SABMiller announced yesterday that its Ghanaian subsidiary, Accra Brewery Limited (ABL), will table a resolution at its AGM to be held on September 8, 2010, to seek a de-listing from the Ghana Stock Exchange.  SABMiller said that ABL has faced difficult market conditions over the past few years, and that a stock exchange de-listing will enable it to implement a business recovery programme. ABL, originally known as Overseas Breweries Limited, was registered in Switzerland in 1931, establishing a... ...Read more »

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is trying to do for the environment what it has done for consumers. Wal-Mart is notorious for pushing suppliers to drive down prices if they want to display their products on the shelves of the world’s largest retailer. With $408 billion in revenue and a net income of $14.3 billion for the fiscal year that ended in January, Wal-Mart is the largest company in the world ranked by revenue. Now Wal-Mart is using its clout to clean up the environment. Wal-Mart “has more... ...Read more »

To celebrate seven savory decades of KFC’s Original Recipe, the brand is serving up a world record-setting attempt highlighting the flavor of Colonel Sanders’ famed 11 herbs and spices. KFC will cook up more than 2,000 pounds of fried chicken and unveil it with a giant version of its iconic bucket as it attempts to set the world record for the largest ever serving of fried chicken – dishing up literally a ton of fried chicken. Free samples will be available for hungry KFC fans eager... ...Read more »

Food ingredients giant Danisco has snapped up South African dairy ingredients business Research Solutions.The Denmark-based group said the acquisition would create “a new centre of excellence for dairy and frozen desserts” in sub-Saharan Africa. South Africa accounts for 85-90% of Danisco’s business in that region. Research Solutions is situated close to Danisco’s production and sales site in Cape Town and would be “integrated” into the facility, the company said... ...Read more »

Australia’s largest manufacturing sector – food and grocery – has forged a landmark new alliance with the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) industry to work together to address important health, nutrition and chronic disease issues in Australia. Officially announced during the NSW Food Forum in Sydney today, the formal partnership between the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) and the QSR industry involves the establishment of a QSR Forum of AFGC. One of the main aims of the... ...Read more »

“There will be no new investments or priorities for Australia’s $137 billion-a-year farm sector under a Gillard Government,” is National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) President David Crombie’s assessment of the Government’s Agricultural Policy released today. “Today’s media release from Agriculture Minister Tony Burke is not so much a policy as a summary statement with a rehash of announcements we’ve already seen in this election campaign. It is... ...Read more »

Singapore-based agribusiness group Olam International is to build a cocoa processing facility in Cote d’Ivoire.Olam said yesterday (17 August) that it would build a greenfield cocoa processing in Abidjan, the country’s capital. The US$43.5m investment also includes a primary processing and warehousing facility in San Pedro. The cocoa plant will process around 60,000 metric tonnes of cocoa beans into cocoa liquor, butter and cake. The San Pedro site will be a drying, cleaning and sorting... ...Read more »

Kellogg’s Special K brand in the U.S. has reformulated many of its cereals to include fibre, offering more positive nutrition to a brand long associated with weight management.Many Special K brand cereals are now a good source of fibre, with three grams per serving.  Special K cereal flavours that now offer fiber include Red Berries, Fruit & Yogurt, Cinnamon Pecan, Vanilla Almond, Blueberry and Chocolatey Delight. “We’re excited to add positive nutrition to our portfolio of... ...Read more »

A report released yesterday by the RIRDC highlights the vulnerability of Australia’s European honeybee population, and the corresponding risk to 65% of the nation’s crops, which rely on these insects for pollination. Australia is one of the last countries in the world to resist an outbreak of the highly destructive Varroa mite, which would decimate wild honeybee colonies, in turn devastating producers who rely on them to pollinate their crops. The new report, Pollination Aware, consolidates... ...Read more »

New Zealand is set to receive a boost to its dairy industry, with the announcement today of a NZ$170 million (A$133.6 million) research program designed to ‘drive transformational change in the dairy industry’. The program will include new research and training to boost on-farm productivity and sustainability, as well as post-farm gate research in the areas of Nutrition, Food Structure and Manufacturing and Supply Chain processes. DairyNZ Chief Executive Dr Tim Mackle said it was a major... ...Read more »