As Royal-Unibrew inked a deal with Heineken last Thursday to buy Finnish drinks firm Hartwall for $470m (€612m), the Danish firm’s CFO Lars Jensen discusses the rationale for a ‘transformational’ deal.
Reports suggest UK soft drinks firm AG Barr could mount a £1bn+ bid for GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) brands Lucozade and Ribena, with support from private equity.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today proposed a new ‘action level’ to limit levels of inorganic arsenic in apple juice and said it thought it was possible to reduce exposure levels.
Britvic's decision to reject a revised merger offer by AG Barr is a 'missed opportunity' according to one City analyst, who nonetheless describes the move as an opportunistic gambit by an ambitious AG Barr management team.
The world’s first RTD bubble tea brand COOBO claims a new technological innovation allows it to fill floating bubbles with a ‘popping’ liquid core rather than solid starch balls.
PepsiCo brand Tropicana has failed in its bid to dismiss a US class action that claims it falsely labeled its orange juice as ‘100% pure and natural’ despite pasteurization, processing, coloring and flavoring.
Ball Packaging Europe has launched a Magic Straw Can targeting children and young adults, who have a preference for on-the-go consumption or consumer sweeter drinks outdoors.
PureCircle insists it newly GRAS-approved stevia-based sweetener Rebaudioside D can deliver ‘great tasting products’ well beyond a 30% threshold typically associated with Rebaudioside A alone.
Ball Packaging promises that it’s new with a built-in straw will ‘trigger a ‘wow’ effect’ among young consumers in particular after successful tests in Spain and the UK.
The Coca-Cola Company and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have announced new environmental goals that include assessing the impact of the firm’s PET PlantBottle.
The US FDA has issued a ‘No Objection’ GRAS letter allowing beverage manufacturers to use Pure Circle’s high-purity Reb D stevia to sweeten US products, a move that could reignite the Pepsi/Coke cola wars.
Herbs, spice, honey and 'new generation' superfruits such as cactus/prickly pear are all rising stars in the global soft drinks market as healthy flavors gain ground, according to Innova Market Insights.
Krones tells BeverageDaily.com that the aseptic filling trend is growing, as the firm gears up for Drinktec where it will present a new version of its Twin-Flow technology suited for cold-fill applications 'to give the market more opportunities'.
GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK’s) brands Lucozade and Ribena are tempting targets for Far Eastern trade players such as Suntory Holdings that wish to establish a bridgehead in the UK, says an M&A expert.
Leading can maker Rexam has suffered a 10% market share loss in Russia in 2013, hit by the opening of a plant by Polish rival Can-Pack in March with a one billion can per year capacity.
BEVERAGEDAILY.COM SPECIAL EDITION: CLEANING UP THE BEVERAGE INDUSTRY
Coca-Cola Hellenic (CCH) tells BeverageDaily.com that updating cleaning-in-place (CIP) systems reduces water, chemical and energy use, which in turn cuts waste and brings time and cost savings.
BEVERAGEDAILY.COM SPECIAL EDITION: CLEANING UP THE BEVERAGE INDUSTRY
Independent consultant and food process and project engineer Andrew Murray tells BeverageDaily.com that he thinks the beverage industry has ‘lost focus’ in terms of hygienic design and practices.
Wellness Works CEO David Peters tells BeverageDaily.com that the NYC firm has attracted interest from major firms in its healthy Oatworks smoothie brand, and says this shows the potential of the novel oat beta glucan-based beverage.
With orange juice sales sliding in the US, PepsiCo’s Tropicana Trop50 brand is one of the ‘few notable successes’ in the space, although its status as a nectar signals the potential of this category.
SETH GOLDMAN, CO-FOUNDER, SAYS BRAND 'CONTINUES TO INNOVATE'
Seth Goldman, co-founder and ‘TEA-EO’ of entrepreneurial success story Honest Tea, tells BeverageDaily.com that Coke’s ownership has helped the brand take Fair Trade and Organic credentials into the US mainstream.
Prunes sold across the European Union can claim they contribute to “normal bowel function”, making the fruits the first whole fruit to win a claim under the EU’s new food marketing rules.
PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi believes a ‘maniacal focus’ on cola's woes is unhelpful within the US beverage market, and despite the firm’s heavy investment in Rebaudioside D-based sweetener innovation, claims Stevia ‘does not work well in colas’.
Aseptic processing and packaging is a ‘strong and growing series of technologies’, despite being much more complex than canning or traditional terminal sterilization, according to a leading expert.
Tetra Pak is hoping to support “strong growth” in demand for aseptic processing and packaging solutions in the Indian sub-continent and South Asia through the opening of a new €120m ($156m) facility in Chakan, India.
Export expansion has boosted Manjushree Technopack's full year figures, as the Bangalore-based plastic packaging manufacturer adds to capacity with two newly built factories.
Tetra Pak has heralded the launch of its latest development - a high density polyethylene (HDPE) carton cap made from sugar cane – as “another important step” towards its goal of a 100% renewable packaging solution.
BUT ABA OBSERVES THAT ASSOCIATION NOT THE SAME AS CAUSATION
Consumption of sugar-sweetened soda and punch is associated with a higher risk of kidney stone formation, whereas consumption of coffee, tea, beer, wine and orange juice are associated with a lower risk.
BEVERAGEDAILY.COM SPECIAL EDITION: SWEETENER INNOVATION
Stevia and sucralose are the best natural and non-natural sweeteners on the US market, according to one beverage developer, with savvy formulators able to iron out the former’s aftertaste issues.
BEVERAGEDAILY.COM SPECIAL EDITION: SWEETENER INNOVATION
Mintel analyst Laura Jones tells BeverageDaily.com that use of monk fruit as an all-natural, zero calorie sweetener has tripled in the past five years, but says she believes it still has taste issues to overcome.
BEVERAGEDAILY.COM SPECIAL EDITION: SWEETENER INNOVATION
Ajinomoto’s industrial aspartame business lost billions of yen in 2012, but the company’s Senior VP for North America tells BeverageDaily.com it is working hard to ‘stabilize profitability’.
Management target $45m cost savings to mAKE CASE FOR STANDALONE FUTURE
Trade union Unite has described the threat to 290 Britvic jobs across three UK sites as a ‘bitter blow’and aims to talk with management next week in a bid to save the firm’s historic Chelmsford factory.
DISPATCHES FROM THE 2013 INNOBEV GLOBAL BEVERAGES CONGRESS, WARSAW, POLAND
The rise of discount retailers – along German lines – will create huge challenges and opportunities in Poland’s RTD beverage market through to 2020, says the general manager of Coca-Cola Hellenic Polska.
DISPATCHES FROM THE 2013 ZENITH INTERNATIONAL UK SOFT DRINKS CONFERENCE
Innocent co-founder Richard Reed tells BeverageDaily.com that he anticipates the brand will probably attempt to crack Latin America using Coke’s marketing muscle, before launching in the US.
BIG BEER HIT BY TAX HIKES, ADVERTISING & KIOSK SALES BANS
Coca-Cola Hellenic (CCH) insists its brands will continue to take market share in Russia from PepsiCo, as well as brewers hit by taxes and alcohol advertising and kiosk sales bans.
A fear that carrot and beet juice from a US company could be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum has prompted the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to warn consumers about the potential health risks.
Beverage carton recycling has continued to increase in the UK, with half of all local authorities in the country now making kerbside collections, the Alliance for Beverage Cartons & the Environment (ACE) UK has revealed.
Bacardi USA has partnered with the Coca-Cola Company and university researchers to created a robotic bartending system called Makr Shakr, and says it can help ‘bring spirits into the digital age’.
Increased dietary intakes of omega-3 fatty acids are not linked to a reduction in the risk of metabolic syndrome in the US population, suggests a new study.
Zenith International's UK Soft Drinks Industry Conference takes place tomorrow, Wednesday May 8, at the Congress Center in Central London, and will feature speaking slots for the likes of Innocent founder Richard Reed, Refresco, Vimto and Coca-Cola.
An Indiana State University researcher says she found five types of fungus in Capri Sun, as the brand's US licensee Kraft Foods admits mold does happen ‘from time to time’ due to non-use of preservatives.
Sidel tells BeverageDaily.com that its new low output aseptic blow-fill-cap machine lends opportunities for beverage producers to test the market with PET on a smaller scale, and naturally suits ‘more niche brands’.
Swiss headquartered juice drinks brand Capri Sun says it is seeking to become a key player in the Mexican market after inking a licensing agreement with native beverage manufacturer Grupo Jumex.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) insists consumers should avoid gingko biloba, a tree-derived extract commonly used in teas, some energy drinks and supplements, after a US government report linked it to cancers in mice.
Unilever has filed an international patent for a process that creates tea juices with improved taste and color, to cater for the upsurge in demand for tea powders and RTD drinks with minimal processing and higher levels of bioactive compounds.