Premier Foods has today announced its purchase of Campbell's UK and
Irish businesses for £450m (€651m), marking the firm's sixth
acquisition in under four years.
Which? consumer watchdog is calling for standardised food labelling
legislation to iron out consumer confusion, as many retailers and
manufacturers reject the recommended FSA traffic light system in
favour over their own labelling...
British food retailers and suppliers have developed a growing
commitment to domestically produced organic food, as consumers
insist on more environment-friendly production practices.
UK manufacturer Premier Foods has achieved flat sales but a
year-end like-for-like grocery profit rise of 5.4 per cent -
bolstered by rewarding acquisitions and a huge marketing drive.
Food retail sales in all leading European countries are growing at
a historic rate with Hungarian and Czech Republic markets leading
the way, says new report.
Britain's major supermarkets are today being blamed for distorting
the organic primary produce market, forcing 300 Scottish farmers to
switch to conventional agricultural practices to stay in business.
The forcing of a UK cooked meat processor to withdraw its products
from the market serves as warning to industry that a company's
future lies in the hands of its plant food safety managers.
There's more movement in the UK's supermarket battle for supremacy,
as Asda announced yesterday it is cutting 200 management jobs and
adding about 1,200 store positions as part of a reorganisation.
Strong sales of ketchup helped keep sales buoyant at Heinz during
the third quarter, though a write-down of its investment in Hain
Celestial provoked a 25 percent drop in earnings.
Baugur, the Iceland-based retail group, has made a new proposal for
Britain's Big Food Group (BFG), a move that would almost certainly
mean the break up of the group but strengthen its main supermarket
banner, Iceland, writes...
A new bread factory, capable of increasing output by 50 per cent,
is being built by UK-based specialist bread supplier Jackson's
Bakery, giving the company an advantage as it strives to supply a
bigger portion of the foodservice...
Europe's organic food and farming sector got a major boost this
week with the adoption by the European Commission of a new action
plan to promote the sector. The challenge will be to ensure, and
maintain, consumer trust in premium-priced...
More than two billion sandwiches are consumed every year by
Britons, who spend roughly £3 each day on their favourite lunchtime
meal, according to a new study commissioned by the Asda supermarket
chain. But many people are taking...
Britain may be Europe's biggest snack food market, but changing
habits in continental Europe mean that even the staunchest
supporters of traditional gastronomy - the French - are
increasingly snacking between meals, according...
Britain's supermarkets are not doing enough to support the
country's organic farming industry, buying in produce from abroad
despite sufficient supplies in the domestic market, claims the Soil
Association. But there are...
German consumers eat more organic food than their counterparts in
both France and Britain combined, according to a new report from
market analysts Mintel. The German market alone is worth
more than €3.2 billion, but significant future...
The largest US organic and natural food retailer Whole Foods Market
(WFM) has this week entered the European market with the
acquisition of British group Fresh & Wild for $38 million.
Dutch retailer Ahold's efforts to streamline its business are
continuing apace, with yesterday's announcement that the US convenience store business
was to be sold followed today by news of a realignment at the
retail headquarters...
Whole Foods Market, the largest natural and organic food retailer
in the US, is to make its first entry into the UK with the
acquisition of Fresh & Wild, a London-based company which
operates a small chain of natural food stores.
The relationship between suppliers and retailers can frequently be
a difficult one, with the supermarkets traditionally being cast as
the villain, squeezing every penny of profit out of their put-upon
suppliers.
Around 72 per cent of Spanish consumer say they have eaten organic
food products at some time in the past, but the evidence suggests
that overall consumption of organic food is still low.
As if to confirm the Datamonitor report on organic food sales which
we reported on last week, the UK's Soil Association has this week
issued its own report showing that the British organic market is
alive and kicking, growing...
Organic food sales in the UK are set to grow by 12 per cent by
2007, reaching €2.6bn. But this is still half the size of the
German market, with further growth still hampered by the high
prices and dubious claims about the alleged...
The Food Commission has got the knives out for the UK supermarket
sector and confectionery manufacturers over the sale of sweets and
snacks at the checkout, which it claims is contributing to the
worsening health of the nation.
Spain is one of the biggest producers of organic food in Europe,
but the vast majority of its output is exported. Domestic shoppers
are put off by the high price of organic food and by the fact that
it is frequently hard to find,...
The organic food industry in Germany continued to grow last year,
despite a nitrofen contamination scandal. The Anuga food exhibition
in Cologne next month will feature thousands of organic food
products which show that there is still...
Europeans may be among the strongest opponents of GM foods, but
that does not mean that they are big supporters of organic food,
increasingly seen as an alternative to GM. Organic food sales
growth in western Europe is slowing, but...
Fun, convenience and health are the clear drivers of innovation in
the food industry, as the latest review of new products from
Mintel's Global New Product Database shows. Functional dairy and
confectionery products, fruit-flavoured...
Europe is a continent of snackers, and eating between meals is set
to grow there over the next five years. The challenge now for
manufacturers is to turn the oft-maligned snack into an integral
part of the daily diet as meal occasions...
A national promotional scheme has boosted sales of organic food in
the US, but sales in Europe were sluggish at best last year after a
high-profile scandal in Germany reduced consumer confidence,
according to a new report from Organic...
Growing confidence and consumer awareness are the main driving
forces behind the continued growth of the European organic food
market. According to the Global New Products Database an increasing
number of new product launches is continuing...
Substantial investment, and consumer interest, in the UK
super-premium bread market has prompted Allied Bakeries to relaunch
its Kingsmill Gold brand for the second time in three years.
Producers of food and non-food products from all over the world
have joined forces to call for tighter protection of geographical
indications ahead of the latest WTO talks in September. But
convincing WTO members to extend the list...
Snack markets in western Europe might well be reaching maturity,
but there is still plenty of growth to be found in Russia,
according to Market Advice. The economic crisis of the late
1990s gave domestic producers a chance to outstrip...
It is 10 years since Switzerland's Coop launched its Naturaplan
organic food range, but the successes of the first decade are
nothing compared to the big plans for the scheme in the years to
come.
Ice cream has traditionally been a seasonal product, with
consumption highest in the summer months. But manufacturers have
been working hard in recent years to create new, indulgent snack
products which are helping to make ice cream...
With new store developments tightly controlled there, the Balearic
Islands is one of the toughest markets in Spain for supermarket
groups to break into. But Basque group Eroski could become the
biggest operator there if it succeeds...
In a market valued at €140 billion, the consumption of food and
drink in the European workplace provides manufacturers with the
potential to create products that meet three key criteria -
quality, convenience and health.
Noodles are one of the fastest-growing products in the packaged
food market, but European sales are dominated by the UK. A new
report from market analysts Euromonitor reflects on whether other
markets in Europe will benefit from the...
Europe's organic meat industry is nearing overcapacity, according
to new research by Organic Monitor. Large volumes of organic meat
products are flooding a market that is showing signs of slowing
down.
Proof that the UK consumer is still very partial to a snack or two
comes in the form of new research from market analysts Mintel. In
2002, the UK accounted for a whacking 51 per cent of total value
sales of savoury snacks, way ahead...
Organic food products such as Yeo Valley yoghurts and Green and
Black's chocolate are leading the way in packaging design - a
lesson which other organic producers would do well to learn.
Retailers in the UK are increasing their organic food offering all
the time, especially as consumers become increasingly concerned
about the safety of much of the food they eat. But playing on these
fears to advertise and promote...
Despite being one of the most important organic food markets in
Europe, German consumer confidence in the organic sector was
seriously undermined by last year's nitrofen scandal - leaving the
country's producers with an...
A survey of Spanish consumers shows that most believe the quality
and safety of food and drink products is high - and that trust in a
brand or a retailer is one of the key factors when it comes to
choosing what to buy.
Bread will always be a staple part of any diet, but a new report
from Datamonitor suggests that consumption in western Europe could
be reaching saturation point. However, markets such as Spain, still
have potential for further growth.
As Europe debates the anticipated changes to the Common
Agricultural Policy (CAP), the European Commission suggested its
commitment to organic farming with the announcement that it has
launched an Internet consultation about its future.
Although sweet, bitter and umami (monosodium glutamate) tastes are
different, researchers are finding that information about each of
these tastes is transmitted from the various taste receptors via a
common intracellular signalling...
After posting massive losses in the fourth quarter of 2002 - the
first in its history - fast food chain McDonald's is being forced
to rethink the way it does business. But will these changes, such
as selling organic milk, be...
The UK Soil Association and the Fairtrade Foundation on Friday
launcheda new pilot project to combine organic and Fairtrade
certification whichwill apply to British and imported foods.
