News in brief

Morrisons buys meat processing plant from Vion

01-Feb-2012 - Supermarket chain Morrisons, the only major multiple retailer to operate its own meat processing factories, has struck a deal to acquire a 9,755m2 meat processing facility in Winsford, Cheshire from Vion UK.

FSA threatens abattoir bullies

01-Feb-2012 - The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is threatening to withdraw inspectors from abattoirs and primary cutting plants that fail to deal with a culture of bullying, which is said to be "endemic" across the industry.

Treasury pledges support for food and drink firms

31-Jan-2012 - The Treasury has pledged to support the growth of UK food and drink manufacturers by creating the conditions in which the sector can thrive.

UK freezers designed for Thai poultry firm

30-Jan-2012 - Starfrost has supplied five spiral freezers to a leading chicken processor in Thailand.

Comment

People control their diets, not governments

30-Jan-2012 - The evergreen Tim Lang, professor of Food Policy at City University London, has never been afraid to rattle cages and elicit strong reactions.

Firms lament country of origin label burden

30-Jan-2012 - Country of origin labelling (COOL) looks set to cause manufacturers serious headaches and extra cost burdens when the new rules start coming into force in 2014.

Coming soon: the robots that take meat samples

30-Jan-2012 - Robotic sampling of meat quality on slaughterhouse production lines could be commercially available next year, as a result of a £1M research project.

News in brief

Pork value increase boosts Cranswick growth

30-Jan-2012 - The increasing value of pork in the UK has boosted sales at pork specialist Cranswick after the firm posted a strong performance in all categories in its latest financial statement, according to city analysts.

FSA supports lactic acid plan for poultry & beef

27-Jan-2012 - The use of lactic acid to reduce microbiological surface contamination on poultry carcases and raw beef has been strongly supported by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) Board in view of its ability to “significantly” reduce the level of pathogens.

Poultry sector faces unfair competition and high costs

26-Jan-2012 - The UK poultry industry in 2012 must tackle legal differences between the UK and other EU countries and soaring feed costs, according to Philip Wilkinson, director of 2 Sisters Food Group.

David Cameron urged to ban illegal egg imports

25-Jan-2012 - Prime Minister David Cameron has received a letter from the British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) urging him to ban imports of illegally-produced battery cage eggs.

News in brief

EU beef prices boosted by Turkey exports

20-Jan-2012 - An unexpected rise in demand from Turkey contributed to rising beef prices in the EU at the end of last year, according to financial services firm Rabobank.

New £600,000 grant to grow Scottish Beef exports

20-Jan-2012 - Scotch Beef, recently named as Great Britain’s biggest Scottish food and drink brand, this week received nearly £600,000 to help it boost exports to EU countries.

Gold-plating EU laws costs food firms dear

19-Jan-2012 - The British government’s apparent eagerness to gold-plate EU regulations can make the difference between profit and loss, delegates heard at Food Manufacture’s Business Leaders’ Summit this week.

Tulip to axe 218 jobs at Birkenhead plant

13-Jan-2012 - Leading pork producer Tulip is to close its Tranfoods Abbey Street site in Birkenhead with the loss of 218 jobs.

Processed meat ‘boosts pancreatic cancer risk'

13-Jan-2012 - Eating processed meat, including bacon and sausages, has been linked to a 10% increase in the risk of pancreatic cancer, according to new research from Sweden.

News in brief

Hilton sales set to rise after strong 2011

12-Jan-2012 - Meat packing firm Hilton Food Group will see sales “accelerate” this year after posting full year trading results in line with expectations, according to city analysts.

News in brief

Sensient invests £13M in UK flavour facilities

10-Jan-2012 - Global flavour, colour and fragrance firm Sensient is to invest £13M ($20M) in improved UK production facilities.

Giant multi-nationals to dominate food production

09-Jan-2012 - The balance of power in global food production is shifting away from national governments to multi-national firms and from western economies to emerging nations, warns a new report from SAC’s Rural Policy Centre. In the first of a two-part series, we focus on the growing power of trans-national corporations (TNCs).

News in brief

Workers spread norovirus in the workplace

04-Jan-2012 - Workers infected with norovirus could put firms at risk of poisoning consumers through contaminated products, experts have warned.

News in brief

Egg industry plans legal action against the government

02-Jan-2012 - British egg producers are to mount a legal challenge to the government’s failure to ban imports of illegally-produced battery cage eggs and egg products.

Food industry could be hit by GLA budget cuts

01-Jan-2012 - The policing of food industry employment standards could suffer if the Gangmasters Licensing Authority's (GLA's) remit widens while its budget is cut, as is feared.

Software boosts stock traceability and productivity

01-Jan-2012 - Poultry, chilled, frozen and bakery products supplier 2 Sisters Food Group has installed a Microsoft Dynamics navigation-based LINKFresh supply chain business management system from Anglia Business Solutions.

Twin action peaks slicing capacity for bacon

01-Jan-2012 - To improve bacon slicing capacity, Weber has launched twin log slicing of bacon primals on its 904 machine, which is supplied by Interfood Technology.