The Federal Department of Health and Ageing is sponsoring the CSIRO to conduct three workshops around Australia as information-sharing forums for industry, government and researchers involved in food innovation and product reformulation. The workshop programs will include presentations from national and international speakers involved in food innovation and product reformulation as well as opportunities to discuss innovation techniques and challenges. Presentation topics include: - Overcoming technical... ...Read more »

PepsiCo yesterday (22 March) set out its plans to reduce the amount of salt, saturated fat and added sugar in its products. The US food giant, which owns brands including Lay’s crisps and Quaker cereals, said it would cut the amount of salt in its “key global food brands in key markets” by 25% by 2015. The company plans to reduce the average saturated fat per food serving by 15% and cut the average added sugar in its key drinks brands by 25% by 2020. “We believe that a healthier... ...Read more »

The salt content of food bought in UK supermarkets has reduced by the equivalent of nearly 8,000 tonnes in the past two years, according to new research. The research, conducted by Kantar Worldpanel on behalf of the Food and Drink Federation – the leading representative of manufacturers in the UK, analysed the information on the nutrition labels of 100,000 products bought by 25,000 households and found the net salt content of all purchases decreased by 7,667 tonnes – or 5.3% – between... ...Read more »

The economic downturn has not created a ‘health crunch’ when it comes to new product innovation, according to research conducted for UK manufacturing representative the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) by independent consultancy Mintel’s Global New Products Database.Based on its tracking of new product launches in the UK grocery market, Mintel has discovered that nearly 250 reformulated products were launched in the first six months of this year – similar to the same period... ...Read more »

The world’s largest food group will phase out the use of the New Zealand Heart Foundation’s ‘Tick’ on its popular Milo brand, just eight months after winning ‘Tick’ status*. The decision is driven by a focus on more promotional campaigns for the drink later this year in Australia and New Zealand and is not a response to criticism in the wake of the decision, the company said. “We just decided to pursue a different strategy… (The tick) served its purpose,”... ...Read more »

In the next few years, Unilever has pledged a worldwide effort to reduce the salt content of almost its entire food portfolio, covering 22,000 products. Unilever’s aim is to reduce the salt content of its products by the end of 2010, with a further reduction likely by 2015. The Dutch-based conglomerate believes they are the first food company to set worldwide goals for salt reduction across its entire product range. The targets were announced overnight by Gaby Vreeken, Vice President Marketing... ...Read more »

Canada’s Health Minister, Leona Aglukkaq, last week announced that Canada was continuing to make progress towards reducing the amount of trans fat in the Canadian food supply based on new data. This data includes an analysis of bakery products, a small sample of international foods sold in restaurants, and nutrition information obtained from the Nutrition Facts table of pre-packaged foods. According to the research from the trans fat monitoring program, 80% of the pre-packaged foods selected... ...Read more »