Food Manufacture Podcast

Bread is one of the biggest casualties of the supermarket price war, as retailers keep dropping its price to rock bottom levels in a bid to entice shoppers, according to Gordon Polson, Federation of Bakers’ (FoB’s) director.

Changing consumer needs and an increasingly challenging market will continue to push cereal manufacturers to develop convenience products, Bokomo Foods’s ceo John Hiles has said.

More financial support must be given to food and drink start-ups by the next UK government if they are to survive their first year in business, Miso Tasty founder Bonnie Chung has urged.

Breakfast cereal manufacturers and frozen pizza suppliers have access to cartoning technology that can slash changeover times and maintain consistently high yields, courtesy of Bosch Packaging Technology.

More high-end food and drink start-ups are taking advantage of a boom in sales of premium products in supermarkets and rising sales in posh retailers such as Waitrose.

Mondelēz will take on an extra 100 staff at its Banbury, Oxfordshire, coffee facility, following a major investment to boost its production capabilities and a joint venture with Douwe Egberts.

Birds Eye has pumped thousands of pounds into its online grocery channel in a successful bid to boost sales and stay ahead of the curve, its UK and Ireland md Andy Weston-Webb has said.

Food manufacturers and retailers need leadership from an EU level, less “silly legislation” and more data sharing in order to tackle food waste.

If the food industry does not act on the EU’s potential imposition of Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) for disinfectants soon, it will be too late, Chilled Food Association (CFA) director Kaarin Goodburn has warned.

Consumer demand for Quorn will outstrip the Teesside firm’s supply within a decade, unless it continues to invest to boost capacity.

Manufacturers must avoid misleading consumers into thinking natural products are intrinsically healthier for them, an industry expert has urged.

Egg producer Blackdown Hills Westcountry Eggs has boosted output and production performance following a multi-million pound investment.

Faccenda has invested in robotics and training to increase production efficiency and slash waste at its new Telford factory, according to Catherine Gormley, general manager of the site.

A £2M investment is set to boost Greenvale’s Swancote potato processing site’s output further, following an increase by more than 60% in the past five years.

Pork processing giant Tulip turned around its £2.3M US-style food production plant in a matter of weeks, ceo Chris Thomas has said.

Young skills ambassadors had their eyes opened to the variety of roles available in the food industry at an event organised last week by social networking group MyKindaCrowd (MKC).

Freedom Food will tap into the foodservice sector for business in the next 12 months to increase funds and to boost its overall consumer presence, the organisation’s new ceo has said.

Discount retailers, such as Aldi and Lidl, are less likely to breach the Groceries Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP) than the big four, the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) Christine Tacon has claimed.

Weekend fitness fanatics are driving the demand for more mainstream food and drink products, such as milk, fortified with sports nutrition ingredients.

Handmade ready meal firm Cook claims more human hands in the manufacturing process does not increase the risk to food hygiene standards or decrease overall operational efficiency.

Moy Park’s work on campylobacter research and practices had helped it avoid recent media attacks on poor poultry industry hygiene standards, one of the company’s general managers said.

Adams Foods has pumped £3M into a new customer innovation centre in response to customer demand for innovation in hard cheese, the company’s marketing director Alastair Jackson has said.

Natural sweetener stevia is best used to lower calorie content, rather than eliminate it, a regulatory scientist has claimed.

Seafood processor Paramount 21 has invested in a 464.5m2 warehouse adjacent to its Newton Abbot production site in Devon to release production space as it steps up its new product development.

Retailers need to be bolder with their own-label ready meals and stop relying on the basics, such as spaghetti Bolognese and lasagne, former food industry rivals Jonny Bingham and David Jones have said.