Global
Food allergens to be specified clearly on packages
The
US House Subcommittee on Health recently passed the Food Allergen Labelling
and Consumer Protection Act. The bill has been authored by US representatives
Nita Lowey and James Greenwood and senators Edward Kennedy and Judd
Gregg.
The bill requires food manufacturers to clearly state if a product contains
the eight major food allergens that are responsible for over 90 per
cent of all allergic reactions, which are: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree
nuts, fish, shellfish, wheat and soya.
Recent studies estimate that one out of every 15 Americans, has a food
allergy and the number of children with peanut allergy has doubled in
the past five years. Each year, over 250 Americans die due to the ingestion
of allergenic foods, while 30,000 receive life-saving treatment in emergency
rooms.
Tetra Pak expands aseptic packaging portfolio
Tetra Pak has added Tetra Brik Aseptic 1,890 ml Slim and Tetra Brik
Aseptic 2000 ml Slim packages to its already existing Aseptic package
range.(See page 24) The development comes in response to consumer demands
for both value-formoney packaging and greater convenience.
Tetra Pak claims that the sizes – 2 litre for the European market
and 1,890 ml for Northern American markets – are ideal for producers
packaging juice and still drinks and in the US market, in particular,
soya and rice-based beverages.
The large size of the cartons makes them suitable for the food service
and catering industries. The cartons feature SlimCap, a resealable screw
cap closure by Tetra Pak. In addition, the SlimCap opening for the Tetra
Brik Aseptic 1890 Slim and Tetra Brik Aseptic 2000 Slim packages has
been specially designed to ensure optimal opening, pouring and reclosing
of these large-size packages. Like similar SlimCap openings, it can
be resealed and therefore does not leak when stored horizontally or
shaken upside down.
Efficient and easy to manage cardboard wraparound boxes are available
for the products. As with other Tetra Pak packages, the cartons are
easy to disposeoff and are fully recyclable along with the opening caps.
Unilever UK aims at greater energy saving
A Unilever Bestfoods Foodsolutions(UBF) distribution
centre in Coventry, UK, has been fitted with state-of-the-art insulation
and energy re-use facilities. This has resulted in saving refrigeration
costs by approximately 40 per cent as compared to traditional designs.
This improvement results from the special mats beneath the cold store
which re-use heat from the refrigeration plants.
This move is aimed to achieve greater efficiency, and at the same time,
meet tough new environmental regulations. In 2001, the UK Government
introduced the Climate Change Levy, a business tax on energy use. However,
companies who reduce energy consumption in line with government targets
are eligible for an 80 per cent tax discount. To qualify, UBF must reduce
energy use by 10 per cent at its manufacturing sites by 2010. This comes
after Unilever Ice Cream company, a part of UBF, recently committed
itself to buying only HFC-free (HFC full form) freezers from 2005. The
freezers have already been introduced in Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands,
Switzerland, and the UK, and the company claims it will have around
15,000 HFC-free cabinets in its fleet by the end of 2004.
Starbucks eyes expansion in Malaysia
Starbucks Coffee International recently reported
that it has agreed to acquire an equity position in its Malaysian licensee,
Berjaya Coffee Company (M). The Malaysian company will change its name
to Starbucks Berjaya Coffee Company.
Starbucks Coffee International will have 49.9 per cent share in the
company and the Berjaya Group Berhad will have 50.1 per cent share.
Each partner will have equal voting rights in the company.
The joint venture would allow Starbucks to grow the brand further throughout
Southeast Asia, consistent with the chain’s international expansion
strategy. Starbucks, which opened its first store in Malaysia in December
1998, now has 49 stores in the country.
Coca-Cola in Somalia after 15 years
Coca-Cola has once again started producing soft
drinks in Somalia, Africa. Fifteen years after closing its operations
in the country due to civil unrest, the company has forayed into the
market once again. A new state-of-theart facility has been set up with
an investment of $8.3 million at Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia for
the production of its wide range of soft drinks. The new soft drink
plant, owned by the United Bottling, a consortium of 399 Somali investors,
was inaugurated recently. The plant has a production capacity of 36,000
bottles per hour. The plant is currently scheduled to operate at 70
per cent capacity producing the company’s flagship brands of Coca-Cola,
Fanta and Sprite.
SABMiller plans to takeover South African bottler
London-based SABMiller is considering acquiring
100 per cent ownership of the South African Coca-Cola bottler, Amalgamated
Beverage Industries.
The company plans to buy the shares at approximately $12.80 per share.
SABMiller currently owns 73.5 per cent of the company's shares. This
comes less than two weeks after SABMiller completed the sale of its
21 per cent share of Edgars Consolidated Stores, a South African retail
store, for about $264 million, according to media reports. The sale
of Edgars is in line with a more than four-year-old plan by SABMiller,
formerly South African Breweries, to shed all its non-brewery related
enterprises.
New Dragon Asia flour products labelled organic
Flour products from New Dragon Asia have received
Grade A certification by the China Green Food Development Centre.
This is the only organisation authorised by the Chinese Government to
issue the‘green’ and organic label to food producers in the
country.
Headquartered in the province Shandong in China, with a corporate office
in Hong Kong, New Dragon’s businesses include milling, sale and
distribution of flour and flour related products, including ...
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