A key compound in red wine could have a direct beneficial effect on
heart cells, report researchers from the US, building on a raft of
science that suggests this popular beverage could play a role in
preventing heart disease.
After seven years of development, Swiss company Cybox unveiled its
square oak barrel, which triples barrel storage capacity, at the
Vinitech exhibition in Bordeaux last week, reports Kim Hunter
Gordon.
At 3.15 million tonnes world tea production in 2003 beat 2002
supplies but prices remained firm reflecting season variability,
reports the UN food and farm body, adding that China has pushed up
green tea supplies.
Russian vodka brand Topaz has beaten off prestigious competition to
emerge as the country's best-tasting vodka brand, according to a
recent taste test by the Russian alcohol producers' association.
But the company has been...
Cape Town wine business KWV has revealed that two of its winemakers
added illegal flavourants to their 2004 vintages. The company will
stand to lose an estimated €130,000 from the lost wine but the
damage to its reputation could cost...
European juices producer Sunnyland has included Amcor's 33mm
Plasti-Twist closure in its range of PET-packaged hot fill juices
and juice based products produced in-house.
Last week Alcoa began commercial production of Vino-Lok, its
glass-on-glass wine closure system. Has upmarket wine finally found
an alternative to the screw cap? asks Kim Hunter Gordon.
Pursuit Dynamics has signed an agreement with the UK subsidiary of
Coca-Cola Enterprises to supply innovative fluid processing
technology for the production of soft drinks.
The Irish government's 2005 budget, which halves the alcohol
products tax for microbreweries, comes at a time when Europeans are
drinking more beer from small breweries than ever before, writes
Kim Hunter Gordon.
Archeologists believe that wine was first fermented in the now
Republic of Georgia 9,000 years ago. But, the opening of a new
hi-tech wine testing laboratory has given Georgian winemakers a
reason to look to the future, writes Kim...
Number two vitamin maker BASF has developed a new beta-carotene
product, designed to meet increasing demand from fortified
beverages and vitamin-enriched juices, reports Dominique
Patton.
San Miguel says it is looking to expand its food and beverage
business outside of the Asian market, building on moves introduced
earlier this year to extend its business beyond the domestic market
and into Asia. Simon Pitman reports.
British spirits drinkers are abandoning blended whisky in favour of
foreign products such as vodka. A new report from market analysts
Datamonitor reveals that although whisky remains the most
popular spirit in Britain, sales are in...
Heineken, the Dutch brewer, has continued to extend its reach into
some of the world's lesser-known beer markets with an agreement to
take a controlling stake in Nigeria's Consolidated Breweries,
writes Chris Jones.
Australian beer giant Foster's has teamed up with Russia's leading
brewer to become the latest contender for riches in the Russian
beer market gold mine, but the competition is strong, writes
Chris Mercer.
Despite the unresolved legal battle over rights to the brand,
Allied Domecq is to take on global distribution of Stolichnaya
vodka, writes Kim Hunter Gordon.
Danone, the world's second largest bottled water business, stunned
analysts last week by announcing that it will sell its water
activities in Italy - Europe's largest bottled water market. Kim
Hunter Gordon explores why...
Glenmorangie's final set of interim figures before its takeover by
French luxury goods group LVMH underline the importance of the
acquisition, with the whisky maker's premium brands all performing
ahead of expectations.
German fine chemicals supplier Boehringer Ingelheim is offering a
new magnesium product to meet increasing demand from companies
looking to fortify with this mineral, writes Dominique
Patton.
Emmi, the leading Swiss dairy company, has announced it is to make
an initial public offering (IPO) in a bid to bolster export sales
and consolidate investment across its nutritional dairy-based
drinks division, Tom Armitage reports.
Leaked details of a potentially landmark WTO ruling throw into
question the EU's right to protect regional product names if they
are translated from another language, writes Kim Hunter
Gordon.
While green tea has been getting its name around the block, red tea
has taken a little longer to become a household name, but its sales
are said to be soaring on the back of its purported health
benefits.
Crown Holdings, the leading packaging supplier has announced that
it will produce a new stylish 50cl aluminum promotional can for
Scottish & Newcastle's Kronenbourg 1664 brand.
The Russian Union of Grapes and Wine Producers is launching an
annual exhibition and conference to address the challenges of
inadequate raw material supplies that have decimated the Russian
wine industry in recent years, writes Angela...
Japan's Kirin Brewery has taken a 25 per cent stake in Chinese beer
manufacturer Dalian Daxue Brewery. The move is part of Kirin's aims
to expand its reach in the rapidly growing beer market there.
US-based Scholle has acquired all of the shares of Flextainer,
aFrench packaging company. The move is expected to increase
Scholle's presence in the European boxed-wine packaging category.
UK based drinks giant Diageo could get round increasing duty and
the uncertain future of alcopops in Europe by leading a new market
of mid-proof flavoured alcoholic beverages (FABs), reports Kim
Hunter Gordon.
Crown Zeller USA has purchased a 49 per cent stake in Torres &
Towers, a privately held enterprise manufacturing beverage
closures. The move will help add economies of scales to Crown
Zeller's beverage dispensing manufacturing...
The last two years have seen a significant increase in businesses
using fair trade coffee, but Philippa Nuttall asks whether
the US is really serious about ethical food ingredients.
A soaring premium beer market in Russia and growing consumption in
Poland and Romania are driving forward a major international
brewer's European profits by offsetting problems in Hungary and
Slovakia, writes Chris Mercer.
Starbucks has promised to use beverage packaging containing 10 per
cent recycled material from 2005, though environmentalists have
criticised the corporation's commitment.
The European Commission has decided that a German subsidy scheme
for the producers of Kornbranntwein, a brandy made out of corn, is
in breach of European Union State aid rules because it distorts
competition with other brandy producers.
Ochakovo has became the first Russian brewing company to enter the
Latin American market, exporting a range of products to Ecuador as
the first phase of a continent-wide rollout, writes Angela
Drujinina.
Emerging soft drink markets in Russia and Romania have helped the
Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company to post steady third quarter
profit increases, despite problems elsewhere in eastern Europe.
Troy-Ultra, the St. Petersburg-based juice maker, is to invest €3
million in upgrading and expanding production capacity in order to
meet growing demand for its products, writes Angela
Drujinina. The company has been forced to licence...
A US wine maker is packaging its Vendange product in 500ml Tetra
Prisma containers, in a bid to break out of the confines of
traditional wine packaging.
Two beverage companies in the US have adopted natural biodegradable
packaging to help them differentiate their new products in what is
a highly competitive marketplace. Anthony Fletcher reports.
Russian juice brand Dobriy was one of just a handful of food and
beverage products to win an award at this year's Brand of the Year
ceremony held recently in Moscow. Despite a somewhat old fashioned
image, the brand continues...
InBev is acquiring the remaining 45 per cent interest in Hunan
Debier Brewery, located in Hunan province, China, for $18.2
million. The move is part of InBev's ongoing integration process of
the Lion Group Breweries, which it...
Increasing competition on the xanthan gum market leads Danish
ingredients firm Danisco to cut jobs at the recently acquired
Rhodia Food activities in France.
A slump in international sales means that Coca-Cola is set to
switch its focus to the China market in an effort to sustain
growth. The company said that with current economic growth
continuing apace, China should be its third biggest...
High energy costs bite into margins for the number one pectin
player CP Kelco with the company passing the prices onto the
market, announcing increases for a range of hydrocolloids in its
portfolio.
Scottish politicians are expected to vote later today to ban
smoking in public places - a move which could have a devastating
effect on the drinks trade there. But pub operators and brewers
will not take the decision lightly, and...
A new version of the globally recognised British Retail Consortium
(BRC) Food Standard is about to be published next month, with a
view to coming into force on 1 June 2005.
Last month Plzensky Prazdroj, the biggest Czech brewer, announced
that it was to hike the price of all of its domestic beer brands,
reversing a reduction made in May. But fears that other brewers
would follow suit appear to be unfounded.
EU steel producers are likely to push through price increases in
the new year, and packaging firms and machinery makers will have no
choice but to accept them, writes Anthony Fletcher.