Horsemeat: learning the lessons of an avoidable crisis
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TV Apprentice finalist Nick Holzherr has secured a £170,000 investment for his recipe website, after being ‘fired’ by Lord Sugar.
Prime Minster David Cameron’s recent trade mission to Mexico has secured a deal with a tortilla manufacturer that will create 120 jobs in the UK.
Most major UK supermarkets operate sourcing policies that promote British produce but all could do more, reveals a new survey from the National Farmers Union (NFU).
Dairy Crest is to sell its French spreads business St Hubert to Montagu Capital for £344M (€430m).
West Midlands food manufacturer Phoenix Brands was ordered to pay £11,000 at Wolverhampton Magistrates' Court after a 16-year-old worker had to have his finger amputated.
Dairy Crest will start shopping around for acquisitions in the UK next year, after disposing of its French St Hubert spreads business, according to City analysts.
Growth of 6% in the value of retail chilled and frozen food sales, though partly explained by price inflation, can also be accounted for by an increasingly segmented offering in many product areas, say sector organisations.
The government should focus more on the contribution that food and drink manufacture makes to the economic prosperity of the nation, rather than focusing as it does on other sectors, said Simon Baldry, md of Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE).
Chilled food manufacturer Greencore’s US business is “off the critical list” after its acquisition today (June 27) of US sandwich and sushi manufacturer HC Schau & Son, according to City analyst Investec Securities.
A new Scottish food standards agency to remedy the country’s 'poor' diet could be operating within a year.
Campaigners have dismissed assurances from the Department of Health (DoH) that it has no plans to extend proposals for the plain packaging of tobacco to food and drink high in fat, sugar and alcohol.
As 5.3M more visitors prepare to visit London for the Olympics next month, Allied Bakeries has warned retailers to make sure they are well stocked to meet demand from local shoppers.
Kerry Foods is set to close its meat processing and savouries factory in Durham on July 20, with the first of its 350-strong workforce already being laid off.
“View customers and politicians as the enemy,” is one of five controversial top tips for food business success, set out by a veteran business guru and chairman of the national skills academy.
Bakery giant Warburtons has reported a 37% drop in profits to £16.3M last year compared with £23M in 2010.
Win the recognition your business deserves by landing a Food Manufacturing Excellence Award – the Oscars of the food and drink industry.
Scottish ministers have launched a plan to attract young people to the “thousands of jobs” in Scotland’s food and drink manufacturing industry.
Four managers have bought a Newcastle bakery from its administrators, saving 85 jobs.
America and China have been leading an overseas rush to buy British food and drink, in the wake of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, according to one website.
There was more bad news for Morrisons today (June 25) as the supermarket announced that its group finance director Richard Pennycook will leave the business in June 2013.
The term ‘sustainable packaging’ is a red herring and should be scrapped, according to leading retailers, manufacturers and consumer groups.
Government attempts to curb excessive boardroom pay should not stop UK food and drink manufacturers, such as Premier Foods, attracting top management talent, according to a leading recruitment specialist.
Soaring sales of allergen-free spices are reported by ingredients firm EHL Ingredients.
A halal food manufacturer has been fined £10,000 after beef proteins were detected in a chicken kebab product.
The UK’s leading food and drink manufacturers will open their doors for a week in September to provide pre-employment skills training for young people aged between 16 and 24.
Premier Foods and the British Soft Drinks Association are just two of the organisations that feature in this photogallery of people on the move recently in food and drink manufacturing.
Mass urbanisation is one of five top mega-trends that will shape the customers of tomorrow, predicts Muhtar Kent, chairman and chief executive of the Coca-Cola Company.
Ed Miliband’s plans to impose restrictions on the employment of migrant workers will be bad for the food manufacturing sector, according to industry sources.
Cadbury and Marks & Spencer feature in the list of the top three firms nearly 8,000 job seekers would most like to work for, according to recruitment and HR services firm Randstad.
Jam supplier Wilkin & Sons has moved its distribution operations to new premises to ease a squeeze at its factory.
Finance houses BC Partners and Blackstone are working together but would not confirm reports of a joint $3bn bid for multi national frozen food business Iglo.
The growing power of large retailers is one of the five top challenges that will force consolidation in the frozen bakery industry, warns a new report from Rabobank Food and Agri Research.
There have been some “early expressions of interest” in supermarket supplier Peters Bakery, which went into administration last week (June 12).
The convenience food manufacturer Symington’s has acquired the family-owned baking business Victoria Foods.
Morrisons “is between a rock and a hard place” after stepping up food manufacturing in recent years, analysts have suggested.
Growing numbers of cash-strapped consumers are risking their health by eating more fatty and sugary foods during the recession, according to research conducted by Manchester University.
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.
The Scottish red meat industry made a record £2.1bn contribution to the economy of Scotland last year, according to Quality Meat Scotland (QMS).
They used to be a hard sell for a niche agenda, but eco labels exploded on to the mainstream and now consolidation is on its way.
The UK’s biggest food manufacturer is too small for most big institutional investors, one city analyst has told FoodManufacture.co.uk.
Exeter Magistrates have ordered St Austell Brewery to pay nearly £19,000 in fines and costs after workers refurbishing a Devon pub were exposed to deadly asbestos dust without adequate protection.
Liverpool-based baking ingredients and sugar supplier The Real Good Food Company (RGFC) has raised £2.4M by issuing new shares to shareholder and strategic partner Omnicane. The money will be used to help the firm reduce its debts.
More than 100 staff have lost their jobs at the Scarborough firm Bakery Products, confirms administrator the P&A Partnership.
The Birmingham Balti Association has applied for EU protected status for the city’s Balti curries.
Premier Foods’ facilities at Histon and Knighton remain “prime candidates” for sale, after the firm’s disposal of its vinegar and sour pickles business based at Middleton, last week to Mizkan for £41M, according to City analyst Panmure Gordon.
Dutch food group Vion will be cutting jobs in the UK, after “disappointing results” in 2011.
The West Midlands brewery Holden’s is planning major expansion to meet Japanese demand for exports of British real ale. The growth is set to create 10 jobs.
Unseasonable weather is the biggest threat to the UK’s trend of falling food inflation, according to forecasts from European Food and Farming Partnerships (EFFP).
The manufacturer of Chicago Town pizzas could create up to 120 new jobs in Lancashire.
Greencore’s sale of its Minsterley desserts business to Müller Dairy will allow the chilled food manufacturer to focus on developing its relationships with key customers such as Marks & Spencer, said city analyst Shore Capital.
Feeding rising global numbers of people who are overweight places the same strain on world resources as would an additional 1bn mouths, warn researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) has elected Andrew Jorêt as its new chairman after the retirement of Andrew Parker, who had held the role since 1996.
Premier Foods could be targeted lock, stock and barrel by China's acquisitive Bright Foods, analysts have suggested, after the UK’s largest food manufacturer announced it had found a buyer for its vinegars business today (June 15).
The long-predicted sale of Premier Foods' vinegar and sour pickles business has finally taken place – to the Japan-based food manufacturer Mizkan for £41M.
“White elephant”, “millstone” and “problem child”: Just three of the images analysts have used to describe Greencore’s troubled desserts facility in Minsterley, which has been sold to Müller Dairy for £4.3M.
Further evidence of the globalisation of the food chain has come with the announcement of the UK’s first food training laboratory designed to improve the safety standards of food and drink imports.
Britain’s major food organisations have pledged to government not to sell pork and pork products from illegal pig farms when the European partial stalls ban is introduced on January 1, 2013.
Chilled food manufacturer Greencore has sold its troubled desserts facility in Minsterley to Müller Dairy for £4.3M plus an amount for stock.
Food manufacturers are helping consumers to make significant cuts in the £12bn worth of food they waste each year, according to new research from the government-funded Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
Meat processor Elmkirk accused the Food Standards Agency (FSA) of using the courts to debate points of law rather than to enforce food safety, after it was found guilty of eight meat hygiene offences this week.
A third of 16-23 year olds didn’t know where eggs came from, while one-in-10 believed they came from wheat or maize, according to a survey by the charity Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF).
Young’s Seafood has welcomed the agreement by EU ministers to ban the controversial practice of discarding fish at sea to avoid exceeding community fishing quotas.
Food and drink manufacturers are bracing themselves for a new BBC2 TV series The Men Who Made Us Fat, which some fear will accuse the industry of causing the nation’s obesity crisis.
Analysts warned tough times were ahead for Sainsbury as competitors Tesco and Morrisons beef up, after the supermarket posted it first quarter trading statement today (June 13).
R&R Ice Cream has recalled three varieties of multipack Chokablok ice cream due to fears the products might contain broken lolly stick.
Celebrity TV chef turned environmental campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has helped to persuade EU government ministers to end the controversial practice of dumping hundreds of thousands of tonnes of fish at sea to avoid exceeding quotas.
Food and drink manufacturers should do more to help young and unemployed people into work, said Joanne Denney-Finch, chief executive IGD.
Mars Chocolate UK in Slough – home of Mars, Snickers, Galaxy and Maltesers – hosted a visit by MPs and Peers yesterday (June 12) as part of ‘See Inside Manufacturing’ (SIM) initiative.
Urgent action was necessary to avoid the “bleak situation” of a serious global shortage of cocoa supplies within a decade, Fiona Dawson, president of Mars Chocolate UK, warned yesterday (June 12).
Sales of vegetarian foods will climb by more than 10% to reach £882.4M by 2016, according to market intelligence group Key Note.
A new energy-efficient chiller designed to cut energy costs by up to 60% is being launched for the food manufacturing industry.
EU government ministers are meeting in Luxembourg today (June 12) for key talks on the future of the Common Fisheries Policy, which environmental campaigners hope may lead to an end to the controversial discards policy.
The North British Distillery in Edinburgh, one of the largest Scotch grain whisky producers in Scoland, has closed its cooling towers after the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) served an improvement notice for alleged failures to control the risk of legionella.
Retail giant Tesco’s latest results reveal a “steady” financial performance, which suggests “stabilisation is coming through in the UK”, according to City analyst Shore Capital.
Government should re-examine competition policy to support the growth of local food networks, which are “under siege from supermarkets”.
A 105-year-old Durham dairy has been sold out of administration, safeguarding 55 jobs.
Consumers are risking food poisoning by ignoring food label use-by dates in the recession, according to a survey from the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
Premier Foods board member Louise Makin is to retire from the board at the end of September 2012.
Food safety watchdog the Food Standards Agency (FSA) is advising consumers not to change their eating habits after an EU study on mineral oils in food.
Printed electronics is about to take a leap forward, with a prototype temperature sensor scheduled for this year, and interactive tags less than five years away, one European technology provider has predicted.
A ‘mega-healthy’ airline meal has been created by Leatherhead Food Research (LFR), which satisfies all 222 Article 13.1 health claims approved by the European Commission (EC) last month.
Morrisons will be the first ever retailer to use product placement on Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother, after signing a deal with Channel 5 yesterday (June 6).
A second candidate fired from the BBC TV show The Apprentice is determined to prove Lord Sugar wrong by establishing his own successful food business.
Warburtons has helped develop new testing equipment to address the challenges of sticky dough faced by the bakery industry, potentially improving production efficiency.
Shadow public health minister, Diane Abbott has slammed the coalition’s “failing” health policy and called for a move to put public health before big business.
Premium food retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) is to launch an in-store banking service this summer, backed by HSBC.
Food and drink manufacturers' interest in using robots has soared, according to the British Automation and Robot Association (BARA).
The government plans to review the rules covering religious slaughter of animals – including the controversial permission to kill without stunning.
Chilled own-label food manufacturer Bakkavör plans new product launches later this year, according to its chief financial officer Peter Gates.
Retail giant Tesco and other supermarkets have stopped sourcing beef from meat exporter JBS following claims that its supply was linked to illegal deforestation in the Amazon.
Smoothie, drinks and veg pot maker Innocent has shown how to get ahead in social networking by winning first place in a list of 100 brands judged to make the best use of social media.
More investment in food science research – including genetically modified (GM) technology – is needed urgently, Peter Kendall, president of the National Farmers Union (NFU), told the World Farmers’ Congress in Rome today (June 7).
Retail guru Sir Terry Leahy, former ceo Tesco, has published a 10 words management handbook based on his years at the helm of the UK’s biggest supermarket.
Enjoy reading our headlines? Then why not help to write them by working for FoodManufacture.co.uk and our sister magazine Food Manufacture?
A low-priced flexible robot, which is simple to programme and doesn't require specialist coding skills, is expected to receive a warm welcome by smaller food firms looking to make their first step into automation, according to the Danish company that developed it.
The Co-op's decision to reorganise its food distribution services in the south west "smacks of privatisation" and "soils its principles," claims Unite the union.
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.
Up to 40 jobs are under threat at the McCain food factory in Scarborough, as the firm shifts production from pizzas to ready-baked jacket potatoes.
The UK needs super farms to stop food prices rising and to maintain high animal welfare standards, claims president of the National Farmers Union Peter Kendall.
The Co-op’s decision to contract out of its food distribution services in the south west “smacks of privatisation,” claims Unite.
The departure of Premier Foods’ chairman Ronnie Bell at the beginning of this month “was unhelpful”, says City analyst Investec.
Stricter visa requirements for overseas nationals – introduced last year – will threaten the global competitiveness of the UK's food industry by barring high-level employees, experts have warned.
More research is needed to determine how big a role food plays in the transfer of the parasitic disease toxoplasmosis to humans in the UK, according to scientists.
Drinks giant Diageo’s plan to invest £1bn in Scotch whisky production, designed “to seize the opportunity for global growth” will create 100s of jobs, according to the firm.
As hundreds of thousands of visitors make final preparations to attend the Olympics next month, food and drink manufacturers should review their transport plans in order to avoid disruption in London and at other Olympic venues, advises logistics firm Norbert Dentressangle.
Fraud is increasing as the price of food and drink rises and this is forcing regulators to put greater resources into hunting out the cheats, it has emerged.
A new clinical study is claiming that consuming a protein blend (a combination of soy, whey and casein) post-workout is the best way to build muscle. The blend showed an increase in a person's 'anabolic window' (the amount of time it takes for building muscle to occur post exercise).
We've had the exotic super berries: goji and açai. Now, apparently, from Latin America, we have the new exotic superseed: chia.
Top food trends that will influence shoppers' buying habits by 2020, food and drink business people featured in The Sunday Times Rich List and Premier Foods dominated food manufacturing headlines last month. Don't miss our photogallery capturing the key headlines in pictures.
Frozen foods specialist Yearsley Group is to start work on a £20M expansion of its Heywood headquarters to meet demand for new business.
I know it's not a new subject, but the European Food Safety Authority's decision, under the health claims regulations, to forbid the use of 'probiotic' labels on food, looks even more unhelpful to consumers when you ponder the implications more deeply.
Packaged grocery business Symington’s has undergone a management buyout, which follows press reports that the firm has plans to buy certain Premier Foods brands, including Angel Delight.
The newly-elected chairman of the Federation of Bakers is Paul Molyneux, Premier Foods’ divisional technical director.
Premier Foods’ former chairman Ronnie Bell, who stepped down today (June 1), has been replaced by senior independent director, David Beever.
Nestlé Waters has started production at its new £35M factory at Waterswallows in Buxton.
Employees are being encouraged to spill the beans on food manufacturers that are jeopardising food safety by cutting corners in these cash-strapped times.
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.
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.
Where do you stand on whistle blowing? Is it the brave David standing up against Goliath to report something that is essentially wrong? Or is it more to do with the aggrieved employee with an axe to grind who just wants to get his revenge on his line manager?
Young’s Seafood has confirmed that it will put the Cromer crab factory up for sale in August once production has been moved to Grimsby.
Food technologists should start thinking like criminals, if they are to identify illegal activities in their supply chains that could lead to serious food safety incidents, a risk management expert has suggested.
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