Horsemeat: learning the lessons of an avoidable crisis
WRBM
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Associated British Foods (ABF) has issued what stockbroker Shore Capital describes as a “rather subdued” trading update, following a disastrous UK beet sugar harvest
Scottish sausage skin maker Devro is seeing growth due to rising meat consumption in emerging markets and the demand for conversion of casings from gut to collagen in animal hides.
In our report published on 25th February we incorrectly stated that the GMB union had won a ballot to achieve collective bargaining recognition for workers at Hotel Chocolat’s factory in Huntingdon. No ballot was held. The GMB had an application accepted by the Central Arbitration Committee to become recognised for collective bargaining by Hotel Chocolat at the site.
Ready meal producers are increasingly looking to vacuum packaging as a way to extend product shelf-life, according to a leading equipment supplier.
Fairtrade claims are currently less important to UK shoppers than health and even animal welfare product claims, data from MMR Research Worldwide indicates – while figures from the Fairtrade Foundation suggest ongoing growth.
Dry blended foods producer the Hügli Group has invested around £2m to double the size of its UK production facility and process more savoury products such as soups and sauces.
Uniq shareholders have approved a deal that will see over 90% of the food firm handed to its pension scheme to wipe out a gaping pension fund deficit.
Food and beverage manufacturers who drag their heels over salary issues or benefits risk missing out on attracting the best industry talent in a market where highly skilled job applicants can pick and choose, say industry experts.
Workers at Headland Foods in Flint are asking for a more flexible approach to redundancy payments from owner Kerry Group, given worries that they could lose money by taking new work before the factory closes.
Diageo anticipates big growth from developing countries in the medium-term, and is planning further acquisitions in these markets given difficult trading conditions in mature markets such as Europe and North America.
Arran Brewery has revealed ambitious UK and international expansion plans in a bid to turnover £5m within five years.
Unite the Union will hold a rally this Saturday to protest against job losses at what Burton’s Foods says is its loss-making Wirral site.
The Findus Group has confirmed that 47 workers have accepted voluntary redundancy at the Young's Seafood factory in Grimsby, although the job losses are fewer than initially expected.
Solid branded and own-label growth in 2010 consumer food sales saw Kerry Foods see off rising ingredient costs, cautious shoppers and a tough promotional climate.
Longbenton Foods is still in the running to buy the former Northumberland Foods site in Amble, FoodManufacture.co.uk can reveal, despite a prior inability to complete the purchase that led to the administrator tearing-up a previous sale contract in January.
Major EU food manufacturers continue to offer low- or no fat products as a consumer option alongside goods higher in fat, while the trend towards healthier food launches along these lines has remained flat or even declined in some states.
First Milk has struck up an export deal with Eilers & Wheeler in a bid to take advantage of attractive prices outside the UK.
Greencore is under pressure to table a viable counter-bid by March 2 to beat Ranjit Boparan in the struggle to takeover Northern Foods, but still has advantages on its side if it does do so, says one City analyst.
North Tyneside MP Mary Glindon admits she has hit a “brick wall” as she attempts to gain further information on the continuing confusion at Longbenton Foods Newcastle site.
Cornish pasty producers have welcomed an European Commission (EC) decision to award protected status to products made in the region according to a uniform traditional recipe.
United Biscuits (UB) has announced plans to shed around 85 jobs at its McVitie's biscuit factory in Glasgow, and has begun a consultation with staff and unions in a bid to ensure voluntary rather than compulsory redundancies.
A Scottish entrepreneur claims that two top food manufacturers and a major supermarket have shown interest in licensing an innovative colour-changing label that tells consumers how fresh their food is, which could be used on products within 12 months.
Greenpeace has taken direct action at Princes' Liverpool HQ, in a bid to shame the food giant over what the campaign group claims are its use of destructive tuna fishing methods.
Diageo has agreed a deal to buy Turkish spirits company Mey Içki for around £1.3bn from investment capital firm TPG Capital, in a cash and debt-funded deal.
Devonshire Desserts - the newly created company that has acquired the plant, machinery and freehold of the former PoleStar desserts factory at Okehampton - is part of the Country Style Foods group led by md Joe Wood, FoodManufacture.co.uk has learnt.
Staff at Longbenton Foods’ Benton Lane factory in Newcastle upon Tyne have reacted with disbelief to claims by owner Geir Frantzen that bosses have maintained “excellent” dialogue with employees during its recent troubles.
Industry concerns are growing about a possible amendment to the EU Food Information Regulation (FIR) that will require all foods frozen, then defrosted before sale, to be labelled ‘defrosted’.
A considerable number of workers at Hovis's bakery in Avonmouth could face redundancy as a result of plans to invest £4-5m in automating site processes, the Bakers Food & Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) has confirmed.
With sales at Loseley Dairy Ice Cream up a cool 36% in 2010, the Cwmbran-based ice cream maker has certainly had a better year than a lot of other firms competing for space in the nation's freezer cabinets, but its best is yet to come, new md Neil Burchell tells Elaine Watson.
More than 40 food and drink manufacturers in the US and Canada are experimenting with a new breed of microscopic salt crystals from UK-based firm Eminate enabling firms to slash sodium and retain their clean-labels.
Nestlé’s performance in the UK was ‘particularly positive’ in 2010, trumping ‘resilient’ performances in Germany, Iberia, Italy and Switzerland, bosses have revealed.
Kerry Group will close Headland Foods' frozen own-label ready meals factory in Flint by the end of April with the loss of 318 jobs.
It might not have the glamour of the Oscars (or FM's annual awards), but if you're looking to rub noses with the cream of the UK food manufacturing industry, Food Manufacture's annual business leaders' round table debate is the place to do it. Ably steered by chairman Paul Wilkinson (pictured left with Uniq ceo Geoff Eaton), this year's event - hosted by Eversheds at its London HQ last month - brought together more than 20 mds and ceos from the UK food and drink manufacturing sector, and covered everything from coping with rampant commodity price inflation to the merits of gluten-free baking.
Greencore is still not ruling itself out of the bidding for Northern Foods, but City analysts believe it may be better off walking away now than leveraging itself up to the hilt in order to trump Ranjit Boparan's 73p/share cash offer.
A 30.6% surge in sales of Thorntons-branded products to other retailers helped the chocolatier offset lacklustre sales through its own stores in the first half, but profits slumped 8.5% to £8.3m.
United Biscuits has appointed UK md Benoit Testard as its new group chief executive as current boss executive chairman David Fish moves into a non-executive role.
Production has stopped at Longbenton Foods’ Benton Lane factory in Longbenton.
Britvic has taken on around 60 new staff at its soft drinks canning factory in Rugby in preparation for a switch to round-the-clock production to meeting growing demand.
Premier Foods is in 'constructive dialogue' with Marks & Spencer over pricing and ranging at its own-label businesses RF Brookes and Avana Bakeries, which saw profits collapse from £15m to zero in 2010.
Chicken tycoon Ranjit Boparan is pumping £30m into new coated products factory for 2 Sisters in Thetford in a bid to increase its presence in the prepared food sector.
The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) has challenged the government to prioritise the food and drink sector, in the aftermath of a White Paper outlining new trade measures to aid UK exporters that appear to exclude the industry.
Staff at Headland Foods’ ready meals factory in Flint will find out on Wednesday whether they will keep their jobs under new owner Kerry Group.
A food processor has been ordered to pay ₤22,000 (€26,000) and condemned by safety authorities for failings that led to one worker losing his hand and another parts of several fingers in separate accidents.
Are food labels now so crowded that shoppers can’t see the wood for the trees, and what space is left for innovative brands to communicate their values amid all the noise?
The UK firm behind technology that gives salt a far greater kick by making it re-crystallise into tiny hollow balls a fraction of the size of standard salt - has started to make waves across the Pond.
An indefinite extension of the Ivory Coast one month cocoa ban could lead to a further hike in cocoa prices, according to Rabobank analysts.
The recession has increased the risk of potentially unsafe counterfeit and so-called ‘diverted’ food products, according to a firm specialising in packaging technology that helps prevent the problem.
Despite robust overall growth, Kraft is still suffering from costs associated with its £11.5bn Cadbury purchase, according to the US giant's full-year accounts.
With Greencore’s proposed engagement to Northern Foods now looking decidedly rocky, it might make sense for bosses to turn their attention to Premier Foods’ own-label bakery and prepared foods businesses, Avana Bakeries and RF Brookes, according to City analysts.
An anti-listeria ingredient that is added to meat products during the packaging process could mark a step-change in the fight against the foodborne pathogen, said Griffith Laboratories.
DEFRA (the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) has ruled out financial support for the organic industry, despite producers saying they stand alone and a Soil Association (SA) report damning Whitehall’s “diffident, if not lazy” approach.
A deal that will see Uniq tackle its gaping pension fund deficit by handing over more than 90% of its shares to its pension scheme has finally been cleared after months of negotiations.
Devon seafood firm Paramount 21 has completed a £1m factory extension that will significantly boost its capacity and product range.
Staff at Longbenton Foods' frozen ready meals factory in Longbenton have now received all of the outstanding money they were owed for their services in January, FoodManufacture.co.uk understands.
Details on pledges manufacturers will be encouraged to make about their commitment to reformulating products under the government's new 'Responsibility Deal' will be unveiled at the end of this month.
BH Acquisitions – the vehicle by which Ranjit Boparan is seeking to acquire control of Northern Foods in a £342m deal – has sent out an official offer document to Northern shareholders.
Dairy Crest has met its profit expectations for the nine months to the end of 2010 but has warned of higher input costs over the coming year.
Premier Foods has sold its canned grocery operations to Princes for £182m, including such iconic brands as Crosse & Blackwell, Fray Bentos and Smedley’s.
Downward pressure on the economy is likely to keep a lid on UK retail food price inflation, which will peak in the first few months of this year at around 6-7%, and then decline slowly, according to European Food and Farming Partnerships (EFFP).
The Findus Group has consolidated its UK fish operations by bringing together Young’s Seafood, The Seafood Company and Findus UK under one brand.
Kettle Foods' new owner Diamond Foods is pumping £6m into the gourmet crisp maker's Norwich factory in a bid to meet growing demand.
Employers hoping to avoid a hefty bill when new agency workers legislation comes into force by repeatedly terminating agency worker contracts at 11 weeks, 'stopping the clock' for six weeks and then rehiring them, could still fall foul of the law, legal experts have warned.
London-based baker American Muffin Co is adding a mezzanine floor to its factory in the Park Royal trading estate in a bid to meet growing demand.
FoodManufacture.co.uk waylaid Rachael Clayton to talk about the challenges facing the fledgling Cornish handmade crisp producer, which only uses ‘taters’ grown in the county…
The administrator of the PoleStar Foods desserts factory in Okehampton say it hopes a buyer can be found that is able to re-employ some of the 232 staff at the site that have just lost their jobs.
Princes has rebuffed claims by Greenpeace that it sources fish from endangered species, but agreed to amend wording on tins "after listening to recent feedback".
Premier Foods could net anything between £120m and £180m+ from the sale of its East Anglian canning sites at Wisbech and Long Sutton, according to City analysts.
Government and industry efforts are underway to create a regional support strategy for the food industry to replace the one offered through the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), which are being axed.
Longbenton Foods has denied claims made by some staff at its Benton Lane frozen ready meals factory in Longbenton, Newcastle Upon Tyne, that they have not yet been paid in full for their services in January.
The European Food Safety Authority’s health claims panel will complete its exhaustive article 13.1 generic health claims task by publishing three batches this year, with the first due at the beginning of April.
Six months of cranberry juice consumption was associated with lower recurrence of urinary tract infections (UTIs), but so was placebo consumption, according to new data.
The use of commercial enzymes to reduce levels of acrylamide is effective when applied to chilled, but not par-fried, French fries, suggests a new study from Belgium.
Sugar Puffs and Poppets maker Big Bear Group has been snapped up by Raisio in a £80m deal less than a year after it acquired snacks and confectionery maker Glisten.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) plans to take a closer look at the prevalence of ‘may contains’ allergen advisory labeling.
Angry staff at PoleStar Foods’ desserts factory in Okehampton are looking for answers from bosses as to why they are now out of a job just weeks after being told the site’s future had been secured “for many years to come”.
Personalized nutrition – seen by many as the future of nutrition – may take a step closer as scientists apply the metabolomics approach to identify individual metabolic ‘types’.
Risk aversion and a failure to learn the marketing lessons from the US have frustrated the market for energy shots in Europe, according to a new report.
European brewers have a fight on their hands to source quality malting barley during 2011, according to industry ingredient supplier Kerry.
Unilever has beat analysts' expectations with a 5.1% rise in underlying sales in the fourth quarter, but said operating margins were dented by commodity price hikes.
The media described the recent incident concerning dioxin in pork and egg products from animals fed with dioxin-contaminated feed as ‘a scandal’. But this is compounded by the needless and wasteful slaughter of expensively reared animals and the destruction of food that would not have hurt any consumer.
Ocean Spray will change its auction policies to add certainty to opening prices the cranberry leader said after closing its latest cranberry concentrate auction that saw prices rise 17 percent over three selling periods.
Payne’s Dairies has bought the premises and machinery formerly owned by Leicester ice cream firm Rossa Dairy Products and aims to restart production onsite.
Analysing the carbon footprint of Kingsmill loaves has helped Allied Bakeries squeeze out additional cost savings that it would not have extracted through traditional continuous improvement techniques, its operations director has claimed.
Bagged salads and prepared fruit specialist Natures Way Foods has secured planning permission to build a £14m packhouse in Runcton that will create 110 permanent jobs and up to 270 flexible roles.
232 staff have been made redundant at PoleStar Foods' Okehampton desserts factory just two months after Privet Capital stepped in to buy the business.
The Groceries Code Adjudicator must take an interventionist approach rather than simply reacting to complaints if it is to have any teeth, according to the boss of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA).
With recent capex projects to increase capacity and boost efficiency now bedding in nicely and a strong balance sheet compared with rivals, Cranswick is well-placed to diversify into new product areas, according to City analysts.
Commodity price hikes are presenting some manufacturers with their toughest negotiating environment “in living memory”, with retailers delisting or suspending products not meeting their price demands.
Trendy chefs who offer pâtés prepared with undercooked ‘flash-fried’ chicken livers are putting their customers at risk of food poisoning, a microbiological expert has warned.
A reduction in accidents should lead to lower insurance premiums for manufacturers across the food and drink sector, according to experts in the field.
High pressure processing (HPP) or so called ‘cold pasteurisation’ could very soon be combined with heat to inactivate food spoilage spores, something HPP alone cannot achieve.
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