The Lavazza Group, the Italian and international coffee roaster, has agreed to acquire Mars’ Drinks business, including the Flavia and Klix systems, leading brands in the Office Coffee Service (OCS) and Vending segments. 
The deal, which has an enterprise value of about $650 million, is in line with Lavazza Group’s strategy of consolidation at the…

Revenue growth for the UK’s top food and drink producers including Nestle UK and Arla Foods experienced a sharp turnaround in 2017, reaching 7.5% - the highest rate since 2009. Growth was driven by inflation and a weak pound triggered by the Brexit referendum.

The research finds that a weaker pound has…

Lakeland Dairies and LacPatrick Dairies have agreed to merge. The amalgamation of Lakeland and LacPatrick is a coming together of two dairy co-operatives on the island of Ireland to form a strong force in the global dairy industry. Both co-operatives are highly successful agrifood industry players with excellent manufacturing facilities and complementary strengths and advantages…

Andrew Cracknell has been appointed as CEO of Tulip Ltd. He takes up the job with immediate effect and his mission is clear: to restore earnings in Danish Crown’s UK business unit.

Andrew Cracknell has been chosen to manage the on-going transformation of Tulip. He brings with him considerable experience of the meat industry and the…

The Wine and Spirit Trade Association’s latest market report shows the summer of 2018 reached record highs for gin in the UK with sales, both home and abroad, peaking at £2.2 billion. The records show that combined yearly sales of gin in the UK and British gin overseas have doubled in the last five years.…

Informa’s Agribusiness Intelligence is predicting global production of wheat will be down year on year in 2018. Wheat futures have hit multi-year highs in recent months as adverse weather curtailed production in key exporting countries, leading to expectations of the first drop in world production in five years, and the first consecutive contraction of global…

Kellogg Company has again been named to the prestigious Dow Jones Sustainability World and North American indices (DJSI World/DJSI North American) of companies recognized for their sustainable business practices. Companies included on the indices must exhibit best-in-class performance against a wide variety of environmental, social, and governance metrics that are critical for…

UNESDA Soft Drinks Europe has announced a set of EU-wide ambitions to make the sector’s plastic packaging more sustainable. The ambitions aim to contribute towards building a circular model for plastic packaging by improving its recyclability, recycled content, collection, and reuse. The ambitions cover the EU28 plus Switzerland and Norway and are made by UNESDA’s network…

Soft drinks group and Refresco and Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn have made the supply chain of Albert Heijn's own brand of ambient orange juice transparent by using blockchain technology. Refresco supplies Albert Heijn with juice, sourced from Louis Dreyfus Company's juice business. Never before have consumers been able to follow the chain of a…

Anlit is launching ProBites LLP, a long-life probiotic chew supplement line in a variety of flavours. According to Innova Market Insights, new product development for probiotic supplements has witnessed an average annual growth of 26.5% between the years 2012 and 2017.

This has been fueled by growing consumer awareness on the numerous health benefits of probiotic especially…

The latest grocery market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel in Ireland, for the 12 weeks ending 9 September 2018, show growth of 2.6% among Irish supermarkets. This is the seventh consecutive period that all five of Ireland’s major grocers have recorded increased sales, the longest run since December 2017.

The summer heatwave continued to provide a…

Packaging Automation has won a PPMA Group Industry Award in the Innovative Processing System category for the company's brand new MiWeigh weigh scale system. The MiWeigh system has now provided many customers with a cost saving product that has had a direct impact on their financial performance. The unique features and the low cost of ownership…

Over 200 experts from across the food contact industry will come together in Vienna, Austria from 3–6 December 2018 to attend Smithers Pira’s P&P (Plastics & Paper in Contact with Foodstuffs) - http://www.foodcontact.com/plastics-paper.

P&P will provide an in-depth and timely overview of the latest EU legislation as well as a small focus on global regulations. Described…

Europe’s leading health, natural and nutrition show, Hi Europe & Ni, is celebrating its 10th edition with a move to a larger hall at Messe Frankfurt this year. From 27-29 November 2018, visitors will be able to access all of the show’s many features and live events under one roof. In addition, the Healthy Finished…

As part of Hi Europe & Ni 2018, trade show organizer UBM will showcase some of the most promising start-ups involved in the F&B industry. Applications for the Start-up Innovation Challenge are now being accepted and the most promising concepts will be presented live to a professional audience on the first day of the event.…

As the consumer demand for healthy, natural products increases, Arla Foods has created a new innovation in fruit yogurts which has just hit the shelves in the German market. Driven by the dairy co-operative’s desire to create products with no added or unnecessary ingredients, the Arla® Bio yogurt is the first product of its kind for…

Work has commenced on a new €100 million distribution centre and regional headquarters for Lidl in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. The new facility, which is a key part of Lidl Ireland’s €200 million investment programme for 2018, will cost €100 million and is expected to be completed by November 2019.

This project…

Food allergen specialist Simon Flanagan took the top spot in the prestigious Scientist of the Year category at this year’s Food & Drink Federation awards ceremony. With a long-standing career specialising in allergen risk assessment and management, Simon Flanagan - head of food safety and quality at Reading Scientific Services Ltd (RSSL) - successfully demonstrated…

Instinctif Partners is launching a service for the food industry designed to enhance food safety culture, which puts driving cultural and individual behavioural change in food manufacturing at its heart.

The service will help food manufacturers meet the food safety culture challenge set out in the newly-published BRC Global Food Safety Standard Issue 8 (BRC8). This…

Research by a leading software company has been shared with UK food manufacturers in a bid to improve the UK’s health by reducing the amount of antibiotics used on livestock. Trade Interchange, a leading supplier management solutions provider that specialises in the industry, collated the findings into the white paper ‘Anticipating Change: Antibiotics in the…

English Rugby Union champions Saracens are adding their considerable weight and sense of fun to Harrogate Water’s recycling message. Saracens are staying hydrated in defence of their Premiership title with Harrogate Spring Water – whose PET bottles are made using more than 50 per cent recycled content.

The partnership will include humorous…