastrous year for UK apple growers could see manufacturers stung by a rise of as much as 100% in the cost of pre-processed cookers.

Morrisons’ boss highlights food manufacturing’s role

06-Sep-2012 - Food manufacturing made a key contribution to Morrisons’ financial results for the half-year to July 29, says ceo Dalton Philips.

Euro 16M facility to make natural sugar from grapes

04-Sep-2012 - To expand trade opportunities for ingredients derived from Sicilian grapes and create new jobs, Naturalia Ingredients has invested euro 16M in a facility to produce natural crystallised sugars from grapes.

Lincs potato processor opens £2M facility

23-Aug-2012 - A Lincolnshire potato processor and supplier has invested £2M in a new 2,972m2 state-of-the-art potato storage facility and grading line.

Food prices to rise as harvests suffer

03-Aug-2012 - Retailers are unlikely to see sales volumes on food recover in the next year, as prices will be pushed up due to a poor worldwide harvest, economists suggest.

Almonds have 20% fewer calories than thought

12-Jul-2012 - The calorific value of almonds is 20% less than previously thought, leading to gross overestimations of their energy value, according to new US research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN).

Food industry leaders in Queen’s Birthday Honours

20-Jun-2012 - Food and drink business people, scientists and administrators were among those honoured in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Here’s our selection of who was awarded which award and for what reason.

Vegetarian meal sales to top £882M by 2016

12-Jun-2012 - Sales of vegetarian foods will climb by more than 10% to reach £882.4M by 2016, according to market intelligence group Key Note.

Euro crisis will impact security of supply chain

07-Jun-2012 - Shadow environment minister Mary Creagh has warned of the dangers of economic turmoil accompanying a break-up of the euro, which she said would dash any hopes of securing more sustainable food supplies.

Pressure builds to agree EU food allergen action levels

01-Jun-2012 - Momentum is building to agree EU allergen management action levels that firms could use within their operations and for labelling purposes, according to Food and Drink Federation (FDF) experts.

EU research to extend food shelf-life and cut waste

01-Jun-2012 - The shelf-life of fresh produce sold in modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) could be substantially extended if a £3.15M EU-funded research project proves successful.

Cherry picks 'superfruit' status

30-May-2012 - Cherries are on their way to 'superfruit' status, according to Innova Market Insights. The research firm says cherries featured in 7% of juice drink launches in 2011 - up from 4% five years earlier.

Feature

The oil business

30-May-2012 - Derek Wiles shares his stories of life in the fresh olive oil business. Rod Addy reports

Troubled chilled foods firm Bakkavör could be target for takeover, say financial analysts

30-May-2012 - Speculation has emerged over the past month that chilled own-label food manufacturer Bakkavör could be the subject of a takeover bid following its troubled recent history

Poor bee pollination could mean higher apple prices

28-May-2012 - Higher apple prices and lower quality could result from the cold wet weather in early May, which made bees unable to pollinate crops and make honey.

Food firms: we don’t abuse migrant workers

16-May-2012 - Food manufacturers have rejected claims that migrant workers suffer abuse in the food manufacturing sector.

System helps to eliminate fruit factory waste

09-May-2012 - The "first-ever" automated system capable of loading bagged produce into receptacles for transportation aims to help eliminate unnecessary wastage of fruit in factories.

News in brief

New electronic nose detects fruit ripeness

02-May-2012 - A new electronic nose designed to detect ripeness could save millions of pounds each year in preventing the wastage of fruit and vegetables, according to researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Reduce bruises on apple packs

01-May-2012 - Nobody wants to eat a bruised apple, so the key to success for a tray-less apple pack is to handle them with the utmost care and that's a challenging task on a flow wrapping machine.

New film offers 'significant' shelf-life extension

01-May-2012 - Retail trials using Sirane's Sira-Flex Resolve have reported four additional days' shelf-life with potatoes and significant results with other fruit and vegetables.