Sara Lee has changed its whole grain claim on its white bread following a settlement agreement with an advocacy group, demonstrating the current sensitivity surrounding health claims.
The Swiss takeover board has rubberstamped the merger of Irish bakery group IAWS with Swiss-based baker Hiestand, clearing a further hurdle to create €2.5bn firm Aryzta with access to nearly a billion consumers.
Speculation is growing about potential buyers for National Starch Food Innovation with ADM emerging as a likely contender, according to one industry analyst from Frost & Sullivan.
The news that all-American brewer Anheuser-Busch is to be sold to Belgium’s InBev for $52bn has made sports bar patrons across the US weep into their Budweisers. But the idea that an American firm must remain American for all time runs counter to the...
US cereal maker Kellogg targets the mushrooming heart healthy market with a new line extension – specifically aimed at women - to its Smart Start range.
CSM has announced plans to sell its Purac gluconates production
plant in The Netherlands to Avebe, as part of a broader
restructuring of manufacturing and focus on core competencies.
European corn starch producer Hungrana ramps up production for this
popular thickening agent, announcing the completion of a major €100
million expansion project at its Szabadegyháza facility.
Danisco has announced that it will sell its sugar division to
Nordzucker for DKK5600m, around €751m, bringing to an end months of
speculation as to whether it would agree to a sale or opt to spin
off sugar into a separate business.
The European Parliament has adopted a legislative package that will
see products containing any of six artificial colours labelled with
a health warning for children.
Knife crime, obesity and skiffle music. Out of all the evils
currently threatening the welfare of Western teenagers, recent US
headlines finger the main culprit as the caffeinated alcoholic
beverage.
Swelling domestic stocks for Malaysian palm oil, widely used by
bakers, left crude palm oil futures closing lower on Monday,
offering a slight relief for prices.
This week, Flower Foods bakery continues its geographical expansion
plans with its acquisition of ButterKrust bakery, and Kellogg
acquires a major Chinese cookie company.
New outsourcing contracts for industrial cocoa from new and
existing chocolate makers boost volume growth for cocoa supplier
Barry Callebaut, helping to offset harmful exchange rates, energy
prices and inflation.
The global shortage of molasses and competition from biofuels
continue to put upward pressure on prices for yeast, but
opportunities for yeast players lie squarely with the emerging
market for speciality yeast products, and specifically...
This week, the FSA holds an event focusing on salt-reduction
initiative, Flower Foods announces its merger with Holsum Bakery,
and the American Bakers Association addresses food prices.
Bunge has announced the signature of a definitive agreement to
acquire Corn Products International for around $4.8bn, a major deal
that plunges it into the high-potential sweeteners market.
Food industry voices are joining those of politicians in the GM debate, hailing the controversial technology as the answer to the food supply crisis. But the hearts and minds of consumers must still be won.
A UK-based breakfast cereal association says it is teaming up with
its dairy counterparts to this month kick off a new promotion
scheme playing up the nutritional benefits of consuming the
products.
A TV advert for Nestlé cereals must not be broadcast again in its
current form because it contains misleading information about
eating wholegrain foods, said the UK Advertising Standards
Authority (ASA).
Children's favourite snacks are crisps, biscuits, cakes and
confectionery but the healthy eating message is filtering through,
according to a new survey.
Irish baker IAWS is set to merge with Hiestand of Switzerland to
create Aryzta, a €2.5bn firm that will spear the €30bn global
value-added bakery market.
The Vandemoortele Group has announced its plans to take over Group
Panavi, expanding further its presence in the European frozen
bakery products market.
Faster new product development is likely after Associated British
Foods (ABF) announced yesterday the merger of its Ryvita business
with natural food company Jordans to create one of the biggest
player in the healthy snacks and cereals...
French sugar and food solutions company Tereos has confirmed it is
hoping to acquire Danisco's sugar business, and that it is bidding
against Germany's Nordzucker.
Sensible, nutritious, snacking twice a day combined with three
small meals can form a healthy, balanced diet, claims Kellogg's
Smarter Snacking Report published earlier this month.
Ingredients company Alfred L Wolff is vigorously denying
accusations against two of its US executives who were arrested for
allegedly importing honey from China mislabelled as coming from
Russia and the Ukraine.
Leading sugar and starch producer in Central and Eastern Europe,
Agrana has announced it has acquired, subject to regulatory
authority approval, 50 per cent of the shares in the sugar sales
operations of the Studen Group, Vienna.
Latest figures from the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO)
suggest that there will be a rise in world production of cocoa
compared to last year and a rise, though smaller, in world
grindings.
Manufacturers are getting more adventurous over erythritol use since it gained EU-wide approval this year, says Cargill, but the real boom will come when they can make a low-calorie claim in Europe.
Sustainability in the bakery industry will be the focus of an event
to take place next month in the UK, which aims to bring together
ingredients makers as well as manufacturers of finished products.
A better understanding of how genes affect a person's sensitivity
to taste could enhance the development of foods that meet specific
consumer preferences and individual nutritional needs.
Ajinomoto Sweeteners Europe has launched a defamation law suit
against US supermarket Asda over labelling on own-brand products
that calls aspartame a 'nasty'.
Leading global confectioners Mars and the Wrigley have announced
that they will merge, creating what Bill Wrigley called 'the
world's leading confectionery company'.
United Biscuits, Tate & Lyle and Cadbury Schweppes presented
their carbon cutting methods at an industry event focused on
developing a greener supply chain.
The International Grains Council (IGC) and Rabobank Group, a
specialist in food and agribusiness banking, forecast that the
prospect of a record world wheat harvest in 2008/09 could help to
reduce wheat prices on global markets.
Kraft Foods announced on 24 April that it has signed agreements to
sell its Artiach biscuits business in Spain to Barcelona-based
bakery Panrico and its Balaton chocolate trademark in Hungary to
Nestle.
NutraCea is expecting to see its first sales of stabilised rice
bran in Central and Eastern Europe following this week's FiCEE
trade show, where the ingredient has been warmly received for its
potential to reduce manufacturers'...
Ingredients firm Cargill yesterday completed the expansion of its
Polish wheat processing facility, designed to meet consumer demand
across the European bloc.
Which? has renewed calls for greater controls on food marketing to
children, claiming that new technologies like text messages are
contributing to the 'pester power' of manufacturers.
The European Commission opened an in-depth investigation today into
Associated British Foods' plan to buy parts of Dutch yeast producer
GB Ingredients.
A salmonella infection spreading through states in the US could be
linked to a recently recalled batch of cereal, the nation's Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) has said.
A Paris French court yesterday ruled that the Swiss company Cornu -
based in the Swiss village of Champagne - and its French
subsidiary, cannot use the Champagne appellation to sell its
biscuits in France.
Real Good Food today reported a drop in profits for 2007, which the
UK-based firm blamed on ongoing EU sugar reforms as well as the
escalating price of raw ingredients.
Malaysian multinational Sime Darby is to channel €34m into
expanding its value-added oils and fats presence in Europe,
including upgrading its existing Unimills facility and setting up
new palm oil facilities.
It is hard for food companies not to get drawn into the temptation of using attractive label claims that may be shrouded by a veil of doubt. But the real risk comes when the 'if you don't know, don't ask' question is finally answered.
Ocean Spray is continuing to push into the Asia-Pacific
bakery market with a new partnership with Taiwan-based baker
ChiaTe, the company announced yesterday.