News In Brief
Geest gets greener
Bakkvör Group has moved into the fresh cut vegetable market with the £44m acquisition of prepared vegetable and convenience salads manufacturer Hitchen Foods. The Wigan-based Hitchen, which will be run within Bakkvör's Geest, employs 750 people and its turnover is about £48m.
GM uncertainty
European Union agriculture ministers have failed to agree on whether to allow imports into Europe of GA 21 foods and MON 863 ingredients produced from genetically-modified maize by biotech firm Monsanto, despite positive safety assessments by the European Food Safety Authority.
Taken back
Sainsbury is to take back in-house its IT services currently managed by Accenture. Services that have been outsourced since 2000 will be taken back together with some Accenture employees in the coming weeks, said Sainsbury, which has not disclosed termination and/or transition costs. The outsourcing decision had been criticised widely as contributing to Sainsbury's recent supply chain woes and replenishment problems.
BIBRA into LFI
Leatherhead Food International (LFI) has acquired the molecular sciences department of BIBRA International, based at Carshalton in Surrey for an undisclosed sum.
BIBRA will be incorporated into the LFI science division and, alongside research and confidential contract studies, will offer expertise in drug development and evaluation, analysis, mechanistic toxicology, immunogenicity and novel food assessment.
Avian flu fear
Processors and retailers claimed little change in demand for poultry- or egg-based products up to last weekend as a result of avian flu. Many claimed to have contingency plans in place to deal with any official restrictions that might be placed on poultry movements.
Incident failure
The Incidents Taskforce set up by the Food Standards Agency to address food contamination issues has failed to report to the agency's board this autumn as it was told to. It said it would now report by the end of the year.
