General News
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Highland Chocolatier Awarded Hat Trick by Academy of Chocolate
03 May 2019Highland Chocolatier Awarded Hat Trick by Academy of Chocolate A small gourmet chocolatier from the Scottish Highlands has received a hat trick of three awards from the Academy of Chocolate. Iain Burnett Highland Chocolatier, working from his specially designed chocolate kitchen in Grandtully, Highland Perthshire, has received an outstanding three awards for his unique Velvet Truffles. The Academy of Chocolate received record entries from over 46 countries, with Master Chocolatier Iain Burnett gaining the highest award in Scotland, with only one other Scottish chocolatier receiving an award. Iain Burnett spent two years developing his latest two creations. The Pure Caramelized Ganache with its uncommonly smooth texture is Iain’s ganache tribute to classic caramel – with creamy notes, evocative of perfectly browned butterscotch, and the Sea-Salted Caramelized Velvet Truffle introduces an added dimension to the caramelized ganache as it finishes distinctively with small lingering bursts of sea salt. Both received awards together with one of his first ever chocolates, the Cocoa Nib Praline. Iain said, “it’s really encouraging that years meticulously selecting the right ingredients and best methods have been recognised on such an international level.” Iain says, “I spent so long investigating the science of caramelization and so many old methods. The breakthrough came by using a fresh cream and unique milk chocolate which both contain natural notes of caramel, then discovering how to caramelize the ganache itself. From the excited responses I’ve had from testing it on some of the UK’s top chefs, I have a feeling that the salted caramel version is going to be very popular. I’ve found a way to add tiny sea salt crystals to make it ‘pop’ out beautifully.” The Academy of Chocolate is an organisation for chocolate professionals who promote only the finest cocoa and chocolate confectionery of exquisite standards. Its prestigious awards are now an important event in the chocolate calendar with entries sent in from top chocolatiers all over the world, with over 100 expert judges tasting and scoring the entries.
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Plamil launches snack bars with no added sugar
30 April 2019Plamil launches snack bars with no added sugar Plamil, the first certified producer of organic and vegan chocolate is launching a range of three indulgent new snack bars with no added sugar. The three 35g bars in the range are made with 72% UTZ certified cocoa, with the sweetness coming from Finnish Birch xylitol, designed to deliver a great taste without the sugar. As with all of Plamil’s chocolate, the three snack bars are gluten and nut free as well as vegan. The new range includes: Finest Dark Chocolate, Espresso Dark Chocolate and Cool Mint Dark Chocolate. All of the range is made to the highest vegan standards in the Plamil factory; production is SALSA ceritified, Fairtrade, Soil foundation and UTZ accredited as well as Kosher. All Plamil foods are produced within Plamil’s own factory where they can ensure all products are 100% dairy and lactose free. They also operate a strict no nut or peanut policy within the factory and carry Plamil’s own Sugarwise logo. As well as the new no added sugar snack bars, Plamil produce a wide range of award-winning organic and vegan products, including vegan mayonnaise and a range of chocolate spreads. The new range has an RRP of £1.19 and is available from Holland & Barrett as well as in all leading independent health stores and on-line at http://www.plamilfoods.co.uk
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Working for clean oceans – Recyclate initiative at trade show in Amsterdam
26 April 2019Working for clean oceans By 2050 the amount of plastic in the worlds oceans will outweigh fish if current rates of plastic disposal are continued according to data to be released trade event in Amsterdam– it’s said nine million tons of plastic trash items find their way into the sea via unsecured landfills and rivers every year. The marine litter problem comes a mounting issue for packaging manufacturers. Pressure is growing among providers of private label products for sustainable packaging (with a high share of recyclates i.e. recycled plastic) The ECC (Ecological Cleaning and Care GmbH), of the Werner & Mertz Group and their partners are presenting their recyclate initiative promoting effective recycling through the development of sustainable material cycles in which materials from the Yellow Bag source are used. The only way to ensure plastic does not end up as waste in ocean, they claim, is when the packaging is up-cycled after use and directed into a closed-loop system. Dr. Markus Helftewes, Managing Director of The Green Dot, plans to reduce plastic waste using a newly developed ‘Green Dot system’ – in which plastics are produced from raw materials from the Yellow Bag and the Yellow Bin schemes. He says: “This allows us to bring packaging from the supermarket shelf back to the supermarket shelf and thus close the cycle.” Georg Lässer, Head of Corporate Recycling Services, BU ISBM & Recycling at ALPLA, added. “For many years we also have been working to improve the recycling process itself and to increase recycling rates. One example is the recently announced investment of seven million euros in the PET Recycling Team Wolfen. In the future we will process PET waste from the Yellow Bag and, among other things, use this to supply our in-house factory at Werner & Mertz. In doing so, we not only keep the raw material in a closed loop, but we also make a contribution to stemming climate change. The manufacture of recyclates emits up to 90 percent less CO₂ than the production of new goods."
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Birds Bakery supports WellChild’s work for seriously ill children
12 April 2019WellChild is proud to have been chosen as charity of the year 2019 for Birds Bakery, the East Midlands based company, which is celebrating its centenary year this year. The staff at Birds will be working hard throughout the year on fundraising efforts for WellChild and fellow charity of the year SSAFA, an Armed Forces charity. They hope to raise an incredible £100,000, split between the two charities, to mark their one hundred years in business. Fundraising activities for the chosen charities include sales of Bird’s specially created gingerbread hands which go on sale this weekend, collection tins in stores, a carrier bag levy donation, family events in stores and other seasonal activities. WellChild carries out extensive work around the East Midlands area; where Birds Bakery is based. There is a WellChild Children’s Nurse’s based at Derby Children’s Hospital who cares for seriously ill children from throughout the area working to get them out of hospital so they can be cared for at home with the right support. WellChild has also carried out Helping Hands projects throughout the East Midlands where teams of volunteers go into family homes and work to transform gardens and bedrooms to make them comfortable for the needs of children with serious illnesses. Birds has 62 bakery shops spread throughout the region, it is a family firm which has been baking since 1919 and serves more than 20,000 customers every day. WellChild Chief Executive Colin Dyer comments: “We are delighted to be a charity partner of Birds Bakery, particularly during its important centenary year and we would like to thank the firm, its employees and customers for their kind support. All the money raised for WellChild will fund our work to help seriously ill children and their families across the UK.” Mike Holling, Sales and Marketing Director from Birds Bakery said: “We are really excited to be supporting such a great charity such as WellChild and we look forward to working with the team throughout the year, we are already launched the sale of our Gingerbread hands which are available in all stores”. The charity provides a team of WellChild Children's Nurses who work with families across the UK to ensure that children with complex care needs can leave hospital and return home to their families. Through their Helping Hands scheme, WellChild enlists the support of volunteers to tackle practical projects in the homes of sick children. WellChild exists to give this growing population of children and young people the best possible chance to thrive: safe at home, together with their families. The charity is wholly reliant on the support of individuals and organisations. To make a donation, visit wellchild.org.uk/donate.
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The 2019 GTBank Food and Drink Festival! Get Ready For The Biggest Food Festival in Africa
05 April 2019After three stellar years running, Africa’s biggest culinary experience, the GTBank Food and Drink Festival is returning bigger and better for their 4th edition. The event will be held over the course of 4 days from Sunday, 28th April, to Wednesday 1st May 2019 at the GTCentre, Plot 1, Water Corporation Drive, Oniru, Lagos. The festival was founded by one of Africa’s leading financial institutions, the Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, who held their first festival in 2016. Since then the Food and Drink Festival has become the premier culinary event in Africa, bringing together tens of thousands of people from across the continent and globe to support and celebrate Nigeria’s network of vibrant and growing small businesses in the food retail sector. Over the last three years, the event has hosted over 450,000 people, featuring dozens of entrepreneurial masterclasses by international chefs and food business experts. It has helped to launch and showcase hundreds of entrepreneurs and their businesses into the food retail industry. This year the festival introduces many improvements including adding an extra day to the event and offering free Retail Stalls to over 300 small businesses, more than double the number from the previous year. The event will also feature a series of masterclasses and cookery classes facilitated by renowned food and drink experts from around the world. One of these being Kennedy’s Confection’s very own editor, Angus Kennedy! He will be presenting his own masterclass (of course on the subject of chocolate!) alongside 11 other celebrity chefs and will be the first to introduce the 4th generation chocolate to Nigeria, with the first public tasting of ruby chocolate within the audience. Angus Kennedy comments on his upcoming trip to Lagos: “We have been delighted to have been invited to this major event, to speak with other leading experts, this is a testimony to Kennedy’s authority as a leading voice in the global confectionary industry”. There is so much to discover at the festival for those attending - there will be a farmers’ market for the sale of fresh and organic produce as well as a showcase of some of the finest street foods, all in Africa’s largest city. In line with its family theme, the 4-day event will also feature exciting games and fun exercises designed to thrill and entertain children all day long. Commenting on the 2019 GTBank Food and Drink Festival, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Office or Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Segun Agbaje, said; "We are delighted to bring to our customers, small business owners and food lovers across the continent and beyond, another edition of an event that is second to none in delivering the finest culinary experience in Africa. This year, we are taking our commitment to promoting enterprise in the SME sector further by giving small businesses more opportunities to connect with consumers and business experts from around the world." He further stated that, "At GTBank, we will continue to focus on promoting enterprise in food and fashion, because we know that by investing in both sectors, we are propelling local entrepreneurs to dominate two critical sectors of our economy." Guaranty Trust Bank Plc is highly regarded in the industry as a financial institution across its subsidiary countries and is often a role model within the financial service industry. GTBank pride themselves in providing world-class corporate governance standards, excellent service quality, and innovation. The Bank is also intervening in key economic sectors to strengthen small businesses and recently launched the GTBank Food Industry Credit and Fashion Industry Credit, unique loan products designed specifically for small businesses in the food and fashion industry, and offered at a repayment rate of 9 percent per annum. To find out more about this year’s event and watch some of the testimonials of small business owners, please visit: https://foodanddrink.gtbank.com
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Angus Kennedy is named Best Group Editor at Cirkle Oskars
20 March 2019Angus Kennedy with Head of retail communications, Cirkle PR, Suzanne Surridge At the Cirkle PR Oskars Angus Kennedy, was honoured with an award for 'Best Group Editor/Director'. On Thursday 14th March, Cirkle PR held an excellent evening celebrating the hard-work of everyone in the industry, The evening was held in Hampstead North London at the Washington pub and celebrated the industry's best. Angus Kennedy, Editor and owner of Kennedy's Publications was awarded 'Best Group Editor/Director' by Cirkle PR. The annual award ceremony is run by Cirkle PR, an award-winnnig PR company that provides services in consumer brand comms, partnerships, events and experiences, retail and B2B comms among other services. Angus Kennedy commented on recivieving the award, "Winning Best Group Editor Award at the Cirkle Oskars was a very pleasant and unexpected surprise for Kennedy’s Confection. It’s a bit like getting married; one day you are known as ‘the partner’ then suddenly you are a brand new ‘husband’. Now I’m not just an editor (well I think we all knew that anyway), but now I say I am an ‘award winning’ editor, which is all rather refreshing. Most of the people and friends of Kennedy’s we know are all worthy of awards as they are all such fun to work with. Especially Cirkle who conjure the most magnetic PR projects which I really respect and enjoy. It’s tough being in PR working with a hardened cynic like me! So, well done Cirkle!" Suzanne Surridge, Head of retail communications, Cirkle PR, commented, "Angus fought off some stiff competition to be named the Best Group Editor/Director at the 2019 Cirkle Oskars, our annual awards ceremony designed to reward our hard-working and supportive media partners. Over our six years of working together, Angus has continually demonstrated that he is a creative, collaborative and inspirational editor and we are delighted to be able to show him our appreciation. A very well-deserved win!"
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Naturex strengthens its range of Spirulina food colouring
18 March 2019Naturex triples its production capacity of Spirulina and introduces new line for their Blue Spirulina collection Already renowned for its extensive coloring foods offer, Naturex is now spearheading its investment in coloring foodstuffs with Vegebrite® Ultimate Spirulina. A new extraction line, which triples spirulina production capacity, has been introduced at the company’s production site in Avignon, France. This expansion of Naturex’s manufacturing capacity has been designed to meet the growing global demand for clean label blues and greens. Spirulina is a microscopic, fresh water blue-green alga, often listed as a “superfood”, with its coloring properties derived from the phycocyanin pigment. Naturex’s gentle, water-based extraction process for Vegebrite® Ultimate Spirulina ensures a 100% natural solution delivering clean-label friendly, trehalose-free formulations, available in various concentrations and formats. It offers all shades of blue, and green when blended with Naturex’s natural yellows. Nathalie Pauleau, Global Product Manager for Colors, said, “The natural color landscape is constantly evolving, Natural colors are now a prerequisite in many countries around the world. But health-conscious consumers want to go even further in their quest for transparency and must be provided with fully clean formulations, as minimally processed as possible. “We are strengthening our coloring foods production capacity in Europe to provide our customers with vibrant colors that will help shorten ingredient lists. With the recent acquisition of Naturex by the Givaudan group, the natural color category has become a key development area of business growth for us.” Blue food will create a brand new, enjoyable and surprising experience, from confectionery to cake decoration, from ice-cream to juice drinks and dietary supplements. Naturex’s Vegebrite® Ultimate Spirulina will be presented at Expo West 2019, March 7-9 in Anaheim, California, with a blue frozen yogurt.
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ADM acquires European citrus flavour group Ziegler
18 March 2019ADM has reached an agreement to acquire the Ziegler Group, a leading European provider of natural citrus flavor ingredients. The agreement comes shortly after ADM completed its addition of U.S.-based citrus flavor provider Florida Chemical. Vince Macciocchi, president of ADM's Nutrition business, said, “Ziegler is highly respected as a cutting-edge leader in citrus, and we’re excited to welcome their outstanding leadership and talent to ADM. The combination of Ziegler and Florida Chemical will immediately position ADM for growth as a global leader in natural citrus ingredients, with a complete range of innovative citrus solutions and systems for food, beverage and fragrance customers.” Founded in 1963, Ziegler uses proprietary cold concentration technologies to produce natural high-quality citrus oils, extracts, concentrates and compounds for flavour, food, and beverage industry customers, focusing on Europe, the U.S. and Japan. The company is privately held and headquartered in Aufsess, in Southern Germany. ADM are one of the world's largest food ingredient providers today, providing ingredients such as emulsifiers and sweetening solutions for the confectionery industry. Grunt Zielger, said, “We are delighted that we found a strong home at ADM where both our business and our people can grow. The integration of more than 50 years of citrus expertise into the ADM group will secure our top priority: successful long-term growth for our business and our employees. Our family members will be staying with the company to help ensure a smooth transition. We’re excited to join ADM and strongly believe that the combination of our technology and citrus capabilities, coupled with the portfolio of ingredients and global reach of ADM, will accelerate growth opportunities while creating benefits for our customers. “Citrus is one of the fastest-growing, highest-demand flavors for food and beverages, which is why the creation of a global citrus platform offering a complete product line for our customers is such an important capability for our growth strategy,” Macciocchi continued. “We’re continuing the most ambitious portfolio transformation in our company’s long history, and as we build the world’s leading nutrition company, the beneficiaries will be our customers and our shareholders.” The deal is expected to close near the end of 2019.
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Prestat, gains access to Domori single origin coverture in deal with Gruppo Illy
14 March 2019Prestat, one of the country's most well-loved chocolate brands, gains access to Domori's acclaimed single origin covertures in new deal with Gruppo Illy, the Trieste based International Super Premium Food and Beverage Company. Gruppo Illy, own Domori, who are widely recognised for making some of the finest chocolate in the world. Thanks to this deal, Prestat can access Domori’s acclaimed single origin couvertures, making it the only chocolatier with a Royal Warrant, and the only sizeable UK artisan chocolatier to have complete control of the chocolate making process from tree to truffle or bean to bar. Riccardo Illy, Chairman of Gruppo Illy, commented: “The deal is consistent with the DNA of the group, constantly looking for a proposal of the highest quality offer and reinforces the growth in the chocolate business in which the group is already present with Domori. The two companies complement each other perfectly and have a geographical presence in the main world markets, based on a passion for excellence in chocolate”. Having grown Prestat from a single shop with a turnover of £100,000 to a £7M retail and manufacturing business, the two co MDs and half-brothers, Nick Crean and Bill Keeling, are delighted to now embark on the next stage of Prestat’s growth. Nick Crean, co MD of Prestat, says "This deal is good news for Prestat and good news for British chocolate making. We have long been one of the few artisan chocolate brands to make all our own chocolates in this country and teaming up with Gruppo Illy now allows us to take the final step and gain complete control of the sourcing of ingredients from tree to truffle. Gruppo Illy’s investment in manufacturing, here in the UK, will mean that we are even better placed to nurture the traditional skills needed to create the finest handcrafted chocolates and we are already looking forward to building on our reputation for developing award-winning new products. "Prestat, which employs nearly 100 people, will become a wholly owned subsidiary of the family-owned Gruppo Illy on 13thMarch, 2019. The partnership will be highly collaborative and Prestat will continue to make its award-winning chocolates, truffles, mince pies and petit fours – supplying businesses such as Fortnum & Mason, Liberty, Selfridges, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Daylesford, Rococo Chocolates, and now Domori, too." Bill Keeling says, "We are delighted to announce the deal with Gruppo Illy. Gaining access to what many believe are the world’s finest couvertures, together with the support of Gruppo Illy’s financial strength and a range of new distribution opportunities, makes Prestat’s future very exciting". The cacao chosen for Prestat’s couvertures will now come from Cote d’Ivoire and will be traceable to specific plantations and individual farmers. The cacao beans go through a stringent quality assessment before undergoing a low-impact method of roasting and milling, at temperatures which are typically 25-30⁰C, less than those used by other chocolate manufacturers. This makes the cacao less acidic and so avoids the need to ‘wash’ it with an alkaline solution. The gentler and more environmentally friendly processing method helps to preserve the chocolate’s natural aromatics and contributes to Domori often being called the best chocolate manufacturer in the world. Prestat is also looking forward to aligning its ethical approach with Domori’s and paying cacao farmers directly, ensuring they get a premium price and develop sustainable long-term relationships that meet or exceed all Fair.
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tna appoints Matthew Walters to lead African operations
14 March 2019Food processing and packaging solutions provider tna has appointed Matthew Walters as branch manager to head up its African operations. Based in tna’s Johannesburg (South Africa) office, Matthew will be responsible for supporting food manufacturers across the African continent with tna’s portfolio of equipment, such as fryers, conveyors, seasoning equipment, VFFS packaging systems and end of line solutions. At the same time, Matthew will be tasked with driving the sales of tna’s confectionery processing solutions, including its range of kitchens, starch moulding and finishing equipment, while helping to further develop tna’s local service and support team. With a degree in mechanical engineering, Matthew started his career at one of South Africa’s leading FMCG companies, where he was responsible for the successful implementation of a number of high profile projects. His previous experience will be instrumental in supporting tna’s customers with the advanced food processing and packaging technology they need to make the most out of South Africa’s flourishing snacks and confectionery sectors. “Matthew will be an excellent addition to the team here in South Africa”, comments Jonathan Rankin, CEO at tna. “His experience in the food industry, business acumen and positive attitude are a great fit for tna. Together with his project engineering skills, he’ll not only be able find the most suitable solution for our customers, but will also ensure a smooth installation and successful project delivery, no matter how complex or challenging.” Commenting on his new position Matthew says: “I’m really excited to embark on this new challenge with tna. I’ve come across tna equipment a few times during my career and have always admired the technology and the people behind it. As an engineer, I was naturally drawn to tna’s reputation as the first company to bring high-speed VFFS technology to the market. However, it’s not just tna’s engineering excellence that I admire. The company really offers the whole package.”
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