08-Apr-2010 - World Vision Australia said it has taken the decision to pause campaigning activities aimed at chocolate-based product manufacturer, Arnott’s, for a six month period in response to the company publicly committing to addressing potential labour exploitation in its West African cocoa supply chain.
06-Apr-2010 - Soft drink makers could end up swallowing a £10m bill for no good reason by embracing the Food Standards Agency (FSA) recommendations for new slim-line 250ml drinks.
02-Apr-2010 - Saputo is closing a plant in Ontario, Canada, which processes milk and cream products, and consolidating distribution activities in the greater Toronto area.
31-Mar-2010 - A UK research project aims to ensure the sustainability of future cocoa production through suggesting ways cocoa breeders can produce varieties more adapted to climate change.
31-Mar-2010 - Nestle’s Middle East affiliate has started producing powdered milk, confectionery and wafer products, at its new plant in Dubai, which has a capacity of 100,000 tons a year.
30-Mar-2010 - No race should have rules that favour the strongest competitors. But unless the capabilities and interests of SMEs are taken into consideration before the starting gun is fired for new food regulations, they will struggle to keep up and may have to drop out altogether.
30-Mar-2010 - Small amounts of chocolate can lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease, according to a study by German researchers published in the European Heart Journal.
25-Mar-2010 - Cargill has opened a new flavour facility in China, which is expected to enable it to better address regional demand and taste in Asia in a timely fashion.
24-Mar-2010 - International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF) has launched a blog, entitled A Taste of CulinEssence, intended as a platform from which the company’s chefs can share their culinary thoughts and news.
23-Mar-2010 - A global initiative to set an internationally-recognised standard for melamine in foods could harmonise efforts to detect future contamination and avoid unwanted trade barriers, said food safety officials.
22-Mar-2010 - Food companies must ensure their supply chains are transparent and socially responsible in order to prevent backlashes from consumer activists and non-governmental groups on Facebook or Twitter, which could have costly brand repercussions.
22-Mar-2010 - Changing food labels in the UK now 'makes no sense at all', asserts the group that represents food players such as Tesco.
19-Mar-2010 - Representatives of the EU confectionery sector, Caobisco, has said claims made in a Danish documentary about child labour are a misrepresentation of the facts about cocoa farming in the Ivory Coast.
18-Mar-2010 - The gum, mints and breath fresheners market in the US has remained buoyant in the recession and has increased by over ten per cent since, according to new research from market analysts, which forecast that the category will continue to grow through to 2014.
17-Mar-2010 - A judge has denied an immediate ban on the planting of Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) sugar beets as it “would have a large detrimental effect on the United States’ domestic sugar supply and price.”
16-Mar-2010 - Ambitious growth targets are fuelling leading chocolate supplier Barry Callebaut’s strategy to source cocoa from regions other than West Africa, with Malaysia the focus of the first stage of its cocoa production expansion plan.
15-Mar-2010 - Not again! It emerged last week that Basic Food Flavors, the company behind the ongoing HVP recall, knew its products were tainted with salmonella but carried on shipping them anyway. Déjà vu anyone?
15-Mar-2010 - Directors of both US food group Kraft and Cadbury are being called to account at a committee of UK politicians regarding the acquisition of the Dairy Milk maker tomorrow.
12-Mar-2010 - Children as young as three recognize and have preferences for different brands, according to new research published in the journal Psychology and Marketing.
11-Mar-2010 - An investigation into what the term ‘natural’ means for consumers has concluded that manufacturers wanting to position products as natural should use ingredients that have undergone physical rather than chemical processing, process less, and label chemical names rather than E-numbers.
08-Mar-2010 - As Cargill expands its cocoa farmer training programme in the Ivory Coast this month, we caught up with managing director of Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate, Harold Poelma, to hear about developments in the sourcing of sustainably derived cocoa and his call for audit convergence among schemes.
05-Mar-2010 - Brain scans could allow food marketers to learn about a product’s appeal – or lack thereof – while it is still at the design stage, according to analysis published in Nature Review Neuroscience.
05-Mar-2010 - A new monitoring tool presented at a recent EFSA conference has named China, Iran, Turkey, the United Sates and Spain as the top five offenders in food contamination between 2003 and 2008.
04-Mar-2010 - Cocoa futures in New York hit their lowest price since September yesterday on signs of increased production in Ivory Coast, which is the leading global supplier.
03-Mar-2010 - The first shipment of Fairtrade certified cocoa by farmers based in Sierra Leone has been bought by Divine Chocolate, a company co-owned by cocoa farmers in Ghana.