The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) today urged the Federal Government to offer “similar assistance” to Australia’s food industry as it offers the automotive industry when considering this year’s Budget. In its Budget 2012-13 Submission, the AFGC is calling on the Federal Government to get behind the food and grocery manufacturing sector in the upcoming Federal Budget process. The submission specifically calls for a Supermarket Fair Trading Code of Conduct and a Supermarket Ombudsman... ...Read more »

The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) today launched a campaign urging Australian consumers to buy Australian-made products to support the food industry during the holiday season. According to the AFGC, the cost of manufacturing food is, on average, 25 per cent higher in Australia than in regional competitor nations. The AFGC says this is seriously affecting the Australian industry’s competitiveness and profitability. The high Australian dollar is also to blame, making imports cheaper... ...Read more »

Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing, Catherine King, announced today that Australia’s leading food manufacturers and retailers have voluntarily agreed to reduce salt levels in soup products over the next three years. The agreement between the Australian Government’s Food and Health Dialogue and leading manufacturers and retailers was reached in Canberra this morning. Leading manufacturers Unilever, Heinz, Campbell Arnotts and Nestle, along with major retailers Woolworths, Coles and... ...Read more »

One of the world’s largest accountancy and business consultancy firms, Grant Thornton, today published its annual international business report on the food and beverage industry. The report highlights several key trends and predictions for Australia, including the strength of the Australian supermarket duopoly and the problems posed by their private label business. In the report, ‘Managing through uncertainty: Food and beverage industry in transition’, Grant Thornton’s Industry Leader... ...Read more »

One of Australia’s key industrialists, Anthony Pratt, who is chairman of the leading Australian packaging business Visy Industries, has called upon the Australian government to work with Australia’s food industry to boost production. Speaking at a conference on food security yesterday in Shepparton, Victoria, Mr Pratt offered five ways he believes Australia can quadruple its food production: Accelerated depreciation should be introduced to encourage new manufacturing investments in food. Mr... ...Read more »

Scientists behind a new Australian invention which monitors the behaviour of starches as they are cooked say it could revolutionise food manufacturing processes. The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) worked with Swedish manufacturer Perten Instruments to develop the ‘neutron Rapid Visco Analyser’, or ‘nRVA’. They claim the invention will allow manufacturers to establish the best way to cook and process starches. In developing the nRVA, the scientists employed... ...Read more »

U.S. foodservice research and consulting firm Technomic has published a list of trends it predicts will shape the American restaurant industry in 2012. Based on its own market research, Technomic claimed the following developments will be making news in the U.S. restaurant industry in the coming year: Consumers seek a twist on the familiar: Consumers are in no mood to take risks, but novel flavours still tingle their taste buds, according to Technomic. For example, comfort foods with a twist (gourmet,... ...Read more »

The Australian Food and Grocery Council said today that commitments by both of the major political parties to reforming anti-dumping laws in Australia will benefit Australia’s food manufacturers. Dumping occurs when goods are imported into the domestic market at below production cost or through unlawful subsidies from other foreign governments. The AFGC said that smaller Australian food manufacturers are hit hard by these practices. Yesterday, the Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott launched... ...Read more »

A food innovation workshop in Werribee, Victoria yesterday attracted more than 120 participants from government, the food industry and research organizations to share ways to make Australian food healthier. The workshop highlighted the work of the ‘Australian Government Food and Health Dialogue’ (the Dialogue) established in March 2009 following a 2007 children’s nutrition and physical activity survey which found that many Australian children were consuming a diet high in salt and saturated... ...Read more »

Research released today by the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) predicts that, under the Federal Government’s carbon tax, Australian food manufacturers’ operating profits will fall by an average of 4.4 per cent in 2012-13. The carbon price of A$23 per tonne will be a “real hit” to profits for Australia’s largest manufacturing sector, according to the AFGC. Global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney undertook the research. It claims that losses in profitability could reach... ...Read more »