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). (foodmanufacture.co.uk) “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... read more →
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). (foodmanufacture.co.uk) 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... read more →
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,... read more →
Greggs plans to build an additional bakery in the south of England to support the proposed opening of 600 new stores. (bakeryinfo.co.uk) 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... read more →
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has reaffirmed its recommendation that bread or flour should be fortified with folic acid after considering updated information on folic acid and cancer from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN). (Bakeryinfo.co.uk) The recommendation to the chief medical officer (CMO) Sir Liam Donaldson means mandatory fortification is increasingly likely, but raises unanswered questions about how the proposal would be implemented,... read more →
More risk-based proportionate controls for meat are at least five years away, admit Food Standards Agency (FSA) scientists. The FSA will launch research projects later this year, working towards developing a risk-based regulatory regime for food which aims to protect public health and generate confidence in food. At its recent board meeting, the FSA endorsed the programme and confirmed it as a priority in its strategic plan for 2010–2015. FSA veterinary director... read more →
Asda and Sainsbury’s are under fire from UK beef bosses who have accused them of a lack of support for local production. The National Beef Association (NBA) said the most recent country-of-origin survey produced by the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board’s Meat Services (AHDB MS) team showed only 68% of fresh beef was British on Sainsbury’s shelves, while Asda stocked just 45%. (meatinfo.co.uk) The NBA praised Budgens, the Co-op, Lidl, Morrisons,... read more →
Food standards bosses have revealed more than 65% of poultry tested at retail level contains bacteria capable of food poisoning. (meatinfo.co.uk) A study by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) took more than 3,000 samples of fresh chicken from retail shelves and found campylobacter was present in 65% of the samples. However, salmonella was detected in just 6%. Campylobacter is the most common bacterial cause of food poisoning and is responsible for around 55,000... read more →
