Processing and Packaging

Making 0.0% ABV beer with body and aroma: Inside the brewery with AB InBev

01-May-2024 By Flora Southey

How has non-alcohol brewing evolved over time? The world’s largest brewery reveals how it develops body and aroma in 0.0% beer.

How will the CSDDD be implemented in EU member states?

30-Apr-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

The CSDDD, which aims to keep large companies’ supply chains to high standards on sustainability and human rights, has passed through the European Parliament. Next comes the tricky part: implementation.

Sustainability: More than just preventing climate change

29-Apr-2024 By Donna Eastlake

Sustainability focuses heavily on the protection of the planet and the prevention of climate change. But there’s so much more to it.

Growing coffee in conflict areas: Nespresso invests in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo

25-Apr-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

In Kivu, DRC, conflict and instability has long made coffee farming dangerous and difficult. Nespresso, however, is investing in the region, aiming to revitalise the coffee sector there.

Could a 'junk food' diet cause long-term damage to the brain?

23-Apr-2024 By Donna Eastlake

Junk food has been linked to a number of health issues, including obesity, type two diabetes and cardiovascular disease, but could it also cause long-term damage to the brain?

Novonesis F&B chief on post-merger strategy: ‘We’re now reaching 2bn consumers a day’

22-Apr-2024 By Flora Southey

How will the merger between Chr Hansen and Novozymes impact their now joint food and beverage division?

Cocoa feels the bite of climate change

18-Apr-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Climate change will affect many industries, but few more than cocoa. While farmers on the ground struggle with fluctuating climatic conditions changing working practices, large companies grapple with environmental regulation.

Forever chemicals: What are they and why are they harmful?

18-Apr-2024 By Donna Eastlake

PFAS, widely known as forever chemicals, have been found in foods, including fruits and vegetables, across Europe. But what are they? How did they get into the food chain? And are they harmful?

UPF watch: What’s the latest on ultra-processed food?

16-Apr-2024 By Flora Southey

Ultra-processed food is making headlines. In our rolling coverage of UPF, we unpack the good, the bad, and the confusion around this classification of products. Here’s the latest…

‘No such thing as a universally healthy diet’: Meeting individual health needs through personalised nutrition

15-Apr-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Personalised nutrition aims to fulfil the specific health needs of each of its individual customers. But with as many sets of health needs as there are people, how is this done?

Cocoa cooperatives in Côte d'Ivoire: A conduit for collective action

11-Apr-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Cooperatives help cocoa farmers sell their produce, as well as work with ingredients companies to learn new agricultural techniques.

Country by country, street by street: Nestlé on navigating global recycling regulations

10-Apr-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Recycling regulations differ between countries, regions, and sometimes even streets. Nestlé hopes for a more harmonised approach, but until then it must navigate the myriad regulations in its operating areas.

Flour upcycled from olive waste a ‘revolution’ for industry

10-Apr-2024 By Flora Southey

Just 15% of the olive is used when making olive oil. But with the right technology, the remaining 85% can be valorised, according to Israeli start-up PhenOlives.

Free from: Allergen contamination can never be ruled out 100%

09-Apr-2024 By Flora Southey

The free-from category caters to consumers with food allergies and intolerances, but contamination risk is always a possibility.

Contamination of Nestlé bottled water sources? Food agency raises alarm in leaked report

08-Apr-2024 By Flora Southey

Concerns over the ‘health quality’ of Nestlé bottled water brands Perrier, Vittel, and others, have been raised by France’s food agency, according to a leaked report.

How KFC is reformulating the classics to cut fat, salt and sugar

05-Apr-2024 By Flora Southey

From burgers to fries, the QSR major is cutting calories from menus in the UK and Ireland. Which reformulation strategies are at play?

Dairy in potatoes? Molecular farming newcomer teaches spuds to act like mammals

03-Apr-2024 By Flora Southey

Molecular farming newcomer Finally Foods is emerging from stealth mode to produce casein from plants – with the help of AI.

New cocoa marketplace aims to strengthen relationships between producers and buyers

03-Apr-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

A new platform aims to create a stronger relationship between cocoa farmers and producer organisations, and those who buy their cocoa.

Who funds regenerative agriculture?

28-Mar-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Regenerative agriculture, without clearly defined practices or financial incentives, and with uncertain results, needs money to thrive. But where will this money come from?

Animal-free collagen: The food and drink potential

28-Mar-2024 By Flora Southey

As demand for collagen ‘surges’, will its animal-free alternative edge further into food and drink?

Danone, Nestlé, Kraft Heinz baby food ‘unfit for promotion’: ATNI

27-Mar-2024 By Flora Southey

In fact, none of the 1,297 complementary foods tested from six companies were up to scratch, according to the Access to Nutrition Initiative. The food makers disagree.

‘Vegan’ or ‘free-from’? Tackling lack of awareness of the difference between allergen and dietary labelling

26-Mar-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

A ‘vegan’ label does not mean a food is safe to eat for those with allergies to animal products. New research shows the public is dangerously unaware of this distinction.

Activists petition to remove methylene chloride from common decaf coffee production method amid carcinogen concerns

25-Mar-2024 By Deniz Ataman

A food additive petition submitted by the Environmental Defense Fund, et al is calling on the FDA to remove methylene chloride, among three other solvents, from the most commonly used decaffeinated coffee known as European Method decaf, a move that the...

Is the UK investing enough in food and drinks manufacturing?

25-Mar-2024 By Donna Eastlake

Financial uncertainty has proved to be a major challenge for UK food and drinks manufacturers. But is the government investing in the industry and what more can it do to support them?

Bisphenol A exposure: Worse for kids with obesity?

22-Mar-2024 By Flora Southey

Exposure to BPA, used to make epoxy resins to form protective coatings for food and beverage cans, has been linked to increased childhood obesity risks.

Are ultra-processed plant-based burgers healthy? WHO investigates

21-Mar-2024 By Flora Southey

The World Health Organization has funded research analysing the nutritional composition of ultra-processed plant-based burgers, and the findings are out.

How is animal-free collagen made and does it work?

20-Mar-2024 By Flora Southey

From plant-based to slaughter-free, we ask innovators how they make collagen – without the cow.

From non-HFSS cereals to desserts: How unlikely foods hit the sweet spot with regulators

20-Mar-2024 By Flora Southey

How are brands cutting fat, salt, and sugar from popular product categories to hit the mark with both policymakers and consumers?

How can AI understand the functional food market and the needs that drive it?

20-Mar-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Functional food trends are driven by more than just taste: they’re driven by human need. With AI, the market can be analysed and the needs driving consumption understood.

Why precision fermentation competitors Formo and Those Vegan Cowboys are joining forces

19-Mar-2024 By Flora Southey

Two producers of precision fermentation-derived dairy – developing products within the same category – have decided to work together, rather than in strict competition with each other.

Plant-based: Why some consumers make the switch and others steer clear

15-Mar-2024 By Donna Eastlake

Plant-based diets have grown in popularity in recent years, so what’s encouraging the increased interest in plant-based alternatives and why might others avoid them?

Non-HFSS doughnuts: Which nutrient is toughest to cut when reinventing the wheel?

13-Mar-2024 By Flora Southey

It’s very difficult to ‘crack’ better-for-you indulgence, according to maker of HFSS compliant doughnuts Urban Legend. Here’s how founder and ex-Graze CEO Anthony Fletcher claims to have done it.

How could the CSDDD be changed? Legislators race to make the directive acceptable to critics

13-Mar-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

After frequent delays caused by the abstention of Germany, France and Italy, the CSDDD has not been endorsed, in its current form, by the EU. As legislators race to make the directive more acceptable to these countries in order to push it through, how...

From paperization to promotional messaging: How are plant-based milk brands differentiating?

12-Mar-2024 By Teodora Lyubomirova

We speak to two leading packaging manufacturers about the materials, formats and branding choices that plant-based milk manufacturers are eyeing in 2024.

Champagne Telmont releases bottles in ‘193,000 shades of green'

11-Mar-2024 By Rachel Arthur

Champagne Telmont will release 193,000 bottles in shades ranging from green to cinnamon this year, as part of its journey to improve sustainability.

Eggs-traordinary changes: Cadbury Australia introduces reduced-plastic packaging for Easter specials

11-Mar-2024 By Hui Ling Dang

Mondelez International-owned Cadbury Australia has revamped the packaging for its Easter series to meet consumer demand for sustainable packaging, and as part of the firm’s long-term efforts to reduce plastic use and wastage.

Eco-friendly by stealth? Why a hybrid dairy newcomer is avoiding ‘hybrid’ labelling

08-Mar-2024 By Flora Southey

PlanetDairy says its marketing is transparent, but actively avoids terminology such as ‘hybrid’, ‘more sustainable’ or ‘green’.

Thinking outside the box: PepsiCo takes the Hispanic-owned concept one step further

07-Mar-2024 By Gill Hyslop

The snacking giant’s Greenhouse Accelerator Program is on a mission to elevate high-potential Hispanic-owned CPG food and beverage startups the resources they need to step into the spotlight and shine. It’s a winning formula and is calling for more participation.

Salty snack supply set to grow and diversify in 2024

07-Mar-2024 By Natasha Spencer-Joilliffe

Affordable, better-for-you and flavourful salty snacks lead producers’ formulation considerations in 2024, while creating resilient crops and exploring the metaverse landscape drive the wider value chain.

Brands bet on fortification to fill the gaps in plant-based milk innovation

05-Mar-2024 By Teodora Lyubomirova

Milk alternatives are the most mature category in alt dairy, but while food brands have largely addressed sensory and functional challenges, nutrition is still lacking.

Ultra-processed food linked to 32 poor health outcomes in largest study to date

05-Mar-2024 By Flora Southey

We ask lead author Melissa M Lane where she stands on the ultra-processed food debate.

Consumers urged to engage with food industry and fight for change

01-Mar-2024 By Donna Eastlake

Food systems and supply chains can be confusing for consumers, often leaving them with little understanding of exactly where their food comes from and its environmental impact. Enter the Inclusive Food movement…

Coffee’s chromosome mutations: The potential for industry

29-Feb-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Variations in the properties of arabica coffee, such as in taste, caffeine content and disease resistance, are determined by chromosome mutations, according to a recent study. But are these findings purely academic, or relevant to industry? And how could...

Sustainable food on a budget: Action for industry and consumers

29-Feb-2024 By Donna Eastlake

The World Wildlife Fund is launching a campaign to not only get Europeans eating sustainably, but affordably too. So, what’s involved and can anyone give it a go?

‘We want to lead innovation in this space’: £12m UK Gov't fermentation investment targets costs, energy, and innovation

28-Feb-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Fermentation is, alongside plant-based and cultivated meat, one of the driving forces behind the alternative protein sector. A new investment from the UK Government aims to boost fermentation innovation.

The case against ultra-processed food: 'UPF is designed to increase consumption and profit'

23-Feb-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Do ultra-processed foods lead to poor health outcomes by definition? A ‘hyper-literal’ focus on definitions is not the point, suggest Henry Dimbleby and Chris van Tulleken: ‘ultra-processed food’ as a category encapsulates the toll that an industry dominated...

Can links be drawn between Nutri-Score and ultra-processed food?

19-Feb-2024 By Flora Southey

Are ultra-processed foods more likely to have low Nutri-Score ratings? And should the Nova classification system be incorporated into the Nutri-Score algorithm?

Could low-sugar chocolate actually taste better?

15-Feb-2024 By Donna Eastlake

Less is apparently more when it comes to the amount of sugar used in the creation of the perfect chocolate bar. So will manufacturers reduce the amount of sugar they use in the making of this sweet treat and will consumers welcome the change?

A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work? Banana workers could earn living wage

14-Feb-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Due to informality, lack of contracts, lack of unionisation and low awareness of workers’ rights, many banana workers do not earn a living wage. A range of UK retailers, including Sainbsury’s, aim to challenge this.

What is required for halal certification?

12-Feb-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

With a growing Muslim middle class in countries such as the UK, and even many non-Muslims increasingly buying halal products, halal certification is more important than ever for businesses selling them.