Ready meals Processing Trusting the process Trusting the process INTERNATIONAL Materials handling 01.qxp_Layout 1 22/07/2022 14:38 Page 1Create your brand’s future at London’s vibrant home of design and innovation 21 & 22 September 2022 | Olympia London REGISTER NOW TO ATTEND with the code 9005 londonpackagingweek.com Part of 02.qxp_Layout 1 22/07/2022 14:38 Page 1Contents August 2022 This magazine is now fully recyclable. By recycling magazines, you can help reduce waste and add to the 5.5 million tonnes of paper already recycled by the UK paper industry each year. Before you recycle your magazine, please ensure you remove all plastic wrapping, free gifts and samples. FoodandDrinkInternational @fdiforumwww.fdiforum.net company/fdiforum News 4 • General news • On line - production news • On the shelf - new products and initiatives Import & export12 With food exports growing in India, a number of actions are being taken to bolster this further and find new markets for products. Processing spotlight16 There’s a myriad of processes that take place across the food production line. Here, we spotlight four that have rapidly evolved with greater levels of automation and efficiency. Software and hardware22 Similar to the products they produce, the software and hardware that the food industry depends on must be constantly updated. Pouch packaging 26 A relatively recent innovation where the age-old art of food packaging comes into things, pouch packaging is shaking up the industry and for good reason. Materials handling32 In a modern world, the supply chain process in food manufacturing cannot survive without efficient and well-planned materials handling. Ready meals36 With the cost-of-living crisis hitting many hard, particularly those in rural Group Editor: Steve Fisher (s.fisher@blmgroup.co.uk) Editor: Michael Fisher (m.fisher@blmgroup.co.uk) Editor’s PA: Angela Sharman (a.sharman@blmgroup.co.uk) Journalist: Tess Egginton (t.egginton@blmgroup.co.uk) Sales Director: Teri Cooper (t.cooper@blmgroup.co.uk) Sales: Vicky Hunt (v.hunt@blmgroup.co.uk) Tel: +44 (0) 1472 310302 Accounts & Subscriptions: John Downes (j.downes@blmgroup.co.uk) Design & Production: Gary Jorgensen, Mark Casson (studio@blmgroup.co.uk) Editorial: Tel: +44 (0) 1472 310305, Email: fdi@blmgroup.co.uk Part of the Business Link Magazine Group: Armstrong House, Armstrong Street, Grimsby, N E Lincs DN31 2QE England All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, photocopied, recorded or otherwise without express permission of the copyright holder, for which application should be addressed first to the publisher. While every reasonable care is taken, neither the publisher nor its participating agents accept liability for loss or damage to prints, colour transparencies, negatives or other material of whatever nature submitted to this publication. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily the views of those held by the publisher. Main: stock.adobe.com/Mikhaylovskiy • Top: stock.adobe.com/industrieblickr • Middle: stock.adobe.com/paulacobleigh • Bottom: stock.adobe.com/nblxer communities experiencing extortionate fuel bills for simply getting anywhere, sometimes ready meals can be the best option for families under pressure. Microbiology and testing40 Microbiological testing can be slow but the consequences of an outbreak are anything but. Though memories may have been dulled by COVID, the years before saw a number of startling outbreaks in food products with dire consequences, and consumer and media attention now is even more focused on food hygiene. PPMA TOTAL Show 202245 PPMA Total Show 2022 set to provide a platform for innovation, discovery, interactive demonstrations and information share. Events46 Your chance to keep abreast of forthcoming exhibitions and food fairs from around the world Classified 49 Food and Drink Diary 50 03.qxp_Layout 1 22/07/2022 14:39 Page 14 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net news UK’s biggest kebab supplier nets £372k tax break after removing milk from doners The UK’s biggest kebab manufacturer has netted more than £370,000 in government tax breaks after developing lactose-free doners. Kismet Kebabs Ltd was driven to innovate and remove milk from their doner kebabs and chicken shawarma after becoming aware that a large number of customers with this food intolerance weren’t being well served by the industry. It was one of a host of innovative projects undertaken by the Essex-based company that qualified it for £372,422 in R&D tax relief — the government tax incentive that rewards innovation. Milk has traditionally been used in the making of kebabs as a binding, flavouring and texturising agent, as well as a colourant. There was no product available that substituted lactose so Kismet’s food technologists set about developing new recipes that would open up new markets for itself and its customers. They first had to contact every supplier of every ingredient they used to find out whether they contained lactose, and then begin to experiment with alternatives which too often produced a product that lacked flavour and texture. Other early issues encountered by production & NPD manager, Eduarto Latiffi and his team included new recipes sticking to parts of the machinery, becoming too dry or disintegrating. It wasn’t just ingredients and recipes that needed changing. Knock-on effects included adapting the machinery and software used in the production process. This equipment operated at such huge scale that it was largely automated. Final trials involving a particular type of soya that could compensate for the lack of milk eventually proved successful. Verner Wheelock offering Issue 9 update courses The BRCGS Global Standard for Food Safety Issue 9 is published this month. All audits from 1st February 2023 onwards will be certificated against the new Standard. To help companies prepare for their 2023 audits, Verner Wheelock is offering two new courses: • The official BRCGS Global Standard for Food Safety Issue 9 Conversion for Sites course (with exam and BRCGS certificate) and • Verner Wheelock’s own BRCGS Issue 9 Update course (VWA certificate), written by an experienced auditor. Course dates and information can be found at www.vwa.co.uk Rachel Coote, marketing manager, says: “Working through the new Standard to see what’s changed is time-consuming, so our trainers have already done this. The training focuses on those changes and how to implement them into day-to-day working environments.” Delegates can attend in person or remotely. The Verner Wheelock course can also be delivered at your own site if you have 5 or more staff to train. CSB-System provides transparent solution for pork producer One of New Zealand’s leading pork processors is benefiting from an integrated ERP system devised and installed by food and drink IT specialist CSB-System. Freshpork, established in 1985, processes around 4,000 pigs each week from its six locations across the country. The company’s continued growth had led it to move away from manual and paper-based processes to computerised systems, but these were initially individual niche solutions. “Data reconciliation with its time-consuming, error-prone issues was our biggest bugbear,” explained Odhran McCloskey, Freshpork’s IT manager. “We also had poor visibility of stock levels across our business, and stocktaking exercises always highlighted the degree of error inherent in it.” With CSB-System these isolated systems have now been replaced with an integrated solution with uniform data for all operations, based on streamlined production processes that have been fundamentally optimised. One of the major benefits of the new software is its ability to link abattoir, cutting floors, packing, dispatch and distribution, sales and finance. For more information visit www.csb.com New Tropical Food Innovation Lab to be built in Brazil Three global companies, Givaudan, Bühler, and Cargill, have formed a consortium in collaboration with the FoodTech HUB Latam and ITAL, Food Technology Institute, to build a food innovation centre in the city of Campinas, recognised as Brazil’s tech powerhouse. The ‘Tropical Food Innovation Lab’ will be located at the Food Technology Institute, ITAL, in a fully refurbished, 1,300 square metre area. This new hub will be the go-to place in Latin America to connect and develop sustainable, future food and beverage products. Start-ups, companies, investors and research institutions will have direct access to high-end technologies for rapid prototyping and plugging into the global food tech ecosystem that will foster fast-paced innovation in the food and beverage sector. The most current generation of wet and dry extrusion systems for plant-based proteins, as well as beverages processing units will add complementary capabilities to the existing facilities of ITAL. When complete, the facility will feature new application labs and a state-of-the-art demo kitchen, where consumers, food scientists, nutritionists, chefs, marketers, among other professionals, will work together to create sustainable new products. © stock.adobe.com/ juliannedev 04-11.qxp_Layout 1 22/07/2022 14:42 Page 1ifm.com/uk/vision Vision systems from ifm. The eyes of your company. ifm Vision: from selective distance measurement to industrial imaging Being a driver of industrial digitalisation, our mission is to make outstanding optical technologies available to companies of all sizes. This also applies to vision sensors, which, as the “eye” of Industry 4.0, RNC[CUKIPKƂECPVTQNGKPVJGKORNGOGPVCVKQPQHFKIKVCNGXQNWVKQP Our vision: cutting-edge technology, available to all! Visit ifm electronic at PPMA 2022 Stand B14 04-11.qxp_Layout 1 22/07/2022 14:42 Page 2UK signs up to global coalition on sustainable food production The UK has signed up to a global coalition which works to speed up the move towards more sustainable food production, Environment Secretary George Eustice has announced. He confirmed that the UK will join the Sustainable Productivity Growth Coalition (SPG) – an international group of countries, academic and research organisations and trade bodies that aims to improve agricultural productivity in an environmentally sustainable way. The SPG Coalition was launched in 2021 at the United Nations’ Food Systems Summit and members include?the USA, European Union, Australia, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. It is also supported by a raft of academic institutions and trade bodies representing industries including grain, dairy and livestock from all over the world. Members of the Coalition share with each other information about best practice, lessons learned and innovative evidence-based ways to boost productivity in a sustainable way, and promote them at public events and on public platforms. 6 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net news Diageo sells Guinness Cameroon S.A. for £389m Diageo has agreed to sell Guinness Cameroon S.A., its brewery in Cameroon, to Castel Group for £389m. On completion, Castel will take over the production and nationwide distribution of Guinness in Cameroon under a licence and royalty agreement. Dayalan Nayager, president, Diageo Africa, said: “Guinness has outgrown its existing brewery in Douala as a result of its strong performance. Under this new agreement, the brand will have both expanded brewing capacity and distribution. “It will remain part of the global Guinness family through direct marketing oversight. We look forward to unlocking even greater potential through this agreement with Castel, ensuring we continue to have great tasting Guinness across Cameroon.” Guinness marketing in Cameroon will continue to be managed by the Guinness Global Brand Team, who will set strategy with dedicated Diageo resources in market working alongside Castel. Spiroflow adds Cablevey tubular drag conveyors to expanding product portfolio Global powder handling and dry bulk solids processing specialist, Spiroflow, is now offering the full range of Cablevey tubular drag conveyors in their product portfolio. The move follows the announcement in April by Chicago-based private equity firm, May River Capital, of the creation of Automated Handling Solutions (AHS), a platform that will leverage the product offerings of both Spiroflow and US-based Cablevey Conveyors under a single brand. Cablevey Conveyors, a market-leader in enclosed tubular drag conveyance systems, with installations in more than 65 countries, designs, engineers, assembles and services tubular drag cable and disc conveyor systems for food/beverage and industrial powder processors, seeking best in class conveying performance with systems that are clean, fast, energy-efficient and cost-effective. James Podevyn, Spiroflow’s joint managing director, says: “The added-value that this partnership will bring to both parties will undoubtedly help us achieve our collective long term goals and growth objectives. We look forward to our ongoing partnership with Cablevey under the AHS umbrella.” For more information, please visit www.spiroflow.com/product/cablevey-cable- drag-conveyors/ © stock.adobe.com/Kirill Gorlov Keurig Dr Pepper to acquire global rights to non-alcoholic brand Atypique Keurig Dr Pepper is to acquire the global rights to the non-alcoholic, ready-to-drink cocktail brand Atypique from Station Agro-Biotech, a Quebec-based company that specializes in the manufacturing and marketing of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Atypique is a unique offering in the fast-growing non-alcohol cocktail segment, providing a range of ready-to-drink cocktails, such as margaritas, gin & tonic and mojitos. In Canada, non-alcoholic cocktails grew more than 30 percent in retail dollar sales during the last year, and Atypique now has a 42 percent market share of that segment, where it is distributed. The agreement includes a multi-year collaboration between the two companies to fuel accelerated growth for Atypique, leveraging Station Agro-Biotech’s R&D expertise in the category and KDP’s robust sales and distribution network. “We were looking for the best way to bring Atypique to the next level. This agreement represents an exceptional opportunity to work with a beverage industry leader, and Keurig Dr Pepper will bring market knowledge and strength to the Atypique brand,” said Jonathan Robin, president, Station Agro-Biotech. © stock.adobe.com/ New Africa © stock.adobe.com/Delphotostock 04-11.qxp_Layout 1 22/07/2022 14:42 Page 3Food & Drink International 7 www.fdiforum.net news Co-op to put ‘freeze me’ message on own brand milk products to cut waste Co-op is introducing a ‘freeze me’ message to its own brand milk products, in a bid to cut down on 70,000 tonnes of milk wasted a year. Figures from UK sustainability experts WRAP, highlight that more than £150 million worth of milk is wasted each year, with milk wasted in the home contributing to 90 per cent of this. A recent survey shows that two-thirds (66%) of UK adults don’t freeze milk at home, 31 per cent of UK adults didn’t know you can freeze milk and of these 34 per cent say that now they do they will start freezing it. The new on-pack message from Co- op will read: “Don’t waste me, freeze me, in a suitable, clean container, then defrost in the fridge, use within 24 hours.” Milk is best within one month of freezing and for larger bottles it’s best to decant them into a container. When it’s ready to be used, defrost in the fridge to thaw fully and then use the defrosted milk within 24 hours. To advertise your services on the news pages contact us on 01472 310302 African spirits group secures $3m investment marking its entry into the US market Spearhead, the Black-owned, African spirits group, has raised $3 million. Funded by Pendulum, a strategic investment and advisory platform for founders and leaders of colour, the investment marks the group’s entry into the US and will further power the company’s next phase of growth. Following a strong reception to the brand in European markets, the funding will allow Spearhead to accelerate its global reach, introduce new product lines and scale marketing efforts. Founded in the UK and launched in March 2021 by co-founders, Chris Frederick and Damola Timeyin, Spearhead is a multi-award- winning business with a growing portfolio of premium brands that include Bayab Gin and Vusa Vodka. After noticing a lack of diverse representation in the spirits category, as well as a beverage that highlights Africa’s heritage and the quality and craft of the continent, Spearhead was born. 04-11.qxp_Layout 1 22/07/2022 14:42 Page 4M&S removes best before dates across fruit and veg in bid to tackle food waste M&S is removing best before dates from a range of fresh produce to help reduce in-store and household food waste. Best before dates will be removed from the labelling of over 300 fruit and vegetable products – 85% of M&S’ produce offering – including commonly wasted items apples, potatoes and broccoli. Dates will be replaced with a new code which M&S store colleagues will use to ensure freshness and quality is maintained. The change is designed to encourage customers to throw away less edible food at home by using their judgement. Research from WRAP shows that an estimated 6.6m million tonnes of food is thrown away by UK households a year. As part of its Plan A sustainability roadmap, M&S has pledged to halve food waste by 2030, with 100% of edible surplus to be redistributed by 2025. 8 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net news Designing roots to penetrate hard soils could help climate proof crops Scientists have discovered how to design cereal roots able to continue growing in hard soils by altering their ability to penetrate, enabling roots to access sources of water deeper in soil, and helping ‘climate-proof’ vital crops in response to changing UK rain fall patterns. Climate change is altering rain fall patterns, resulting in drier, harder soils which threaten yields in rain fed crops like cereals. An international team of researchers led by the University of Nottingham and Shanghai University have discovered key genes, hormone signals and processes in rice roots that control their ability to penetrate hard soils. Their findings have been published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Hard soils cause crop roots to grow shorter and swell. Root swelling was originally thought to help penetrate hard soils. However, X-ray imaging of plants growing in soil at Nottingham revealed that roots which remained narrow penetrate hard soils more easily. The team went on to identify a hormone signal that promoted this root swelling response which, when its levels were reduced, helped roots remain narrow and penetrate hard soil more effectively. Oterra acquires India’s Akay Group Oterra, the supplier of natural colors, is strengthening its core offerings with the acquisition of Akay Group, a prominent natural ingredients manufacturer. Founded in India in 1995, Akay Group is a leading player in the natural colors and nutraceutical ingredients industry. The acquisition, Oterra’s fourth in only 14 months, is being hailed as “a win-win” for both parties. Oterra will not only strengthen its access to natural colors but also to an attractive product pipeline backed by state-of-the-art manufacturing plants and strong R&D capabilities. “Akay is a great strategic match for Oterra. It adds to Oterra’s best-known core-strength – natural colors, and its portfolio of nutraceutical products complements Oterra’s existing portfolio of products for natural dietary supplements. The demand for all-natural products in this market is on the rise – and so is Oterra,” said Cees de Jong, chairman of Oterra. Based in Kerala, India’s spice hub, Akay serves over 40 countries, has four manufacturing sites in southern India and employs more than 400 people. © stock.adobe.com/sveta Diageo and The Vita Coco Company collaborate for premium canned cocktail line Diageo and The Vita Coco Company have revealed a collaboration to launch a line of premium canned cocktails crafted with a blend of Captain Morgan rum and Vita Coco coconut water. With Captain Morgan having the #1 selling spiced rum brand and Vita Coco as the #1 selling coconut water, this relationship brings together two category-leading brands. “Cocktail drinkers are looking for convenient ways to enjoy high quality classic tropical drinks, especially rum-based ones,” said Debra Crew, president, Diageo North America. “As we continue expanding our ready-to-drink portfolio, we consider ways to elevate the category, and it just made sense to marry together two premium brands that are loved by consumers around the world.” Called Vita Coco Spiked with Captain Morgan, the spirits-based line will be available in three offerings (Piña Colada, Strawberry Daiquiri, and Lime Mojito), all starting with a balanced blend of iconic Captain Morgan Caribbean white rum and Vita Coco’s refreshing-tasting coconut water. The line is expected to hit shelves in early 2023. © stock.adobe.com/stone36 © stock.adobe.com/Anna Efetova 04-11.qxp_Layout 1 22/07/2022 14:42 Page 5www.fdiforum.net Plan your campaign with Food & Drink International… ...your competitors are! As marketing is the vital ingredient for the success and growth of any business, we can offer advice and packages to suit all budgets. Speak to one of our experienced account executives. CAN YOU AFFORD NOT TO? • Print • Online • E-Newsletters • Regular News • Topical Features The perfect medium to give your brand the best chance of being seen! Contact us below for our 2022 editorial schedule Call today on +44 [0] 1472 310310 or email: v.hunt@blmgroup.co.uk INTERNATIONAL INTERN NATION AL ahe The d ysafety and a News Healltth, saf hygiene Pumps and nd INTERN NATION AL i nno F o c o vati io i New s P ack aging spotlight oading baL ay y doors syss and INTERN NATION News challe n g Meeti ng Fla col ges col c INTERN NATION AL Be ve rages el lff The futu i n f o c Thefutu On the shel ture s in f o cus i s End of f line pack kaaging MINIMUM COST…MAXIMUM IMPACT! www.fdiforum.net 04-11.qxp_Layout 1 22/07/2022 14:42 Page 6Next >