Food safety
New meat culture for cooked ham
Natural ingredients supplier Chr Hansen has launched a new meat culture for cooked ham. The Bactoferm CS-300 culture is also suitable for other cured and cooked meats as well as bacon and fermented sausages like salami.“The main advantage of the two selected bacterial strains used in this blend is their ability to provide a mild, […]
Food container demand set to soar
US demand for food containers is set to rise by 2.5 per cent a year to reach more than 300billion units – valued at $25billion -within four years, according to a new study from research firm The Freedonia Group. The report Food Containers: Rigid & Flexible predicts that the growth in demand will be fuelled […]
EU go-ahead for lycopene use in foods
European Commission approval for the use of several lycopene forms in foods looks set to significantly expand the market for the tomato-based antioxidant now that it is no longer restricted to food supplement applications. Offerings from Vitatene, BASF, DSM and Lycored have all won Novel Foods approval, making the market ripe for growth, according to […]
Thumbs-up for new salmonella detection kit
A new, rapid detection kit to identify salmonella species in food has received approval from international accreditation body the Association of Analytical Communities (AOAC). The Salmonella Rapid Culture Method, developed by Thermo Fisher Scientific, is said to deliver highly accurate results in less than 48 hours compared with up to four days for other methods. […]
EFSA re-confirms aspartame safety
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has said there is no indication that aspartame causes cancer, following its assessment of a study that linked regular intake of the sweetener with an increased risk of certain cancers. EFSA’s panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources added to Food (ANS) was asked by the European Commission for […]
£10m boost for food waste facilities
The recent budget announcement of an additional £10 million funding for the development of reprocessing facilities for food waste has been welcomed by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme). The funding will, it says, enable new composting and anaerobic digestion facilities to be built – processing over 300,000 additional tonnes of food waste every year. […]
UK snack food firm sells loss-making subsidiary
UK snack food and confectionery firm Zetar has sold a loss-making snacks business to the unit’s chief executive in a deal worth almost £2.7 million. The Baked Snacks Company Ltd (BSC) has gone to Mobeen Mehdi, following a management buy-out by his team. Mehdi has paid £590,000 up front, with the balance due over the […]
Ulrick & Short to steer a new path
UK clean label ingredients developer, supplier and manufacturer Ulrick & Short has revealed plans to launch a range of new nutritionally beneficial ingredients later this year. The company has joined forces with Appetizing Innovation to prove the efficacy and legality of ingredients with specific health declarations, and to help the company take its first major […]
Green tea cheer for Tate & Lyle
Tate & Lyle has sealed a deal for the exclusive EMEA distribution rights of a new green tea extract from tea and coffee sourcing company A Holliday & Co. Called Teawell 95, the extract has a 95% concentration of the catechin Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) – among the highest purities available on the market today. EGCG is […]
Unilever unveils ‘holistic’ salt reduction strategy
Unilever has announced the launch of a global salt reduction strategy across 22,000 of its food products. By 2010, the company hopes to achieve a daily intake of 6g of salt per person – as recommended by the Food Standards Agency – and is targeting the World Health Organisation recommendation of a 5g maximum by […]
New food fraud squad
A new food fraud division will support local authorities in taking swift action to stop illegal activity, as well as helping them uncover cases where consumers have been misled, says the UK’s Food Standards Agency. The Food Fraud Advisory Unit (FFAU) is a group of 16 officials with extensive skills and experience in carrying out […]
Cargill shelves omega-3 offering
Cargill has stopped work on its nascent fish oil-sourced omega-3 offering less than two years after its high-profile launch. According to a spokesman for the company, the unbranded ingredient is no longer under development as Cargill is focusing its healthy nutrient efforts on some of its other offerings such as phytosterols, inulin, alternative sweeteners and […]
Heart-warming win
DSM’s blood pressure management ingredient tensVida (formerly known as TensGuard) recently won the NutrAward for the most innovative, evidence-based health and nutrition ingredient. “As a well known risk factor for coronary heart disease, kidney failure and stroke, high blood pressure is a major global concern, says Luc van-der-Heyden, business manager heart health, DSM.“TensVida represents a […]
M&S boss opens new food manufacturing centre
Sir Stuart Rose, chief executive of Marks & Spencer, has officially opened the National Centre for Food Manufacturing at the University of Lincoln’s Holbeach campus. The new £3.5 million centre in southern Lincolnsire is a state-of-the-art food packaging and processing training factory for food sector employees. The centre will also support the university’s developing agenda […]