01 Oct 2018 --- Cargill’s net profit rose 5 percent during the summer months, but its adjusted earnings were flat as only one of its four business units reported a gain. The only one of the privately held company’s business units to show a gain this summer was Origination & Processing, which includes the trading of grains and other commodities.
01 Oct 2018 --- Japan’s Fuji Oil Group has announced the establishment of Fuji Europe Africa BV in the Netherlands “as part of its mission to create the future of delicious and healthy foods.” Fuji Europe Africa BV will be responsible for creating new businesses based on its portfolio of plant-based solutions, including ingredients for meat analogs and highly functional ingredients. It will also expand its European cocoa-based fillings and compounds, oils and fats business, which is based in Ghent, Belgium under the name Fuji Oil Europe, through enhancing this business’s core competencies.
01 Oct 2018 --- Brenntag and Cargill have reached an agreement, making Brenntag the exclusive distribution partner for Cargill’s industrial cocoa and chocolate in the Central Eastern European (CEE) region. The distribution agreement includes Cargill’s leading Gerkens cocoa powder brand, as well as its broad chocolate range, which includes a variety of chocolate inclusions, coatings and fillings.
01 Oct 2018 --- Leading provider of value-adding vegetable oils & fats, AAK has inaugurated its new Customer Innovation Center in Singapore to further strengthen its capabilities and customer co-development approach in the Southeast Asian market. The company has similar centers across the world in which it works closely with customers to develop value-adding vegetable oil solutions.
01 Oct 2018 --- Today marks World Vegetarian Day and October 1 is the beginning of a month-long awareness program focused on meat-free eating, the growth and trends within the vegetarian space and how product development is growing in global markets. Plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy, vegetarian and vegan product innovation is abundant to keep pace with consumer demand.
28 Sep 2018 --- As the Competition Markets Authority moves into phase 2 of its investigation into the planned Sainsbury’s-Asda merger, the watchdog says there is potential for Substantial Lessening of Competition (SLC) in 463 areas. This has led to questions over possible store closures in some areas, however, job losses and shutdowns have been previously ruled out.
28 Sep 2018 --- In business news this week, Brenntag North America Inc. has announced the grand opening of a new Food & Nutrition Application & Development Center in Allentown, PA and Kraft Heinz Canada has completed the acquisition of the assets of Ethical Bean Coffee. As traceability efforts intensify, Land O’Lakes SUSTAIN has announced its plan to roll out the Truterra Insights Engine, an interactive on-farm digital platform that will help farmers advance their stewardship goals.
27 Sep 2018 --- McDonald’s US claims to have reached a milestone moment, the fast food giant is scrapping all artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives from artificial sources from its top-selling classic burger portfolio. But the pickle still contains an artificial preservative so customers have to skip it if they want a totally artificial free burger.
27 Sep 2018 --- Failing to reach a Brexit deal could end up costing £9.3bn (US$12.2bn) a year as food retailers and their supply chain face a mass of additional tariffs as a result of the UK not negotiating a trading deal with the European Union. A new report from Barclays calculates widespread disruption and price hikes with the “Hard Brexit” model forecast to create an average tariff of 27 percent for food and drink supply chains which is significantly more than the 3-4 percent levy that would hit non-food products.
27 Sep 2018 --- Ingredion has announced US$60 million of planned investments to grow its specialty food ingredients business in Asia-Pacific. Beginning earlier this year, the company commenced expansion of its modified and clean-label specialty starch capabilities in tapioca, waxy corn and rice.
27 Sep 2018 --- Rapidly pinpointing potential food contamination is one of the major virtues of blockchain – that’s why US retail giant Walmart is lauding the benefits of tracking lettuce and spinach through the supply chain using this burgeoning technology. The move is aimed at seriously ramping up food safety following US outbreaks of E. coli in romaine lettuce and salmonella in a number of products from eggs to breakfast cereal.
26 Sep 2018 --- Brill Inc., a CSM Bakery Solutions company, is now a member of the North American Sustainable Palm Oil Network (NASPON) joining forces with a number of other top companies to reaffirm their commitment to sourcing sustainable palm oil.
26 Sep 2018 --- Arla Foods is tapping into the increasing demand for healthy, natural products with the launch of a new fruit yogurt innovation. Driven by the dairy co-operative’s desire to create products with no added or unnecessary ingredients, Arla Bio Nur consists of only organic yogurt (75 percent) and organic fruit (25 percent), offering consumers a healthier alternative to sugar-laden yogurt. The line has just hit the shelves in the German market.
26 Sep 2018 --- Major Dutch snack manufacturer brand Mora is joining forces with De Vegetarische Slager (The Vegetarian Butcher). The first products, including a vegetarian croquette, will be available early next year in supermarkets, company canteens, cafeterias & hospitality establishments. The distinctive feature of the vegetarian version of this iconic snack is that it’s “so close to the original, you can barely tell the difference.”
26 Sep 2018 --- Avebe is increasing the advance payment for potatoes to €67 a ton to mitigate the impact of extreme drought and high temperatures. The Dutch potato starch manufacturer is bracing itself for a substantially lower than usual harvest this season as drought and high temperatures have battered potato yields all over Europe which will lead to a decline in the availability of potato products.
25 Sep 2018 --- A week after the first strawberries were found with needles inside them in Australia, in a dangerous food tampering act which has shocked the nation, needles have also been found in New Zealand strawberries.
25 Sep 2018 --- Nearly 100 suppliers, manufacturers, retailers and restaurant chains have signed up a landmark food waste roadmap, pledging to halve food waste from farm to fork by 2025. Described as a groundbreaking, world-first initiative, the commitment includes efforts to drive down food waste and publish data in a bid to become much more transparent and tackle how much waste companies are producing.
25 Sep 2018 --- Agropur Cooperative has announced that it is shutting its plant in Saint-Damase, in Quebec’s Montérégie region. Major investments were needed at the plant. “In view of the inability to reach a long-term agreement with the plant’s employees and the need to honor commitments to customers, Agropur had no choice but to reorganize its investments,” the company states. Operations at the plant will, therefore, be discontinued and it will close permanently in April 2019.
25 Sep 2018 --- HORN has signed a new distribution agreement with ISC Gums. HORN has been selected as ISC Gums’ specialty distributor in the Western US effective immediately. ISC Gums is a leading manufacturer of gum acacia and offers 100 percent natural ingredients manufactured in the US.
25 Sep 2018 --- Roquette has acquired a facility specialized in the extrusion of plant-based proteins. With this acquisition, the French-headquartered group wants to expand its range of premium textured plant-based ingredients for the global meat alternatives market.
