Change4Life healthy food vouchers are just the ticket for food industry marketers. But changing eating habits requires consistent, co-ordinated policy – not hand-outs to ease the population’s post-Christmas conscience.
Frutarom has agreed to acquire the industrial savoury spice division of Scandinavian company Rieber & Son ASA for approximately US$4.2m (25m Norwegian Krona), the company has said.
UK poultry and ingredients firm Rectory is preparing for a new growth spurt with a move into a central Manchester location and a corporate restructuring to create Rectory Food Group as a holding vehicle for its divisions and brands.
PZ Cussons has spied opportunities in edible oils and spreads in Nigeria, and has established a two-pronged joint venture with Wilmar International to ensure the necessary ingredients will be available at the right cost and quality.
Stern-Wywiol Gruppe has set up a new company to tap opportunities in the Brazilian food and beverage industry, offering initially flour and bakery ingredients from its Mühlenchemie and DeutscheBack businesses.
Flavourings supplier Symrise claims it is now in a leading position for serving local clients in bakery and confectionery goods in the Middle East after establishing its own manufacturing site in Dubai.
Danisco has nudged up its full year outlook after a strong Q2, and is cautiously positive that mitigation measures will protect its enablers division from the raw material hikes on the horizon.
Potato starch manufacturer Avebe and BASF are teaming up in a new biotechnology bid to bring farmers modern and fungal resistant starch potato varieties.
Cargill is to acquire Indonesian starch and sweetener company PT Sorini Agro Asia Corporindo, deal designed to help it better serve its customers in the Asia Pacific region.
Walmart has announced the closure of its office in Moscow, opened just last year, as it does not see any suitable acquisition opportunities on the horizon.
Confectionery giant Nestlé has officially opened a (USD) $136m manufacturing facility in Dubai which is set to become the third largest Kit Kat plant worldwide.
Clean label functional starch supplier Ulrick and Short expects to harvest and produce its first ingredients from sweet potato in early 2011; and is investigating new nutritional combo offerings.
DSM Special Products and DSM IP Assets look set to be sold to equity investor Sun Capital as the European Commission has given competition approval with no strings attached.
PepsiCo has revealed its intention to buy 66 per cent of Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods for $3.8bn with plans to acquire the remaining shares following completion of the initial deal.
Swiss chocolate maker Barry Callebaut is still aiming to dispose of its consumer confectionery unit, Stollwerck, but such a divesture is not urgent, according to the chairman of the board of the industrial chocolate supplier.
Danisco has completed the next phase of its cultures capacity expansion with the opening of modernised and enlarged facilities in Epernon, France, allowing it to reduce response times for DVI cultures.
The owners of Unifine Food & Bake Ingredients are seeking a buyer for the pastry ingredients supplier, with Royal Cosun saying it has retained an investment house to conduct a “comprehensive review of all strategic options.”
Cognis is anticipating record results in full year 2010, as higher demand, better capacity utilisation and a portfolio shift towards high-value products has delivered a bumper set of results for the first nine months.
Tate & Lyle has agreed the sale of its molasses business to W&R Barnett for £67 million cash, a deal that is consistent with its strategy to dispose of its bulk ingredient operations and focus instead on specialty ingredients.
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New, mainly natural, products with higher than average margins have helped flavour and specialty ingredient firm Frutarom to widen its overall margin performance in the third quarter.
While the proposed merger of Northern Foods and Greencore will inevitably mean job losses at both companies, it is unlikely to result in scores of factory closures, City analysts have predicted.
Galam Group has signed an agreement with Czech company VUC Services to develop new liquid sweetener blends, as part of its strategy to spread its reach into new European markets.
“Strong organic growth” has led Kerry Ingredients to acquire US ingredients firm Agilex, as its flavours and ingredients business grew 6 per cent relative to the first nine months of 2009.
The three top reasons for buying a particular bread brand are consistent quality, health, and value for money, according to a Novozymes consumer survey which investigated the habits of 3794 consumers in the UK, France, German and Sweden.
The Hochdorf Group has relocated its wheat germ processing from Steinhausen to Hochdorf after space was created at its headquarters by the termination of certain packaging activities last year.
Investment in research and development, including new product development, is a key growth strategy in the food industry, but how does the current investment in research compare to investments in advertising current products.
Strong performance in DSM’s nutrition segment helped the company achieve third-quarter operating profit of €185m; up 28 per cent on the €144m reported in the same quarter of last year.
Dutch bakery ingredients supplier CSM posted an increase of sales of €149.2m for the third quarter, but notes a substantial hike in commodity costs and reports that it has taken some steps to offset this through higher prices.
GLG Life Tech has signed a deal with e-distributor ChemPoint for the marketing, sale and distribution of its stevia extracts – and take up of stevia in Europe is expected to be swift post approval due to transfer of know-how from the US.
FrieslandCampina has sold its yoghurt and dessert making facilities in Elsterwerda, Germany, as the company puts into action restructuring plans that will result in 942 job losses.
Ingredients distributor Univar has launched a new procedure for explaining to customers and potential customers the tastes, textures and colours they can achieve, by sending them boxes of sample product concepts.
Concern around stock levels of commodities such as sugar, wheat and corn, is claimed by ingredients group Jungbunzlauer as the rationale behind its 10 per cent hike in the price of its xanthan gum, erythritol and citric acid products.
Flavour and fragrance manufacturer Firmenich has announced a 12.1 per cent sales increase for 2010 after recording double-digit growth in both flavours and perfumery
Dutch dairy co-operative Royal FrieslandCampina is building a new €16m research and development (R&D) centre to target innovation in consumer products and ingredients.
The snack and sweet goods category delivered double digit gains for flavour and fragrance house, Givaudan, which recorded overall sales of CHF 3,283m in the first nine months of 2010.
UK biotechnology firm Biocatalysts has announced that it aims to increase turnover by up to £6m and create 25 new jobs under a five year development plan.
Convergence in the confectionery market has slowed since the acquisition of UK confectionery group Cadbury by Kraft Foods in February this year, according to a market analyst.
Kraft said its new innovation centre in Switzerland, inaugurated today, will ensure innovations in chewing gum and sugar confectionery have regional appeal.
Sales of Tate & Lyle’s speciality food ingredients were solid in H1 of 2010, claimed the firm in its half-year trading update, where sales of speciality sweeteners such as sucralose “remained steady”.
