"Health is so necessary to all the duties, as well as the pleasures of life, that the crime of squandering it is equal to the folly."

Samuel Johnson, British author

Food bites... Live the brand promise

“... the best recommendation that we can give to brands and businesses is to always keep the highest levels of attention and control on their core brand promise and to never drop their guards when it comes to delivering on this promise in everything they do and say and on a daily basis. Nothing should get in the way of honoring the brand promise. To deliver the brand promise “religiously” at every moment is what gives the brand its “legitimacy” and its place in the mind and in the lives of customers around the world."

Jean-Claude Saade, branding and communication consultant

Editor's Stuff - Get to IUFoST 2010!

 
OK, I'm banging on about this, but the message needs to get out to the food industry that, come late August, the MOST SIGNIFICANT FOOD INDUSTRY EVENT EVER IN SOUTH AFRICA is taking place at the CTICC in Cape Town!

And, it must be stressed, IUFoST 2010 or the 15th World Congress of Food Science and Technology, is not just for scientists. The plenary sessions are of relevance to anyone who makes - or eats - food. How's this for starters on Day 1, with these consecutive speakers: Sir David King, Director, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford and Gebisa Ejeta, Department of Agronomy, Purdue University, USA, and Global Food Prize Winner 2009, who will be addressing issues of global food sustainability.

The programme for food scientists is amazing, and there are multiple sessions for those concerned with food development and marketing, with a troop of international speakers addressing food trends, nutrition, diet and health issues, functional foods, consumer perceptions, labelling issues, and packaging developments. There will be lots of interesting, sexy stuff for non-scientists!

Apart from a brilliant congress programme, there is a concurrent IUFoST 2010 Trade Exhibition. The show is a “sell out” with over 80 exhibitors and will be the largest trade show organised to date by SAAFoST. Many of the South African companies will have representatives present from their major international principles ensuring the show is a truly global event that will be relevant to both South African and international visitors.

SAAFoST's organising committee is aiming for a target of "2 010 delegates in 2010", but need at least 1 800 to make the event a success. Chair, Nigel Sunley says while registration numbers are already looking good (over 1 450), there's a  need to rev up local food industrialists to make an effort to attend. "They must come and see for themselves - that like the football, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - which is four times the size of a SAAFoST congress in total content. It also provides unique opportunities for the locals to hear and interact with the very top global people in the food science and technology professions."

Come for a day, or three, or just the expo - but note, this is a show every food industrialist needs to be at! Get to the IUFoST 2010 website for all the details: http://www.iufost2010.org.za/

Email Brenda Neall, editor and publisher: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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Afrikaans translation: To translate this page, go to http://interpret.co.za/, and simply paste the URL into the page translator module. The translation is by no means perfect, but is a help if you want to read in your home language.

Local Food Industry Stuff

Nestle to spend $141 million in Africa in an effort to boost market share

Nestle, the world’s biggest food company, plans to spend 150 million Swiss francs ($141 million) boosting production in Africa in an effort to increase its market share, CEO Paul Bulcke says. “The company will build new factories in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique and significantly expand its existing factories in Kenya and Zimbabwe,” he told reporters in Nairobi. FoodNavigator. Read more

Pick n Pay plans Africa expansion

Pick n Pay should use the proceeds from the sale of its struggling Australian operations to compete more effectively in South Africa and expand its footprint in the region, analysts say. This follows Pick n Pay's announcement that it had accepted an "unsolicited" offer of A$215-million (R1.4-billion) for its 77 Franklins supermarkets and eight franchises in New South Wales from Metcash, Australia's largest grocery wholesaler. Business Times. Read more

'Private labels are safe from consumer shift' 

The sale of private label goods in the South African retail market will remain largely unscathed by the apparent shift back to branded offerings as the consumers remain significantly conscious of their spending patterns.

International ratings agency Moody's warned recently that house brands would lose market share this year as consumer product companies shaved prices on branded offerings, but local retailers probably would not feel the pinch as private label products did not have the same kind of penetration in South Africa as they did in other countries. Business Day.  Read more

Fry Group Foods takes its vegetarian nutrition to India  

The success of Fry Group Foods, the maker of vegetarian products, is continuing. The family-owned business, opened almost two decades ago, has launched its products in India, probably the world's largest vegetarian market. Its soya-based vegetarian products have been selling from Nature's Basket chain stores situated all over India for the past year. The first year's take up sales have exceeded R1.5 million. Business Report. Read more And read more about the fascinating Fry vegetarian business on its website.

SA views on the pros and cons of salt

Salt is a killer: too much causes high blood pressure, which in turn causes strokes and heart attacks. But get rid of it completely and food tastes bland, goes off quickly, and may even lose its crackle and crunch. Therein lies the challenge for food producers. On the one hand they face growing pressure from governments and international agencies to reduce the salt in their goods, on the other they want to satisfy consumers’ predilection for salty food.

“If you take all your salt out of your boerwors tomorrow, you’ll have no one buying it,” says Woolworths food scientist Karin Carstenson. “You have to do it in a way that doesn’t alienate your customers”. Business Day. Read more

Top Companies 2010 - Food & Beverages

Food and beverages is a conveniently constructed hybrid sector that doesn’t exist on the JSE. But the dynamics that influence the two sectors that it comprises are similar. Consumer spending is the common thread , though it is discretionary consumer spending when it comes to beverages and nondiscretionary regarding food. The sector is dominated by brewing giant SABMiller, whose net profit is almost 10 times that of its nearest rival in the sector, Tiger Brands. Business Day. Read more  

Resurrection plant could save us

When you sit down to a bowl of cornflakes one breakfast time 40 years from now, you might just want to close your eyes and offer thanks to Professor Jill Farrant.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation predicts that climate change will force many countries to abandon crop farming by 2050. But ground-breaking work by Farrant could save the day. Resurrection plants, mostly endemic to southern Africa, tolerate near total water loss for prolonged periods. If the way in which their genetic make-up works to do this could be better understood, it could be used to increase crops' drought resistance without resorting to genetic modification. Farrant was recently awarded the €100 000 Harry Oppenheimer Fellowship Award to continue her work on how these plants can be used to ensure future food security. Mail & Guardian. Read more

The man who shattered South Africa's wine-glass ceiling

Whatever its colour, wine in South Africa is still white. Despite attempts at land reform, government efforts and subsidies, there are only a handful of black winemakers in an industry that employs tens of thousands and exports 400 million litres per year. Past efforts at reversing centuries of gross inequality through land reform have offered incremental progress at best.

Tariro Masayiti is a rare success story in an industry still dominated by the white minority. Today, he's a respected senior winemaker with South Africa's largest producer Nederburg. His working day is spent among the immaculate vineyards that stretch across the plateau of Paarl ringed by the mountains of the Western Cape. He oversees a large staff and cellars which produce 12 million litres of wine every year. Two of Masayiti's wines, a white and a rosé, were chosen by Fifa as official World Cup wines. The Independent. Read more  

SABMiller unveils low-energy boiling technology

SABMiller announces that its global brewing technical team has developed innovative technology which dramatically reduces the energy input required in the boiling process within its breweries.

The new technology, which will be introduced across a number of SABMiller's operations in the coming year, can dramatically cut the energy required at the point the unfermented ‘wort' is heated to ensure product and microbial stability. In a typical brewery the energy used in boiling can account for up to 40% of the facility's total energy requirements, so the new technology has the potential to significantly reduce both fuel costs and the carbon emissions from the use of coal or oil-based boilers. SABMiller. Read more

Food Industry News

Amazon opens grocery site to compete with UK supermarkets

For the first time in Britain, Amazon.co.uk, famed for its cheap CDs, books and toys will now sell coffee, tea, wine, biscuits and even meat and vegetables. In all, 20,000 different items will be on offer. All the major dried goods, such as tea, crisps, spices, biscuits, nappies and pasta will be stored in Amazon's own giant waredhouses, allowing people to receive these by guranteed delivery the next day. The Telegraph. Read more  

UK: No anti-junk food laws, health secretary promises

Beer companies, confectionery firms and crisp-makers will be asked to fund the government's advertising campaign to persuade people to switch to a healthier lifestyle and, in return, will not face new legislation outlawing excessively fatty, sugary and salty food, the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, announced this week.

In a move condemned by campaigners as the government "rolling over on their backs in front of the food lobby", Lansley told a conference of public health experts that he wanted a new partnership with food and drink firms. In exchange for a "non-regulatory approach", the private sector would put up cash to fund the Change4Life campaign to improve diets and boost levels of physical activity among young people. The Guardian. Read more 

Codex sets limits for melamine and aflatoxin in food

The first global limits on permitted melamine levels in food have been set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) at its annual food safety summit in Switzerland. FoodNavigator. Read more

EU organic logo comes into force

The new European organic logo is now mandatory on pre-packaged organic food and beverage products produced in the bloc, after new labelling regulations came into force on July 1. Made up of 12 stars in the shape of a leaf, the new logo is designed to provide consumers with “complete confidence” that the goods they purchase are produced in line with EU organic farming regulations, said the European Commission. FoodandDrinkEurope. Read more  

Kraft revamps developing markets strategy after Cadbury

Kraft Foods is revising the brands and countries it will focus on in developing markets as a result of its acquisition earlier this year of Cadbury. Three Cadbury brands, Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolates, Halls lozenges and Trident gum,  make its list of 10 “power” brands getting the bulk of the marketing money in developing markets, according to Sanjay Khosla, Kraft’s president, Developing Markets and Global Categories. They join Oreo cookies, Milka chocolate, Lacta chocolate, Jacobs coffee, Tang drink mix, Club Social/TUC crackers, Biskuat/Tiger biscuits, Khosla said.

As Kraft changes its brand focus, its focus markets are changing as well. One of the key benefits of buying Cadbury was its distribution infrastructure in the vast India market, and Khosla said India is now one of the 10 focus markets. Other focus markets under his purview are Brazil, Australia, Russia, Mexico, China, Ukraine, Poland, South Africa, and Indonesia. Reuters. Read more

US: Grocery Mfrs Assn rejects call for food colourings ban

Advocacy group CSPI has issued a report on food colourings, including three of the most widely used – Red 40, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 – saying that they are known carcinogens and can cause allergic reactions. ... The FDA says: “FDA appreciates the report from CSPI and looks forward to reviewing it. We take our commitment to protecting the public health seriously." Meanwhile, the Grocery Manufacturers Association said in a statement: “The safety of both artificial and natural colours has been affirmed through extensive review by the main global food safety bodies, including the US FDA and the European Food Safety Authority. FoodNavigator. Read more

Global hunger showing no signs of declining

The first UN millennium development goal — halving the percentage of the world’s hungry people by 2015 — is slipping further and further away. With the number of the world’s hungry having reached 1,02bn at last count in 2009, a commitment to meeting the goal then would have required a reduction of 73m undernourished people each year until 2015. And even if that were done, 600m people would remain hungry in the developing world.

Though the proportion of the hungry is slightly smaller now since the world’s population has increased, the number of more than 1bn that was reached for the first time last year translates to more than one in seven people globally. Financial Mail. Read more  

Food Trends, Marketing and NPD

Innova: Bringing "real food" values back to processed food

FOODStuff SA exclusive: From the Innova Newsletter, April 2010

In marketing, awareness of trends is important. Ideally we should be keeping an eye on the marketplace to observe the small movements (fads; “micro trends”) as well as the larger movements (“macro trends”). Sometimes, though, we do not discern which is which, and this may cause us to respond inappropriately; to wrongly weight the importance, magnitude or potential, writes BRYAN URBICK, CEO & President, Consumer Knowledge Centre, UK. Innova. Read more  

Men eat meat, women eat chocolate: How food gets gendered

So what is it with certain foods (and drinks) getting the boys vs girls treatment? .... in the American consciousness, real men still don't eat quiche and women stick with chocolate, tofu and yoghurt. Is this the handiwork of the evil advertising geniuses on Madison Avenue, or might these clichés also arise from some long-buried grain of truth? Are genetic differences responsible for our gendered eating? How many of our eating patterns come from gender socialisation, and how many are hereditary? Salon. Read more

Consumer food technology perceptions

Consumer support of food technology is strongest when considering benefits that resonate with consumers, such as environmental and sustainability benefits, according to a recent study by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation. The 14th annual IFIC Food Technology Consumer Survey, which interviewed 750 adults, tracked consumer trends in this area by examining familiarity with and perceptions towards food biotechnology, sustainability, and new and emerging technologies. Supermarket Guru. Read more

Buttery addition to Flora pro.activ

Unilever in the UK has launched its cholesterol-busting spread Flora pro.activ in a "Buttery" variant, and it hopes that the new product will drive category growth in 2010. Says Caroline Banquet, Flora pro.activ brand manager at Unilever UK: “Buttery spreads is the fastest growing segment within the category as taste is a key driver for consumers, even those concerned with health."

Flora pro.activ Buttery, churned with buttermilk to achieve a rich buttery flavour, is being supported by a £1million marketing investment including a new TV campaign. FDIN. Read more

Heston Blumenthal launches range of food at Waitrose

Heston Blumenthal, the celebrity chef, has developed a range of packaged food, allowing foodie shoppers to taste some of his eccentric recipes for the first time. British supermarket customers will soon be able to pop vanilla mayonnaise as well as beef and kelp pie into their weekly shopping basket alongside their usual box of tea bags and loaf of bread.

The chef, whose Fat Duck restaurant in Berkshire has been voted the third best in the world, has created a range of 20 different products, which will go on sale at Waitrose later this year, with a larger selection of goods in time for Christmas. The Telegraph. Read more  

EU: Danone axes Shape satiety yoghurt

Danone has ditched its "Shape Feel Fuller for Longer" yoghurt because it could not get the taste right, but insists it still believes there is a market for products promoting satiety. The yoghurt (a thick yoghurt made with hydrolyzed guar gum and milk proteins to stave of the hunger pangs) has been dropped and replaced with Shape Zer0%, a fat-free yoghurt with no added sugar ...  DairyReporter. Read more

US: Dentyne Pure is said to neutralise bad breath

Dentyne is introducing Dentyne Pure, a chewing gum it says neutralises bad breath instead of merely masking it. The launch is being supported by TV and online ads urging consumers to "Practice safe breath". New Dentyne Pure contains a proprietary mix of ingredients that actually "purifies" bad breath, or so Dentyne says. (The Cadbury brand is now a part of Kraft Foods, following the latter's acquisition of the confectionery giant earlier this year.) Brandweek. Read more  

Tapioca chips, the next gluten-free snack trend

Gluten-free products are becoming more in demand and similar to bubble tea made from tapioca pearls, cassava (also referred to as tapioca or yucca) chips may be the latest gluten free snack trend to gain international appeal, as evidenced by several debuts at the recent 2010 Summer Fancy Food Show in New York. Cassava "...has more fibre and potassium than its spud counterpart, making a healthier and increasingly popular alternative in several foods." The Independent. Read more  

Health and Nutrition Stuff

Cold cereal might beat a hot breakfast

You needn't feel guilty if you don't cook hot breakfasts for your kids. In a recent large study of children that compared breakfast-skippers, cereal eaters, and kids who had "other" breakfasts, the cereal-eaters came out on top for healthiest diets. Regardless of whether their breakfasts were relatively high or low in sugar, the cereal-eaters did not consume more than the daily recommended amount. The breakfast-skippers, on the other hand, got more of their daily energy from "added sugars" than breakfast-eaters and ended up with less fibre, fewer nutrients, and the smallest percent of their daily energy provided by protein. Reuters. Read more

Link between inactivity and obesity queried

Researchers have challenged the assumption that a lack of exercise causes children to put on weight. An 11-year study of more than 200 children in Plymouth suggests the effect is the other way around - that getting fatter makes them inactive. The paper, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, concludes that programmes to tackle obesity may need to focus more on food than exercise. BBC News. Read more

The quest for a radical new world for antioxidants

‘Antioxidants’ is a term beloved of marketers the world over and, as a result, consumer awareness has never been higher. But negative opinions from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) now have many asking: What next for antioxidants?

Last week, Stephen Daniells, senior editor for NutraIngredients-USA and FoodNavigator-USA, chaired the NutraIngredients Antioxidants 2010 conference in Brussels, with presenters ranging from market researchers to scientists at the cutting edge of antioxidant research. He reports that it is clear that much of the antioxidant science is moving in a different direction to the marketers. FoodNavigator. Read more

US: No surprises in draft dietary guidelines

As expected, sodium took a big hit and plant-based foods got a big boost when the preliminary recommendations for the 2010 edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans were announced in late June. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, composed of 13 nutrition experts, has been meeting for the past year and authored the report. It identified four major findings to improve the dietary health of Americans.

Preliminary recommendations will be reviewed by USDA and the Dept of Health and Human Services, and will be open for public comments until July 15 at www.dietaryguidelines.gov. Food Processing. Read more  

Shaping how Americans eat: the debate rages

More on the proposed new dietary guidelines: In the last two decades, clinical nutrition researchers have generated tomes of maddeningly contradictory advice for healthful eating. At the same time, nutrition watchdogs have charged that the food and restaurant industries and American farmers - in short, sectors with powerful financial interests at stake - have effectively hijacked the dietary guidelines. Meanwhile, Americans have grown fatter and sicker ... Some see sound advice and applaud the suggestions for a more plant-based diet. But others say the new guidelines can be confusing or don't go far enough in combating obesity. Sacramento Bee. Read more

Amid the murk of 'gut flora', vitamin D receptor emerges as a key player

Within the human digestive tract is a teeming mass of hundreds of types of bacteria, a potpourri of microbes numbering in the trillions that help us digest food and keep bad bacteria in check. Now scientists have found that the vitamin D receptor is a key player amid the gut flora, helping to govern their activity, responding to their cues, and sometimes countering their presence. The work was published online recently in the American Journal of Pathology. ScienceDaily. Read more 

Cholesterol's other way out

Many of us are simply overloaded with cholesterol, and now a report in the July issue of Cell Metabolism brings what might be good news: There is more than one way to get rid of that cholesterol, which can otherwise lead to atherosclerosis and heart disease. ScienceDaily. Read more

 Food Science, Biotech & Food Safety

“Who do I test for?” Everything you needed to know about microbiological testing of your products

Part Three of a series of informative articles written by Tracey Botes: So you are asking yourself, what on earth is she talking about, who is she talking about? I am referring to the microscopic, living cells, bacterial or fungal ... the microorganisms with both a name and a surname, that you need to select to test for in your sample/s. That is why I would not say “what should I test for?”, but “who?”! Once you know why a microorganism is called what it is, this may assist you in determining and understanding why certain tests are performed on different food products. Here are some general guidelines on how to select who to test for? The Food Safety Network. Read more  

Ecolab and DuPont poised to launch new anti-microbial film

Ecolab has announced that it has entered into a marketing agreement with DuPont to commercialise new antimicrobial coating technologies for the food and beverage processing industry that will reduce the risk of environmental contamination by enhancing food facility hygiene. FoodProductionDaily. Read more

Improving ground meat products with new extenders

The use of extenders is not a new concept for ground meat; the idea that extenders can "improve" ground meat is. Previous meat extenders were used to decrease price and increase yields, but were used with the knowledge that product quality — especially flavour — would suffer. This decrease in quality is no longer the case. Meatingplace.[Registration required] Read more

HOT TOPIC: Poultry Welfare

Anomalies of poultry "welfare"

Keeping layers in cages and broilers in densely populated houses has become a common practice. Meanwhile, however, concern over bird welfare has also increased, based on scientific knowledge and public perception. Europe, in particular, has taken the lead to improve poultry welfare. This is likely to increase in the next 25 years.

Consequently, an increasing number of consumers pay a premium for ‘free-range’ eggs without realising that: most of the eggs in the ‘free-range’ pack they buy have been laid by hens that have never been outside (though they are free to do so); greater rates of bone breakage in free-range systems represent a serious welfare issue and may compromise the welfare benefits of free-range systems; and although free-range hens have more freedom and a wider behavioural repertoire than those in most other systems, they are subject to the risk of greater welfare hazards. WorldPoultry.net. Read more 

Innova: Free range eggs hitting the mainstream

FOODStuff SA exclusive: From the Innova Newsletter, April 2010

The use of free range hen eggs as opposed to battery eggs is in the spotlight, on the back high profile moves from mayonnaise giant Unilever with its Hellmann’s brand. Read more

No substantial quality difference between organically and conventionally produced eggs, study finds

There's no substantial quality difference between organically and conventionally produced eggs. That's one of a number of findings in a UDDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) study examining various aspects of egg quality. ScienceDaily. Read more  

Miscellany