Food Manufacture Podcast

Targeting the ageing population will boost the UK’s “stagnating” functional food and drink sector, a leading analyst has predicted.

The boss of Dairy UK has criticised the Department of Health (DH) for putting obstacles in the way of the dairy industry in the form of salt targets.

Innovation is vital in a retail market increasingly dominated by discount outlets, says Jonathan Warburton, chairman of Warburtons.

Food and drink manufacturers had a good recession, despite the economy not recovering from it yet, according to leading economist Sion Roberts.

UK food manufacturers are still being unfairly criticised for using palm oil, despite the work they have done to source it sustainably, according to the corporate social responsibility (CSR) director of a global food oil business.

Britain’s big four supermarkets have been “totally and utterly complacent”, in failing to keep pace with key developments in retailing and are now paying the price, warns a leading City analyst.

UK-based food and drink firms are investing in jobs as much as internationally-owned outfits, according to Owen Paterson, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) secretary of state.

More than £3M has been pumped into Meadow Foods’s fresh division in Peterborough to improve operating efficiencies, said site director Paul Jackson.

Poor nutrition among UK consumers could be improved if they had a basic understanding of how their food worked, a leading public health nutritionist has insisted. 

Food firms face a skills drain, unless they raise wages in line with economic growth, a leading economist has warned.

British frozen food manufacturers must reveal the benefits of frozen food to the consumer to revitalise the sector and increase confidence.

A critical skills shortage in the UK dairy industry is starting to be countered by dairy companies working together towards a common cause, according to senior HR consultant at Arla Foods Chris Edwards.

Competition and low production will raise milk prices more than flooding, the National Farmers’ Union’s (NFU) chief dairy adviser has said.

Consumers should not demonise food packaging, because it could prolong shelf-life, reducing the amount of products needlessly binned, according to the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

United Biscuits (UB) is preparing to pump £50M of capital investment into the company this year, UK head Jon Eggleton has said.

The cultivation of a lean manufacturing culture of continuous improvement is often hampered by firms “cherry picking” what they implement, according to Jeff Williams of business consultancy SA Partners.

UK food and drink manufacturers must capitalise on the opportunities offered by the export market or risk losing out to other countries.

Government skills minister Matthew Hancock has been impressed by an initiative aimed at fully training tomorrow’s food industry workers, spearheaded by the National Skills Academy (NSA) for Food and Drink.

Weight management and an ageing population are two major global trends affecting product development and ingredient use in the dairy sector.

Consumers will hold onto the defensive shopping habits they have adopted during the last few years even if the UK experiences an economic recovery, according to grocery think-tank IGD.

A new version of the British Lion Code of Practice will prevent food and drink manufacturers from becoming the victims of food fraud and further improve food safety and traceability in the UK.

Mondelēz International’s heat resistant chocolate, new product development and increased penetration in under-represented parts of the world offers the company considerable potential for the future, chocolate head Bharat Puri has claimed.

Sales of fruit and vegetables continue to go down, despite efforts to encourage shoppers to cut fresh produce waste and eat more cheaply, according to the IGD’s chief economist James Walton.

Leatherhead Food Research (LFR) is working on a project to support food and drink processors seeking to make cognitive performance claims for their products.

Irish beef exports have climbed by 16% and risen in value, since the beginning of this year – despite the horsemeat scandal, according to Aidan Cotter, chief executive of Bord Bia, the Irish food board.