Weekly Roundup: Nestlé expands vegan portfolio, Virtual queuing trialed for UK shoppers

31 Jul 2020 --- This week in business news, Chr. Hansen completed its UAS Labs acquisition. Nestlé’s Carnation condensed milk launched in a vegan format, made from oat and rice milk, while Sainsbury’s announced it will begin trials on an innovative virtual queuing app for UK shoppers. Meanwhile, rum looks set to be the spirit of the summer, with Waitrose reporting that sales are up 53 percent over the past twelve weeks. 

In brief: Business highlights
With the UAS Labs acquisition, Chr. Hansen further strengthens its microbial platform and Human Health business by moving into the space of multi-species, high-potency blends and broadening its product offering and customer base. Furthermore, the company is expanding its manufacturing footprint with two GMP facilities in the US, which will allow phasing of CAPEX projects over the coming years and reduce enterprise risk.

Clariant, a specialty chemical company, and Eta Bio, a company of the Pavlovi family, running a leading business in the agricultural sector in Bulgaria, have announced that a license agreement for Clariant’s Sunliquid cellulosic ethanol technology has been signed. Eta Bio has been recently established to construct, own and operate a full-scale commercial plant for the production of cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residues. For Clariant, its fourth license agreement keeps the momentum for its innovative and sustainable Sunliquid technology going and represents another significant step towards its commercialization.

Nestlé’s Carnation condensed milk launched in a vegan format, made from oat and rice milk.In brief: NPD
Nestlé has launched a new vegan alternative condensed milk into the iconic Carnation range from a blend of oat and rice flour. The Vegan Society certifies the milk as suitable for anyone following a vegan diet. The key baking ingredient, used in some of Carnation's recipes like banoffee pie and fudge, will go on sale with Ocado Morrisons and at Tesco in the UK and Ireland, in October. “Our new Vegan Condensed Milk Alternative has been in development for 18 months, bringing the plant-based, dairy-free trend straight into the kitchen for home baking. We have seen the desire to bake at home and experiment with new ingredients boom this year, with a 61 percent rise in sweet baking in March and April,” says Vittoria Simms, Marketing Lead for Dairy Brands UK.

In brief: Other highlights
UK-based retailer Sainsbury’s is trialing a new virtual queuing system to test whether the technology will help customers stay safe, save time and shop conveniently in stores. The trial, which will run via the app ufirst, will be live in five stores from next week and is the first time this technology has been tested in the UK. The initiative is the latest in Sainsbury’s initiatives focused on innovating and investing in digital response to the pandemic and changing customer shopping habits. The trial will run until mid-August and test how customers respond to such a solution and how it supports colleagues in managing queues and the flow of customers. It will also help Sainsbury’s respond quickly, should such a proposition need to be implemented at short notice in the event of a local lockdown, or scaled up if UK government guidance changes. 

The Good Food Institute (GFI) Brazil has partnered with the first university in the country, Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), to offer a postgraduate course focusing on cultivated meat. Entitled “Introduction to Cellular Animal Science,” this introductory course is designed for postgraduate students and professionals. This postgraduate cultivated meat course is one of the steps needed to build a pipeline of skilled professionals for the alternative protein sector both in Brazil and abroad. From innovative start-ups to major industry partnerships, Brazil is prioritizing alternative proteins and forging a path for other countries to follow.

GP Solutions, developer of GrowPods – innovative controlled environment indoor micro-farms, has released test results showing lettuce grown in their systems to be free of dangerous pathogens. Midwest Laboratories conducted the tests in Nebraska, and show zero levels of Salmonella, Listeria and E.coli. GP Solutions developed GrowPods so that farmers can grow ultra-pure, contaminant-free food. The company also operates its units and provides its super clean food to local markets and stores. According to the Centers for Disease Control, around 48 million people get sick each year from food. Leafy greens are a chief culprit, it flags.

A smart agriculture innovation developed by a John Innes Centre researcher has received recognition in a prestigious competition. Dr. Pawel Mikulski, a postdoctoral researcher at the John Innes Centre, reached the finals of the GROW Agri-Tech Business Plan Competition, held by Agri-Tech East and sponsored by Innovate UK. Dr. Mikulski’s innovation addresses the problem that current fertilizer use is not environmentally sustainable and generates high financial costs for the farmers. Therefore, it is challenging to assess nutrient deficiencies in growing plants in a precise and timely manner. AgriOptimizer addresses this problem using the plant’s molecular signature to precisely determine plant health issues at an early stage and create a fertilizer with a bespoke prescription. AgriOptimizer can also be used as a testing platform to assess general plant health status under treatments with new agrochemical products, including biostimulants.Online searches also suggest that the UK is embracing rum, with searches for the spirit up up 206 percent on Waitrose.com.

Johnnie Walker, Scotch whiskey brand, celebrates a 200-year milestone, and looks to the next 200 years of Scotch, with the announcement of four exclusive limited editions. Each of these 200th-anniversary releases – a new bottle design and three newly crafted whiskeys – is a “celebration of the journey, pioneering spirit and dedication to quality that was started by the founder, John Walker, in 1820.” 

Today rum is one of the fastest-growing spirits at UK high-end grocer Waitrose. No other spirit offers such a variety of styles and flavors or can be enjoyed in so many ways, making it the perfect bottle for home mixology, notes the supermarket which also reports a surge in demand for dark rum and white rum, with sales of 33 percent and 67 percent, respectively. Online searches also suggest that the nation is embracing the trend, with searches for “rum” up 206 percent on Waitrose.com. More specifically, white rum – which varies enormously in taste profiles across the various options – has seen a 288 percent increase and the search term ‘spiced rum’ is up 111 percent on Waitrose.com vs. last year.

By Elizabeth Green