Carrefour,
Europe's biggest food retailing group, has continued to prove that
growth can be achieved by companies with a major international
spread despite ongoing currency exchange rate concerns.
Organic foods in Europe is the focus of an upcoming hearing
organised by the European Commission with the ultimate aim to
formulate an action plan to boost the sector.
As the US government gets to grips with the country's first case of
mad cow disease, scientists there are trying to clone cattle that
are genetically incapable of developing Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy (BSE).
A row over the safety of farmed salmon has flared up in the UK amid
concerns over the levels of cancer-causing toxins present in the
farmed variety compared to its wild sister following findings from
a new US study.
US-based technology firm One Network Enterprises has launched
Supply Chain On Demand, a new IT solution aimed at distributors and
manufacturers. The company claims that the concept makes it easier
to access supply chain technology...
US food giant Cargill is launching its new soy isolate, Prolisse
500, across Europe, in response to growing demand for soyfoods and
high protein products.
Sainsbury, the perennial underachiever in the UK retail sector, has
again reported a mixed set of quarterly results, with the Christmas
period boosting revenues towards the end of the third quarter and
offsetting another poor performance...
Throwing a controversial light onto the global obesity debate,
scientists told a European conference on the subject last week that
diet is not the only defining cause of obesity, particularly in
children, reports CORDIS.
2003 was a year of frustrations for UK supermarket group Wm Morrison. Its
bid for larger rival Safeway made last January was not finally
approved until December, an 11 month period in which Morrisons'
continued improvement was...
German wholesale and retail giant Metro has ended 2003 with sales
growth at its expanding international business offsetting the
continued depression in its home market.
Opening Slovenian borders to allow increased imports of food
products made in the rest of the EU - and the ending of export
agreements with some non-EU countries - is likely to lead to more
pressure on domestic manufacturers, according...
Preliminary sales figures for 2003 released by Dutch retailer Ahold
today will make for broadly encouraging reading after a turbulent
year marked by fraud revelations and major restructuring moves.
As the scandal surrounding Italy's food and giant Parmalat deepens,
Berlusconi's government rustles up emergency measures to tackle
'Europe's Enron', with a strategy to save jobs and pay the
suppliers.
Sparking criticisms, the Australian government's gene technology
regulator has given the green light for the commercial use of a
genetically modified canola from Monsanto - the second approval for
GM canola made by the country...
The European energy drink market has seen something of a slowdown
in growth in the last couple of years, as we reported earlier this week, with a plethora of
'me-too' products launched in the 1990s falling by the wayside in
US agro giant Cargill continues to spread its wings, announcing a
new Japanese collaboration for the distribution of its low-calorie
sweetener erythritol.
UK pressure group Friends of the Earth has called for stricter
controls and improved labelling for fish, following a study in the
industry journal Science. The report showed higher levels of
cancer-causing pollutants in farmed salmon...
The trademark battle between Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar and US
giant Anheuser-Busch has continued this week with the resolution of
a dispute between the two players in South Korea.
Sales of pastries and baked goods suffered last summer because of
the exceptionally hot weather, but an excellent performance during
the colder winter months helped UK baked goods and sandwich
retailer Greggs to end the year on a...
Enterobacter sakazakii, a potential foodborne pathogen, has
been linked to outbreaks of illness in new-born and premature
babies and contamination of infant formulae has been suggested as a
source of infection. A recent study published...
Ireland kicks off the year with the presidency of Europe and, as
part of the scientific programme linked to the six-month
responsibility, the country will organise an international food
conference for the 17 and 18 June in Dublin.
The Big Food Group is thought to be the company most likely to
emerge victorious in the bidding war for UK convenience store
operator Londis, a reflection of the continuing improvement at the
company which just a few years ago was...
Some 47 per cent of UK parents regard their children's diet and
exercise as one of the top three things they worry about, and for 8
per cent this issue is their biggest cause for concern, according
to the findings of a recent...
Ireland's food and drink industry had a good year in 2003, at least
on export markets. The latest data from Bord Bia, the Irish food
board, show that exports were 2 per cent higher in 2003 than the
previous year despite weaker...
People who eat a regular diet of highly salted food double their
risk of stomach cancer, according to a report published this week
in the British Journal of Cancer.
Food giant Cargill has opened a plant to manufacture erythritol, a
sweetener that is claimed to taste like sugar but contain no
calories. The group believes there is real potential in the
product, and has already signed an agreement...
The current BSE crisis in the US has touched numerous industries
and ignited countless issues. One of these topics that the crisis
has brought back to life has been the simmering feud over
country-of-origin labelling of beef and other...
The world's top supplier of industrial chocolate to the
confectionery industry delivered a solid set of first quarter
figures yesterday with net profit rising by 17 per cent, boosted by
the integration of recently acquired US...
German retail group Schwartz is to open up to 30 stores in Hungary
over the next two years under its Lidl discount store banner,
according to reports in the Hungarian press.
The European Commission has requested Belgium and Spain to comply
with 2003 rulings of the European Court of Justice concerning their
failure to adopt and notify national legislation implementing an EU
law on the contained use of...
As an army of chemists around the world continues the march towards
replicating in the laboratory the sweetest gifts from nature, a
small group in West Africa is determined to stake a claim in the
process.
French beverage group Castel is clearly confident of future growth
in Russia and the CIS. The company recently announced that it is to
invest heavily in BIH Brasseries Internationales Holding (Eastern),
its holding company in Armenia,...
Kalev, Estonia's leading confectionery producers, has acquired 99.1
per cent of compatriot Jarle, a producer of sweet and savoury baked
goods, according to the Baltic News Service.
Yu-Point, the largest grain trading company in Serbia and
Montenegro, is about to expand further with the help of a €12
million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development and Fortis Bank, a leading Dutch-Belgian...
With increasing numbers of Americans turning to soy-based infant
formulas, a new study finds soy isoflavones do not act like female
hormones in infants, suggests new research from the government's
leading research agency.
Voicing his full support for reform of Europe's agricultural
policy, UK farm minister Lord Whitty told farmers this week to
'seize the opportunities' that could pave the way to a profitable
future.
Hope is on the horizon over the battle against mad cow disease.
Research by North Carolina State University scientists, in
conjunction with scientists from the Netherlands and biotechnology
company BioResource International, has shown...
Agricultural biotechnology company Embrex is set to supply
Perdigao, the second largest broiler chicken producer in Brazil,
with cutting edge in ovo (in the egg) technology designed to
cut production costs and improve animal health....
Funding to bolster research into new food uses for cereals and
oilseeds is behind a fresh R&D strategy released by the UK
cereals industry this week, a move designed to open up new market
opportunities for the sector.
The US department of agriculture (USDA) has decided to cull the
bull calf operation in Washington State where the single case of
BSE was discovered last month. But this is not enough for Japan,
which believes that new US procedures...
US-based William Frick & Company, a leading supplier of custom
printed labels, has launched a complete line of security labels for
packaging, manufacturing and distribution companies. The
AuthentiCal Rights Protection Labelling...
The spectacular growth rates of the late 1990s may be a thing of
the past, but the functional energy drink market in western Europe
shows little sign of running out of steam, according to a recent
report.
Sales of the high intensity sweetener acesulfame K look set to rise
for ingredients firm Nutrinova with the company confirming this
week that the FDA has approved its non-carbohydrate sweetener
Sunett as a general purpose sweetener...
Enterobacter sakazakii, a bacterium that can be dangerous to
premature babies and young infants, could be more widespread than
previously thought, according to recent research published in this
week's issue of The Lancet. In...
