'Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you're doing, but nobody else does.' Stuart H Britt
Food for thought . . ."When it comes to food and beverage products, one rule of thumb defines a true trend: Real trends don’t come and go; they grow – over years, decades or even longer. For processors, fads can still bring in big money, but the risk is high."
David Feder, Managing Editor, Food Processing Magazine
Food Industry News SA: Exacting Woolworths standards
Woolworths has a steady supplier base. It has teams of scientists developing new products. Woolworths's reputation as a tough and demanding buyer of products and services precedes it. Suppliers confirm this and CEO Simon Susman concedes that working with his company “can be challenging”. Read more
 SA: New lager launch builds on premium success
Following the recent introduction of Grolsch into the South African market, South African Breweries (SAB) announced earlier this week that it will be launching a new premium brand, Dreher Premium Lager. Read more
 SA: Rainforest Alliance to help Lipton turn over a new leaf
Lipton is aiming to revolutionise the tea industry by committing to purchase all its tea from sustainable, ethical sources. The brand has asked the international environmental NGO, Rainforest Alliance, to start by certifying its tea farms in Africa. The Rainforest Alliance works with individuals, communities and companies whose livelihoods depend on the land to reduce environmental impacts and increase social and economic benefits.
 SA: BMI Foodpack and Adcheck Research announce merger
BMI Foodpack, a leading market research house for the food, beverage and packaging industry, and Adcheck Research, previously a division of Adcheck, a market intelligence organisation specialising in the retail and manufacturing industries, have announced their merger. Read more
 EU: Polman to succeed cescau as Unilever CEO
Unilever has announced that Patrick Cescau, Group Chief Executive, will retire from Unilever at the end of the year. The Board intends to appoint Paul Polman (left), 52, currently Executive Vice President. Read more
 US: Coca-Cola Bids for Chinese juice giant
The Coca-Cola Company has made a bid to acquire one of China’s largest juice makers for about $2.4 billion. The deal for the China Huiyuan Juice Group, which is based in Beijing, would be one of the biggest foreign acquisitions ever of a Chinese company and would represent Coke’s latest move to expand in China. Read more
 AFRICA: Cargill to launch operations in Ghana
Cargill expects to start running its cocoa processing plant in Ghana in November. The facility will increase Ghana's production capacity by 25%. Read more
 US: Court rules in favor of USDA in BSE case
A federal appeals court ruled against Kansas meat packer Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, which wanted to test all its animals for BSE, instead of the 1% tested by the USDA. Larger companies argued against the testing, which is expensive, fearing they would have to do it, too, if Creekstone Farms advertises that all its cows have been tested. Read more
 US: Study: Innovation, globalization to boost candy sales
The popularity of Western tastes in markets such as China, Mexico and Eastern Europe will boost global confectionery sales, a study finds. The push to use functional ingredients also will help to lift sales. Read more
Ingredients Stuff Branding key for ingredients firms, marketers say
The brand equity of specialty food ingredients is the true measure of the success of a product, reports Frost & Sullivan. This is especially important for value-added or functional products. Read more
Stevia is photo-stable in beverages, says Coca-ColaStevia, the natural sweetener causing a whirlwind of interest around the globe, does not degrade in beverages on exposure to light, says a new study from Coca-Cola. Read more
Health & Nutrition Gum could be a stress reliever, study finds
Chewing gum might help reduce anxiety and stress, as well as improve alertness, according to a study that Wrigley helped to fund. Read more
 Coffee may decrease uterine cancer risk
Women who drank more than three cups of coffee a day were 60% less likely to develop uterine cancer than women who had coffee less than twice a week, according to a study. Researchers say the coffee might protect women by lowering insulin levels. Read more
Packaging Stuff  Glass packaging is phreatened but well-positioned in niches
Growth in the world glass packaging industry is expected to be sustained by its strong, and well-entrenched use in packaging prestige drinks such as champagne, beer, and wine among others. Although threatened by substitution from other packaging alternatives, such as, PET bottles, metal cans and paperboard containers, glass packaging is forecasted to retain some of its popularity helped largely by its premium image, and ability to preserve and retain product quality. Read more
Thought-provocation Cut-price food deals fuelling the obesity epidemic
Thomas Sutcliff: I doubt that anyone was under the impression that what really gets the big food retailers out of bed in the morning is a driving ambition to improve the health of the nation. But...Read more
 Death by diet
Claudia Winkleman: Take It From Me: 'There is no one more enraged than a woman on a diet. I nearly killed a man after two days on the Atkins' [Ed: Fabulously funny article...] Read more
That's it for this week, folks!
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