Australian bakery chain, Brumby’s Bakery, has fired a pot shot at Australia’s largest bread manufacturer Goodman Fielder in response to recent reports that Goodman Fielder is considering extending the shelf-life of its bread. Results of a survey commissioned by Australian bakery chain, Brumby’s Bakery, were released today. The survey results suggest that Australian consumers are concerned about additives in the bread they purchase. The survey was undertaken by market research company ‘arnold... ...Read more »

Australian researchers are hoping to produce new wheat varieties that contain higher levels of protein and extra ‘functionality’, without requiring additional fertiliser. They say their research will allow wheat growers in Australia access to non-traditional markets. The research is being funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) with the Department of Agriculture and Food (DAFWA), and is being conducted in conjunction with Murdoch University, in Perth. Currently, Australian... ...Read more »

Australia’s largest bread manufacturer, Goodman Fielder, is reported to be reviewing alternatives to making daily deliveries of its bread to Australia’s supermarkets and extending the shelf-life of its bread products using food technology as part of a major cost-cutting exercise. With many Australian supermarkets now bake their own home-branded bread instore, external bakeries like Goodman Fielder are facing tough competition on price. As part of its Strategic Review, announced in August 2011,... ...Read more »

Quick Service Restaurant Holdings Pty Limited (QSRH), which operates the Red Rooster chain of restaurants in Australia, has entered into a two-year agreement to develop healthier food ingredients with Australian biotechnology company Holista. QSRH is one of Australia’s largest fast-food operators with over 600 restaurants in Australia. Under the agreement, Holista will supply its proprietary ingredients exclusively to QSRH for joint research and development with the aim of offering healthier food... ...Read more »

Researchers from the Australian Government’s Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RRDC) today announced the findings of a study which suggest Australian consumers are more willing to absorb price increases in staple foods such as milk, bread, fruit and vegetables. The RRDC study involved a comprehensive analysis of ‘demand elasticities’ in Australia for 15 food categories. The ‘demand elasticity’ is the degree to which a product’s demand or supply reacts to a change... ...Read more »

Davies Bakery Ltd is conducting a recall of its Bakers Life Multigrain Sandwich Sliced Bread. The bakery has said that some of the bread may be contaminated with fragments of plastic. The product in question, sold exclusively in Aldi’s Victorian-based stores, comes in brown and white plastic packaging and weighs 650g. Davies Bakery Ltd is recalling all loaves with a Best Before date of 12 October 2011 (today). Davies Bakery Ltd said, “Food products containing plastic may cause injury if consumed.... ...Read more »

Rising diagnosis rates of coeliac disease, combined with an increased awareness of the perceived benefits of a gluten-free diet, are driving growth in the free-from sector in the UK. Euromonitor forecasts that the gluten-free sector will grow by almost 10% between 2011 and 2015 to become a channel worth GBP95.5m (US$155.2m) a year. According to Norma McGough, head of diet & health at charity Coeliac UK, some 14,000 people are newly diagnosed each year, a number which she says was “assumed... ...Read more »

We can lower our risk of heart disease significantly, just by using flour containing 40 per cent lupin beans in the place of conventional wholemeal flour, according to research by Victoria University dietitian Dr Regina Belski and colleagues from The University of Western Australia. Over the course of a year, working with the Centre for Food and Genomic Medicine in Perth, researchers monitored more than 100 overweight, but otherwise healthy, Western Australian men and women, to whom they provided... ...Read more »

Associated British Foods has announced that its Allied Bakeries business is investing in growing its healthy bread brand Burgen in the United Kingdom. Burgen, developed by ABF’s Australian subsidiary George Weston Foods in 1994, was the first soy linseed bread on the Australian market, and has a substantial market share in Australia. Associated British Foods, which also manufactures the Allinson and Kingsmill bread brands, will invest GBP 200,000 (A$305,496) in a bid to increase awareness of... ...Read more »

Shares in Associated British Foods tumbled in morning trade yesterday after the George Weston and Don/KR Castlemaine parent company cut its full-year profit outlook, despite an improved first-half performance from its sugar and grocery businesses. The company, which had predicted a rise in full-year earnings, said that price competition and higher cotton prices were hitting its Primark discount fashion business, and that profits are “now expected to be similar to last year’s”. The... ...Read more »