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| Editor’s Stuff: Celebrating, or not, Coke’s 125th birthday! |
 Coca-Cola celebrated its 125th anniversary on May 8th and the celebration has involved an extraordinary global media communications campaign. Aside from using its 26-storey building as a giant projection screen on its home town of Atlanta, Coke’s anniversary was celebrated by its fans world-wide through social media and YouTube. Coca Cola has 26 million ‘friends’ on its Facebook page.
The number one Best Global Brand is a long story of exceptional and astute brand management – from its beginnings with a secret ingredient that made it different, to becoming the ubiquitous beverage known for being accessible everywhere, to its focus on authenticity in the face of new competition, to owning refreshment, and now its current ownership of ‘happiness’.
Love it, hate it, the always moving and always living Coca-Cola is an extraordinary phenomenon! Some articles of FOODStuff SA…
 On the 8th of May 1886 a global icon was born. From humble beginnings 125 years ago, Coca-Cola has become the world’s most valuable brand. Here’s how Coca-Cola South Africa is celebrating this milestone anniversary ….
Coca-Cola has a rich history, 125 years filled with intrigue and innovation, success and failure. But, above all, Coke’s story is a marketing story — one that’s still evolving.
In the interests of balance, one of the food-bev industry’s most ardent critics, has his say…
Enjoy this week’s read – there are, as every week, great stories and insights!
Brenda Neall: publisher & editor
FOODStuff SA is a hub for food industry recruitment….Click here!
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| Local Food Industry Stuff |
The food industry has great appeal for entrepreneurs – but success is a slog. Many local SMME producers come up with astoundingly highly quality and innovative products and, in a development aimed at abetting their road to riches, a group of them in the Western Cape have come together to create a new support body, the Western Cape Fine Food Initiative.
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The hotly-contested market for aspartame in SA is in for a shake up with news that the world leader, Ajimimoto Sweeteners Europe (ASE), has entered the local market via its new agent, Savannah Fine Chemicals.
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The entry of Wal-Mart into South Africa scares a lot of people. It has led to a perfectly absurd spectacle before the Competition Tribunal, in which competitors are whining about competition, and the government is putting the dampers on trade, industry and economic development. [Great opinion-piece read!]
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International Food Industry News
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 It has been two years since China’s government, reeling from nationwide outrage over melamine-contaminated baby milk that sickened 300 000 infants and killed at least six, declared food safety a national priority. Since then, it has threatened, raided and arrested throngs of shady food processors — and even executed a couple. But a stomach-turning string of food-safety scandals have erupted this year…
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 Last week (May 5) many of the world’s leading experts on food gathered at the “Future of Food” conference in Washington DC, sponsored by the Washington Post. It brought together The Prince of Wales (no less), a lifelong environmentalist and organic farmer, Eric Schlosser, author of “Fast Food Nation”, and Wendell Berry, winner of The National Humanities Medal. Experts from some of world’s biggest food companies, academia and nonprofits discussed trends in agriculture and consumer behaviour that is shaping the future of food.
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Every year, almost one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption – approximately 1.3 billion tons – is lost or wasted, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said this week.
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Food Science, Technology & Safety Stuff
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 When the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute (EPI) released a report on April 28 ranking the microorganisms that cause the greatest burden to US public health, many familiar names claimed spots in the top 10: Salmonella, Campylobacter and Listeria monocytogenes all enjoyed prominent ranking.
The pathogen – Toxoplasma – ranked as the second most burdensome, however, lacks comparable name recognition.
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In the highly competitive ingredients market, how can you ensure success? Jamie Rice, director of UK research company, RTS, offers five proven tips to growing your business.
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One of the most well-known characteristics of yeast is the ability of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, baker’s yeast, to ferment sugar to 2-carbon components, in particular ethanol, without completely oxidising it to carbon dioxide, even in the presence of oxygen, as many other microbes do. This fermentative ability is essential for the production of wine, beer and many other alcoholic beverages. Why do Saccharomyces yeasts actually do this and what were the driving forces behind the evolution of this phenomenon?
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Watching garlic slaying bacteria  Vampires aren’t the only villains vulnerable to garlic: harmful bacteria also fall victim to the bulb’s pungent mixture of compounds. Garlic could find use as a natural food preservative, but just how it destroys bacteria has been unclear. Now, researchers report that infrared and Raman spectroscopies provide a detailed account of garlic’s war on bacteria
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| Food Industry Trends, Marketing & NPD |
 When it comes to choosing what to eat, taste still takes the cake as the deciding factor for Americans; however price is edging up in importance, and health is still a top concern, according to a new survey by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation that provides a window into consumer views on a variety of food and nutrition-related issues.
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First, there was the Oreo, a humble cookie developed in 1912 by the National Biscuit Company, now known simply as Nabisco. Then came the variations: the Double Stuf, the chocolate-coated Fudge Cremes, the Mini Oreo. Now, Nabisco has announced perhaps the most indulgent Oreo in existence — the Triple Double Oreo.
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PepsiCo is introducing a “social vending” machine that lets users buy each other drinks remotely, further proof that its decades-old rivalry with Coca-Cola Co is going ever-more high tech and taking social networking to an unlikely place.
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Aqua Delight is a functional water designed and developed in the US to help cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment.
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In a leap of brand extension, Cadbury UK is set to test the willpower of Britain’s dieters by tempting them with pampering products which smell like three new flavours of its Dairy Milk Bliss bar.
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| Health and Nutrition Stuff |
 Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease in which the ingestion of gluten induces enteropathy, or inflammation of the gut, in genetically susceptible individuals. This destruction of the gut means that nutrients cannot be absorbed, leading to a variety of clinical symptoms: anemia due to the lack of iron, atherosclerosis due to the lack of calcium, failure to thrive in children, and GI stress, among others.
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Doctor visits, hospital care, and lost work days due to food allergies come with an annual $500 million price tag, according to a new US study.
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Savannah joins forces with Ajinomoto Sweeteners Europe
Cadbury UK launches Dairy Milk Bliss chocolate-based beauty products
FOODStuff SA is published and edited by Brenda Neall.
