UK retailer Marks and Spencer has reaffirmed its commitment to double its retail presence in India through its joint venture in the emerging market.The retailer currently operates 17 stores in India in conjunction with Indian-owned Reliance Retail. The firm said it plans to increase that number to more than 50 over the next three years. The affirmation comes on the back of the opening of a larger format store in Chennai last week. A spokesperson for Marks and Spencer told just-food on Friday (25... ...Read more »

Arla Foods Ingredients have begun what it claims is the world’s first commercial production of a milk protein present in human milk.Osteopontin (OPN) is extracted from bovine milk using a patented process, the firm said on Friday (25 June). After several years of pilot production, Arla said the completion of process documentation has enabled it to step up to industrial-scale processing. “The fact that there is so much more OPN in human milk than bovine milk provides a simple argument... ...Read more »

The Asia-Pacific region will witness some of the biggest percentage increases in obese and overweight children in the world, finds Datamonitor. Research by the independent market analyst has found that in China, for example, although 15.9% of children aged between 5 and 13 are currently obese or overweight, this will rise by 9.4% year on year to 2014 as expenditure on confectionery and savoury snacks continues to soar. Richard Parker, senior consumer analyst at Datamonitor, noted that junk food... ...Read more »

Dr Roger Campbell, CEO of Australia’s Pork Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), is increasingly convinced that fresh Australian pork has a range of largely untapped health and nutrition attributes.”There’s just something about pork,” he said, after welcoming almost 500 people to the 2010 Pan Pacific Pork Expo (PPPE) on Queensland’s Gold Coast. The Pork CRC supports research into such pork qualities as its role in improving thiamine status and reducing heart disease and... ...Read more »

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission today issued a Statement of Issues on the proposed acquisition of Rockdale Beef Pty Ltd by Swift Australia Pty Ltd. The Statement of Issues seeks further information on certain competition issues which have arisen from the ACCC’s market inquiries to date.  Issues that may raise concerns include: acquisition of feeder cattle  increased market concentration ability of smaller feedlots to provide an effective competitive restraint available... ...Read more »

Practical grassroots solutions to help disadvantaged Victorians who have limited access to healthy food will be presented at a forum in Flemington today. VicHealth invested $2.5 million from 2006 to 2010 in Food for All – an initiative that gave local governments the resources to address food insecurity in their own backyards. The aim is to secure healthy, fresh and readily available food for their most vulnerable residents. The innovative solutions drawn from the program will be presented... ...Read more »

Iconic Australian poultry brand Steggles has revealed that more than three quarters of Australians mistakenly believe chicken produced locally in Australia contains added hormones and steroids.This is despite the fact that the Australian poultry industry ceased these practices nearly half a century ago. At that time the Australian Government made it illegal to add hormones or steroids to chicken. Steggles commissioned a study by newspoll among 1000 people and results showed that 76 per cent remained... ...Read more »

A dietician for the British Heart Foundation has said the body would not routinely recommend functional food and drinks for health benefits.The comments to just-food come on the back of a report by market intelligence firm Key Note on Wednesday (23 June) that revealed the UK functional food and drinks market is expected to continue to grow over the next five years, but at a slowing rate. The report found that the major issue in food and drink development and manufacturing remains health, boosted... ...Read more »

High dairy commodity prices are likely to ease, but not rapidly, according to the latest report by Rabobank. The global dairy report for the second quarter published yesterday (24 June), found that while global dairy prices are expected to ease from current highs – as world supply builds and demand growth begins to slow – the drop is unlikely to be rapid or to occur until later in the year. “Demand for dairy is expected to continue through the second half of 2010, building on recovery... ...Read more »

The tuna industry is being urged to regulate bycatch – the capture of undersized specimens and fish other than tuna – to increase fishery sustainability, by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation. The call comes as representatives of Australia’s tuna industry regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) gather in Brisbane for an international workshop on bycatch. The ISSF, a global partnership between scientists, the tuna industry and WWF, is urging RFMOs to... ...Read more »