A report by Rabobank’s global Food and Agribusiness and Advisory department on 3 February, 2012 has forecast strong but uneven growth in world dairy products. In the report, Rabobank stated that “the global dairy market will offer strong growth prospects in the coming five years, but the uneven spread of this market expansion and an era of elevated pricing will create as many challenges as opportunities for key players along the dairy supply chain”. Growth will be highly skewed to emerging... ...Read more »

Nestle has created a new brand, “Maison Cailler” as the launching pad for a new form of direct marketing. The campaign will create a new marketing channel that bypasses conventional retailers. Consumers will register online to order a box of Maison Cailler, with five different testing flavors, such as milk, caramel, nut, fruit, vanilla and cocoa flavors. Consumers then use a profiling system where they “discover their chocolate personality” by sharing their preferences online with friends. Within... ...Read more »

One of the world’s largest food companies, Nestlé, has responded to worldwide criticism by announcing an investigation into whether children are working on cocoa farms supplying its factories. Nestlé will be working with the non-profit Fair Labor Association (FLA), a multi-stakeholder initiative that works with major companies to improve working conditions in their supply chains. This is the first time a food company has partnered with the FLA. In January 2012 the FLA will send independent... ...Read more »

A market report on Australia’s packaged food sector from market research consultancy Euromonitor predicts that ongoing economic uncertainty and weak consumer confidence could provide Australia’s packaged food retailers with enhanced opportunities to grow retail volume sales. Euromonitor’s ‘Packaged Food in Australia’ market report, released yesterday, says the packaged food industry displayed resilience against lowered consumer confidence following the global financial crisis of 2008 and... ...Read more »

Australia’s largest hunger relief organisation, Foodbank, is to launch a campaign called Bridge the Hunger Divide on Sunday 16 October 2011, to coincide with World Food Day. World Food Day is a United Nations initiative to raise awareness of global food insecurity issues such as hunger and poverty. Foodbank said it will be building a sculpture of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, made almost entirely out of donated food. The Foodbank initiative has been supported by: Aldi, Cerebos, SPC Ardmona, Coles,... ...Read more »

According to a report from Australian food law specialists FoodLegal, Australian beverage and food companies will need to watch closely what emerges from a recent American lawsuit. Foodlegal has reported that parents of a 13-year-old girl from Maryland, USA, have filed a lawsuit against Nestle USA, manufacturer of ‘Deer Park’ and ‘Poland Spring’ bottled waters with added fluoride, and also against Gerber Products Company, which manufactures baby food and infant formula products containing... ...Read more »

Nestlé has reported organic growth of 7.5 per cent, excluding exchange rates, and global profits of 15.1 per cent for the last six months, according to a half-year report released August 10 2011. The report says that Nestlé performed well in emerging and developed markets, growing 5.7 percent in the Americas, 5.8 per cent in Europe and 13.3 per cent in Asia, Oceania and Africa. The strong Swiss franc hit profits, lowering Nestlé’s real internal growth to 4.8 per cent. “Nestlé continued to... ...Read more »

Scientists at the Nestlé Research Center in Lausanne, Switzerland, have found that the antioxidant properties of decaffeinated coffee may benefit drinkers’ mood and cognitive state, even though the beverage contains no caffeine. The scientists conducted a pilot study on healthy elderly people to compare the cognitive and mood effects of soluble decaffeinated coffee with those of soluble caffeinated coffee and a coffee placebo. The decaffeinated beverages contained variable amounts of chlorogenic... ...Read more »

Nestlé has announced it will begin using bioplastic caps for its UHT and ready-to-drink milk brands in Brazil from today. The new caps are made from plastic derived from sugar-cane materials. The initiative is the result of Nestlé’s partnership with Tetra Pak and Braskem. “This is an innovating initiative that adds further value to our products,” said Ivan Zurite, President of Nestlé Brazil. “Our participation in this project is fully aligned with our global social responsibility platform... ...Read more »

An $18.5 million expansion of Nestlé’s Smithtown factory on the New South Wales Mid North Coast will create around 30 full time jobs and turn the site into the company’s production hub for its Nescafé Café Menu range in Australia. NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Trade and Investment, Andrew Stoner, welcomed Nestlé Australia’s investment. “This is a significant boost for the local economy, both the Macleay Valley and the Mid North Coast more generally,” Mr Stoner said. “The... ...Read more »