All news articles for September 2015

Dairy Crest has frozen the price it pays its farmers for milk

Dairy Crest to hold milk price for October

By Laurence Gibbons

Dairy Crest will hold the milk price it pays its farmers for October, both for its Davidstow and liquid milk contracts, according to the business.

Maheu is made on the hydration system at Dairy Gold in Zambia

‘Disruptive change’ group set for PPMA show launch

By Rick Pendrous

A new consortium called ‘Food is Life’, which aims to introduce ‘disruptive change’ to the food industry in Africa, is being launched at this month’s Processing & Packaging Machinery Association (PPMA) show.

Quorn's secret weapon: Mo Farah

Quorn lifts capacity by 50% to meet surge in US sales

By Michael Stones

Quorn Foods has revealed a 50% increase in production capacity to meet a surge in global sales – particularly from the US and Europe – but has remained silent on reports of a takeover bid.

Quorn Foods is remaining quiet on reports of two takeover bids

Quorn quiet on reports of takeover bid

By Michael Stones

Quorn Foods is remaining quiet on reports that acquisition firm Nomad Foods and chip giant McCain Foods are preparing takeover bids for the meat-free food manufacturer, as it revealed a 50% boost in production capacity to meet surging export demand.

A Weakening of the Euro has hit ABF's operating profit

ABF profit hit by £30M by weakened euro

By Laurence Gibbons

Associated British Foods (ABF) has revealed its adjusted operating profit will fall for the 52 weeks to September 12, by at least £30M, due to a significant weakening of the euro.

Food and non-alcoholic drink exports suffered to due to the weakening euro and strengthening pound

Food exports drop 5% due to currency factors

By Michael Stones

UK exports of food and non-alcoholic drink exports dropped 5.3% in value to £6bn in the first six months of the year, as the strength of sterling became “a growing concern”, warned the Food & Drink Exporters Association (FDEA).

A petition started by Oliver could force a parliamentary sugar debate

Jamie wins 100k signatures to force sugar tax debate

By Laurence Gibbons

The government will be forced to consider debating whether to tax sugary drinks after a petition calling for the move by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver gained more than 100,000 signatures.

Taylors of Harrogate has launched its own range of Nespresso coffee pods

Taylors eyes future coffee investment

By Nicholas Robinson


Taylors of Harrogate will bring the production of its new coffee capsule products in-house as soon as possible, factory manager John Hennighan has said.

Jamie Oliver has called for a tax on sugary drinks

Jamie slammed by food manufacturers over obesity

By Laurence Gibbons

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has been slammed by food and drink manufacturers for “over-simplifying” the obesity debate and of having double standards surrounding nutritional information in his restaurants.

Morrisons is 'prime taget for takeover' says analyst

Morrisons tops supermarket takeover talk

By Nicholas Robinson

Morrisons has refused to confirm or deny reports it could be in buyout talks after its shares spiked by 5%, following speculation of a UK supermarket takeover by a South African businessman.

Allergy alerts climbed from 47 in 2013 to 60 last year

Allergy by numbers

By Paul Gander

More is being done to ensure the risk to people from bad allergen labelling is reduced. Paul Gander finds out what else is in the pipeline

Food safety management will be reviewed by the European Commission

Food safety management changes could be afoot

By Rick Pendrous

Changes could be on the cards for the way in which food safety is managed within food businesses, following proposals by the European Commission to review the EU’s hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) procedures.

London Crisps is going to town on sales

London Crisp Co has capital sales plan

By Nicholas Robinson

The recently-launched London Crisp Company will quadruple its output within the next six months, after securing several new contracts and gaining overseas interest, its founder Tom Lock has revealed.

Cider firm's new presser

Aspall’s new press to boost capacity

By Laurence Gibbons

Suffolk cider producer Aspall has started work with its new apple press this week, part of a £2.2M investment to modernise its production facilities.

Sainsbury and Tesco have been forced to recall branflake products, due to contamination with plastic pieces

Sainsbury recalls bran flakes due to plastic

By Michael Stones

A production problem, which left bran flake products contaminated with small pieces of plastic, has prompted both Sainsbury and Tesco to issue product recalls.

Dairy Crest fire puts biomass boiler out of action

Fire at Dairy Crest’s Davidstow site

By Nicholas Robinson

A fire at Dairy Crest’s Davidstow cheese production facility in Cornwall has left the site’s biomass boiler in need of repair.

Professor Colin Dennis has become the 76th president of the IFT

Colin Dennis appointed IFT president for 2015–16

By Rick Pendrous

Professor Colin Dennis, who is to chair Food Manufacture Group’s food safety conference: Safer food and drink – from the harvest to the home – later this month, yesterday became the 76th president of the US Institute of Food Technologists (IFT).

CMB canmaking Academy extends its training kit

CMB canmaking Academy extends its training kit

Canmaking machinery provider CMB Engineering has installed one of its 3400 Die Necker multi-stage machines into its Academy based in Shipley, West Yorkshire. This will allow CMB to provide its customers’ engineers with training in a non-production environment.

Polyester lids for Weetabix pots

Polyester lids for Weetabix pots

Weetabix’s new single serving breakfast pot range, launched last February, features polyester lids supplied by Bury-based Clondalkin Flexible Packaging, formerly known as Chadwicks Lids.

Tamper-evident closure for food tubs and trays

Tamper-evident closure for food tubs and trays

A novel tamper-evident closure is available from Waddington Europe (Par-Pak) which prevents tampering and includes a ‘flag’ to indicate when products have been interfered with.

Russian tastes for snacks grows

Russian tastes for snacks grows

Four twin Ishida Atlas economy range ECO (Integrated Packaging Systems) are being used at KDV Group , Russia’s largest snack producer, to handle its growing production requirements.

Offline box feeder for flexibility

PPMA show preview

Offline box feeder for flexibility

In response to demand from food packers wanting to code secondary flat-pack boxes and cartons, Rotech will unveil its new RF-Box Feeder at the show. One of five exhibits on its stand, the RF-Box Feeder enables users to pre-mark flat cases prior to erection...

Labels applied on pack surfaces and around corners

PPMA show preview

Labels applied on pack surfaces and around corners

Interactive Coding Equipment (ICE) will be launching two new features for its Vulcan print and apply labeller which enable the machine to apply labels to the front of a moving pack, or across adjacent panels of a case or shrink-wrapped product to allow...

Expected items in the bagging area ...

PPMA show preview

Expected items in the bagging area ...

Customer demand for faster, more-versatile bulk bagging has inspired Pacepacker Services to launch a new high-speed bagging line called FastPac.

Low-cost AGV system replaces up to four forklifts

PPMA show preview

Low-cost AGV system replaces up to four forklifts

A low-cost automatic guided vehicle (AGV) system designed specifically for mid-sized companies has been introduced by JBT. The JayBoT will make its UK debut at this year’s PPMA show.

Robots that don’t require guarding

PPMA show preview

Robots that don’t require guarding

An expanded range of processing and packaging automation equipment and ancillary products will be displayed R A Rodriguez. The equipment on show will include the full range of Universal Robots.

Modular conveyors make assembly simpler

PPMA show preview

Modular conveyors make assembly simpler

Interroll will be showing its new modular conveyor platform, which is designed to help users, system integrators and original equipment manufacturers to quickly plan and easily assemble modern material flow systems.

From shop floor to the top floor

PPMA show preview

From shop floor to the top floor

Vision systems that aid product traceability and help fight counterfeiting and delta robots that can be easily integrated into automation systems will be displayed by Omron.

Narrow aisle trucks for speedy warehouse operations

Narrow aisle trucks for speedy warehouse operations

Road haulage and warehousing firm John Hackling (Transport), which is based in the Cotswold village of Bourton-on-the-Water, operates a 12,077m2 shared-user warehouse, which provides in the region of 10,000 pallet locations for storing anything from hazardous...

Hydraulic bulk bag conditioner adjusts for height

Hydraulic bulk bag conditioner adjusts for height

A new hydraulic bulk bag conditioner from Flexicon Europe handles bags ranging from short to extra tall using hydraulically-actuated rams that automatically adjust in height during conditioning cycles.

Bakery equipment from Burnley

Bakery equipment from Burnley

A variety of handling systems are available from Burnley-based Global Bakery Solutions (GBS) to meet the automation needs of today’s plant bakeries.

Crisp firm uses lasers to remove defects

Tayto uses cameras and lasers to remove crisp defects

Northern Irish crisp maker Tayto is using four new Optyx digital sorters from Key Technology to control the removal of defects and foreign material (FM) during manufacture of its batch- and continuously-fried potato chips.

Ice pigging cleans out pipes at Yeo Valley

Ice pigging cleans out pipes at Yeo Valley

Many dairy processors could make big savings by moving away from traditional methods for cleaning their pipework and choosing an environmentally friendly system called ‘ice pigging’, a patented technology offered by Aqualogy Environment.

Energy saving vacuum pump for MAP

Energy saving vacuum pump for MAP

Manufacturers of food in modified atmosphere packs (MAP) are one of the key targets for a new range of highly efficient vacuum pumps just launched by Atlas Copco.

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