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Northern Foods has adjourned shareholder meetings scheduled for today to vote on the proposed merger with Greencore. (www.foodmanufacture.co.uk) The move will give Greencore more time to come up with a counter offer in the wake of Ranjit Boparan’s £342m offer for Northern Foods, which was tabled on January 21 and secured a recommendation from Northern Foods’ board. Northern Foods said it had decided to delay the meetings following consultation... read more →

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has been urged by experts in the field and members of its own Board to exercise caution in its use of ‘intelligent software’ to predict emerging food safety risks. (Foodmanufacturing.co.uk) The FSA plans to use more co-ordinated intelligence gathering and horizon scanning, including statistical analysis and intelligent software called Memex patriarch, to make it more effective. Its existing incident classification... read more →

Bakkavör has earmarked its Caledonian Produce site at Bo,ness, West Lothian, for expansion to ensure it has sufficient capacity to meet seasonal fluctuations in demand. (http://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Manufacturing/Bakkavoer-earmarks-Caledonian-Produce-site-for-expansion) By Elaine Watson, 31-Jan-2011 The site, which employs about 900 staff plus additional seasonal staff, makes ready-to-eat snack salads and prepared potatoes for Marks & Spencer. A... read more →

Upmarket chocolate maker Montezuma’s has doubled capacity at its chocolate factory in Chichester with the installation of a new depositor line. (Foodmanufacturing.co.uk) The firm, which made a name for itself by developing chocolates and truffles using unusual flavours such as salt, geranium oil and mandarin, is also experimenting with new flavours from aniseed to traditional English herbs and fruits as it works on new products for 2011, co-founder... read more →

AF Blakemore has pumped £3.5m into a new temperature-controlled fresh meat cutting plant in Hilton Cross, South Staffordshire. (Foodmanufacturing.co.uk) The business has been relocated from the Long Acres Industrial Estate in Walsall and would allow the firm to sock a wider range of products and improve efficiencies, said trading director Richard Brownjohn. “This is a huge, long-term investment in Blakemore Fresh Foods and will be a key factor in our... read more →

The consultation over the proposed closure of Headland Foods’ Flint frozen ready meals factory in Flint will continue under Headland’s new owner Kerry Group. (Foodmanufacturing.co.uk) Staff at Headland Foods – which operates factories in Flint and Grimsby (pictured) making frozen own-label ready meals for the supermarkets – learned that Headland had been acquired by Kerry Group just before Christmas. However, the deal did not affect proposals... read more →

Tate & Lyle could be vulnerable to a takeover by an industry rival such as Cargill, according to a lawyer specialising in food industry mergers and acquisitions. (Foodmanufacturing.co.uk) Speculation about US giant Cargill possibly bidding for UK-based Tate hit the wires on January 19, when City analyst Andy Ford at MF Global said in a note that he saw Cargill was a “potential bidder” for Tate. Tate’s share price soared to 576.5p as a result... read more →

US-based doughnut giant Krispy Kreme is opening its first UK manufacturing unit, as it bids to double its number of stores in the country within the next five years. (Foodmanufacturing.co.uk) Krispy Kreme UK has taken up a 10-year lease on a 5,392 sq ft production unit on Heywood, Manchester, which will create up to 40 jobs and house a manufacturing line and processing kitchen with the ability to produce 3,000 doughnuts per hour. Chief financial officer... read more →