Thorntons, the UK confectioner, has retuned to profit growth for
the first time in five years in fiscal 2004, but warned that
further measures to improve the company's finances would entail
more costs in the coming year, reports...
Currency translation effects and tough trading conditions in the UK
kept first half sales at Britain's United Biscuits in line with
those seen a year earlier, despite an increased share of sales from
added-value branded products....
Ahead of new rules on the labelling of trans fatty acids in the US
due in 2006, biotech group Monsanto has designed low-linolenic
soybeans that can make a soybean oil for food firms looking to
eliminate trans fats in food formulations.
Despite tough new rules on GM food labels, food makers will stick
to non-GM alternatives as new evidence from the UK shows British
consumers will continue to refuse to buy foods containing biotech
ingredients.
Swedish oils and fats firm Karlshamns, which saw its profits slip
at the end of 2003, has acquired UK flaked fats company Kelanco,
and with it a drive into value-added speciality fats for the
booming UK convenience food market.
Confectionery giant Mars is one of several food companies
collaborating on a new research project designed to provide more
information about phytonutrients, beneficial compounds found in a
range of products, including chocolate.
Britons are already the Europeans most likely to skip meals on a
regular basis - a trend which has made them the snacking champions
of Europe - but a new report suggests that irregular mealtimes are
likely to become even more widespread...
First half sales at Aarhus United fell 3 per cent, eroded by price
competition in bulk oils, but improved volumes, particularly in
Mexico, and reduced costs helped it generate solid operating
profits.
Product mix difficulties meant that Spanish sugar confectionery
producers were unable to match increased volume sales with a rise
in revenues in 2003. The children's confectionery market, in
particular, failed to meet expectations...
Ongoing demand for healthy products helped Irish food and
ingredients firm Kerry to a strong first half performance. And with
recent acquisitions pushing it into other high growth sectors,
there is little to stop the group from making...
One of Spain's most traditional Christmas delicacies,
turron, could be in short supply this year after a
disastrous harvest for the key ingredient, almonds.
More research has underlined the heart health benefits of dark
chocolate, shown in a Greek study to improve healthy blood flow and
prevent clots forming.
CSM, the Dutch food ingredients company, is considering the sale of
its sugar confectionery unit in order to concentrate on its core
bakery supplies and sugar operations - despite a very poor
performance from the bakery unit in the...
The continuing popularity of yoghurt - and in particular its health
benefits - has led to a raft of new product innovation as companies
in market sectors outside the dairy industry seek to capitalise on
yoghurt's reputation....
Dutch ingredients company DSM revealed yesterday that its muscle
recovery ingredient PeptoPro will be marketed in a new range of
products worldwide by Europe's biggest sports nutrition company
Haleko.
Efficient, profitable baking is not just a question of having the
right equipment for the job - it is also knowing how to use it
properly. With this in mind, Spooner Vicars, the UK supplier of
bakery equipment, runs regular customised...
The contribution that the common sweetener ingredient sucrose has
made to the growing incidence of obesity is the focus of a dispute
between the US sugar association and a New Zealand scientist.
Swiss chocolate maker Lindt & Sprüngli has revealed strong results that
put organic growth in double figures and gave it its first ever
year with no first-half operating loss. The company said the
results had been particularly...
Hershey Foods Corporation has won the first round in the fight for
the association of its nutrition bars with the popular low-carb
dietary regime, Zone Diet, in what promises to become one of the
fiercest intellectual property disputes...
Dairy products remain an important growth driver for Swiss food and
beverages group Nestlé, despite the disposal of a number of assets
and poor weather conditions which affected sales during the first
half. But organic growth was...
Convenience stores and hypermarkets - formats at opposite ends of
the retail spectrum - will be the main drivers of growth in the
British food retail market over the next five years, according to
grocery think tank IGD. The UK market...
Europe's food safety body has concluded that jelly mini-cups made
with a range of food additives derived from seaweed and certain
gums, from xanthan gum to calcium alginate, could constitute a
choking risk, reports Lindsey Partos.
Canadian company, IdeaPacked Communications, has developed new
labelling technology for the nutraceutical and dietary supplements
industry. It is said to provide a more efficient and cost-effective
means of multi-functional labelling...
Increased harvests for key food commodities could suggest a
near-term easing up of price pressures for ingredients companies
and food manufacturers but an overall draw-down in global stocks
means prices are still extremely vulnerable,...
Ambitious Israeli flavours firm Frutarom has bought the European
natural fruit preparations business from the world's number two
flavours player just months after completing on the Swiss botanical
extracts firm Emil Flachsmann.
While universally welcomed by food manufacturers, retailers and
consumer allergy groups alike, one aspect of the new European
directive on food allergen labelling has proved unpopular and is
now slated for amendment- the labelling...
Supply chain management firm Menlo Worldwide has added a warehouse
management system with radio frequency identification (RFID)
capabilities to its offering in order to help suppliers and
manufacturers meet the traceability requirements...
US cereals and snacks group Kellogg is to centralise its European
operations in a new office in Ireland, giving it a major presence
in the market with the world's highest per capita consumption of
ready-to-eat cereals, writes...
Food makers will be encouraged to use a low-calorie sweetener
supplied by Danish ingredients firm Arla Food Ingredients with a
new study showing a chocolate bar made with the prebiotic
ingredient is very low in glycaemic load (GL)...
The complex issue of carbohydrate labelling fired up by the
low-carb trend will move up a gear next month when the FDA is
expected to release proposed rules on how information about
carbohydrates should appear on the nutrition facts...
Vitamin-enriched products made by Kellogg, the world's biggest
cereal maker, have been blocked from entering the Danish market by
a new policy for assessing the safety of fortified foods.
Nestlé, the largest food and beverage company in the world, has
selected the Quadrem eMarketplace as the partner for its global
eRequisitioning programme, part of an enterprise-wide initiative
Nestle is implementing to standardise...
Leading Polish confectionery company Mieszko says it is
currently in negotiations to acquire a company within the
confectionery sector in the course of this year. The company added
that at the present moment it is negotiating with...
Building on a stronger start to the year, Germany's third largest
chemicals group reports continued growth into the second quarter
with an increase in demand pushing up sales and earnings for the
period but the firm warned that...
Firm changes to the heavily criticised European sugar regime are
unlikely to have a significant effect on the world sugar market,
and that prices are likely to remain low, a US sugar industry
analyst tells an international sweetener...
Brussels invests in the fat issue backing a five-year programme to
investigate the most effective way dietary fat change could impact
the current worldwide obesity epidemic.
Japan-based engineering firm Teikoku Piston Ring has developed a
hologram identification label that brings anti-counterfeiting
packaging to new levels.
As Hero Nutritionals adds a new product to its line, in the form of
Yummi Bears Sourz and Yummi Gworms Sourz, multi-vitamins targeted
at "tweens" - or children aged eight to 13 years - Annette
Dickinson, president of the...
Plastic packaging specialist Moldflow has launched design analysis
software that it claims will help manufacturers achieve more
advanced packaging designs in less time.
For 47 years, the UK's most consistently popular chocolate bar has
been advertised with the slogan 'Have a break, have a Kit Kat', a
phrase which has entered the British lexicon and become synonymous
with the two- or...
US ingredients giant ADM saw double-digit sales growth for the year
but overall profits were dragged down by a recent payout of
millions of dollars to leading food and beverage manufacturers to
settle a lawsuit linked to the popular...
Buhler has developed software capable of performing an automatic
check on a production line's sorting capabilities, enabling trouble
to be prevented before it can cause downtime.
UK confectionery firm Glisten Confectionery has gained a stronger
foothold at the higher end of the confectionery market after food
ingredients business Kiril Mischeff sold its House of York toffee
brand to the Blackburn-based firm.
Two of the biggest chocolate makers in the UK are to launch
products which will directly compete with some of each other's
biggest brands - an indication, perhaps, that the rich vein of new
product innovation of the last few...
Toray Plastics has developed what it describes as a new line of
technologically advanced, value-added OPP and PET packaging films,
designed to achieve longer shelf life and easier handling.
Food makers need to write clearer food labels so that consumers can
easily understand the ingredients used in the food formulation,
finds a new report released in the UK this week.
Ending a long running lawsuit the US unit of UK starch and sugar
group Tate & Lyle will pay out £55 million (€89m) to settle an
anti-trust lawsuit on high fructose corn syrup, a popular sweetener
used by soft drinks giant Coca-Cola...
Scientists have moved one step closer to understanding how the
world could cut mounting obesity levels, charting a map of how the
'fat' hormone leptin travels through the body.
