News
LGC acquires Bio Senate
LGC has acquired the trade and assets of Bio Senate, a supplier of microbiology proficiency testing and reference materials based in Bury, UK. The business will be merged with LGC Standards, a division of LGC Group and a global supplier of reference materials and proficiency testing schemes. Bio Senate supplies a range of microbiology proficiency testing […]
Industry smashes apprenticeship target
Food and drink manufacturers in the UK have trebled the number of apprenticeships across the industry, beating an original target to double the number before the end of 2012. The Food and Drink Federation’s (FDF) President Jim Moseley announced the good news at FDF’s annual President’s Reception, which was also attended by the secretary of […]
Plastics recycling targets ‘overstretched’
BPI Films has warned that increased plastics recycling targets will increase costs and damage existing recovery infrastructure . The claim was made by BPI managing director Andrew Green at the launch of its new £2 million (€2.4m) co-extrusion line. “We have absolutely no issue with stretching recycling targets. Indeed, as the largest recycler of polythene film […]
Energy award success for low carbon innovation
Tesco and combined heat and power specialist Ener-G have won a major energy industry award for excellence in low carbon innovation. They received the Combined Heat and Power Association’s (CHPA) Innovation Award for developing the compact Ener-G Universal combined heat and power (CHP) system, which has been installed at 27 Tesco stores across the UK. […]
German firm gobbles up British snack brand
British snack brand KP Nuts has been sold to German company Intersnack for a reported £500 million (€616m). The firm, which also produces Hula Hoops and Skips, is being sold along with its UK factories and 1,500 staff. Intersnack, which owns a number of snack brands including Pom-Bear, Penn State and Percy Dalton’s, says it’s […]
Accolade for Sainsbury’s safety chief
Sainsbury’s head of product quality, safety and supplier performance has been presented with the Most Significant Contribution to Food Safety award by the Society of Food Hygiene and Technology (SOFHT). The award, won by Alec Kyriakidesis, is given to an individual who the SOFHT board believes has made ‘an outstanding contribution to championing food safety […]
Food firms urged to work together for slice of government cash
The opportunity for food businesses to make a united bid for a slice of a new £150 million (€184m) government training handout represents a defining moment for the sector, according to Justine Fosh, chief executive of the National Skills Academy for Food & Drink. Competition from other industries for the cash, including retail, will no […]
Chr Hansen expands Russian facilities
Chr Hansen has moved closer to its Russian customers with the opening of its Industry Technology Centre, and a major upgrade of its offices in Moscow. The firm has been present in the Russian market since 1998 and says its investment in new office facilities and the creation of an application laboratory will help it […]
Investment has cider firm fizzing
A three-year investment programme costing in excess of £10 million (€12m) has transformed a UK cider maker’s production facilities, delivering ‘the capacity and capability to out perform a buoyant cider sector’. Aston Manor’s new facility in Devon has increased production, and now packages and distributes four million pints of cider a week globally. “What we […]
Glanbia reveals plans for new US plant
Glanbia Nutritionals Ingredient Technologies, (GNIT) has announced that it’s to build a 40,000sq ft cereal ingredient processing facility in South Dakota, USA. The new plant will replace the company’s plant in Angusville, Manitoba, which was destroyed by fire in March this year. Glanbia Nutritionals entered the flax business when it purchased the former Pizzey’s Milling […]
Paragon bridges route-mapping gap
Paragon Software Systems has unveiled a new low bridge avoidance mapping option for all GB versions of its routing and scheduling optimisation software. The new NAVTEQ mapping functionality eliminates the need to enter bridge height data into Paragon manually, thus simplifying the creation of feasible transport plans that avoid low bridges on British roads when […]
July/August 2013
Confectionery Labelling Cartoning & sleeving Show Preview: Drinktec
Bleak times ahead for sector, says new research
Cost pressures for commodities and oil are continuing to fuel high inflation in the food and grocery sector, according to market research firm Verdict. While supermarkets are able to absorb some price increases, inflation is inevitable, says Verdict, with volume growth expected to remain worryingly low. “The outlook for the UK economy remains decidedly bleak, […]
Tetra Pak FSC label breaks 20 billion
Tetra Pak has announced that more than 20 billion of its packages sold around the world this year carried the label of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The label, which was carried on around 8.5 billion Tetra Pak packages in 2010, certifies that the paperboard used for the packaging material comes from responsibly managed forests […]