Muntons invests £500k in Centre of Excellence

Muntons has unveiled plans to open a £500,000 Centre for Excellence, at it headquarters in Stowmarket, in January 2010.

The investment, which includes a purpose-built factory, will become the focal point for the firm innovation and new product development.

The Centre will feature an NPD kitchen, sensory testing room, bakery, micro-brewery and winery, and will enable the firm to reduce the cost of NPD while getting products to market faster.

Muntons’ technical sales support manager Jonathan Pritchard said The Centre would greatly improve the firm’s ability to develop new products and grow its business.

“We will be able to produce development samples internally at lab scale, rather than relying on third party or full-scale plant trials, which means we can cut turnaround time of NPD projects significantly,” he added.

Allied Glass makes five-sided bottle for Scottish gin

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International Beverage UK (Inver House Distillers) has commissioned Allied Glass to manufacture the Celtic-design-influenced bottle for its new premium gin brand, Caorunn.

The flint glass bottle, originally conceived by branding agency Navyblue, has drawn inspiration from the Scottish art nouveau movement, which itself was heavily influenced by Celtic knots.

The five-sided, pentagonal bottle represents each of the gin's Celtic botanical ingredients, while a red five-pointed asterisk – a stylised rowan berry base – appears in the centre of the bottle's body.

The Celtic word for 'established' is printed on a label on the bottle's neck to signify the distillery's heritage, while a wooden closure also carries an etched version of the asterisk, with each point of the star pointing to the name of the five ingredients.

The five ingredients in Caorunn gin are rowan berry, heather, coul blush apple, dandelion and bog myrtle.

Small batches of Caorunn are produced at Inver House's malt whisky Distillery in Balmenach in Scotland's Speyside region.

Iby Bakos, International Beverage UK brand manager, said: "The perfectly balanced recipe of 11 hand-picked botanicals ensures a naturally balanced flavour that works well in cocktails.

"We are confident that it will attract the attention of bartenders and mixologists alike."

Hundreds of firefighters battle blaze at Quinn Glass site

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Firefighters spent 11 hours tackling a blaze at Quinn Glass's Derrylin plant in Northern Ireland on Saturday night after approximately 400 tonnes of molten glass leaked from one of the two furnaces.

The fire broke out at around 9.00pm on Saturday after a furnace support system failed and the molten glass leaked into the containment field below.

30 fire appliances and 126 firefighters from across Northern Ireland and County Cavan in the Republic attended the blaze, which took 11 hours to bring under control.

Four workers who had tried to control the outbreak at the 24-hour operation were taken to hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation, according to the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service.

Quinn Glass director Adrian Curry said in a statement there was no risk to jobs of the 378 people employed at the site or supply to customers.

"The second furnace is unaffected and it is expected that full production will be restored within two weeks," he said.

Huhtamaki makes cups for museum ice rink hot chocolate

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Huhtamaki has produced the paper cups for a Green & Black's hot chocolate that is being sold at London's Natural History Museum ice rink this winter.

The 12oz paper cups come complete with Green & Black's branding and have been complemented with black sip-thru lids and wooden stirrers.

The ice rink at the Natural History Museum is open to the public from 5 November until 17 January next year.

"Huhtamaki provides quality paper cups and offers a printing design service which fulfilled our needs, in a time which met our objectives," said Green & Black's senior brand manager Natalie Brown.

"The end result is a quality cup with Green & Black's branding – it is exactly what we wanted."

Hot chocolate made from melted Green & Black's chocolate bars will be available from the café bar as long as the ice rink is in place.

BrewDog courts controversy again as Tokyo beer is blacklisted

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The Portman Group has blacklisted another beer by Scottish brewer BrewDog after finding the marketing of the Tokyo brand encouraged excessive drinking.

The micro-brewery hit the headlines at the beginning of the year after featuring in the BBC show Oz and James drink to Britain, when presenter James May criticised a Portman Group ruling for treating consumers like fools.

Alcohol Focus Scotland (AFS) and a member of the public for encouraging excess drinking referred BrewDog's Tokyo beer, which has an 18% ABV content, to the watchdog.

AFS pointed to the description of the firm's website that said: "Everything in moderation, including moderation itself.  What logically follows is that you must, from time [sic], have excess.  This beer is for those times."

The Portman Group said that its role was not to regulate alcohol content, but the promotion of drinks. "It's obviously unwise for any company to urge consumers to drink to excess," said chief executive David Poley.

"We won't allow any irresponsible marketing whether it's for a big brand or a niche product. That's why we are taking action to restrict future sales of this beer," he said.

BrewDog was unavailable for comment this morning.

The panel dismissed complaints that there was undue emphasis of the beer's strength and that the expression "intergalactic fantastic" was a reference to the effects of illicit drugs.

Dragon slayer's next step

Packaging News

Michael Pritchard left hit BBC TV show Dragons' Den with financial backing and some serious business firepower. Simeon Goldstein talks to the inventor

The mention of the word inventor often conjures up images of a white-haired scientist going into a shed at the bottom of the garden and coming out three days later with a strange-looking piece of equipment that bears a passing resemblance to a radio he used to own.

Michael Pritchard is, on the surface at least, not like that. The Ipswich-based businessman - and inventor - came up with the Anyway spray because he found it ridiculous that a household cleaner could not be sprayed properly if it is held upside down. After coming up with a dip tube that solved the problem with millions of tiny holes, the next step was to sell the licensing rights to manufacturers. Pritchard felt he would get a big boost if he braved the five investors-turned-TV personalities in the BBC's Dragons' Den programme.

"There were three reasons I went on the show," says Pritchard. "One is their Rolodex and the contacts they've got, and also the gravitas they give to the project. Two, the money they provide is clearly important, and, three, the PR that's generated by being viewed by millions of people."

The initial aim was £125,000 for a 5% stake in the business, but Pritchard eventually gave up 20% in return for investment from Dragons Theo Paphitis and Peter Jones to help sort out licensing agreements. He says that he had prepared well for the Den by asking friends to act as Dragons to make him think about the kind of information they would be after. "I think too many people don't give them enough respect. If I'd not prepared, they would have torn me to pieces," says Pritchard. Since he started working with the Dragons, Pritchard says he is in regular contact and he likes the fact that his 15-strong team can ask for as little or as much help as they need from the Dragons' teams.

Pritchard says the interest in the product has been very good. "The people I've been speaking to from manufacturers have said they've been getting hundreds of emails from staff who had seen the show who said: ‘It's amazing; it would go really well with this or that product'," he says. The Anyway spray is aimed at two potential markets, the aerosols and finger trigger-spray sectors, and Pritchard says he is working to develop more formal relationships and carry out second-level trials. "The aerosol people have been more excited because of the environmental benefits of replacing VOCs (volatile organic compounds) with harmless gases, but everyone we've talked to has said they could utilise the technology," he says. "I'd hope to have something on supermarket shelves by the middle of 2011."

AND NOW, THE MORE ETHICAL KIT-KAT

"Swiss food giant Nestlé says it will start using Fairtrade cocoa for its popular Kit-Kat bars in coming months, a lift to 8,000 farmers in Côte d'Ivoire "

Nestlé, the world's biggest food company, is to pay poor cocoa farmers more for their beans by switching its best-selling Kit Kat chocolate bar to Fairtrade.

Emrbarking on what its UK chocolate boss described as an ethical "long journey", the four-finger Kit Kat will carry the Fairtrade logo from next month. Over the next two years the two-finger and other versions of the £183m-a-year bar will make the switch.

More than 8,000 cocoa farmers in Côte d'Ivoire (formerly Ivory Coast) will benefit from the decision, receiving an extra $150 a tonne, 4 per cent above the $3,384 world price.

They will also be able to sell their cocoa more directly to Nestlé and receive advice from the Swiss giant on raising yields and quality, which will further increase returns.

Nestlé (NESR:GR) said the extra money would fund education and healthcare in the West African state, which is recovering from the 2002-2007 civil war.

For the coffee-to-cereals multinational, the deal will help boost the supply of cocoa. Prices have spiralled to a 26-year high because of investor speculation and the failure of benighted producers such as those in Côte d'Ivoire to meet rising global demand.

Nestlé's decision will also help it improve its chequered reputation for ethics. In the 1970s and 1980s consumers boycotted the company, which makes Nescafe, Perrier and Cheerios, over its promotion of baby milk formula in Africa. The protests have fallen away in recent years with the adoption of a marketing code of conduct.

Kit Kat is the latest example of Fairtrade being "mainstreamed" following Starbucks' decision to convert its espresso beans, Tate & Lyle its retail sugar, and Cadbury its Dairy Milk, the UK's best-selling chocolate bar.

It came about after Nestlé Confectionery UK's managing director, David Rennie, visited Côte d'Ivoire in October. Asked to describe life for cocoa farmers there, he said: "They're not going hungry and they're not going thirsty but they live in a way in which the crops they produce are very important.

"The nearest school could be 20 or 30 miles away and they have no transport, so getting local village schools where kids can get literacy and numeracy skills without embarking on massive treks is really important.

"And the fact that we can go in and help them build schools and can give help on the ground was enlightening and heartening for me."

Only Kit Kats sold in the UK and Ireland will go Fairtrade, but Mr Rennie would not rule out other Nestlé chocolate brands following.

"In the UK we have started with as much of the Fairtrade cocoa from our co-operatives as we can get. And every single year we hope to get more of that and get it moving across all of Kit Kat," he said.

"We're putting no end point on this. As the cocoa supply develops, we want to continue our work on the Ivory Coast to support those farmers." Harriet Lamb, director of the UK-based Fairtrade Foundation, said the higher prices would "give a break" to the farmers of Côte d'Ivoire. "If any farmers need this kind of break, it's the farmers in Côte d'Ivoire," she added.

Nestlé sells one billion KitKat bars in the British Isles each year, which makes up 23 per cent of its UK confectionery sales. It and other leading chocolate bars will still contain palm oil, which is linked to human-rights abuses, deforestation and the loss of wildlife in South-east Asia. In October, Nestlé committed itself to buying only supplies certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil by 2015. "The commitment is the company moves by 2015 and I think for the whole company to get there by 2015, markets and product categories will get there quicker.

"So that's the end point, it's not the beginning point," said Mr Rennie, who described the Fairtrade commitment as part of a "long journey."

RPC reusable bottle to hit shelves across Europe

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RPC Containers Llantrisant has won a contact to supply household cleaning firm Kilrock Products with reusable bottles made from 30% recycled plastic, for the latter's eco-cleaning brand Aquo.

Aquo is the brand name for a range of surface cleaners in trigger-spray containers that can be refilled using a water-soluble capsule and reused.

Kilrock said that RPC's bottles would enable it to cut production and packaging waste by 20 times, while the light weight of the unfilled bottle woul reduce the brand's carbon footprint through low transit weights.

Kilrock, which wanted to further reduce its CO2 footprint by sourcing packaging manufactured in the UK, selected a 750ml blow-moulded PET bottle made from 30% post-consumer recycled polymer. This proportion was deemed the best to ensure high quality performance during the life of the bottle.

"This bottle is designed to be reused up to 20 times and must also be well suited to the wide range of cleaning formulations for kitchen, bathroom and glass,' said Rob Hunt, RPC Llantrisant's sales manager.

The bottle also needed to maintain a leak-proof seal with the trigger spray after repeated use. RPC adapted one of its standard bottle pre-forms, customising the neck design.

Richard Davis, managing director of Kilrock, added: "RPC Llantrisant's durable and environmentally friendly bottle has played a huge part in the success of the Aquo concept.

"The whole concept of Aquo hinges on the durability and 'green' credentials of the trigger-head bottles – this is our USP, and RPC has been very supportive of our needs throughout the development and launch of the range."

Aquo is being sold at retailers including Tesco in the UK, Netto in Denmark and Mercadona in Spain; and has been lauded by the Waste and Resources Action Programme.

Last week RPC Group said that its RPC 2010 cost-saving plan is ahead of schedule and is planning further restructuring as it reported a return to profit in half-year results.

In figures published for the six months to 30 September, the group reported sales down 8% at £351.9m, while pre-tax profit stood at £11.8m compared to a £1.4m loss in the first half of its 2008 financial year.

Anti-fake rules for Scotch packaging come into force

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Scotch whisky firms are hoping new regulations on distilling, bottling and labelling will help protect their products from counterfeiters.

The new rules come into force today (23 November) and include a requirement that single malts can only be bottled in Scotland, and tighter control of the use of distillery and regional names.

Paul Walsh, chairman of the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), said the new rules were in the best interests of consumers, distillers and the wider economy.

"This landmark legislation will help us to ensure that consumers always receive the genuine article and help us to explain better why Scotch whisky is so special," he said.

The legislation is subject to a two-year transition period; three years in the case of single malts being bottled exclusively in Scotland.

Scottish enterprise minister Jim Mather said the new rules would make it clear exactly what was in each bottle, where and how it was distilled.

"It is vital to protect the good name of Scotch from inferior imitations and the new regulations do just that," he said.

The rules have been developed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Scottish Government and the SWA.

SCOTCH WHISKY REGULATIONS
(After a two-year transition period)

· Compulsory use of category descriptions, such as 'blended Scotch whisky'
· All single malts to be bottled in Scotland
· New protection for traditional regional names, and clear rules on product age statements
· More control over the use of distillery names to guarantee authenticity

Swiss dairy uses Amcor perforated film for cheese pack

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A Swiss dairy has adopted a pack that uses Amcor Flexibles' contour perforation technology for a new cheeseboard range.

Emmi's Käsplätti is a selection of four different, individually portioned Swiss cheeses in a single pack and is available in two varieties.

The pack consists of a tray with four separate cavities that is sealed with an Amcor Flexibles lidding film. Using perforations means the pack can be opened as a whole or the cheeses can be pushed through the film to be consumed individually.

Birte Dorenkamp, Emmi team leader for packaging, said the perforated lid played an important role in the launch of the new product.

"It allows the consumers to eat the four cheese varieties in no particular order and, at the same time, keep the remaining cheese fresh and reduce food waste," she said.

The pack uses matt and gloss printing to enhance the colours and images.

Gwalia secures multi-vitamin pack business after £2m kit investment

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Gwalia Packaging Group has won a contract to supply child-resistant containers and closures for an own-label range of multi-vitamins after completing a £2m investment in injection blow moulding.

The investment programme, which the South Wales-based company announced in March 2008  included the acquisition of new and used machinery from a number of overseas and UK sources.

The firm is now able to manufacture both containers and closures, making it more appealing to client companies. This led it to winning the contract from Brunel Healthcare for a major supermarket's own-brand vitamins.

Gwalia comprises closure manufacturer Dragon Plastics and container manufacturer Gwalia Plastics. The latter was previously called Riverside Plastics and was acquired by Dragon's shareholders in 2007.

The £2m investment was funded by the shareholders' own resources and a financial contribution from the Welsh Assembly Government.

Rod Parker, the Pontypridd firm's managing director, said the company had always tried to be sensitive to market conditions and immediately after acquiring Riverside Plastics realised the need to supply PET containers.

"We already had an injection moulding core competency but now we have sourced and commissioned plant and equipment for two-stage injection blow moulding. This means that we can now supply not only blown PET containers, but also pre-forms, with massive potential saving in both cost and carbon emissions," he said.

GINSTERS MAKER BEATS RECESSION

"More than a century after George Samworth founded his pig-dealing business, the company now run by his great grandchildren and employing more than 6,000 people is weathering the recession with near record sales. "

Samworth Brothers, which supplies food to all the leading supermarket chains as well as producing its own brands - notably that staple of the motorway service station, Ginsters - saw turnover rise 5.2% to £597m in 2008.

The latest accounts show that the business, which is based in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, the historic home of the pork pie, recorded a pre-tax profit of £42m, slightly up on last year.

Margins were squeezed in the second half by the high price of raw materials, compounded by an increase in fuel and distribution costs.

But the company said it was hiring more staff to meet demand, as well as commissioning two new production facilities. Customers of its unbranded chilled foods include Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Boots and Morrisons, as well as BP.

HIGHLAND SPRING BUYS IRISH BOTTLED WATER FIRM

Highland Spring has bought the bottled water division of a Dublin company for £17.5m."

Greencore makes own label bottled water for supermarkets and owns the Campsie Spring plant in Lennoxtown and Blaen Twyni in Wales.

Highland Spring is now the UK's largest bottled water firm, with 12 production lines, 400 workers and five plants.

The Perthshire company said it was now closer to its goal of turning over £100m in the medium term.

Greencore Group which is one of Europe's leading convenience food producers, said it was selling its water company to focus on its core businesses.

Job assurances

All of its 124-strong workforce will transfer to Highland Spring.

The Labour MSP David Whitton, whose constituency takes in the Lennoxtown plant, welcomed the takeover and said he had talked to the management at Highland Spring.

"I have been assured they see a long term future for the Lennoxtown facility with the prospect of new investment and new jobs," he said.

"I hope to meet with them soon to discuss their plans."

Di Walker, chief executive of Greencore Convenience Foods UK, said: "Highland Spring is already a great success story and their undoubted expertise in the bottled water market will allow them to take Campsie Spring and Blaen Twyni to the next level."

The deal will allow Highland Spring to expand its portfolio.

'Major milestone'

Its chief executive, Les Montgomery, said: "This acquisition will mark a major milestone in the history of Highland Spring and complements our expansion strategy perfectly."

Highland Spring is 30 years old and this year will produce 232m litres of bottled water across its range of products.

It is owned by the Dubai based Al Tajir family and nearly £60m has been invested in the firm over the last three decades.

Turnover in 2009 is expected to reach £54m with estimated profits of £3.5m.

Half of the UK population drink bottled water and the market is worth £1.497bn annually.

HEINZ SELLS UK FROZEN DESSERTS BUSINESS

Heinz, the American food group, has sold its struggling private-label frozen desserts business in the UK, employing nearly 600 people in Devon and Warwickshire, to PoleStar Foods as part of a plan to shed non-core assets and focus on its branded products."

The sale, for an undisclosed sum, was completed last night and will result in a $33 million (£20 million) loss for Heinz in the third quarter of fiscal 2010. Heinz originally acquired the business from United Biscuits in 1999, as part of a £190 million deal that also included the Linda McCartney vegetarian brand and the San Marco pizza brand.

Heinz subsequently embarked on a divestiture programme to sell off the brands. Dave Woodward, president of Heinz UK & Ireland, said that the sale was a positive development for Heinz because it would allow the company to focus its resources on accelerating growth of its core branded business.

PoleStar is a newly formed company established by John Gibson and Keith Ellis, both former food company executives, with backing from the Israeli bank Leumi, specifically to acquire the Heinz Frozen Desserts business.

Mr Gibson said that he hoped that the business, which has turnover of about £40 million a year, could be built up with more hands-on management and new product development. He added that PoleStar would produce Heinz’s Weight Watchers range of food in the UK under licence from Heinz.

Heinz, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and famed for its baked beans, reported the sale in its results for its quarter to October 28. Profits dropped to $231.4 million, or 73 cents per share, down 16 per cent from last year, when the company's results were boosted by a large currency gain.

The results exceeded analysts' forecasts for profits of 69 cents per share on revenue of $2.63 billion.

The company increased its sales of nutritional beverages in India, and had higher sales of ketchup and baby food in Latin America and Russia. Better pricing also boosted sales for the quarter.

Although fluctuating commodity prices and the dollar's value have posed some challenges for the company's profitability, Heinz raised its full-year earnings guidance, to a range of $2.72 to $2.82 per share for fiscal 2010. Its prior guidance was for earnings between $2.60 and $2.70 per share. 

ARLA FOODS TO BUILD THE WORLD’S BIGGEST DAIRY NEAR LONDON

"The biggest dairy in the world is to be be built near London as the consolidation of the milk market continues. "

Arla Foods, the Danish producer that processes 28 per cent of Britain’s milk, will build the processing plant, which will handle one billion litres of milk a year and will be operational in 2012. It will create about 500 jobs and cost Arla more than £70 million. The exact location is as yet undecided. The company said that it was operating at full capacity in its other plants.

About five billion litres of milk are consumed in Britain every year. About 90 per cent of this is sold to retailers by three companies: Arla, Robert Wiseman Dairies and Dairy Crest.

Dairy Farmers of Britain, a smaller business, collapsed in June after losing much of a lucrative contract with the Co-operative Group. Robert Wiseman yesterday reported an 81 per cent leap in profits to £21 million in the six months to October 3 after winning business from Dairy Farmers.

The dairy industry has suffered over the past few years as milk prices have oscillated and the costs of packaging and transport have risen. Dairy Crest predicted last week that the price of raw milk would rise again in the next few months, while Robert Wiseman said yesterday that the cost of oilrelated items such as plastic for bottles and diesel was also rising.

The market is static, with growth of 0.6 per cent in the year to October 4, forcing the companies to focus on more efficient production to increase profits and gain market share.

Robert Wiseman plans to increase the amount of milk produced at its Bridgwater dairy from 250 million litres to 375 million litres a year.

CADBURY SHARES RISE AS HERSHEY AND FERRERO EYE BID

"Cadbury shares rose in London on hopes that Hershey and Ferrero are planning to trump Kraft, as the multi-billion pound battle for the Dairy Milk maker takes another twist. "

America confectioner Hershey and Ferrero, the Italian chocolatier, are considering a joint bid for Cadbury in a move that looks set to rekindle one of the year’s biggest takeover battles. Shares in Cadbury were up almost 2pc in early trading in London.

Hershey, the firm behind the eponymous chocolate bar, and Ferrero, which makes the iconic Ferrero Rocher chocolates, have held talks in recent weeks about trumping the £10bn bid for the British sweet company by Kraft, the American food giant.

NM Rothschild has been mandated to advise Ferrero along with Watch Hill Partners, another boutique. Byron Trott, the former Goldman Sachs banker who set up his own firm backed by Warren Buffett, is understood to be working with Hershey. .

Sources said the discussions are at an early stage and may not result in a bid being tabled. But the talks are the first piece of evidence that rival bidders for Cadbury may emerge.

Insiders said that there is debate between the companies about which party would take possession of Cadbury’s high-margin gum and candy businesses such as Trident and Halls.

Hershey has been seen as a potential counter-bidder ever since Kraft’s interest in Cadbury became public in September. The Pennsylvanian chocolate company is known to be keen to expand overseas to diversify its sales which are 85pc based in America. However, analysts have said from the start that it would struggle to muster the financial firepower to launch a bid.

Although a joint bid with another company makes sense, the Hershey Trust, which controls the company, is thought to be unlikely to want to back a move that could dilute its holding.

Ferrero, which is privately-owned and makes Nutella chocolate spread and Tic Tacs, is far smaller than Kraft with just €6bn (£5.3bn) of sales last year. Michele Ferrero, the head of the family, is said to be determined to maintain the firm’s independence while his sons, Pietro and Giovanni, are keen to expand with a partner.

The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday first confirmed Ferrero’s interest in Cadbury. That report prompted a note from Nomura Securities which said: “As an entirely family-controlled entity it is very difficult to gauge Ferrero’s thinking here . . . But being left on the sidelines of consolidation taking place around them can’t be an attractive proposition.”

Kraft unveiled its £9.8bn hostile bid for Cadbury on November 9, valuing the shares at approximately 726p based on last night’s prices, against Cadbury’s current price of 788p.

In its formal proposal, Kraft essentially maintained the offer it proposed in September when it first publicly announced its intention to buy Cadbury. Cadbury swiftly rejected the hostile offer, calling it “derisory”.

Under Takeover Panel rules, the company has until December 7 to posit its formal offer document to shareholders, and Cadbury must publish its defence document by December 21. Hedge funds, including Paulson & Co, have recently bought large stakes in Cadbury, on the expectation of a higher offer.

Spokesmen for Cadbury and Ferrero declined to comment, while Hershey could not be reached.

Chesapeake creates 3D label for Christmas ale

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Jingle Knockers Christmas ale from Cornish brewery Skinner's is the first product to feature the new 3D Glint label from Chesapeake.

Chesapeake Bristol has used the holographic print effect Glint to create a starry design over the illustrated Christmas label for the ale. The label was printed in 10 colours with a varnish.

Managing director at Chesapeake Bristol Andy Walter said the key to the label was the repro, "which had to be 100% accurate to ensure we got the best from the effect".

"The pearlescent finish it provides has to be seen to be believed," he said. "It adds a real feeling of movement which helps ensure a product gets noticed as the consumer walks past."

Chief executive and head taster at Skinner's Brewery Steve Skinner said he wanted a "distinctive look to the labels supporting the launch of our new Christmas ale".

"We had a strong focus on innovation in our business so being the first to market using this new effect ideally complements our philosophy."

Skinner's Christmas Ale is available from leading supermarkets and off-licences.

Moss Side Heineken brewery generates its own electricity

A MANCHESTER brewery will today begin generating its own electricity when its £17.5m biomass plant is officially opened.

Heineken UK – the new name for Scottish & Newcastle – operates the Royal Brewery in Moss Side where around 700m pints of brands including Fosters, Kronenbourg, Miller and Strongbow cider are brewed every year.

Its new biomass plant burns locally sourced woodchip to generate enough electricity to supply all of the site's energy requirements.

Any excess energy generated will be sold back to the National Grid.

The plant is the biggest single investment in renewable technology ever by a non-utility company in the UK and is officially opened by Lord Davies of Oldham today.

It will generate up to 37,600 MWh of electrical energy every year, reducing carbon emissions by up to 15,000 tonnes.

Heineken UK's managing director Stefan Orlowski said: “This is a key milestone in Heineken UK's commitment to mitigating the impact of climate change.

“We are continuously looking for more ways to further improve our environmental record to build a sustainable future for our business.”

In the future more equipment will be added to allow the plant to burn spent grain, a by product of the brewing process.

Fox's Biscuit factories to axe jobs

About 300 jobs are set to be axed at two Fox's Biscuits factories in northern England.

Fox's owner Northern Foods is spending £26.5 million on introducing robot technology at plants in Batley in West Yorkshire, Kirkham in Lancashire and Uttoxeter, Staffordshire.

Leeds-based Northern said the new equipment will lead to the loss of about 300 jobs at Batley and Uttoxeter although about 80 positions are being created at Kirkham.

However, the company also provided a stay of execution for remaining workers as it put plans to close either Batley or Uttoxeter on hold.

In July last year, Northern set out proposals for a £50 million hi-tech facility, which would have led to the closure of one of the two sites and the loss of up to 1,000 jobs.

Northern halted the process due to the rising cost of investment linked to unfavourable exchanges rates and an uncertain economic environment.

However, Northern added that plans to cut its number of sites from three to two remained an objective and said it would review its strategy in 18 months.

The robotic technology will include new machines to provide packing functions at the factories.

The Batley plant currently employs 950 staff, while Uttoxeter and Kirkham have 850 and 400 workers respectively.

It comes after the recent investment by Northern in the Fox's Biscuits brand, including a successful multimillion-pound advertising campaign featuring cartoon character Vinnie.

Cadbury snubs 'derisory' new £9.8bn takeover offer from Kraft

Josh Brooks

Confectionery group Cadbury has today given short shrift to a renewed £9.8bn hostile takeover bid by food giant Kraft, describing it as "derisory".

Kraft today offered to pay 300p in cash and 0.2589 new Kraft shares for each Cadbury share - the same offer it made to buy Cadbury in September.

However, due to the drop in Kraft's share value since then, the total value of the bid has dropped from £10.2bn to £9.8bn. Cadbury rejected the original offer, saying that it "fundamentally undervalued" the business.

Today it went further, calling the offer "derisory" and saying that it "emphatically rejected" the approach.

Cadbury chairman Roger Carr said: "The repetition of a proposal which is now of less value and lower than the current Cadbury share price does not make it any more attractive. As a result, the Board has emphatically rejected this derisory offer and has strengthened its resolve to ensure the true value of Cadbury is fully understood by all.

"Kraft's offer does not come remotely close to reflecting the true value of our company, and involves the unattractive prospect of the absorption of Cadbury into a low growth conglomerate business model."

Commenting on today's new offer, Irene Rosenfeld, chairman and chief executive officer of Kraft Foods, said: "We remain convinced of the strategic merits for both companies of combining Kraft Foods and Cadbury.

"We believe that our proposal offers the best immediate and long-term value for Cadbury's shareholders and for the company itself compared with any other option currently available, including Cadbury remaining independent."

Biscuit Boost New Britain Palm Oil

A deal with United Biscuits has provided a lift to New Britain Palm Oil today as the maker of Jaffa Cakes became the latest food company to highlight the supplier's ethical status. "

New Britain Palm Oil, an industrial producer of sustainable palm oil in Australasia, said it had entered into a minimum two-year supply agreement to provide United Biscuits.

It is the first supply agreement signed for NBPO's UK refinery in Liverpool that is due to be completed in spring 2010. The refinery will have a dedicated supply source from NBPO's certified sustainable plantations and so the palm oil will be traceable from seed to finished product, helping the food companies using it ensure that it is from a sustainable source.

United Biscuits said the deal was part of its drive to only use segregated, sustainable palm oil and analysts believe the contract bodes well for NBPO as other food producers look to meet consumer demand for more sustainably produced ingredients.

Alan Chaytor, executive director of NBPO comments:

"This agreement demonstrates that companies who are genuinely serious about buying sustainable palm oil can now do so from New Britain."

"Our investment in our UK palm oil refinery is all about giving consumers the assurance that the products that they want to buy can now actually be made from affordable, segregated, traceable and certified sustainable palm oil, which NBPOL believes is often a better alternative to certificate trading schemes, such as GreenPalm."

NBPO said it expects to sign further supply agreements in due course.

The deal follows on from a recently signed contract to supply palm oil to Italy's Ferrero, whose products include Kinder eggs and Nutella.

Nick Walker at Liberum Capital comments on today's deal:

"We maintain our strongly positive stance on NBPO. We believe that the company's strategy of being a first-mover in pursuing sustainable certification of its palm oil plantations and the building of a UK refinery is beginning to demonstrate real dividends in terms of the company's competitive advantage.

"We expect this trend of European palm oil users sourcing sustainable palm oil products to increase and NBPO's to take full advantage of its unique position."

The shares were up 11.5p, or 3.3%, at 355p in late trading.

On the downside, food producers are also recognising a need to cut down on palm oil from all sources. United Biscuits says today that alongside a push to more sustainable sources it has also "been working to reduce the amount of palm oil that we use and since 2005 we have achieved a 40% reduction in palm oil."

New Scottish fish factory to create 100 jobs

Hayley Brown

A large salmon farming company has submitted a planning application to build a £5M fish processing factory in Scotland.

The planning application was submitted to Western Isles Council on November 4 by Lighthouse Caledonia. It outlines plans to build gutting and filleting facilities in a 7,000 sqm factory, which will be able to process up to 15,000t of fish per year at Arnish, south of Stornoway.

Lighthouse Caledonia wants the facility to be up and running by the end of 2010. If approved, it will create up to 100 jobs.

When the company was under different ownership last year, Lighthouse Caledonia was forced to close a processing plant in Stornoway, with the loss of 130 jobs. “The submission of this planning application represents a significant turning point and we can now move forward to build our business,” said Lighthouse Caledonia’s chairman Jim Mullins.

Lighthouse Caledonia is a fully-integrated seafood company. It operates from 37 sites with a head office in Edinburgh. It employs over 200 staff. Turnover in 2008 was £52M.

Cadbury replaces Roses tin with cardboard box

Simeon Goldstein

Cadbury is trialling a cardboard replacement for its traditional Roses chocolates tin in a bid to reach its packaging weight reduction targets for seasonal and gift packaging.

The confectionery giant said the new format, which is being trialled at Tesco this Christmas, is 45% lighter and saves 200 tonnes of steel. Cadbury hopes that tapping into consumer demand for sustainable packaging will boost sales.

Jo Grice, Cadbury's head of marketing for giving and seasonal, described the box as "an environmental twist on a festive favourite".

"Reducing the packaging across many of our popular ranges such as selection packs and tree decorations is our way of giving the planet a gift this Christmas and will help us meet our environmental commitments," she said.

Nick Mullen, director of the Metal Packaging Manufacturers Association, said that while brands were free to change their packaging as they see fit, the environmental aspect of the decision was a concern.

"Metal is known to be one of the easiest and most commonly recycled packaging materials and any reference to material being wasted is wholly unfounded," he said.

"The drive to use materials efficiently and make waste obsolete is led by metal: it's the only material which does not degrade when recycled and reprocessed so can be  recycled again and again with no loss of quality. 

Mullen added chocolates in tins had proven a "real winner as a Christmas gift option" for many years and their subsequent use as cake and biscuit containers and countless other uses was integral to the product.

Cadbury's Purple Goes Green strategy includes a pledge to reduce seasonal and gift product packaging by 25% by next year.

Cadbury's selection boxes have been reduced by an average of 32% across the range, the equivalent of 400 tonnes of cardboard, and the firm is introducing a 28% reduction in its packaging for tree decorations.

The Roses box, which is also being used for Heroes chocolates, will be used in other stores if consumer feedback is good, Cadbury said. In testing, consumers found the box was more practical and easier to wrap.

Molson Coors steps up asset care

Rod Addy

The Molson Coors brewery in Burton-on-Trent is implementing world-class manufacturing techniques for asset care – part of a global initiative for the business.

The brewer has been considering the endeavour for some time. However, it launched the latest wave of the project this year, looking at issues such as reducing processing time, improving quality and preventative maintenance.

The initiative has included a health and safety drive installing engineering permit stations for every operational area.“We have moved to bespoke permit stations, each of which has a picture of its owner, so people can contact him if there are any problems,” said Grania Towle, utilities operations manager at the Burton-on-Trent brewery. “The owner makes sure all documents at his station are up to date.”The stations are used to record equipment maintenance and repairs and to log whenever machines are locked off because an engineer is working on them.“

Permit stations are audited monthly, permit record sheets are investigated and graded, said Towle.

In addition, Towle said dynamic risk assessments were conducted for ad-hoc situations posing potential health and safety issues as they arose. “From January to now there have been about 2,500 dynamic risk assessments.”

The brewery is also supporting 15 people on modern apprenticeships and operates a mentor system.

Molson Coors (UK) employs more than 2,000 people and operates other breweries in Alton and Tadcastle. It commands 20% of the UK beer market with brands such as Coors Light, Grolsch and Caffrey’s. Towle was speaking during a site-visit organised by the Food and Drink iNet, which is funded by the East Midlands Development Agency.

The visit was intended to showcase best practice for the 15 food and drink firms from the East Midlands that attended. The Food and Drink iNet is managed by a consortium led by The Food and Drink Forum and including Food Processing Faraday, Nottingham Trent University, The University of Lincoln and the University of Nottingham.

Uniq puts Riviera assets up for sale

Hayley Brown

Manufacturers have started bidding for machinery and equipment used in one of Uniq’s factories, which is due to close in the next couple of days.

The sale is taking place after Uniq decided, last year, to transfer volumes from its Riviera Desserts plant in Paignton to another one of its desserts factories in Minsterley, Shropshire.

Uniq has appointed Edward Symmonds to sell off the equipment and machinery from its production plant, which makes mousse-style desserts. The equipment that is up for sale includes a Bosch filling line, pasteuriser, storage and mixing vessels, a removable chilled production building and other associated factory equipment.

The online auction will take bids until 3pm on Tuesday November 3. Since the closure of site at Paignton was announced, up to 390 jobs have been lost. However, a proportion of these have been transferred to other Uniq sites, according to the company.

Uniq is thought to have invested more than £35M in the Minsterley site to prepare for extra volumes.

Supermarkets donate to food bank

Supermarkets are donating food past its sell-by date to charity, following the official launch of a new food bank."

Re-plenish, based in Oxford, picks up ingredients which cannot be sold, but have not passed their use-by date.

Food banks are non-profit making organisations which distribute food to charities. It is thought to be the first time supermarkets have signed up.

Two supermarkets have so far joined the scheme which organisers hope to expand in the future.

Volunteers pick up supplies in the mornings and sort products at the charity's premises in Oxford.

The charity said it not only supported worthy causes but also helped to reduce waste.

Robin Aitken, of Re-plenish, said: "It has a dual advantage in getting decent food to people in need, saving on landfill and the cost of wasting good wholesome food."

The scheme has been running as a pilot since July, involving two supermarkets in Kidlington.

The charity said it had collected enough food to make 1,000 meals a week since it started.

The Food Standards Agency said it welcomed the new project in helping to cut the amount of produce thrown away.

Mr Aitken added: "The eventual ambition is collect food from every supermarket in the city.

"Ideally we would arrive at a point in a couple of years' time where no good food in Oxford is wasted by supermarkets, but it is all distributed to people in need. That's a big ambition, but a worthwhile thing to aim for."

ISG to build dairy facility at Nantwich College

"ISG has secured a £1m project with Reaseheath College to refurbish and enlarge an advanced dairy processing facility at its 500-acre Cheshire parkland site."

ISG is stripping out and refurbishing the college's existing food processing halls and is also building a 2,000 sq ft steel frame extension. The college said that the refurbishment would allow it to expand its services to North West businesses and encourage business growth and diversification throughout the region.

Food manufacturers and new food producers will be encouraged to use the state-of-the-art facilities for new product development, and the facility is being built with grant money from the Northwest Regional Development Agency.

The food halls will also be used by students on the dairy industry's new world class education initiative, Project Eden. Project Eden is a partnership between leading dairy processors and manufacturers, Improve, the sector skills council for food and drink industry, and Dairy UK, the industry's trade organisation.

“The food and drink sector is a critically important part of the economy in the UK and particularly in the North West,” said Reaseheath College's Principal, Meredydd David.

“It is wonderful to see work starting on a project which will enable us to continue to provide specialist support, knowledge and technology transfer to these industries. It will also help to maintain competitiveness and profitability during these challenging times.

GE pours £9M into Drinks firm

"A NORTH WALES drinks manufacturer has been boosted with a multi-million- pound funding line."

GE Capital yesterday announced a £9.2m refinancing package for Calypso Soft Drinks of Wrexham.

The refinancing will provide continued expansion of the business, which supplies branded soft drinks and mineral water products, with the water coming from a natural on-site spring.

GE Capital’s facility consists of confidential invoice discounting, inventory and plant and machinery finance. The package of funding will greatly increase working capital facilities and mirrors the seasonal requirements of the business.

Founded by the Cooke brothers in 1886 as a dairy, Calypso Soft Drinks continues as a family-run business following a management buy-out in 2005.

The Calypso brand accounts for 70% of sales supported by strong sub-brands, including Aquajuice 67, Juice Shots and Jubbly.

These are supplied into leading retailers, the food service sector and cash-and- carry outlets.

The company also services markets in Europe and is an official sponsor of the British Surfing Association through its Aquajuice 67 drink.

The company’s chief executive Peter Cooke said: “Due to the seasonality of our business we required a funding solution that was tailored to our needs.

GE Capital has provided a structured solution that supported our business and offered us the headroom required to expand the business further.”

Richard Spielbichler, regional director for GE Capital, said: “This is a strong brand and we are pleased to be able to offer such a long-established family business a flexible funding solution. The deal highlights the ability of GE Capital to provide tailored funding solutions to businesses, when other providers in the market are looking to reduce their offerings.

“Calypso Soft Drinks has a strong management team and we look forward to working alongside the team as the organisation focuses on its goals for the future.”

The investment was introduced to GE Capital UK by Baker Tilly, whose corporate finance partner, Ian Latham, advised on all aspects of the deal.

Mr Latham said: “The integrated package provided by GE Capital meets the seasonal needs of the business and provides the flexibility in facilities the company needs to capitalise on new opportunities and increase market share.”

10,000 Jobs available in food Production

No matter how tough things get, the things people will always keep buying are food and drink.

This basic fact of life explains why food and drink manufacturing has emerged as one of the fastest growing industries in the country with thousands of new jobs appearing every month.

More than 10,000 positions are up for grabs at any one time, ranging from production workers and quality assessors to butchers and bakers.

"The food and drink industry has shown it is resilient to the recession as people will always need to eat, so there are plenty of career paths offering great opportunities for progression," says Jack Matthews of Improve, the Food and Drink Sector Skills Council (www.improve-skills.co.uk).

"The sector needs to replace its ageing workforce and many employers are crying out for ambitious recruits whether you have been to university or not."

Janet Kelly from Jobcentre Plus (www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk) says: "The industry offers lots of opportunities at every level from entry positions to management and supervisor roles. There are great prospects for progression and many people start at the bottom and work their way up."

Employers in this area often specialise in one aspect of food production such as baking, freezing or brewing. In some cases work is seasonal, for example, canning and freezing soft fruit and vegetables.

Food manufacturing involves the production and packing of a wide variety of food items including frozen, canned, baked, dried and pasteurised products.

Food process workers and packaging operatives work on the machines that put finished food and drink products such as biscuits, crisps, soup, drinks and chocolate bars into containers, cans or packets.

There are also options to specialise in a particular skill.

As a trained butcher, baker or fishmonger there are plenty of in-store opportunities at supermarkets.

Alternatively, you could work for a smaller company and create products to sell in specialist shops, delicatessens or local markets.

Work can be varied and involve driving to markets, wholesalers and customers' premises. You could even specialise in halal, kosher or organic foods depending on the demands of your local community.

Tate & Lyle teams up with Bakemark to launch flapjack

By Hayley Brown

Bakemark has launched its first Tate & Lyle branded product, after the two companies established a licensing agreement in March this year.

The new Lyle's Golden Syrup flapjack mini bites were launched into Sainsbury's in-store bakeries last month. It took six months to develop the product, which has an improved recipe compared to the previous Bakemark flapjack. "We still make the flapjack base with golden syrup, but we wanted to shout that it was made with Lyle's," said Mike Motley, category manager, at Bakemark.

"We've also added a Lyle's Golden Syrup flavouring to enhance the flavour and aroma, as well as a gel topping." The topping contains a mixture of Lyle's Golden Syrup, modified waxy maize starch and other ingredients. It is applied by hand before the flapjacks are baked. Toasted oats are also sprinkled over the topping to stop individual flapjack pieces from sticking together in their tumble packs.

They come in acetate tubs "which satisfies consumer requirements for good product visibility at point of purchase, it is also resealable", added Motley.

Each tub contains 16, 16g pieces. Minibite cakes in tubs have seen significant growth over the past few years. TNS World Panel data shows that annual value sales of cake minibite tubs have grown by 17.5% in the 52 week period ending October 5, 2009, compared to the 52 week period ending October 7, 2007.

A single serve flow-wrapped bar format may be launched for the foodservice and food to go markets; as well as a product made from black treacle, which might be launched in time for Halloween next year.

Last month, a Tate & Lyle cornetto style ice cream was also launched into Tesco. The product was manufactured by Frederick's Ice Cream. "We've been making ice cream with them for a while, so we were delighted to produce an ice cream in this format," said Ian Clark, Plaistow site manager at Tate & Lyle.

Milk Link harnesses its novel technology to launch products

Milk Link has launched its latest milk drink, which has been made using a novel processing technology that extends shelf-life without exposing products to harsh ultra-high temperatures (UHT).

Moo Chocolate Creaminess was launched last month, as part of Milk Link's extended shelf-life (ESL) flavoured milks. The low-fat drink has a shelf-life of 43 days. "Fresh milk only lasts around eight days, so as you can see, we've significantly improved the product without resorting to UHT. UHTs can often kill functional ingredients, so the ESL technology means that we are able to do

much more with the products," said

Marianna Filippou, who oversees new product development in milk drinks at Milk Link.

The ESL technology ensures that the stabilisers and ingredients, which make the milk drink creamy and smooth, retain their functionality so that the low-fat product can be made using just 1% fat milk.

"The ESL technology also means milk drinks retain colour, especially a red hue, which often fades when high temperatures are applied," added Filippou.

Milk Link also uses the technology to produce a range of products under licence. Some of which include Flora pro.activ drinks, Tesco own-label as well as Galaxy and Mars creamy milk drinks.

Innovative launches in the chocolate sector remain high

New chocolate product launches in the UK have gone up from 345 in 2007 to 439 in 2008, according to Mintel's latest market report.

In a global context, added the report, almost four in 10 (38%) new chocolate products were launched in Europe.

Premium chocolates, in particular, have dominated launches, especially products that highlight provenance, said Steve Charlton at Mintel. "The trend towards good quality produce is reflective of European consumers' interest in the sourcing and provenance of ingredients. In fact, in the last six months alone almost three quarters of all new organic products and over half of all new Fairtrade products have been launched in Europe."

Reduced sugar chocolate launches rose from just six in 2007 to 26 in 2008, gluten-free chocolate launches from 13 in 2007 to 40 in 2008 and additive-free chocolate from 22 in 2007 to 46 in 2008.

The report also found that British people spend more on chocolate than any other country in Europe. Sales during 2008 reached £3.5bn, the equivalent of £57 per head. Despite the recession, this was a 4% increase on 2007 levels.

The research company predicted that the chocolate market would grow as much as 5.8% in 2009, with year-on-year increases of 5% until 2013 when it said the market would be valued at £4.4bn.

New innovation centre opened

The Park Royal Food Innovation Centre, named Capital's Kitchen, was opened in London last month. The facility is dedicated to helping small and medium sized food and drink processing companies (SMEs).

It houses a development kitchen, training suite and offices. The centre will also act as a networking hub for food processing and manufacturing companies in or around London, putting on advice clinics, training events, briefings, as well as industry networking events.

This centre is part-funded by a £200,000 grant from the EU through the European Regional Development Fund. Park Royal is a large industrial estate that is home to over 250 food and drink companies, which represents over 30% of London's food and drink sector.

The centre, however, is open to all London-based SMEs in the food and drink industry that have been trading for at least one year in London. The centre will operate as a partly-funded pilot project until the end of March 2011. After that, unless the centre receives further funding, it will start to charge companies full price to use its facilities.

Nom zero fat yogurt

Nom Dairy has launched its Nom Naturally Light yogurt. It is manufactured at its newly opened £60M Shropshire dairy. The product is free from artificial sweeteners and has 0% fat. It will "appeal to the ever-growing, health-conscious market", claimed the company.

New crisps for Christmas

Kettle Chips is introducing a new seasonal flavour to its range of hand cooked crisps. The flavour, Red Onion Chutney, is only available for a limited period. The seasoning blends red onions with a chutney including ginger, paprika, cloves and cinnamon. For the third year running Kettle Chips is the fastest growing top 20 bagged snack brand, according to Nielsen data to week ending September 5, 2009.

Alcopops and wine sales bomb, research indicates

By Elaine Watson

Sales of flavoured alcoholic beverages (FABs) have halved in value in the past five years as drinkers’ enthusiasm for alcopops has waned, according to Leatherhead Food Research (LFR).

The FAB market, which peaked in the mid to late 1990s, was the worst performing sector of the entire UK food and drink market over the 2004-2008 period, said LFR. The category is dominated by brands such as WKD, Smirnoff ice, Bacardi Breezer, Red Square and VK. It had suffered through its overexposure to the on trade, which accounted for the bulk of sales, said LFR.

“In 2008, the UK FAB market was valued at an estimated £650M, having suffered a decline of more than 9% from the previous year. Since 2004, market value has decreased by almost 46%, although the rate of decline has slowed within the last couple of years. By volume, sales were worth an estimated 120M litres, compared to 250M litres in 2004 – a drop of almost 53%.”

Wine – which until relatively recently had been one of the sector’s start performers, was also struggling, said Brockman.

According to LFR, UK wine sales grew sharply in 2004-5 but then declined by almost 8% between 2005 and 2008. Volumes dropped by almost 15% to 1.16bn litres during 2005-2008, he said. “Until a few years ago, the wine market was one of the fastest growing sectors of the UK alcoholic beverages category. However, the UK wine market has now started to decline, caused by factors such as the cooler summers as well concerns over binge drinking, rising excise duties and stiffer competition from other sectors of the alcoholic beverages market, such as cider and premixed spirits.”

The picture for beer was mixed, with value sales up 9% by value over the period 2004-2008, but volumes down by 4.8%. But there was better news for spirits, which saw their market value rise by almost 11% between 2004 and 2008, while volumes were up by more than 5% over the same period.

However, the star performer in the UK beverage market was cider, which saw value sales rise by 42% and volume sales up 40% (2004-2008), said LFR. “At almost 12 litres, the UK now has one of Europe’s highest per capita consumption rates for cider.

“Although apple-based varieties continue to dominate the market, accounting for a value share of almost 93%, the major growth area within the last year has been pear cider, sales of which have risen by more than 50% within the last year, aided by the success of brands such as Kopparberg.”

With a value share of around 31%, the alcoholic beverages sector is the UK food and drinks market’s largest sector, ahead of soft drinks at 11%.

UK becomes more attractive as a manufacturing base

By Rod Addy

Interest in establishing UK manufacturing bases for European food supply is increasing after years of a trend towards off-shoring, according to Dan Myers, business unit director at Norbert Dentressangle Logistics (NDL).

“We deal with a number of customers manufacturing outside the UK,” said Myers. “But we’ve seen a greater interest in manufacturing in the UK for certain businesses. There’s been a significant change in the exchange rate, so it has become potentially less expensive.”

There had been a discernable shift away from off-shoring by certain types of business, said NDL account director Robert Reader. “Certain customers will always manufacture on the Continent.” For example, some French pastry companies took that attitude, he said. “Certain others are more commoditised, so they are always following the lowest cost.”

He said the prevailing mood of manufacturers made it likely they would be looking to consolidate all operations here. “With the on-cost of the exchange rate, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to manufacture on the Continent, then package and distribute in the UK.”

The weakness of sterling also made the UK a more attractive market for overseas processors, said Reader. “Labour costs are cheaper [in the UK] and you have the potential for people coming in and taking advantage of the exchange rate.”

The comments follow warnings from Unilever chief executive Paul Polman that any future government needed to relieve the tax burden on UK businesses or risk them moving elsewhere.

Polman reportedly urged the government last week to invest in research and development and avoid an oppressive tax regime that dampened consumer spending and hit entrepreneurship.

Dairy firms fight against climate change

By Rod Addy

Dairy companies in the Climate Change Agreement have cut almost 130,000t of greenhouse gas emissions since the scheme began, according to Dairy Energy Savings (DES) chairman Gerard Sweeney.

Sweeney said dairy firms had worked hard to meet challenging energy efficiency targets and significantly reduce carbon emissions in the processing sector.

“However you look at it, saving 130,000t of carbon from entering the atmosphere is a significant achievement,” he said. “It also demonstrates that the operational detail behind the Climate Change Agreement really delivers results.”

The scheme is entering its tenth and final year and the DES board is negotiating a new scheme with government beyond 2010.

Energy drinks are a booming business

By Hayley Brown

Sports and energy drinks represent one of the strongest growth sectors within the UK carbonated drinks market, according to market researchers, with sales predicted to increase by 48% to reach £1.5bn in the next five years.

Sales continue to rise, mainly because products are now being marketed and consumed as lifestyle drinks, such as ‘pick-me-ups’, according to Leatherhead Food Research (LFR).

In volume terms, the market stood at around 500Ml in 2008, and continues to register double-digit increases despite the economic downturn. During the last year, value sales increased by more than 10% to reach £850M. The energy drinks segment can be broken down into glucose and stimulant varieties, added LFR. In 2008, glucose-based products accounted for almost 60% of volume sales, compared with around 40% for stimulant drinks such as Red Bull.

Market research firm Mintel predicted that, by the end of 2009, sales of sports and energy drinks would hit £1bn. And over the next five years, it said value sales are forecast to increase by 48% to reach £1.5bn.

Despite the boost in sales, today only a third of the population actually consumes sports and energy drinks, a figure that has remained static over the past five years. Jonny Forsyth, senior drinks analyst at Mintel, said that there has been a distinct failure to grow penetration of sports and energy drinks in the UK. Instead, the market has succeeded as a result of the increasing frequency of drinking among young male converts in particular.

“The challenge for the industry going forward is to grow its user base by successfully targeting females, people between the ages of 35 and 54 and workers. This means increasingly stealing market share from carbonates and bottled water in particular. The problem is that energy drinks appeal most to the physically active and men aged between 15 and 34 do more exercise than anyone else. A more mainstream opportunity lies in targeting mental rather than physical energy,” added Forsyth.

New training to boost performance at Mars

By Rod Addy

Several Mars business units, including Mars UK, are implementing integrated business planning (IBP) training internationally to improve performance and productivity, in partnership with Gloucester-based business improvement specialist Oliver Wight.

The IBP programme is based on five pillars: portfolio management; demand management; supply management; financial management of the first three aspects and management business review of all stages. The company said a marriage of teamwork and personal responsibility were integral to the initiative.

Speaking about how the project had been applied in his area, Youssef Mouallem, IBP leader and lean champion for Mars Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) in Dubai, said: “One of the key areas that benefited the most was establishing a truly integrated way of operating, fleshing out responsibility between departments, allowing much faster decision making.”

The programme also tightened up focus on areas such as demand management, eliminating assumptions about future demand that were unsupported by hard data, said Mouallem.

“One of our challenges was the loss of market share in chocolate confectionery,” he said. “Through the integrated approach, we managed to pull back two percentage points of market share in three to four months.”

In one part of the business, revenues were increased by more than 3% almost overnight through implementing a more effective demand review process.

Many Mars global business units were also looking at adopting umbrella IT systems that linked individual software packages that dealt with different functions throughout the company, said Mouallem.

As a result of the work, Mars GCC has been awarded Class A IBP Accreditation and UK divisions were set to follow, he said.

Speedibake’s fresh deal

Norbert Dentressangle, which took over Christian Salvesen in 2007, has been awarded a two-year temperature-controlled storage and distribution contract with baked goods manufacturer Speedibake.

Part of Associated British Foods, Speedibake is one of the leading producers of own-brand bakery products for the UK retail and foodservice sector.

With turnover of around £70m, it employs 600 people at two bakeries in Yorkshire and specialises in US-style muffins, traditional ball doughnuts, baguettes, garlic bread and speciality breads.

Norbert Dentressangle will distribute frozen products from Speedibake’s two production facilities into major multiple retailers’ distribution networks.

For Speedibake, Norbert Dentressangle’s ability to cost-effectively accommodate extreme fluctuations in demand at short notice was also a major factor in its appointment.

South Shields bakery buyout

South Shields firm JW Rae Bakers has been rescued from liquidation by a division of Sunderland-based Monument Foods.

Aspin Bakery, a division of Monument, has acquired the business, saving 16 jobs.

Having passed retirement age, the directors at JW Rae had been looking for a buyer for over 12 months and had approached RMT Accountants and Business Advisors to put the company into liquidation. RMT issued the particulars of the firm to 10 interested parties, one of which was Monument Foods.

Following the acquisition, Aspin Bakery will move into new premises in South Shields and plans to expand its product range to include cakes and pies, in addition to its existing portfolio of breads.

Monument Foods director David Thompson said the business has increased its turnover from £1m to £2.5m in five years, since its inception in 2004.

“As part of the natural progression of the business, we have been looking to expand our bakery division, Aspin Bakery,” said Thompson.

“JW Rae Bakers has a very strong reputation in the region and we will endeavour to continue the hard work of its directors. This deal offers a real opportunity for Aspin Bakery to grow and expand, both now and in the future.”

Greggs plans new bakery in the south

Greggs plans to build an additional bakery in the south of England to support the proposed opening of 600 new stores.

In its half-year statement in August, the bakery chain said it aimed to open 30-40 net new shops in 2010, but an interim statement this week revealed this has now been revised to 50-60, doubling its historic rate of new store openings.

From 2011 it plans to open at least 70 net new shops per annum. It also hopes to double its shop refits to 120 per annum from 2010.

Sales performance in the 42 weeks ending 17 October 2009 rose steadily, up 3.8%, with like-for-like sales up 1%. However, for the first 16 weeks of the second half, like-for-like sales were up only 0.2%.

In order to fulfil its plans for expansion and ensure an effective distribution network, Greggs said it planned to build an additional new bakery to support growth in the south, as well as replace its bakery in Twickenham and extend other bakeries “to facilitate greater expansion than previously planned”.

ABP announces acquisition of Chitty plant

Anglo Beef Processors (ABP) has announced the acquisition of the Chitty Food Group’s abattoir and boning plant in Guidlford, Surrey

ABP said that the acquisition would enhance its reach into the south of England and allow it to increase its coverage, enabiling it to work more closely with producers in the Home Counties.

It added that cattle suppliers will immediately benefit from the conditions operated for farmers by ABP, including arrangements for beef producers to receive payment for their cattle on the day they are weighed.

Tom Kirwan, managing director of ABP, said: “We have wanted to expand our services to beef farmers in the south of England for some time, and the two acquisitions this year give us additional capacity of around 1,500 cattle a week, as well as the best geographical spread of facilities in the industry.

“We already have some very strong relations with beef farmers in the south of England and we are pleased that, in future, we will be able to process their animals within their own region. Our strategic approach to regional facilities provides both financial and environmental benefits to the beef sector.

A spokesperson for ABP stressed that the acquisition is only of the Guildford abattoir and boning hall and not of the Chitty Group as a whole. It is not yet known whether there will be redundancies at the plant as a result of the facility changing hands.

ABP has invested heavily in plants, facilities and machinery over the past decade, including an £80m investment in retail packaging plants in Doncaster and Ellesmere, Shropshire and the recent purchase of an abattoir in Sturminster Newton earlier this year.

The company is already one of the largest beef companies in Europe, slaughtering and processing in excess of 300,000 cattle per year in the UK and listing major retailers and foodservice operations among its clients.

“The continued expansion of our abattoir and processing units throughout the UK demonstrates again ABP’s commitment to the UK beef industry,” said Kirwan. “Alongside the recent acquisitions, we have plans to continue to expand our beef operations through an ongoing investment programme.”

2 Sisters “race row” escalates

Unite has accused 2 Sisters of “behaviour more akin to a 19th-century mill owner” after the poultry processor sacked 59 people from its Smethwick site.

2 Sisters sacked 54 workers earlier this month for taking part in a wildcat strike on 2 September. Unite has branded the dismissal as “unfair” and claimed that the protests were triggered after 2 Sisters failed to discipline a security guard over an alleged incident of racial abuse.

The union organised a demonstration over the sackings outside Birmingham’s main M&S store on Saturday (17 October), claiming that, as a major customer of 2 Sisters, the retailer should intervene. 2 Sisters sacked the union convenor and four shop stewards on the eve of the demonstration.

Jack Dromey, deputy general secretary of Unite, said: “The disgraceful sacking of 59 workers was triggered by a security guard hurling racist abuse at a shop steward. The shop steward was disciplined, but no action was taken against the security guard. If racist abuse is unacceptable on the dance floor, then there can never be BNP language on the shop floor.”

2 Sisters insisted that it acted fairly over an “illegal and unconstitutional strike”. The processor issued a statement describing Unite’s allegations as “so wholly inaccurate and grossly misleading that they are tantamount to bullying”.

2 Sisters’ public relations executive Peter King said it was “absurd” to claim that racism was at the heart of the action and insisted that 2 Sisters would not tolerate any kind of racial discrimination or abuse. He said that the alleged incident was “thoroughly investigated” and that the security guard, who is also a member of Unite, was disciplined for foul language, but “there was no evidence of racial abuse.”

King described Unite’s implication that M&S was involved in the dispute as “ridiculous” and pointed out that M&S is not, and has never been, a customer of 2 Sister’s Birmingham site. “M&S has no responsibility or obligation to this site, as it is not involved in any way. Unite is misleading the public by using M&S’ brand to garner press interest in this story,” he said.

Ranjit Singh, chief executive of the 2 Sisters Group, added: “This is yet another example of Unite attempting to bully us and our customers. This case has been thoroughly investigated and all decisions have been communicated to all concerned.

“Despite this, Unite’s continued aggressive approach to this case threatens our future in Birmingham and that of the 500 workforce that we employ at this site.”

Police investigate Chitty over fraud allegations

Chitty Foods is under investigation by Surrey Police over allegations that it mislabelled meat at its former Guildford abattoir.

Industry sources have suggested that the alleged offences could include falsely labelling meat as organic and labelling imported meat as British.

A spokesperson for Surrey Police, which is carrying out the investigation in partnership with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Defra, refused to confirm the exact nature of the allegations, but said the FSA was keen to stress that the incident did not raise any food safety concerns for consumers.

The Guildford abattoir and boning plant at the centre of the investigation has recently been acquired by Anglo Beef Processors (ABP) as part of its expansion into the South East.

A spokesperson for ABP said that it was not involved in the investigation because the allegations were made prior to its takeover of the abattoir. He stressed that the acquistion of the site covered only the facilities and did not include any liabilities associated with the existing business there.

Andrew Chitty, owner of the Chitty Food Group, has so far refused to comment on the investigation.

Food industry “can lead way for UK”

A rallying cry to food firms to lead the way for UK plc has been issued by skills chief Jack Matthews after Improve won a new mandate to continue delivering strategic reforms and solutions to help drive up industry performance and productivity

Improve, the sector skills council for food and drink manufacturing and associated supply chains, has just been relicensed by the government. Chief executive Matthews said: “Since Improve was created five years ago to represent the whole of the UK food and drink industry, the backing and commitment of employers and the support of learning providers have allowed us to place our industry at the very forefront of innovation in skills.

“Working together with our employers, Improve has achieved real, tangible results for our industry. We have driven the reform of Apprenticeships, qualifications and training across the UK, established a pioneering and highly successful National Skills Academy for Food and Drink Manufacturing, and as a result have increased the total amount of vocational learning undertaken and raised the levels of accredited skills achieved. This in turn has contributed to the sectors’ increased efficiency and productivity. The government has praised this work and has now given Improve a clear and unequivocal mandate for it to continue to benefit food and drink businesses.

“Among our most recent successes, we have seen registrations for the new-style NVQ in Food Manufacture account for nearly half of all manufacturing and processing NVQs being undertaken, with this reported to be the fastest growing of all processing NVQs.In Scotland, we have broken down a funding barrier to secure an unprecedented allocation of £1.5 million from the government for 656 new Modern Apprenticeship places – up from just 15 funded places a year ago.

“This is very good news for the food and drink industry, which is now seen as a leader of the pack in skills development.

“We have achieved a lot in five years, but now is the time to raise our game further still and position ourselves as an industry that can consistently lead the way for UK plc on a global basis.

“Our mission is to achieve world-class skills for a world-class sector, and by increasing our engagement with employers we plan to go on increasing the level of skills and the number of people developing their skills at all levels in the industry. We aim to help increase productivity for everyone from Apprentices to senior managers, and to continue addressing the particular needs in food science and technology to close skills gaps and reduce unfilled vacancies.

“We will make all of this easier to achieve by introducing the first employer-developed system of awards for unit-based skills. They will effectively be the industry’s first common currency for skills. It will allow employees to accumulate building blocks of skills awards that can meet their specific needs while also forming the basis of longer term personal development, contributing towards many different career pathways, and counting towards accredited national qualifications.

“Added to this we will make learning more accessible to all by expanding our successful National Skills Academy for Food and Drink Manufacturing and establishing more academy centres in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales in addition to the network of academy providers already developing throughout the English regions.

“With more input from more employers I believe we can achieve these aims quickly, making the food and drink industry an exemplar for UK plc, attracting higher-calibre recruits, achieving faster career progressions for employees, and delivering increased productivity and increased profitability.”

Responding to the news that Improve had been relicensed, Angela Coleshill, HR director of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), said: “FDF is delighted to hear the news that Improve has been relicensed. We are in full support of the work they have being doing and look forward to continuing to work closely to deliver for our sector.

“As the largest manufacturing sector in the UK, we are proud that our sector skills council has been recognised for the quality of its delivery and see this decision as a real vote of confidence for its past achievements and plans for the future. In order for our sector to compete globally and sustain it for delivery of future food needs, we need to continue to make strides in the field of improved technology, innovation and improved productivity. The only way that can be achieved is through an effective, highly skilled and efficient workforce.

“Much of Improve’s work has been about providing the tools to enable the sector to deliver both in the medium and long term. We all have a huge role to play in jointly promoting the sector as a career destination of choice for young people. There are a wide range of skills needed in the food and drink manufacturing industry with long standing shortages of food scientists, food technologists, and engineers, in particular. More generally, the industry is continuing to try and strengthen, where necessary, its workforce’s basic management skills, and IT skills across the board. We will be working jointly with Improve to lobby to get the sector recognised by government as a priority sector in industrial policy and strategy and supporting what is a British success story in the midst of the economic downturn.”