FoodDrinkEurope tackles trade barriers in US

16-May-2012 - EU trade group FoodDrinkEurope teamed up with the European Commission (EC) on a delegation to the US at the end of last week aimed at building stronger export links.

Carbery explores flavours for ageing consumers

15-May-2012 - Carbery is exploring the potential of flavours to make protein-fortified products more palatable to ageing consumers, according to head of research and development Aine Hallihan.

Glanbia dismisses Dairy Ireland spin-off ‘speculation’

10-May-2012 - Demand for whey products underpinned a strong first quarter for Glanbia with analysts hailing an ‘encouraging start’ to the year, but the firm has dismissed talk that it plans to spin-off its Dairy Ireland business as 'speculation'.

Spanish researchers spell out 2020 consumer food trends

04-May-2012 - ‘Eater-tainment’, ‘SuperSense’ and ‘Food Telling’ are among the food consumer trends predicted to be prominent in 2020 by researchers at Spain’s Azti-Tecnalia research and development centre.

WEEKLY COMMENT

Fine words and cartoon cows: ‘ambitious’ UK dairy vision must be backed by cash

25-Apr-2012 - Another day, another food industry ‘vision document’ complete with funky cartoon cows. It seems that everyone is falling over themselves to get in on the act with such publications, especially in regard to everyone’s favourite food industry buzz word ‘sustainability’.

Nestlé’s €9bn Pfizer buy may face anti-trust trouble

23-Apr-2012 - Nestlé’s $11.85bn (€9.02bn) acquisition of Pfizer Nutrition may run into anti-trust hurdles after it beat Danone to the drug giant’s global infant nutrition business, according to an analyst.

'Disappointing' Tesco contract loss not linked to new dairy closure plans: Dairy Crest

17-Apr-2012 - Dairy Crest has announced the loss of its Tesco milk contract but says this bears no relation to new plans to close two dairies, as it cuts costs to sustain profitability in an 'extremely challenging' liquid milk market.

A2C aims at 'pan Asian' infant formula business via new Synlait Milk partnership

16-Apr-2012 - New Zealand firm A2 Corporation (A2C) has announced a strategic agreement whereby Synlait Milk will manufacture A2's branded nutritional powders on the firm's behalf as A2C aims at lucrative Chinese and Southeast Asian markets.

Whey protein lent healthy ageing opportunity with new research: Volac

12-Apr-2012 - Europe’s largest whey protein supplier Volac claims that new scientific research backs the ingredient’s healthy ageing benefits for older consumers, and the need for ‘tailored nutrition strategies’ to meet their demands.

Biocatalysts enzyme taps into new and growing Halal/Kosher cheese market

30-Mar-2012 - Enzyme manufacturer, Biocatalysts, has broadened its microbial dairy enzyme range with a product designed as an alternative to porcine pancreatin, a pig pancreas derivative, for dairy flavour applications.

‘Price battle’ hits Fonterra consumer sales in Australia, NZ

30-Mar-2012 - A retail price war in Australia and New Zealand hit Fonterra’s consumer sales hard in the first half of 2012, while the firm said a strategy refresh will see it refocus its efforts on lucrative Chinese, Asian and Latin American markets.

Danone injects more capital into ‘receptive’ Russia

28-Mar-2012 - Following its merger with local dairy player Unimilk in 2010, Danone will invest a further US$700m in Russia over the next five to seven years, aimed at driving capacity and growth.

DISPATCHES FROM PACKFORUM: CHEESE 360

'Cheese is like the Olympics: firms must go higher, longer, faster' - Chr. Hansen

23-Mar-2012 - Cash-strapped consumers demanding value mean that cheese producers need to reinvent themselves in order to 'produce more for less', according to Chr. Hansen's managing director of cheese cultures, Søren Herskind, while private label growth in Europe should not be seen as an opportunity rather than a threat.

Starter culture can extract more curd from milk, increasing cheese capacity – DuPont

23-Mar-2012 - DuPont Nutrition and Health claims that its new cheese starter culture will ‘boost capacity without increasing milk consumption’, by saving protein commonly lost in whey waste when producers use other cultures.

News in brief

Sensient Flavors hopes customers will melt at new seasonal ice cream concepts

21-Mar-2012 - Sensient Flavors has launched new ice cream concepts that allow manufacturers to offer products that fit with seasonal consumer preferences, using fruit preparations with a 'fresh and healthy' appeal and added cookie, meringue and coffee bits.

New dairy analog antibiotic could improve food safety, US researchers find

20-Mar-2012 - Researchers at the University of Illinois say they have discovered a new antibiotic that, as an analog of milk peptide nisin, has potential for use both as a food preservative and for treatment of bovine mastitis.

Unilever cranks up open innovation activities

20-Mar-2012 - Unilever is looking for new ideas to help it reduce the sodium levels in its food products by a further 15 to 20% without compromising taste - just one ‘want’ on its newly launched open innovation platform.

Goat’s milk protein gets EFSA all clear for infant formula use

19-Mar-2012 - The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published a scientific opinion concluding that protein from goat’s milk is a suitable protein source for infant and follow-on formulae, provided the final product complies with compositional criteria.

Nestlé India faces charge for alleged infant formula labelling law violations

19-Mar-2012 - Nestlé India has been charged by a court in Delhi for allegedly violating laws relating to the correct labeling of infant formula products and for associated failings regarding advertisements in women’s magazines, claims that the company denies.

News in brief

Roquette boosts GDL production capacity for cheese-making ops

16-Mar-2012 - French company Roquette has built a new production facility in Italy that it said would fuel growing world demand for Glucono-Delta-Lactone (GDL), which is used in cheese-making applications.