Weekly Roundup: Barry Callebaut’s Wieze factory to restart production, Redefine Meat expands plant-based offerings

15 Jul 2022 --- In industry news this week, Barry Callebaut has revealed that the cleaning of the chocolate lines affected by the entry of salmonella-positive lecithin in its Belgium factory is progressing well. Meanwhile, Kellogg’s and Nickelodeon brought nostalgic green slime cereal to US consumers, and International Delight and Dr. Seuss Enterprises launched The Grinch cookies ahead of the festive season in December. 

In brief: Business moves
Barry Callebaut’s cleaned chocolate lines are foreseen to restart production as of early August 2022, with a gradual ramp-up to full capacity over the following weeks. The Swiss chocolate manufacturer detected on June 27, 2022, at its Wieze factory in Belgium a salmonella-positive chocolate production lot and quickly identified a lecithin batch from a supplier as the root cause. In response, the company halted all chocolate production at the Wieze factory on June 29, 2022, as a precautionary measure, which prevented affected chocolate products from entering the retail food chain. 

Bakery and patisserie ingredients player Puratos partnered with Future Food-Tech to run the Innovation Challenge for start-ups at the London summit, September 22-23. Puratos joined forces with Future Food-Tech to search for early to mid-stage food-tech innovators developing solutions to modulate the gut microbiome and its link to physical health and mental well-being.Barry Callebaut's Wieze factory to restart its first chocolate production lines in August.

Lifestyle and experiential hospitality brand Selina partnered with Redefine Meat to bring more plant-based offerings onto menus. Redefine Meat’s New-Meat has been adopted by commercially distinguished chefs because the product quality is comparable to high-quality animal meat in taste, texture and aroma. 

The Yumy Candy Company, a publicly traded low sugar, plant-based confectionery company in Canada, rolled out into 408 Walmart locations in the region. 

Fyto, the company leveraging automation to unlock the power of specialized aquatic plants, raised US$15 million in series A funding. The round was led by GV (formerly Google Ventures), including existing investors AgFunder, Refactor Capital, First Star Ventures and Bolt.

In brief: NPD
Kellogg’s partnered with Nickelodeon to create Apple Jacks Slime cereal featuring sweetened, toasted orange and green loops with notes of green apple flavor. The green flecks that appear once milk is added are a fun feature that turns the milk a vibrant shade of Nickelodeon Slime green. The cereal will be available for a limited time at retailers in the US.Green flecks appear when milk is added to Kellogg's Apple Jacks Slime cereal making it a vibrant shade of Nickelodeon Slime green. 

Morinaga America launched a new Hi-Chew candy with 30% less sugar in two classic fruit flavors, mango and strawberry, as part of its better-for-you product line-up. 

Coffee creamer brand International Delight partnered with Dr. Seuss Enterprises to create a festive line of Christmas holiday creamers featuring The Grinch. The range consists of gingerbread cookie dough, peppermint mocha and frosted sugar cookies.

In brief: Acquisitions
Global technology solutions provider JBT acquired Alco-food-machines (alco), a further food processing solutions and production lines provider. Alco-food-machines produce everything from noodle sauces and pizza to convenience and snack foods.

In brief: Awards and recognition
UK-based botanical extracts manufacturer Blue Sky Botanics is runner-up for the 2022 Sustainable Ingredient Award for their FairWild Baobab Fruit Purée. The FairWild Foundation champions the positive social and environmental benefits that sustainable wild-harvesting of natural products can deliver to rural communities worldwide.Blue Sky Botanics has been named runner up in the 2022 Sustainable Ingredient Award for its FairWild Baobab Fruit Purée (Credit: Blue Sky Botanics). 

McDonald’s rewarded its Future 22 leaders with US$10,000 through its Black & Positively Golden movement. The grants were awarded to help further the community-driven causes of the winning change leaders. 

In brief: Other highlights
The board of directors of the African Development Bank Group approved a €121 million (US$121.2 million) loan to Senegal for the implementation of an emergency agricultural program that will benefit 850,000 small farmers, 35% of whom are women.

By Inga de Jong

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