Fruit, vegetable, nut ingredients

Community Foods has secured an additional £6m to support its expansion plans

News

Community Foods secures £6m funding boost

By Gwen Ridler

Dried fruits and nuts ingredients manufacturer Community Foods has secured an additional £6m to support its expansion plans, boosting total investment into the company to £23m.

Gerald McDonald Group is based in Basildon, Essex, where it has warehousing, blending and office facilities. Credit: Gerald McDonald Group

Me and my team

Behind the scenes with a global ingredients supplier

By Maxim McDonald

Maxim McDonald shows Food Manufacture how things work at the Gerald McDonald Group, an Essex-based ingredients supplier partnered with food and drinks firms across the UK and around the world.

The UK is to lift its tariff on imported Califronia prune juice from next month. Image: Gettyy, ligora

News

UK lifts tariff on California prune juice

By Gwen Ridler

The UK is to lift the current import tariff on California prune juice as it continues to navigate trade deals with its partners in the Indo-Pacific bloc.

Independent drinks brand Flawsome! tells its start-up story. Credit: Getty/andresr

Q&A

Life as a start-up

By Bethan Grylls

In this exclusive Q&A, the founders of ‘wonky’ drink company Flawsome! disclose the ups and downs of their journey, how it all began and what’s next.

Riverford currently operates 65 electric vans and plans to reach 240 by 2050. Credit: Riverford

Long read

Is an electric fleet worth it?

By William Dodds

As lowering emissions becomes an ever-more important goal for the food and drink sector, Food Manufacture speaks to Devon-based fruit and veg brand Riverford about how it approached electrified delivery and the perks of EVs.

Could CBD hold the answer to berry freshness? Credit: Getty/Cristina Ionescu

News

Extending the shelf-life of berries with CBD

By Bethan Grylls

A team of researchers in Thailand have developed a CBD-based coating which has shown promise in delaying rot in strawberries to keep them fresher for longer.

Nimisha Raja pictured (centre) at the Food Manufacture Excellence Awards

Interview

Winning at FMEAs and how it helped boost business

By Bethan Grylls

With the Food Manufacturing Awards nearing, Food Manufacture caught up with one of our previous winners to find out more about their story, how their business is faring and what impact the awards had...

Plant-based tacos are taking off, says ingredients supplier Beneo. Image: Toos Vergote

Digital plant-based feature: long read

Plant-based food trends 2022

By Lynda Searby

Plant-based innovation has long since expanded beyond the world of meat analogue products and exploded into every retail category, supported behind the scenes by ingredients suppliers.

Carvalho: 'We can give the consumer full sight of their products’ journey from orchard to plate'

Why UK almond supplier is implementing blockchain tech

By Rod Addy

Veracruz Almonds is boosting traceability by implementing blockchain technology at its estates in Idanha-a-Nova and Fundão, Portugal in preparation for expanding its exports to distributors and suppliers in the UK and Europe.

There isn’t yet a trusted international certification scheme for sustainable soya

Digital feature: long read

Sustainable sourcing: the challenges

By Michelle Perrett

Food and drink processors are making constant progress in tackling the sustainability of the raw materials they use, from energy, gas, packaging, to ingredients such as soy and palm oil.

AHDB stresses the growth in plant-based food in January is from a low-base

Meat-free share fails to rise in Veganuary

By Rod Addy

Meat-free foods failed to grow market share throughout Veganuary 2022, compared to January last year, according to Kantar figures cited by levy body AHDB.

One of Framptons's bottling lines

Contract manufacturing profile: Framptons

Hatching a plant-based future

By Rod Addy

Framptons is a contract packer and manufacturer for well-established brands. Its flexibility and adaptability have ensured its longevity and it has expanded its capacity in plant-based ‘milk’ production thanks to trailblazing investment in a SIG Combidome...

KP Snacks brands include Tyrrells crisps

KP Snacks develops green farming practices

By Michelle Perrett

KP Snacks is to scale up its regenerative farming practices as part of its partnership with agricultural sustainability experts Future Food Solutions.

Consumers are showing great interest in protein-rich drinks, such as tropical protein water, as well as foods

How to make the most of the protein trend

By Rod Addy

Taste and health and wellness are the largest trends associated with protein-rich foods as the 'protein revolution' offers product developers 'exciting opportunities', according to Kerry Group.

Martin: 'There is currently no legal definition of what a vegan product is in the UK or EU'

Legal opinion

Plant-based food labelling: what the law says

By Pete Martin

The meteoric growth in sales and the variety of plant-based foods has been so fast that the thinking on how such products are labelled has barely kept up. Here, Pete Martin, regulatory director at product information specialist Ashbury explores the latest...

Mayer: 'Committed to offering health through food'

Danone UK & Ireland appoints James Mayer as president

By Rod Addy

Danone UK & Ireland has appointed James Mayer as president of a restructured company, which combines its specialised nutrition, plant-based, dairy and waters businesses under one leadership team.

Pictured: Blue Aurora founder Rachel Templeton

Reducing waste and beating COVID at Blue Aurora

By Gwen Ridler

Rachel Templeton, founder of blueberry wine producer Blue Aurora, spoke with Food Manufacture about reducing food waste and finding success despite the COVID-19 pandemic in this exclusive podcast.

The new vegan friendly additions to the Baxters Plant Based Soups range

Baxters adds vegan lines to plant-based soups range

By Rod Addy

Baxters Food Group has introduced three vegan friendly flavours to its Plant Based Soups range into Asda and Sainsbury's stores nationwide: Spiced Red Lentil; Sundried Tomato & Thyme and Thai Yellow Vegetable Curry.

Meatless Farm, Nim's Fruit Crisps and Verdino Foods were just some of the recent plant-based launches

Plant-based new product development round-up

By Gwen Ridler

From meat-free chicken burgers to air-dried ingredients, ‘World first’ confectionery launches to vegan friendly brioche buns, we cover the latest in plant-based new product development from food manufacturers.

Buttriss: 'The overall package of nutrients needs to be centre stage'

Nutrition opinion

Nutrition a vital consideration in food system transformation

By Judy Buttriss

Amid concerns about the urgency of tackling climate change and the environmental impact of food systems, the fundamental importance of food as a source of nutrition and a means to good health is sometimes overlooked.

Bakery & confectionery trends: good for shoppers and the planet

Digital feature: bakery & confectionery ingredients

Bakery & confectionery trends: good for shoppers and the planet

By Michelle Perrett

The advent of COVID-19 in the UK sparked a major shift in the outlook of consumers: home baking surged and issues such as health and sustainability assumed greater importance.

Ruangsorn: 'Gap in the market for smoothies that contain vitamin D and iron'

High protein smoothies make Ecotrophelia finalist list

By Gwen Ridler

High protein smoothies packed with berries in eco-friendly packaging derived from edamame beans secured University of Surrey's two person team Edam & Eve a finalist place in Ecotrophelia UK. Team lead Ruangfah (Minnie) Ruangsorn explains more...