Large-scale Chinese food companies will set the direction for the
development of China's food industry in the next few years, an
international exhibition in Beijing shows.
Australian food ingredients producer Burns Philp & Co said on
Monday that it would sell its North American industrial vinegar
division to US private equity investor Swander Pace Capital for
A$88 million (€48.5 million).
The trade case filed by a leading North American producer of
saccharin advanced another step this week with a preliminary
determination by the US International Trade Commission (ITC) that
saccharin imports from the People's Republic...
The increasing globalisation of the food industry is creating huge
corporations with the power to harm farmers and food suppliers in
many countries, the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) warned this week.
Belvedere, the French wine and spirit distribution company, has
registered a 59 per cent rise in sales to €106.8 million in the
first half of the year, helped by the €8.2 million acquisition of
the Polish distillery Starograd Gdanski.
The US Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) announced this week
that it is to embark on a process of change which will
fundamentally redesign the institute, its structures, and
operations.
Starting young is the key to life-long alcohol consumption, which
is why consumers in Britain and France are ahead of the rest,
according to the findings of a recent report by market research
group Mintel.
Campina, one of Europe's largest dairy companies, and Avebe, a
Dutch starch producer, have signed a 'letter of intent' regarding
the sale of Avebe's activities in pharmaceutical excipients. The
activities are part...
The operations of large food multinationals should be more actively
regulated by developing nations heavily reliant on agriculture, the
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on
Monday, writes the Financial Times...
First-half net profits at the world's largest food and beverage
group, Nestle, rose 79.4 per cent to SF5.66 billion (€3.9 billion),
the group said on Wednesday, boosted by the partial initial public
offering of its eye care unit...
Embattled Japanese meat processor Nippon Meat Packers said on
Tuesday that its founder and chairman would step down and its
president would be demoted to help restore public trust after a
beef mislabelling scandal.
Japan's Nippon Meat Packers, battered by a beef mislabelling
scandal, will give results of an investigation on Tuesday at a news
conference in which its founder is expected to resign as chairman.
Indonesia's ambition to become the world's largest cocoa producer
by 2010 could wreak havoc on the global market, even if its beans
do not make it into the top grade, analysts said.
Dutch chemicals group Royal DSM has denied being in talks with
Australian food group Burns Philp over the purchase of its Gist
Brocades unit, IndustrySearch.com reports.
Australasian food group Goodman Fielder ended months of speculation
on Friday by selling its flour milling and mixing business to
GrainCorp and US grains giant Cargill for A$200 million (€110
million).
Royal Ahold, the giant Dutch retailing group, has taken 100 per
cent control of Disco Ahold International Holdings (DAIH), the
joint venture which it operated in Latin America with the Velox
Retail Holdings group.
Choglit - no, not the name the European Commission wants producers
of non cocoa-butter chocolate to adopt but the name of a new drinks
brand produced jointly by Coca-Cola and Nestle and launched in the
US earlier this month.
The growing levels of consolidation in the European food retailing
sector are continuing to drive sales growth, with turnover forecast
to rise 17 per cent between 2001 and 2006, according to a report
published recently by Mintel's...
Dutch food group Numico NV is the latest company this week to post
a slide in first-half profits well below expectations on Thursday.
Hit again by weak US vitamin sales, analysts were also disappointed
over the lack of a new strategy.
Leading German chemicals group Degussa released first-half year
results this week, announcing that core businesses lifted sales 1
per cent to € 5.5 billion, but overall sales dropped 3 per cent
from last year's figures to €5.9...
Danish enzyme company Novozymes claimed this week that research
into local crops in Brazil as a source of inexpensive and
nutritious food is part of a cooperation agreement between
Novozymes Latin America and Tecpar, the institute...
Pharmaceuticals giant Roche has reported a 28 per cent fall in net
profits for the first half, but stuck with its forecast of a return
to double-digit growth in 2003.
The acquisition of the Belgian-based flavour house Perlarom has
enhanced Danisco's position in the premier league of European
flavour houses, the Danish company reported this week. In May this
year Danisco acquired the Perlarom...
US food irradiation company Food Technology this week announced a
drop in revenue for the first and second quarters of 2002. The
company attributed the worsening results to the departure of one
client and increased expenses. Total...
PT Unilever Indonesia plans to invest an estimated $500 million
(€512m) in the next 10 years in Indonesia, an official with its
parent company said Wednesday, Dow Jones reports.
Australian yeast and natural ingredients company Burns Philp this
week reported a healthy 65 per cent jump in net profit to A$146.2
million (€80m) for the fiscal year ended 30 June 2002, despite a
drop of 2.1 per cent in sales to...
A Quorn Foods official has defended his company's meat-free foods,
following an attack by lobby group Center for Science in the Public
Interest, according to a report by SupermarketNews.
Swiss food giant Nestle on Monday reiterated its interest in some
cereal brands put up for sale by Novartis as speculation mounted
that the food firm is among the last bidders for the drug firm's
health and functional food unit.
In the latest scandal to hit Japan's food industry, supermarket
operator Tokyu Store Chain said on Tuesday that it had been
involved in selling beef intentionally mislabelled as a more
expensive variety.
A UK supermarket chain is calling for the government to crack down
on misleading food labels - underlining the link between unhealthy
eating and inappropriate labels.
Shares in functional drink giant Yakult Honsha on Monday dropped
sharply after a local weekend report that the Japanese beverage
maker had paid off a suspected racketeer, reports Dow Jones.
Even as Pennsylvania lawmakers move forward in attempts to halt the
sale of the chocolate maker, Hershey Foods said on Thursday that it
had received an unsolicited mini-tender offer to buy less than 2
per cent of the company.
The UK restaurant sector's financial performance is, on average,
better than that of the rest of the hospitality industry and
restaurateurs are confident about the future, writes a new report
released this week.
Japanese ingredients company Ajinomoto is to open two new food
research and development centres in China and the United States.
The centres are positioned as branches of the company's existing
Food Research and Development Laboratories.
Australian food ingredients company Burns Philp & Co said on
Thursday that it had agreed to sell its Australasian terminals
division to Kaneb Pipe Line Partners for A$83 million (€45m).
Is the collective European tastebud becoming more refined?
According to a new report from market research company Datamonitor,
this is indeed the case. Speciality foods are flourishing across
Europe as consumers become increasingly...
The Ingredient Technology Group (ITG) division of Ocean Spray this
week announced record European sales of cranberry ingredients for
the last fiscal year. With a 134 per cent increase on the previous
year's sales, Europe now...
Switzerland's Nestle said on Tuesday that it would buy Chef America
for $2.6 billion (€2.7bn) in cash as the world's largest food group
tries to cement its position in the fast-growing US frozen food
market.
Italy's biggest miller, Grandi Molini Italiani (GMI), refuses to
import genetically modified (GM) wheat because consumers do not
want it, its CEO Antonio Costato said on Monday.
Italian energy company Edison and a consortium of sugar beet
producers said on Friday that they had, once again, agreed to
extend exclusive talks on the sale of Edison's 54 per cent stake in
French sugar company Beghin-Say, to...
Swiss food group Nestle on Friday declined to comment on market
talk it might want to buy US confectionery maker Hershey, but said
it would be keen on regaining its top-selling Kit Kat brand in the
United States.
Arkady Craigmillar, a UK supplier of bakery ingredients and frozen
products, announced this week that production of its confectionery
mixes will move to its Manchester factory from a Unilever-owned
facility in Suffolk.
The planned sale of Hershey Foods is expected to come under fire on
Friday from a broad coalition of the confectionery maker's hometown
neighbours, including workers, politicians, reform activists and
ordinary citizens.
Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) yesterday warned that technical
problems at one of its food flavour plants in Holland would wipe
£10m (€15.83m) off second-half profits, reports The Guardian.
Leading US flavour company International Flavors & Fragrances
(IFF) this week reported an increase in sales for the second
quarter 2002 with figures exceeding previously announced
expectations. In Europe strong fragrances sales...
The Australian food industry is over-serviced and the number of
customers per food outlet is too low, according to a new report
from BIS Shrapnel's, writes IndustrySearch.com.
The Joint Health Claims Initiative (JHCI), an independent UK
organisation created to assess health claims on food, this week
added a new claim to its growing stable of advice for the food
industry. Consumers may soon see soya protein...
Anglo-Dutch consumer products group Unilever raised its 2002
forecast on Wednesday and reported a larger-than-expected 31 per
cent increase in second-quarter core earnings.
Consumers who choose to start the day with one of the new
generation cereals found on the supermarket shelves today might as
well be eating a slab of chocolate cake, claims UK independent
body, the Food Commission, this week.
