The Food Standards Agency, the UK food watchdog, will lose its remit over nutrition and labelling after the coalition government confirmed it would revamp the agency.The UK’s Department of Health (DoH) said last night (20 July) that the FSA will have a “renewed focus” on food safety in the country. The announcement came after reports last week claimed the FSA was set to be disbanded. Responsibility over nutrition and labelling will switch to the DoH and the Department for Food,... ...Read more »

Foodbank has hit a record high for donations, receiving over 2.3 million kg of food from Woolworths over the past 12 months, thanks to a ‘reverse logistics’ initiative to reroute non-saleable products from the supermarket’s outlets. The initiative brings non-saleable products from 825 metro and country Woolworths locations, by identifying and collecting them at store level, then delivering them back to distribution centres in trucks that would normally return empty. Foodbank, Australia’s... ...Read more »

The 2010 Nielsen Convenience and Impulse Report suggests a ‘softened’ convenience and impulse market, with a modest sales growth of 3.3%, and sales down by 0.5% from the quarter to the same period last year. “While the usual suspects including carbonated beverages, ice cream, snack foods, cigarettes, cereals and nutritious snacks continued to perform well, the growth for these categories were off-set by major declines in communications, magazines/newspapers and fruit juices and... ...Read more »

UK-based online retailer Edible has made a specialty out of unusual and sometimes daunting foods, specialising in unusal delicacies and weird epicurean delights. Featuring departments for insects, aphrodisiacs, carnivores, herbivores, herbs and spices, apothecary products and even an English Garden collection, Edible’s range is not for the faint of heart. Edible boasts an impressive collection of edible insects, including an ant lollipop, oven-baked tarantulas, scorpion vodka, giant toasted... ...Read more »

New Zealand dairy has drawn attention from international buyers, with Singapore-based agribusiness and food ingredients group Olam International making a takeover bid for NZ Farming Systems Uruguay, and China’s Bright Food Group buying a 51% share in Synlait. Bright Food’s NZ$82 million purchase of the Canterbury-based milk processing company will provide a source for high-quality infant and whole milk powders for Chinese consumers. Olam has offered NZ$0.55 (A$0.44) a share for the 81.55%... ...Read more »

Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever yesterday confirmed the sale of its Findus Italy business to frozen-foods group Birds Eye Iglo in a deal worth EUR805 million (A$1.2 billion). Unilever said it had sold Findus Italy “to a company in which Birds Eye Iglo has a significant stake” three months after it had put the business on the block. James Hill, chairman of Unilever’s Italian business, said: “Findus is the lynchpin of an attractive and profitable Frozen Foods business... ...Read more »

A new report by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation aims to perfect the Australian cuppa – by drinking 19 cups of coffee. Researchers tasted a range of roasted coffees, all harvested at different stages of their growing cycle, to find the best time to harvest coffee cherries, and rated to the coffees according to sweetness, balance, body, flavour and aftertaste. Coffee cherries go through five maturity stages – green, semi-coloured, prime red, purple and tree-dried... ...Read more »

The classification system for Australian wheat, designed to provide grain of consistent physical quality, processing perfomance and end-product quality, has been extended to the end of this year. The current arrangements will continue until 31 December 2010, with the agreement of the Grains Research and Development Corporation. GRDC Executive Manager Varieties Mr John Harvey said the GRDC Board received a report from Wheat Classification Council at their June meeting which included a series of recommendations... ...Read more »

UK supermarket chain Waitrose is planning a sixfold increase in the number of stores that stock its food products, and is aiming to nearly double the number of outlets it operates within five years. According to reports in The Sunday Telegraph, partnerships with Boots outlets, Shell filling stations and Welcome Break could take the UK retailer’s products into 1,000 more outlets. Managing director Mark Price said: “There’s the potential to add 220 more Waitrose shops and probably... ...Read more »

The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) has become Australia’s first industry association to gain membership to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the world’s leading not-for-profit organisation supporting sustainable use and production of palm oil.The RSPO was established by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), industry stakeholders and NGOs in 2004. The industry-led association – with more than 400 members worldwide – has established a rigorous set of principles... ...Read more »