Dairy-based ingredients

Here's your chance to star at the Venice-themed food and drink manufacturing Oscars

FMEAS

Food and drink manufacturing Oscars now open

By Rick Pendrous

The 2016 Food Manufacture Excellence Awards (FMEAs) are now open for entries. So, if your company wants to be recognised for its achievements and join the celebrations at this year's Venice-themed event, you need to enter these prestigious awards.

Multi-layer on-the-go cup from RPC Bebo Plastik.

Multi-layer on-the-go cup for iced coffee drink

By Rick Pendrous

RPC Bebo Plastik has developed a multi-layer on-the-go cup for a new ready-to-drink iced coffee sold by one of the fastest growing coffee shop brands in the world.

Kerry Group's Cheestrings sold well in the children's snack market, said the firm

Kerry Group reports growth in business volumes

By Gwen Ridler

Kerry Group has posted a 2.9% growth in business volumes, driven by its Taste & nutrition and Consumer food divisions in first quarter results, thanks partly to its children’s snack product Cheestrings.

Inside R&R Ice Cream’s Northallerton factory

Nestlé agrees frozen foods deal with R&R Ice Cream

By Rick Pendrous

Nestlé and R&R, a leading ice cream company based in the UK owned by PAI Partners, have signed an agreement to set up Froneri, a global ice cream and frozen food joint venture (jv).

Long-deals are now more worth considering, says Ian Thomas

Dairy ingredients users urged to enter long-term deals

By Noli Dinkovski

Manufacturers of products containing dairy should avoid commodity price volatility by entering into long-term fixed price deals with their suppliers, the head of an ingredients company has claimed.

Müller plans to cut 229 jobs, while investing  £15M over the next three years

Müller to axe 229 dairy jobs while investing £15M

By Michael Stones

Müller Milk & Ingredients plans to axe 229 jobs at its smaller Scottish dairies, while investing £15M over the next three years in Scotland’s largest fresh milk dairy at Bellshill, near Glasgow.

Clean-label: bakery purchasers are influenced by such claims (credit: Peter Booth)

Consumers ‘actively seek’ clean-label alternatives

By Noli Dinkovski

Almost a third of consumers actively seek products with some form of clean-label claim, while 70% of those purchasing dairy and bakery products say such claims influence their buying decisions, research by Ingredion has found.

Arla revealed up to 200 jobs will be affected by its relocation and restructuring plans

Arla to close Essex dairy, threatening 200 jobs

By Michael Stones

Arla Foods, the farmer-owned dairy company, plans to close the fresh milk processing production facility at its Hatfield Peverel dairy in Essex, with the loss, or relocation, of up to 200 jobs.

The Thuillier brothers have secured crowd funding for their Oppo ice cream business

Andy Murray invests in Dragons’ Den reject

By Laurence Gibbons

Tennis ace Andy Murray has helped Dragons’ Den reject ice cream manufacturer Oppo secure more than £300,000 of crowd funding by investing in the ‘guilt-free’ ice cream brand.

The bosses of nearly 200 firms have signed an open letter backing Britain's continued EU membership

Brexit debate

Food and drink bosses back EU membership

By Michael Stones

Quitting the EU would “deter investment, threaten jobs and put the economy at risk”, according to the bosses of food and drink firms who joined nearly 200 other business leaders in signing an open letter published in The Times. But big food retailers...

Arla has boosted revenue and sales

Arla grows revenue to £2.25bn and boosts sales

By Laurence Gibbons

Arla Foods UK revenue grew from €2.8bn (£2.17bn) to €2.9bn (£2.25bn) in 2015 off the back of a boost in sales across its brands, an increase in its market share and cost savings.

A study claiming organic meat is healthier than conventially farmed meat has been thrown into doubt

Organic milk and meat not 50% healthier

By Laurence Gibbons

A new study claiming organic milk and meat are 50% more beneficial to health than conventional products has come under criticism by leading professors.

Dairies and cheese making was ranked as the fifth largest manufacturing sector

UK food and drink manufacturing ‘continues its rise’

By Michael Stones

UK food and drink manufacturing is continuing its rise – spearheaded by dairy, meat and pastry sectors – according to new figures from the Office of National Statics (ONS), interpreted by Santander Corporate & Commercial.

Dairy Crest has been commended for its performance in the challenging dairy market

Dairy Crest praised for flat sales and volume growth

By Laurence Gibbons

Dairy Crest has been praised for its “very commendable” financial performance by City analyst Shore Capital, after it posted broadly flat sales and volumes up 2% in the “challenging” dairy market, for the nine months to December 31 2015.

FIC 'raises complex questions about determining which is the main ingredient'

Confusion about origin and added water labelling

By Rick Pendrous

EU legislation designed to avoid consumers being mislead about the country of origin of ingredients contained in compound foods they purchase is likely to cause headaches for food manufacturers, according to a legal expert.

Dale Farm claims to be Northern Ireland's biggest dairy business

Dale Farm reports sliding profits, despite increased turnover

By Rick Pendrous

Dale Farm, Northern Ireland’s biggest dairy business, has reported a decline in pre-tax profits for 2015 because of challenging market conditions, including falling milk prices worldwide, despite growing turnover by 9.2% to £320M.

Tesco has confirmed plans to switch part of its milk supply

Tesco comes clean on milk supply switch

By Alice Foster

Tesco has confirmed plans to switch part of its milk supply from Arla to Müller, after days of speculation, despite threats of direct action by militant farmers.

Richard Clothier, md Wyke Farms

Business leaders' forum

What keeps Wyke Farms boss awake at night?

By Michael Stones

What keeps Wyke Farms md Richard Clothier awake at night? “Everything”, he tells us in this disarmingly frank video interview. But his particular concerns focus on the availability of labour and the UK’s potential exit from the EU.

Farmers for Action have threatened to take action, unless Tesco changes its mind

Tesco ‘could face war’ with milk producers

By Alice Foster

Militant farmers have threatened to declare war on Tesco after claiming that the retailer plans to make a milk supply switch that could “decimate” the industry.

Arla has acquired full ownership of Westbury Dairies

Arla takeover of Westbury Dairies welcomed

By Michael Stones

Arla’s move to acquire full ownership of Westbury Dairies – formerly operated with First Milk as a joint venture – has been welcomed by milk suppliers.

The challenging dairy sector has hit Wyke Farms

Wyke Farms grows turnover but profits fall

By Laurence Gibbons

Wyke Farms has reported a rise in turnover but a pre-tax loss for its full-year results that was characterised by a near 50% fall in the value of EU dairy commodities.

Welsh food products would be hit by Brexit, claims the FUW

Brexit and the food industry

Brexit: ‘dangerous step into unknown’, says union

By Michael Stones

Quitting the EU would be “a dangerous step into the unknown”, warned the Farmers Union of Wales (FUW), during a debate with Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones and the UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, organised by the Institute for Welsh Affairs.

Lasagne has been identified as a possible source of child poisoning cases

Histamine poisoning link to cheddar

By Rick Pendrous

Cheddar cheese, consumed by five-year olds at school, in products such as lasagne and macaroni cheese, has been identified as a potential source of food poisoning incidents associated with a compound called histamine, which can form during cheese ripening.

Zouq has turned Lancashire Farm Dairies into a £25M business

Me and my factory

Why it pays to follow the herd

Azhar Zouq, who knows a thing or two about yogurt, having grown Lancashire Farm Dairies into a £25M business, talks to Noli Dinkovski

The climate change deal was 'a major step forward', said Richard Clothier, md of Wyke Farms

Food manufacturers hail climate change deal

By Michael Stones

Food manufacturers have welcomed the recent deal on climate change agreed in Paris, with Wyke Farms md Richard Clothier describing it as “a major step forward”.

Digester Left to right: James Thompson – head of operations at Stokesley-based anaerobic digestion plant developer JFS Associates Ryad Apasa – head of operations at R&R Ice Cream’s Leeming Bar site.

R&R Ice Cream plant in top five after £25M spend

By Michael Stones

R&R Ice Cream’s £25M investment at its Leeming Bar factory in North Yorkshire has boosted output by 20% and made the firm the globe’s third largest ice cream manufacturer.