The government's Food Industry Sustainability Strategy (FISS) came under fire at a meeting last month, as manufacturers and other stakeholders gathered to thrash out a way forward.

Processors have spurned a standard being set up by the Anaphylaxis Campaign that would use a logo to show products had been produced in a factory certified by allergen-trained auditors.

Processors face rising threats of pathogen contamination in products using foods vulnerable to the current bad weather.

As the Carbon Trust rolls out its carbon labelling scheme to products including the full range of Walkers crisps, one major international food manufacturer has questioned its use.

Fiercely acquisitive snack-food giant Zeta is breathing new life into the heart of UK sweet-making in York by powering the growth of premium confectioner Salamanda through its Kinnerton group.

Bernard Matthews' chief executive Bart Dalla Mura says the company will have to pass the soaring cost of feed grain on down the supply chain "in some shape or form".

Rising feed prices are hitting the pig industry, with this year's increases equating to a 16% rise in production costs, according to the British Pig Executive (BPEX).

Yoghurt manufacturer Müller UK plans to expand production at its Market Drayton factory by building a new manufacturing, storage and distribution facility, creating 300 jobs.

The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) has revamped its website, http://www.fdf.org.uk, making it clearer and easier to use, with improved access to information about key issues in the food and drink manufacturing industry.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published guidance for disease reduction and children's development and health claims, covered by Article 14 of the EU Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation.

A Datamonitor survey of 1,000 executives around the world in the consumer packaged goods industry has identified health as top of its list of 10 "mega-trends" that it says are shaping new product development and marketing.

Vijay Anand of Patak's Foods has been named Ethnic Chef 2007 by the Craft Guild of Chefs.

Consumers are being desensitised by food scares and product recalls, a nationwide survey has revealed. Almost 70% of respondents said they were hardly aware of alerts and fewer than 20% trusted manufacturers and retailers to supply accurate information.

The British Cheese Board (BCB) has warned increasing upward pressure on cheese prices shows no sign of abating as the cost of milk solids continues to rise.

Heinz is considering selling its UK frozen desserts business to concentrate on higher-growth opportunities. Its decision to review its retailer own-label, and its Ross, American Dream and Devonshire desserts operations at Leamington Spa and Okehampton, puts 700 jobs at risk. But it will keep its Weight Watchers desserts operation.

The frozen food industry will work to cut energy use and packaging and reverse falling ready-meal sales in the next year, according to the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF).

The School Food Trust (SFT) has hit back at claims by the Local Authority Caterers' Association (LACA) that new rules governing the provision of food in schools have driven some caterers to the brink of collapse.

Bernard Matthews is seeking planning permission to incorporate wind farms into its sites in Pickenham, Weston and Holton in Norfolk, generating 15MW of electricity.

Global brewer SABMiller is using computer networking software from Microsoft to help its staff in 60 countries collaborate better.

Food manufacturers could increase productivity by 10% by motivating workers and analysing their progress using the newly launched Total Factor Productivity (TFP) index, according to one of its creators.

UK manufacturers face being dogged by overly rigorous EU pesticide regulations, resulting in numerous "technical breaches" by produce presenting no threat to human health, according to one expert.

Greencore Prepared Foods is training its staff to prepare healthy meals at home in a scheme funded by Yorkshire Forward and run by the Focus on Food Campaign.

Millers expect to face £0.5M a year costs for fortifying flour with folic acid if Food Standards Agency proposals are endorsed by health ministers and take effect, as predicted, in 2009.

Too many food manufacturing execution systems (MES) are failing to meet food and drink firms' expectations because they are overly generic and need to be reconfigured to suit their needs, according to one IT supplier.

Europe's food and drink trade body, the CIAA, has called on the EU to ensure a sustainable and competitive supply of raw materials and to overhaul and simplify EU regulations.

Food & Drink Expo 2008 will feature the biggest array of shows yet at Birmingham NEC on April 6-9, including Foodex Meatex, the Convenience Retailing Show and International Forecourt and Fuel Equipment and, for the first time, the Baking Industry Exhibition in association with Food and Bake.

Organisers of the Queen's Awards for Enterprise are urging food and drink firms to get their entries in by the October 31 deadline. Applications can be made online at http://www.queensawards.org.uk. Winners receive extensive publicity and use of the Queen's Award emblem for five years.

A wholesale switch to skimmed milk in the UK could reduce dietary energy from saturated fats by a whole percentage point (40% of the Food Standards Agency's target) overnight, says oils and fats consultant Geoff Talbot. But this was probably unrealistic, so other approaches were needed, he said, such as changing cattle feed to alter the fatty acid profile of milk.

Rich Products has opened a 1,300m2 factory in Portchester, Hampshire, its third in the UK. The American-owned independent baked goods manufacturer has equipped the factory with the latest manufacturing and freezing equipment, catering for its thaw-and-serve business.

Macrae Edinburgh has completed a £1.3M refrigeration system at its new £10M Livingston factory in partnership with Star Refrigeration.

Food manufacturers will be under pressure to clean up their product data next year as leading supermarkets outline plans for global data synchronisation (GDS), Heinz has predicted.

Contrary to popular belief, average sugar consumption in the UK has fallen substantially in the past 30 years, according to the Food and Drink Federation (FDF).

Food safety could be compromised by changes being made to research bodies by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, says scientists' union Prospect.

The EU Confederation of Food and Drink Industries (CIAA), in a memorandum to the European Commission (EC), reiterates calls to reduce administrative burdens. The food industry has been demanding this for at least 20 years, and little has been achieved. Despite UK government and EC acceptance that there is a problem, the amount of legislation has spiralled.

Sir

As the UK's Polish community grows, so does the chance for food manufacturers to prosper.

For dessert manufacturers looking to provide consumers with a spot of indulgence, Macphie is on hand with a range of versatile OTT (Over The Top) dessert toppings.

The Big Prawn Company, which until now has specialised in shellfish, is extending its presence in the seafood retail market with a chilled Norwegian smoked salmon product.

Veetee Rice claims that its Dine-In rice offers a foolproof route to restaurant quality rice with the convenience of microwave cooking.

Meat manufacturer and specialist food distributor Southover Food Company has launched microwaveable Cooked Smoked Back Bacon as an alternative to raw bacon.

At a recent gathering of food professionals attending an awards ceremony at The Savoy Hotel, discussion around the lunch table turned to what we would choose as our final meal if we were on death row. Initially, the conversation considered five star meals, which we had experienced with complex combinations of ingredients and rich sauces presented artistically. One might expect a group of foodies to go for such sophisticated, exotic cuisine. However, in the end we all appeared to want simple, honest food in our imaginary hour of need.

Processors have the opportunity to extend the chocolate season into the summer months by offering consumers a fresh new taste sensation, claims chocolate manufacturer Barry Callebaut.

Baxters has added two new flavours to its chutney range: Fire-Roasted Pepper Chutney with Capers and Sweet Caramelised Onion Chutney with Orange. "Consumer tastes are becoming ever more sophisticated," says marketing director Kerr Arthur. "People are beginning to look beyond classic flavours and are also using the products in different ways such as for sandwich fillings, dip and barbecue ingredients.

Premium cheddar cheese Cadog Export is set to launch across the UK. With sales in excess of £3M, over 100t of Cadog cheese is sold across Wales and Dairy Farmers of Britain aims to replicate this success further afield.

Perhaps the elusive pot of gold is akin to the quest for safe and stable food colours. Consumer groups have often shown concern around the azo dyes permitted as food colours. Now we have the first opinion from the European Food Safety Authority - its re-evaluation of food additives has raised safety concerns in relation to E128 (Red 2G).

Consumers are not put off by laxative warnings about polyols on packs, according to new research from starch giant Roquette.

Britain's millers will increasingly make use of 'hedging' to gain competitive advantage as price volatility in grain markets becomes more evident.

Robot manufacturers have identified the food industry as a sector ripe for targeting as equipment prices tumble and labour shortages start to bite.

Productivity at Renshaw, the UK manufacturer of marzipans and sugarpaste, has been given a boost, thanks to help from engineering design and project management company, Lorien Engineering Solutions.

Is there something about the automation in your factory that really bugs you? A recurrent problem, a difficult process, a machine operation or even an operator?

Research by the University of Lincoln shows that machinery companies and their food industry customers are missing out on opportunities to automate both production and packaging.

Glass light-weighting projects may be cutting materials by up to 25%, but brand owners and fillers expecting a comparable reduction in prices are likely to be disappointed.

The presence of smoothwall aluminium trays in the retail and foodservice sectors continues to grow, with a new UK entrant joining the fray.

Unilever Foodsolutions has worked with print expert Wyndeham Packaging to improve the detail and vignettes in the flexographic print for its PG Tips bulk polybags.

Preliminary findings from its forthcoming Key Performance Indicators for the Food Supply Chain report have been revealed by Scala, the supply chain and logistics consultancy.

In principle nothing is wrong with most businesses' obsession with supply chain best practice. People want to know what other companies are doing well in order to copy them. But I think many are falling into a trap.

Cees van der Star, factory general manager, Unilever Ice Cream, Gloucester

If beef farming sometimes feels like a life sentence for a crime you didn't commit, then being shackled to fellow suppliers and buyers in unrewarding service of the supermarkets is not dissimilar to the pointless punishment of the chain gang. In the case of Blade Farming, however, chains have set nearly 80 farmers free. In fact, not to put too biblical a spin on it, its unique approach to supply chain management in the beef industry has been a prophecy of hope for the sector. Like most prophecies, of course, it's taken a while for the penny to drop with non-believers.

Most male mid-life crises start with the purchase of a flashy sports car, but that's old hat for ex-Formula 1 driver Jody Scheckter. He's more interested in tractors these days. The multi-millionaire is investing squillions in Hampshire's Laverstoke Park, which includes a farm, an abattoir, meat processing facility, and a soil microbiology lab, not to mention numerous other projects in the pipeline.

It's only 4am, and already sushi buyers have gathered to pay top dollar for the freshest octopus and finest tuna. But this isn't a fish market in Tokyo, or even Hong Kong. This is Billingsgate market in east London, which now does a brisk trade for the UK sushi market.

The Companies Act 2006 received royal assent in November 2006 and is seen as the biggest company law shake-up in 20 years. Its provisions are being implemented in stages, with the Act taking full effect by October 2008. For the first time in history, directors' duties will be spelt out in statute.

Microbiological experts advising the Food Standards Agency (FSA) recognise that hygiene in food factories has improved immeasurably over the past 20 years. But with concern mounting about rising levels of the disease listeriosis via foodborne contamination with the pathogen Listeria monocytogenes, there will be calls to raise the hygiene bar even further in the food supply chain over coming years - especially for ready-to-eat foods.

Alaska Food Diagnostics has launched fastrAK Salmonella, an ultra-rapid testing system for food manufacturers that provides results in 18 hours.

A handbook on food safety management is now available from BSI. The publication, ISO 22000 Food Safety Guidance and Workbook for the Manufacturing Industry, has been developed to provide support to companies in the implementation of the ISO 22000:2005 food safety management system. It is aimed at members of a company's food safety team as well as departmental managers.

Stabilised chlorine dioxide (SCD) is proving to be a cost-effective, safe and easy-to-manage alternative to chlorine for controlling microbiological contamination on hard surfaces and in process water for food industry applications. Harvest Wash, from Tristel Technologies, uses SCD technology and is suitable for use throughout the food processing environment as part of a hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) programme.

The MA150 moisture analyser from Sartorius is a machine with a difference. Capable of detecting water down to 0.01%, it has a built-in weighing system with a maximum weighing capacity of 150g at 1mg resolution.

Analox Instruments offers a range of fast laboratory analysis systems for the food and drinks industries. These analysers measure the maximum rate of oxygen consumption in specific enzyme reactions.

Selo has introduced the APIS Spektron meat analysis system from Prediktor in Sweden.

The new DuoSens two channel battery-powered data-logger from OTT Hydrometry looks set to break all company records. Production is running at full capacity in order to keep up with demand, says the company, as customers order the small, cost-effective logger with the functionality of larger, more expensive devices.

Food and drink safety has risen to the top of UK boardroom agendas, claims risk management consultancy, Razor. Increasing regulation and EU reaction to food scares have prompted more companies to take action more quickly.

An industrial flooring system from Sika that can withstand frequent high pressure steam cleaning is being used by food manufacturing and processing companies. A recent installation is in a milking parlour on a Scottish dairy farm.

Fish Processor Pinneys of Scotland, part of Uniq, has installed two Thermo Scientific EZx contaminant detection units. Chosen for their ease of use, simplicity and increased sensitivity, particularly for products packaged in metalised film or foil, the two systems are inspecting a range of ready meals for a major high street retailer. They complement two existing EZx machines already installed.

Spotting risks in the food chain is a daily challenge faced by growers, importers, producers and retailers. It is a task made all the more difficult by having to wade through endless reports and other information sources just to find the bits that might apply to you. FC24, a new database compiled and managed by Central Science Laboratory (CSL), is set to change all that.

Precision measurement is key to the quality of your products. Complete trust in the reliability and accuracy of the installed devices and the traceability of the recorded process parameters is a must. Endress+Hauser's Memosens digital pH sensor allows important process data to be saved directly in the sensor, guaranteeing interference-free measuring signals while also simplifying process measuring technology.

Neogen has received Official Method status from AOAC International for its 24-hour GeneQuence salmonella diagnostic test system. The test combines the superior specificity of DNA hybridisation technology with the ability to process rapidly up to 372 samples at once using a fully automated method, or a small number of samples by hand. This new method reflects the use of Neogen's new 24-hour salmonella enrichment protocol for select foods.

The Oxoid Air Sampler is a robust, hand-held, high specification air sampler. It is designed to monitor microbiological air quality in food manufacturing and production environments, using proven impaction technology that has been used reliably within the food industry for many years.

Lab M's new Baird-Parker Medium (ISO) is the latest addition to the company's range of microbiological culture media developed to meet specific ISO requirements in the food industry.

Q Chip, the developer of micro-encapsulation systems, has come up with Lab-in-a-Bead, a gel-based bead for effortless polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

No longer the sole domain of chefs in posh restaurants, herbs have found their way to the masses and are becoming ever more popular with food manufacturers. But supplying them is by no means a straightforward process, as demonstrated recently by a Food Standards Agency (FSA) investigation into how fresh basil imported from Israel ended up in supermarkets with an unhealthy sprinkling of salmonella.

A range of new spice blends for poultry, meat and fish has been launched by Bart Spices and join the existing range of speciality blends.

Scottish-based herbs and spices blender Scobie & Junor has just completed a £3M refurbishment and a move to new premises.

The fresh culinary herb sector is set for a makeover. Five of the UK's major fresh herb suppliers - R&G and Fresh Herb Solutions, HumberVHB, Lighthorne Herbs, Arava and Scotherbs and Swedeponic - which between them represent 90% of fresh culinary herbs to the nation's supermarkets, have united to create the new Fresh Herbs marketing campaign.

Adding to its range of blends inspired by cooking styles (Mediterranean, Barbecue and Indian), Steenbergs Organic has launched a range of organic American-inspired flavours.

Food companies face an energy double whammy. Not only do most manufacturers need gas, electricity or steam to heat, cook or sterilise their products, the majority also need energy to cool, refrigerate or freeze them afterwards.

Dunphy Combustion is responding to the growing demand from manufacturing and maintenance engineers for experience-based, comparative data about the suitability of bio-fuels for use in production processes. Specifiers and designers of burner/boiler packages intended to run on bio-fuels can now obtain comparative bio-fuels analyses from Dunphy, plus the opportunity to set up and observe tests.

Macphie of Glenbervie, one of the UK's leading independent food ingredients manufacturers, recently achieved energy savings of 6.5% after installing the Fuel+ magnetic fuel treatment system supplied by Maxsys.

After two years of testing, boiler maker Byworth says it has proved that boilers which incorporate internally-finned X-ID fire tubes in place of plain boiler tubes greatly enhance the heat transfer rate by up to 85%.

It is calculated that British industry wastes £3bn a year in energy costs purely through steam loss caused by mechanical steam traps leaking precious steam when open or backing up condensate. Now Gardner Energy Management has launched a new steam trap, the GEM Quartz Trap Set.

Two weigh and price labeller systems from Avery Weigh-Tronix have been designed for the prepacked fresh food industry. Both the M3000 and A3000 series offer customers an economical labelling solution with features and data capabilities only found on larger, more expensive systems.

Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies has extended its Dor-O-Matic swing door range with the launch of a fully automatic flexible door. This clear polyvinyl chloride door provides automated or manual activation, coupled with better visibility, easier access and tough life cycle performance with low maintenance.

Dairies throughout Europe are whipping cream, cream cheese, desserts and other butter products thanks to stationary gas mixing systems from Witt Gas Techniques.

Automated Packaging Systems has launched the FAS SPrint Bagging System which has been specifically developed to handle the packing of frozen produce including meat, poultry and fish. It brings new levels of speed and flexibility to established and seasonal food packaging operations that require fast change-overs and daily wash-downs. The FAS SPrint bagging machine operates at speeds of up to 120 bags per minute in continuous mode, delivering best-in-class performance for both manual and fully automatic operations.