News Brief: Romanian bakers, Irish biscuits and Dutch potatoes
Jacob's takes Mcvitie's to court over biscuit packets; and new
potato snacks look like crisps but are better for the heart.
Romanian bakers seek Austrian owners Austrian company Leipnik Lundenburger Invest (LLI) is being inundated with offers from bakery product producers wishing to be purchased, according to local news reports. Representatives of the group told Romanian newspaper Ziarul Financiar that several manufacturers are interested following LLI's successful acquisition of the bakert Titan, previously knows as Loulis, earlier this year in a transaction worth €55m. "For the time being, we want to integrate Titan into the LLI Euromills group. However, in the future we are considering another acquisition," said representatives of the Raiffeisen group, which controls the LLI company. At a European level, the Austrian group specialises in milling, with Titan (formerly Loulis) currently the only LLI-held branch on the bakery segment, the newspaper said. McVitie's clashes with Jacob's over Irish packaging McVitie's must change its fig roll packaging in Ireland, but is allowed to keep the cream cracker packets, the Irish High Court ruled last week. The case occurred after Irish baker Jacob's complained that the packaging on these two products was confusingly similar to its own, The court refused to grant the injunction in relation to the cream crackers, but ordered that the packaging must now be changed on all packets of McVitie's fig rolls in Ireland, including those already sent out to supermarkets and warehouses. A spokesperson for United Biscuits, the parent company of McVitie's, told BakeryAndSnacks.com that the company is "pleased" with the outcome, as a redesign of the cracker packets would have been very costly for the company. Potato snack is all about the cut, company claims A new patented method of slicing potatoes creates water thin potato slices, ideal for a healthy snack, according to manufacturer LambWeston. The Potato Waves, due to be launched in Cologne later this month, may look like crisps but are in fact closer in taste to potato wedges, the company claim, and so can be easily picked up and eaten "on the hoof". "The waves can be used as a crudite and dipped in any kind of sauce, but they're equally delicious eaten on their own," the Dutch company said.
