Sustainability

 

Coca-Cola and Heinz in landmark packaging partnership

The Coca-Cola Company and Heinz have announced a strategic US partnership that will enable Heinz to produce its ketchup bottles using Coca-Cola’s innovative PlantBottle packaging. The PET plastic bottles are made partially from plants and have a lower reliance on non-renewable resources compared with traditional PET plastic bottles. The partnership is an industry first, and […]

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Spotlight on CFP

EU Commissioner Maria Damanaki met with the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) Seafood group recently as part of an industry alliance pressing for radical reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The alliance, which includes FDF, WWF and retailers, has put together a common position calling for more sustainable fisheries management policies and the elimination […]

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Palsgaard invests in new emulsifier facility

Danish food ingredients supplier Palsgaard has revealed that it’s to build an emulsifier factory in Asia. “Preliminary investigations and negotiations are now at such an advanced stage that we feel comfortable to announce our plans,” says company chairman Birger Brix. “In order to satisfy the increasing needs and demands of our customers for high quality […]

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Food and drink manufacturers ‘performing strongly’

The food and drink manufacturing sector is still performing strongly, despite uncertainty among companies about the state of the economy, according to a new survey. The business confidence survey of Food and Drink Federation members shows a strong performance in the third quarter of the year – with almost 60% recording increased sales and only […]

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Mankind must overcome GM fear, warns chief scientist

Mankind must overcome its fear of GM crops if it’s to survive a global hunger epidemic within the next 40 years, says the government’s chief science adviser. According to Professor Sir John Beddington, issues such as swelling population levels, energy shortages and climate change will force widespread starvation if modern farming techniques aren’t embraced. “If […]

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Italy bans use of plastic bags

A ban on the use of plastic shopping bags in Italy has come into force after it was revealed that shoppers in the country previously used about 20 billion bags – about one-fifth of the total used in Europe. Retailers, however, have warned that the ban, which came into force on 1 January, could cause […]

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Faerch Plast cuts CPET tray weight

Danish food packaging manufacturer Faerch Plast has reduced the weight of its CPET (crystalline polyethylene) containers by an average of 11% since 2008, putting it on track to meet its environmental objective of ‘achieving a general weight reduction of produced items of 30%’ by 2013. “Clever design together with improved production processes has helped us […]

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Milestone for world-first recycling label

A world-first on-pack label which lets shoppers know which packaging can be recycled has signed up its 100th company. The milestone triggers the start of a public awareness campaign aimed at slashing the amount of recyclable packaging heading to landfill. Birdseye, Innocent, Henkel, GlaxoSmithKline and WH Smith have joined a string of major brands and […]

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Summit to mark launch of new food qualification

Productivity, sustainability and training will top the agenda at a forthcoming summit to discuss the application of lean manufacturing in the food and drink industry. The Increasing Productivity in the Food and Drink Sector conference is being hosted by Improve and the National Skills Academy in London on 3 December. As well as exploring current […]

Sterile robot cleans up

The new VP-G2 Sterile Robot developed by Denso is now available from UK-based AA Robotics. With a maximum payload of 2kg, the robot has been specially designed for use in cleanrooms where there is a requirement for sterile manufacturing, processing and packaging. Four different models of the VP-G2 robot are available depending upon the environment […]

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Food and Drink Technology