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| Editor’s Stuff: A new food science-tech journal for SA! |
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Congratulations to SAAFoST on the launch of FST or South African Food Science and Technology, its new magazine that was mailed out to members this week.
A quarterly publication, FST is SAAFoST’s official mouthpiece and reflects its role as the primary association in South Africa for food science and technology professionals in business, government and academia.
Edited by Tricia Fitchet (my ex-colleague), ably supported by the inimitable Rosie Maguire (ex-SAAFoST president) on the business side, and with all the gravitas of SAAFoST behind it, FST looks set to become worthy addition to our food industry landscape.
Food labelling consultants, as well as many manufacturers and packaging vendors, are likely in a spin of busy-ness as March 1 approaches and R146 ( aka the new labelling regs) kicks into action. Two leading labelling experts, Nigel Sunley and Moira Byers of the Consulting in Food Labelling team, found some time in their frantic schedule this week to answer these questions on the state of labelling play ahead of D-Day…
 Eat it, don’t tweet it…
Like most owners of smart phones, I have become hopelessly addicted to my BlackBerry. Know what the trendiest pastime, apart from eating and drinking, in London restaurants is now? It’s called the “ Phone Stack Game” or the “Don’t be a Jerk During Meals Game”. Everyone at the table with you stacks their phones in the middle, face down, with the first person to turn theirs over picking up the whole tab!
Do read this great article on modern dining etiquette, that in the technological age, is about so much more than just keeping your elbows off the table.
Enjoy this week’s read!
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| Local News and Developments |
Sports science expert Professor Tim Noakes has caused something of a stir in health circles by refuting his own nutritional advice, widely espoused as athletics gospel. In an about-turn, Noakes is blaming food containing carbohydrates for the rise in obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
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Many an eye-brow has been raised by the announcement from Pick n Pay that CEO Nick Badminton would resign from the board of Pick n Pay effective the end of the financial year.
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Nestlé South Africa has officially opened its tenth manufacturing facility in South Africa, a new coffee creamer factory in Potchefstroom, North West province. The new facility will manufacture Cremora coffee creamer, adding capacity to the existing creamer manufacturing facility in Babelegi, Gauteng.
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Most South Africans living in urban areas believe that their tap water is safe to drink, a study commissioned by the Water Research Commission (WRC) and the South African Local Government Association has found.
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KFC to expand African footprint US fast-food giant Yum Brands plans to open 130 new KFC stores in Africa this year, bringing its presence on the continent to 1 000 restaurants.
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| International News and Developments |
The world’s two super-cola powers, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, have outlined business plans this week to better compete against each other and please shareholders: both are looking at cutting costs dramatically while at the same time investing those saved millions into marketing…
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A year after pledging to develop a front-of-pack label that would give its customers an easier way to identify healthier food, Wal-Mart Stores has unveiled the “Great For You” icon. Part of the company’s healthier food initiative, the icon is an effort to implement a transparent, summary icon for its private-label brand products backed by rigorous nutrition criteria.
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This global trade show for fresh produce, held annually in Berlin, is underway. The FRUIT LOGISTICA Innovation Awards attract worldwide media interest – and the winners will be announced later today. Here are the top ten nominees…
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UK: Tesco pulls plug on carbon scheme Tesco is pulling out of its carbon footprint initiative due to the complexity of the work involved and the rate of uptake across the rest of the retail sector. The move will come as a shock to the Carbon Trust, which had worked with Tesco to develop a formula to calculate the carbon footprint of products from milk to vacuum cleaners.
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| Food Marketing, NPD and Innovation |
The energy drink world has long been dominated by Red Bull, with Monster forever lingering in second place. But there’s another caffeine-packed beverage that’s rising to the top tier: Rockstar.
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Tesco has become the latest of the big chain grocery stores to try out new packaging that it hopes will keep its fresh lines fresh. The trials will begin with packaging for tomatoes and avocados as these are known to be the lines most wasted throughout the country.
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Creating New Foods: The Product Developer’s Guide – the Web Edition, is a FREE web-based e-book that will be of value to all involved in any aspect of new product development.
[This was published on FOODStuff SA in 2009, but with constant interest in NPD and innovation, it’s worth bringing this valuable resource to attention again. Ed]
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What’s in the pantries, shelves, cabinets, nooks and crannies in America’s kitchens? The New York-based NPD Group conducts a Kitchen Audit every three years to find out, a study that’s used by food companies and appliance manufacturers for product development and marketing.
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| Food Science and Ingredients Stuff |
Studies have proven that pathogens such as Campylobacter and Salmonella contaminate a high percentage of raw chicken meat. Now, recent research from a food safety team at Pennsylvania’s Drexel University offers proof-of-concept for what may one day be a common approach to preventing food-borne illness from raw poultry and meat products – the use of high-energy, low temperature plasma to eliminate unwanted bacteria while leaving the food basically unchanged.
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| Ingredient Trends Webinar
The influential Hartman Group is hosting a free 20-minute webinar on February 29 – an in-depth look at how cultural shifts in health and wellness impact ingredients in many of today’s and tomorrow’s foods and beverages. Gain a better understanding on what shapes consumer perceptions of “healthy food” from organic and natural to functional foods.
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Health and Nutrition Stuff
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Experts slam ‘naive’ calls to regulate ‘toxic’ sugar U  K trade group the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) said “demonizing” food was unhelpful when it came to health policy: “The causes of these diseases are multi-factorial and demonizing food components does not help consumers to build a realistic approach to their diet,” it said.
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US: Bread is top salt source in American diet A government report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found bread and rolls are the number-one source of salt in the American diet. Bread and rolls account for more than twice as much sodium as salty junk food, according to the report.
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US adults’ trans fat drops Americans have less trans fat floating around in their blood today than they did 10 years ago, a new study finds. Between 2000 and 2009, the average level of trans fatty acids in the blood dropped 58 percent, according to the study of white adults in the U.S.
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Some foods seem to be the stars of the produce aisle, labeling themselves “Superfoods.” This title can lead people to believe it’s healthy to only eat “Superfoods.” This is false. While fruits like blueberries and pomegranates are good for you, the reason people call them ‘superfoods’ is due to the marketing strategies of the industry that produces them,” says Sarah Ash, nutrition professor.
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Weird, Whacky and Wonderful Stuff
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Two American football teams are not the only focus of Super Bowl Sunday in the US of A in early February. As eagerly anticipated are the Super Bowl’s famous commercial breaks – going at up to $3,5 million for a 30 second slot to an audience of more than 111 million fans this year, advertising is now centre-field before, during and after the game. In an on-line Ad Meter poll, a Doritos’ ad, devised by a member of the public in a Frito-Lay competition with a $1-million prize, garnered the most votes.
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US food company, Hostess, the maker of the famous/infamous Twinkie, has been much in the headlines as it announced it would be filing for bankruptcy, a victim as much of its own business problems as well as changing consumer tastes. This TIME Top 10 list takes a look at the Twinkie and other American snack icons.
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Food bites… The new eco-issues that all food brands need to consider
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 “Q: Which food issues are consumers are aware of, and how will this change over the next few years?
A: Again, it varies market to market. Consumers aren’t completely disconnected, but often they think of the impacts of just the packaging itself. Whilst important, if you had to rate the material impacts in order, that would be lower down the list. But it’s very tangible and visible. What people don’t think about is the impacts of growing, production and food distribution as a whole. Certainly we expect brands going forward to help educate consumers on where the big impacts are.
If you look at what some of the leading organizations in this space, like Unilever and PepsiCo, are doing, they are starting to translate some very complicated messages into easier-to-understand messages for the consumer so they can start to connect with this. We’ll see more signs of radical transparency happening….“
Dan Crossley, principal sustainability adviser at Forum for the Future, [do read – this is essential stuff for all brand owners with a savvy eye on tomorrow! Ed]
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Three weeks to go to labelling D-Day: notes from the front
