Concerns about whether eco-labelling of food and drink should take account of the social benefits of products to third-world producers are likely to feature in research being commissioned by environment secretary David Miliband.

Overstretched bosses at Inter Link Foods have admitted that they are unable to accurately measure their margins on individual lines using their current IT systems.

Powerful new number crunching tools from the company that processes Tesco's ClubCard data have helped Kellogg boost availability at the multiple's stores by quantifying precisely how much business it was losing by running out of stock.

Consumers who have a craving for carbohydrates do not necessarily have a nutrient-deficient diet, according to preliminary results from a new US study presented at a British Nutrition Foundation meeting.

Details of how the government's climate change policy, now being knocked into a legal framework, will affect food and drink companies are to be unveiled next month.

All Waitrose supermarkets should be plugged into a new demand forecasting system by the end of the year, increasing its accuracy of forecasts by 10%, the retailer has revealed.

A third of shoppers don't buy products when they come off promotion because they cannot find them in the store, grocery think-tank IGD has found.

Minimising and making best use of waste from food and drink production is the focus of a day-long course organised by the Food and Drink Federation on April 25.

Former president of the National Farmers' Union, Tim Bennett, has been elected to the board of the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

Tate & Lyle is to open a £3M wellness and nutrition research centre in Lille, France.

Guidelines for organic food production and marketing, and the labelling of foods derived from genetically modified and engineered ingredients, are both up for discussion by the Codex Alimentarius Committee on food labelling, which meets in Ottawa on April 25.

Respondents to Food Manufacture's latest online poll were evenly split over front-of-pack nutrition labelling systems.

A campaign group set up in the wake of an E.coli outbreak in central Scotland, which killed 20 people in 1997, has slammed the Food Standards Agency (FSA) for its latest advice on the safe cooking of beef burgers.

A government-backed waste directory to help small food manufacturers find licensed sites for recycling or disposing of their waste is now available free on the web.

The revoking of seven gangmasters licences should act as a warning to food manufacturers who use casual labour, said the Association of Labour Providers (ALP).

Dairies in the UK could soon be using recycled plastic milk bottles following the successful trial of a new recycling process.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has decided that increasing the maximum permitted levels of aflatoxins for some nuts would have only minimal effect on people's dietary exposure to the chemical, which has been linked to liver cancer.

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Three new European Commission regulations have come into force governing contaminants in food.

A new mentoring scheme for ethnic entrepreneurs running small food and drink companies in the West Midlands has been launched by Heart of England Fine Foods (HEFF).

The nutrient profiling system at the heart of controversial new European health claims rules may not be as restrictive as manufacturers feared, according to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

One of the New York Times' 10 best books of 2006 was The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, professor of journalism at the University of California. His essay in the paper, Unhappy Meals, demonstrates why his book was worthy of the accolade. In 20 easily digested pages he discusses the tremendous confusion surrounding food and the dangers of prescribing nanny state diets. It may not please parts of the food industry, but it adds immeasurably to the debate.

Manufacturers of wheat-based products may face shortages and higher prices unless they buy up to three years ahead.

Dorset Cereals' fresh approach to breakfast foods has caught the attention of the Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA). The group awarded the firm an enterprise award, which provided £25,000 funding for the company to embark on a new export project in the US. The award is designed to promote innovative uses of UK grain and support the development of new markets. Dorset Cereals' three-year export project hopes to generate significant extra grain usage.

The omega-3 fatty acids phenomenon has spread further into the dairy sector as Cricketer Farm launches an enriched cheese for children. The firm believes it is the first to have launched a kids' cheese with omega-3s from fish oils, as opposed to plant oils. "Others are working on developments with omega-3 in cheese, but we're the first to put our heads above the parapet," says sales and marketing manager Simon O'Brien. "We took the same enrichment route as St Ivel Advance. The battle was to get the fatty acids at the right levels."

Unless you've been living on Mars for the past few weeks, you'll be aware that an avian flu outbreak at Bernard Matthews in Suffolk caused the firm serious grief. But, being a plucky business, Bernard Matthews is determined to win back consumers.

Portadown-based manfacturer Evron Foods is branching out from its speciality bread roots into apple pie production.

Confectioner Burnt Sugar claims consumers can buy its new 80g fudge bar without feeling guilty, because the product is made with 100% Fairtrade sugar.

Fish, chips and mushy peas is the latest filling developed by handmade pasty manufacturer Proper Cornish Food Company as the result of a competition to find a new flavour.

California Raisins is welcoming applications for its innovation award. Last year, the firm received entries ranging from honey products, to sauces and mainline bakery and snacking products.

Gourmet crisps manufacturer Kettle Foods has launched Soulmate Cheeses with Onion Kettle Chips in a 40g bag. Brand manager Norman Comfort says: "The classic combination of cheese and onion is currently undergoing a revival and is growing at 10% year-on-year, cementing its position as a national favourite."

With global sales of organic food and drink approaching £20bn, manufacturers are well aware of the market's potential. This was clearly demonstrated by Cadbury's acquisition of organic confectioner Green & Blacks back in 2005.

Over 75M barbeques fired up in the UK between mid May and September 2006 and Gordon Rhodes & Son has eyed up a hot opportunity. The seasonings manufacturer is launching a range of nine meat glazes and coaters into the retail sector in 113g resealable tubs.

While doing some background research for a presentation on prebiotics I was fascinated (in a slightly juvenile 'how gross' way) to discover that the human body contains more bacterial cells than mammalian cells. It's no surprise then that gut microflora, and the importance of achieving the correct balance, has become a key focal point, and is currently being researched by Leatherhead Food International (LFI).

Dawn Foods, the international bakery supplier with its origins in the US, is planning to roll out reliability-centred maintenance (RCM) in about 17 plants worldwide, following successful trials and the introduction of this methodology at its plant in Evesham in the UK.

Productivity at Scarborough-based Confectionery Craft has been given a lift thanks to a partnership led by the Food Technology Advisory Service (FTAS).

The media is littered with global warming or climate change stories. I rented a DVD - An Inconvenient Truth - where Al Gore discusses greenhouse gases. It was uncomfortable viewing. The evidence that change is happening is irrefutable: daffodils were blooming in January and the number of times I have scraped frost from the windscreen can be counted on one hand this winter.

A wave of first-time applications for polylactide (PLA) in peelable and die-cut lidding, laminated boards, pouch materials and sandwich packs is set to delight consumers, while also putting supply of the biopolymer under severe strain.

Marks & Spencer (M&S) says it is committed to working with the UK's first polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling plant, which operator Closed Loop London (CLL) has confirmed will open in December this year.

UK food producers, and the packaging companies which supply them, could benefit from growing consumer concern for quality rather than price, predicts a newly-formed trade association.

The ultimate consumer convenience pack has arrived in the form of a flow-wrap that you can open cleanly - with your teeth.

Tesco could soon start looking at ways of taking the cost out of manufacturers' inbound supply chains, following its success in raising efficiencies with product logistics post factory gate, according to the company's former supply chain director Stuart Ross.

Last month over 7,500 trucks from more than 130 fleets, distributing food and drink were monitored as part of a Department of Transport (DfT) project - the largest of its kind ever undertaken - to assess their performance.

Before anyone begins to think it, let me say that I have no

Richard Bain, factory manager, Thorntons

There's no doubt that these are difficult times for the sugar confectionery sector. In a recent consumer survey conducted by the Food Standards Agency, 40% of parents were trying to reduce their children's consumption of sugar - that's much more than those trying to cut down on their kids' fat intake (26%) and over double the number reducing their children's salt consumption (18%).

Empowering your workforce is all well and good, but where does that leave the poor old first-line manager? In the past the process was much simpler: it was just a matter of taking orders from above and then telling those below what they had to do.

High-profile product recalls may grab the headlines, but it's the growing number of smaller incidents that should really be making food companies nervous. "In relation to consumer products in general, there is solid evidence of a 20% to 25% growth in product recalls year-on-year. My assessment is that it's a similar situation in the food industry," says Richard Matthews, head of product liability at legal firm Eversheds.

In many ways, food manufacturers are just like any family. They start out in a small property, start to grow, and then have a decision to make. Do they move to somewhere bigger - ideally building the new home if they can afford to - or do they get the builders into the old place to put on an extension?

When temperatures in a hatchery at duck producer Cherry Valley peaked at 35ºC last summer, the company looked for a cost effective and ecologically friendly way of providing the staff and chicks with a cooler environment. The solution was a Breezair evaporative air cooling system from Seeley International.

A range of fabric ducting 'socks' from Euro Air UK will maintain low temperatures in cold rooms while ensuring that workers remain comfortable.

Two recently completed abattoir construction projects have both installed Sikafloor Purcem flooring systems.

Heart and circulatory disease is the UK's biggest killer. Although mortality rates are in decline, there are still almost 2.6M heart and circulatory disease sufferers and someone has a heart attack every two minutes. These frightening facts have consumers' hearts racing and many are looking to improve their diets, leaving the floodgates open for food firms to benefit.

In the UK, half of people over 65 and one in four middle-aged adults have high blood pressure. Nutriceuticals firm Works with Water has teamed up with ingredients supplier DKSH to tackle the problem by creating a water that can lower blood pressure.

Over 2005/6, the organic market had a 17% increase in sales, according to TNS. Alpro Soya plans to make the most of this thriving market within the dairy-free category through the launch of the UK's first ever chilled organic soya milk.

Children's food firm Ella's Kitchen is celebrating its first birthday by launching The Purple One.

A universal rotary dosing pump that is manufactured from high-performance plastics and has only six components has been launched by Netzsch Pumps.

The newly opened Direct Table Foods bacon processing factory in Bury St Edmunds gave the company the opportunity to design and build a state-of-the-art factory. Opening last summer, the chilled warehouse design features a Link 51 pallet racking installation.

When The Village Bakery in Wrexham installed Marlin stainless steel motors, it found that the economics of using them was as much a benefit as the enhanced hygiene they offered. They reduced downtime, simplified cleaning operations and avoided the need to replace standard motors every two months.

TM Robotics (Europe) has teamed up with Scorpion Vision to offer an industrial robot package that will allow engineers in the food industry to integrate their own automation and industrial vision applications. The package is based on Toshiba Machines' Scara (selective compliant assembly robot arm) robots, Sony Scorpion smart cameras and the Scorpion open software tool for industrial vision.

GEA Westfalia Food Tec, which designs and manufactures dairy separation systems, is using Krohne's Optiflux 6000 electromagnetic flowmeters in its Standomat automatic milk standardising unit.

Thermo Fisher Scientific has introduced the Powerx range of high-performance X-ray systems for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. The Powerx series consists of 16 models which together are capable of inspecting products ranging from small glass vials to large, multi-package cases.

A hydraulic bulk bag conditioner from Flexicon (Europe) will loosen bulk solid material that has solidified during storage and shipment, enabling bulk bags to be discharged through bag spouts. It is aimed at hygroscopic materials, certain types of spice blends, heat-sensitive products and other materials prone to solidifying.

Ontario-based Petro-Canada has launched an industrial strength food grade lubricant called Purity FG.

Domnick Hunter has launched a range of automated leak detection, particle counting and air quality management services.

A bespoke automated weighing and packing system from Ishida Europe is allowing Tryton Foods to automate the packing of its Aunt Bessie's Yorkshire puddings.

Aimed at food industry recruits and trainees, Food microbiology: an introduction is part of a series of books, which give a broad overview of particular food science and technology topics affecting the industry.

Scientific publisher Wiley-VCH has launched a comprehensive reference guide on gelatine - a colourless, glutinous protein obtained from animal tissues such as bone and skin.

The Environment Agency and the National Farmers' Union have compiled a joint report on the state of the farmed environment in England and Wales using the Agency's environmental monitoring data.

Industry consultants explore the underlying similarities between different foods from the bakery category in Baked products: science, technology and practice.

The opening of the National Skills Academy for food and drink manufacturing is the culmination of more than two years of research, planning and development by employers, co-ordinated by the food and drink sector skills council Improve. The £4.4M academy is forecast to deliver new skills to at least 28,000 people during its first four years.

Paul Haigney, operations director, Pasta King

We’ve all spotted them lurking in a darkened, cobwebbed larder at home or on the top shelf in the development stores, wrapped in nondescript packaging with a faded compliment slip attached. No one knows how long they have been there, or their precise source of origin, but every store cupboard seems to shelter ingredients that have never been used. There are two main reasons why obsolete ingredients remain unearthed in store cupboards. First, they may be concept ingredients brought back from travels afar which, at the time, were hailed by the development team as the latest gastronomic must-haves. Then, when they got back to the UK, this enthusiasm was not realised by their colleagues outside the department.

Food companies looking to acquire businesses in the sector are being priced out of the market as money is poured into private equity firms to chase deals, according to corporate finance experts.

Detailed analyses of the cereals supply chain have revealed shocking inefficiency, a resistance to change and poor communications, according to the organisation tasked with improving the sector.

Former boss of food group Hillsdown Holdings and one-time Tory defence secretary John Knott, has weighed into the debate about the future of the UK grocery market with a damning attack on the power of the leading food retailers.

A bidding war between the big guns in private equity is now expected to decide the fate of Cadbury's soft drinks division and foodservice giant Brakes.

Many millions more people than previously thought could be infected with the foodborne parasitic disease toxoplasmosis.

Farmer-owned Milk Link has struck a deal to become exclusive supplier to clotted cream manufacturer Rodda's Creamery using milk from a dedicated producer group formed of members in west Cornwall.

Unquenchable worldwide thirst for Vimto - up 6.6% to an all-time high of 306M litres - helped boost brand owner Nichols' pre-tax profits in a year that saw the firm ditch its hot beverage operation and focus solely on retail and draught soft drinks.