Inside food & drink manufacturing
A senior executive at Iceland has launched a stinging attack on the mainstream media for its coverage of the horsemeat scandal while branding the rogue suppliers responsible for the outcry as “lying, cheating, robbing b*****ds”.
Celebrity chefs, including Loyd Grossman, Albert Roux and Heston Blumenthal, have backed a report from pressure group Sustain, which warns the government has wasted more than £54M on failed schemes to improve hospital food.
Own-label chilled food manufacturer Bakkavör said consumer confidence had been dented by the horsemeat scandal, while reporting a 5.4% increase in like-for-like sales in its full-year results ended December 29 2012.
Britain’s biggest food manufacturer Premier Foods has reported growth in power and grocery brands but tough going for its bread division, in its full year financial results for the year to December 31 2012 published yesterday (February 21).
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has revealed that 99% of nearly 3,600 tests for the presence of horse DNA on processed meat products have proved negative.
A sweet manufacturer has been ordered to pay £6,375 after a worker’s hand was crushed when he tried to clear a jammed machine.
A mid-Wales beef burger producer, whose website boasts “full traceability”, has told FoodManufacture.co.uk he was “gutted” to learn his beef burgers contained 1% or more of horse meat.
Premier Foods’ full-year results for the year ended December 31 2012 divided City analysts but all agreed its debt mountain continued to give cause for concern.