More Chinese people are livening up their traditional, green tea by
adding a shot of Scotch Whisky, as Asian markets help the Scots to
break the £1bn export barrier in the first half of 2005.
Anheuser Busch's waste-cutting focus may have got it into the
Environmental Protection Agency's hall of fame but another slip in
beer sales looks like making 2005 a year to forget.
The French food safety authority is advising consumers not to drink
more than 30 ml of noni juice per day as some studies have linked
it with hepatitis.
The world's biggest drinks firm has shunned the chance to buy New
Zealand's Montana wines off Pernod Ricard because it will not
generate enough growth.
Arsenic in bottled water and the seizure of fake vodka from an
illegal distillery have put fraud back on the menu in the UK, as
two alcoholic drinks associations pledge to beat the bootlegs.
Sports drinks, juice and bottled water spearheaded a set of
encouraging third quarter results from Coca-Cola as
health-conscious consumers force a realignment at the major soft
drinks players.
Constellation has begun a hostile takeover attempt for Canadian
wine firm Vincor, but its intended prey says it is looking for
other suitors that are willing to pay a 'fair' price.
Nestlé says it will embrace moves by hard discounters to sell more
branded products as part of its plan to recover from difficult
times on Europe's food and drink market.
Children born from women who consume alcohol when pregnant could
have eye problems, claims yet another study to highlight the risk
of alcohol consumption on the unborn foetus.
Belgian company Orafti has introduced a new low colour organic
sweetener that could tackle the problems faced by organic soft
drink manufacturers, including off-notes in colour and taste.
A 40 per cent increase in marketing funds should help French wine
makers tackle falling sales in the UK and combat the very real
threat from New World wines.
Added value dairy and soft drinks lead Danone to a sales rise in
the third quarter, but the firm is banking on a new pricing and
innovation strategy to re-ignite itself at home in France.
Ingredients firm Wild has devised a new solution for fizzy soft
drinks with up to 40 per cent less sugar and no artificial
sweeteners, offering more opportunities in low-calorie soft drinks.
It will be cheaper for firms to apply for trademark protection
across the European Union from the start of November, yet the
privilege will remain pricey compared to other regions.
The fast and accurate verification of carbonated beverage
shelf-life is now possible via what Mocon is calling the first
machine tester able to do the job.
To meet the demand for faster processing lines, Columbia Machine's
has developed a speedier palletiser that can stack even the most
fragile beverage products, the company claims.
A daily glass of alcohol can prevent heart disease by thinning the
blood, but moderate drinkers may also raise the risk of
bleeding-type strokes, confirm researchers.
The European Court of Human Rights has presided over its first
trademark case, ruling that Anheuser Busch cannot register
Budweiser as a trademark in Portugal.
As the EU announces another €450m round of subsidies for member
states to restructure their vineyards, plans are already being laid
for major reforms to Europe's wine sector next year.
The amount of fake food and drinks entering the EU grew by 200 per
cent last year, with the higher quality of counterfeits making
detection more difficult, the bloc's administrative arm said this
week.
A new conveyor frame can be completely disassembled, without tools,
in only three minutes, allowing processors to clean their machines
and get production underway again faster.
Premier Foods will sell its Typhoo tea brand to Indian group
Apeejay Surrendra as the good old British 'cuppa' tries to readjust
amid coffee culture and private label dominance.
Italian fraud police have seized more than nine million bottles'
worth of high quality Chianti Classico wine at the renowned Ruffino
winery in Tuscany, seriously threatening the group's supplies at
the start of the new season.
Russian scientists say they have devised a cheaper and more
sustainable way of producing the common sugar substitute xylite, or
xylitol, by using left over grains from the brewing and spirits
industries.
The crusade to end world hunger has been a bitter failure. But with
the world set to sweep away a crooked food trading system, there is
a chance to get it right - if only we could revive the FAO from
dormancy.
Cadbury Schweppes has hit stormy waters in the US, warning it will
fail to hit profit targets as higher costs and the bankruptcy of a
bottler conspire to foil the group's US revival.
Newly acquired wine brands have continued to carry Constellation
Brands forward in its second quarter, raising suspicions about
weaknesses in the company's organic growth.
International coffee roaster Douwe Egberts is set to follow
Nestlé's lead by launching an ethical coffee brand in the UK in
order to tap into the country's lucrative ethical consumer trend.
Nestlé, the world's largest direct coffee buyer, will launch its
first certified fair trade brand across the UK this month as
consumers place ever more importance on ethical shopping.
There are more of them and they have more money than ever before.
Yet the growing importance of consumers in the so-called Midlifer
market is being dangerously ignored by alcoholic drinks makers,
says a new report.
A herbal beer developed by an Indian research institute will
finally reach the market in 2006, claims the researcher, after
several delays to its launch.
Seasonal beer is Anheuser Busch's latest attempt to reinvigorate
itself on America's stagnate beer market as the firm attempts to
get closer to the craft beers that are out-performing the sector.
Knowledge gained from modern physics will help food scientists
construct the rational design of complex food materials for new
food products, say Nestle scientists.
The development of a clear monolayer polyethylene terephthalate
(PET) with an oxygen-scavenging barrier could be the impetus
companies need in deciding whether to make the conversion to
plastic containers from glass or metal.
Sugar reform may yet hijack December's WTO talks as Australia,
Brazil and Thailand again accuse the EU of shirking its obligations
by planning to increase sugar exports by two million tonnes.
A new centre-right government in Poland is unlikely to curb the
country's strong opposition to EU sugar reforms as Commission
representatives look for common ground to break the 'no' camp.
Carlsberg has confirmed it plans to shut around half its European
breweries within a decade to reflect a permanent shift in beer
market growth from west to east, and more specifically, China.
Energy drinks push their way to the front of PepsiCo's portfolio as
the Gatorade brand drives forward third quarter sales alongside
more growth from diet and non-carbonated drinks, leaving fizzy cola
festering on the shelf.
Plans to tighten ingredients labelling laws on alcoholic drinks
have been ditched by the European Commission as part of an
efficiency drive because not enough progress has been made.
Sucralose supplier Tate and Lyle warns profits at its European
sugar refining business have been "substantially reduced"
due to higher costs and oversupplies.
The ban on junk food in UK schools announced yesterday by the
government is not an effective solution to tackling childhood
obesity, the nation's food industry has said.
The launch of a two new flowmeters meets the demand from the food
and beverage processors using high speed filling lines, according
to its manufacturer.