Natra said yesterday it will tap the premium and private label
chocolate markets with a new range of Belgium truffles, only two
days after acquiring a chocolate factory in the country.
Spanish cocoa company Natra announced yesterday the
acquisition of Belgium-based All Crump, as part of the company's
plans to enter the chocolate spread market.
UK union Unite yesterday announced it would ballot its members for
strike action, as Cadbury's plans to close one UK factory and
reorganise another will result in job losses.
Suedzucker has adjusted its profit and revenue expectations for
full year 2007/8 following EU moves to make sugar reform more
attractive to growers, indicating that the industry efforts to
lessen the blow for the industry could be...
The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) sugar producing countries
have said they are deeply concerned about the amendments to the EU
sugar reform, which brings to an end "preferential access" to
Europe's market.
Food safety and animal health top the agenda at
today's meeting of EU's agricultural ministers, with
the future of milk, wine and sugar production also up for
discussion.
Italy is in the bad books, while Slovenia is the teacher's pet,
according to European Commission's latest reports on the state
of EU member states food safety regulations.
Pending EU recognition of the Melton Mowbray pie as a protected
food has led to a relocation of a major UK manufacturing plant to
the designated region.
New scientific studies do not provide enough evidence for the EU to
amend its ban on the use of growth promoting hormones in cattle,
the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) has concluded.
Milk and cheese products are more than twice as expensive in the
rest of the 27 European countries than in Eastern Europe,
according to a Eurostat report.
In 2006, the price of beverages was on average two and a half
times more in the most expensive EU country than in the
cheapest, according to a Eurostat report.
Private label bakery products continue to hold a strong foothold in
the growing UK market, accounting for 58 per cent of sales by
value, according to a study by Nielsen.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has called on industry
and other groups to submit scientific information as part
of its review on cloned meat.
German equity investment company Arques has taken over
confectionery firm van Netten in yet another example of private
investors moving into the food industry sphere.
Tate & Lyle and Italian sugar producer Eridania Sadam have
formed a joint venture for the marketing and sales of all sugar
products to the Italian market, seen as an important step in
developing new sugar markets following EU...
EU legislators yesterday voted in favour of proposals to introduce
a controversial five-stage hierarchy of priority for the bloc's
waste management policy.
With the increasing use of some of their raw materials for the
production of biofuels, snack makers have called on the European
Commission to take measures to ensure they do not face further
price hikes for their supplies.
One in six broiler flocks in Germany is infected with salmonella,
according to a pilot survey bythe country's Federal Institute for
Risk Assessment (BfR).
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has launched its consultation
regarding the implementation of EU directives in England on food
additives other than colours and sweeteners and sweeteners for use
in foodstuffs.
There will be no special measures to cover food products from
cloned animals in the EU, member states have agreed, following news
the offspring of a cloned cow was growing up in the UK.
The European Commission plans to review the EU's new hygiene laws
to determine whether further amendments are needed to strengthen
provisions related to meat inspection, gelatine, good food safety
practices and cold stores.
Time is running out for producers of specialist, cloth-bound cheese
in the UK as efforts stall in their bid to continue using a
chemical that is banned across the EU.
Central and Eastern European sugar processors are bearing the brunt
of new EU reforms due to dominant Western European companies within
the industry acting in a political and not economic manner, claims
an agricultural expert.
An influential industry body has hit back at a call by
environmental and consumer advocacy groups to put a tax on
disposable and 'hard-to-recycle' packaging.
The sugar industry must take greater responsibility to ensure the
successful restructuring of the EU market, said the European
Commissioner for agriculture.
Sugar processors in the EU are facing further uncertainty over
their futures following the announcement of EU fines for failing to
reduce stockpiling in the declining sector.
International packaging group Rexam will look to sell its PET
bottle facilities in Central and Eastern Europe as part of its
plans to focus on more globally recognised products like plastic
food packaging.
Ingredients giant Tate & Lyle is considering the sale of its
Food & Industrial Ingredients, Europe (TALFIIE) division, in a
move designed to sharpen its focus on value added ingredients, the
firm announced yesterday.
Concerns that bird flu may return to ravage the poultry industry
and humans have prompted the EU to invest €28m in new research to
better spot and control outbreaks.
Ingredients giant Tate and Lyle could be set to cease its sugar
processing operations in Central Europe, as producers look to lower
quotas in light of new EU sugar reforms.
Tate & Lyle has formed a joint enterprise to build and operate
a sugar plant in Israel, a move that will partially replace
traditional sugar imports from the European Union.
The UK's food and farming minister has revealed how almost £500
million of additional support for sugar reform will be incorporated
within the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) over the next seven years.
The new European Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation hit an
unexpected barrier to its adoption yesterday, since it was found to
contain the wrong comitology procedure. Rectifying the oversight
could take months and may re-open...
Proposed EU legislation would define the manufacturing practices
the bloc's processors would have to take in ensuring that packaging
materials do not migrate into foods.
