The market for colours is shifting to favour natural colours, but there is still a big need for certain synthetic colours, according to market experts at RTS resources. (Foodmanufacturing.co.uk) Market growth The colours market is estimated by RTS to be worth USD $1.7billion, with natural colours said to make up USD $0.65 billion. Speaking at the HiE conference, Steve Rice of RTS said the colours market was an “important but changing market”, noting ... read more →
Europe’s largest plastic bottle recycling facility is set to officially reopen its doors today following a fire at the UK based site last year. (Foodmanufacturing.co.uk) The AWS Eco Plastics Lincolnshire-based plant can sort 100,000 tonnes of mixed plastic bottles per annum, which it claims represents 40 per cent of the UK’s plastic waste. The company said that, in addition to sorting and cleaning the bottles, it will also recycle, on the same... read more →
Asda is aiming to complete the roll-out of a comprehensive programme to introduce new case sizes across its supply chain by the end of 2011. (Foodmanufacturing.co.uk) The project, which is outlined in a new ECR UK waste prevention guide launched at last week’s IGD supply chain summit in London, is designed to improve availability, increase range and minimise waste, said the firm. “Asda has traditionally had one standard case size per product irrespective... read more →
Asda has identified more ways to increase the retained shelf-life of its chilled food offer by looking again at purchase order cut off times for suppliers and allocation cut off times for its depots. (Foodmanufacturing.co.uk) The move marks the latest phase of a project – outlined in a new ECR UK waste prevention guide – to reduce waste in Asda’s chilled supply chain. “A review of purchase order cut-off times for suppliers and allocation cut-off... read more →
Members of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers’ Union (BFAWU) at the Fox’s Biscuits factories at Kirkham and Batley have accepted a revised pay offer from Northern Foods, ending the threat of industrial action. (Foodmanufacturing.co.uk) BFAWU representative Ian Hodson told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “The company made an improved offer and we have accepted it. The offer was higher than the 1.5% originally on the table.” A Northern Foods spokesman said... read more →
Northern Foods chief executive Stefan Barden is to take the helm at the UK arm of foodservice giant Brakes. (Foodmanufacturing.co.uk) Barden, who has led Northern Foods for four years, will step down from his post next Tuesday (November 30) leaving finance director Simon Herrick to lead the firm as acting ceo as it prepares to merge with rival Greencore. Should the merger progress to completion, Simon Herrick will then become group finance director of Essenta... read more →
Significant progress on defining action levels/thresholds for the unintentional presence of allergens such as peanuts, milk and eggs is expected in 2012. (Foodmanufacturing.co.uk) Having clearly defined action levels for ‘may contain’ and ‘free from’ labelling would bring significant benefits for food manufacturers and retailers, enforcement agencies and consumers, Food Standards Agency allergy chief Sue Hattersley told FoodManufacture.co.uk. “There... read more →
Unilever reduced its range by more than 1,200 stock keeping units (SKUs) last year as part of a bid to cut its long tail, prioritise top sellers and reduce waste, supply chain bosses have revealed. (Foodmanufacturing.co.uk) Details of the project are outlined in the case studies section of a new ECR UK guide launched at last week’s IGD supply chain summit in London. The range rationalisation removed a huge amount of complexity in Unilever’s supply... read more →
