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Deposit scheme threatens “thousands” of German jobs
More GM crops planted in US
Public optimistic on GM promises
Cadbury Schweppes swallows Adams
Dupont slips Teflon charge
Brie squares up to sandwich market
New pesto sauces debut
Male teens show sensitive side
Sensor market to double to $4bn
Changes at Lonza
Bring ‘em back with colour
Packaging
Deposit
scheme threatens “thousands” of German jobs
The controversial deposit system
for non-returnable containers introduced in Germany on 1 January could
cost thousands of jobs unless it is stopped now, warns the German Food
Industry Association.
Peter Traumann, head of the
Association, said beer sales dropped by 9.8 percent in January and
February compared with the same period last year, reports Associated
Press.
Under the scheme, shoppers pay a
25-cent deposit on one-way glass and plastics bottles and cans for food
and drink. Paperboard containers are next in the environment ministry’s
firing line.
The government extended deposits
already levied on many glass bottles after
missing legal recycling targets.
Biotechnology
1
More GM
crops planted in US
Biotech corn plantings are up four
percent to 38 percent of all corn planted in the US, soybeans increased
five percent to 80 percent of all plantings, and cotton remains
statistically unchanged at 70 percent, says the
US Department of Agriculture.
Biotech industry spokesman Dr
Michael Phillips of Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), said
"The US, although the leader in biotech plantings, is not alone.
Globally, we continue to see an increase in acceptance of biotech crops,
with a 12 percent increase in 2002 over 2001 with 145 million acres
planted in 13 countries."
"Farmers continue to choose
the biotech alternative to help them better manage crop production.
Clearly, the benefits of these improved seed varieties help farmers to
strengthen crops by making them more resistant to disease, increasing crop
yields, and reducing the use of pesticides,”
he said.
Click here for the USDA
report.
Biotechnology
2
Public
optimistic on GM promises
The public in eight countries is
generally optimistic that genetic engineering will benefit mankind, but
remains wary of the cost.
In what is claimed to be the first
global poll of public opinion on genetic engineering, only eight percent
of those surveyed feel that they understand developments in genetic
science very well. But many hope that genetics will lead to better
treatment and elimination of many diseases.
Researchers polled consumers in the
UK, Denmark, Poland, Mexico, Brazil, Taiwan, Turkey and the US for the
Discovery TV channel.
DNA: The Promise and The Price,
premiers on Discovery Channel
around the world on 6 April and in the US on 10 April.
M&A
Cadbury
Schweppes swallows Adams
UK-based confectioner Cadbury
Schweppes said yesterday it had won shareholder and regulatory approval to
buy US-based sweets maker Adams from Pfizer for $4.2 billion (£2.7bn).
The deal adds four brands that
represent over 70 percent of Adams’ sales - Halls medicated
confectionery, Trident sugar-free gum, Dentyne Ice chewing gum and the
Bubbas bubblegum.
This makes Cadbury’s the world
biggest confectionery business in sugar and functional confectionery and
number two in gum. It also gives the British a bigger footprint in Latin
America.
The Americas confectionery
businesses will be integrated into a new unit, Americas Confectionery.
Elsewhere, Adams operations will report into Cadbury Schweppes' Europe,
Middle East & Africa and Asia Pacific divisions.
Health
Dupont
slips Teflon charge
DuPont has refuted allegations that
a chemical used to make Teflon harms people.
Washington DC-based Environmental
Working Group (EWG) claims that PFOA, an essential processing aid used to
make fluoropolymers, is harmful to women of child-bearing age, young
girls, or any other segment of the human population.
"PFOA has been used safely for
more than 50 years with no known adverse effects to human health,"
said Richard Angiullo, vice president and general manager of DuPont
Fluoroproducts.
"Cookware sold under the
Teflon brand does not contain PFOA." PFOA is used to make Teflon, but
it is removed in the manufacturing process, he added.
The EWG said the health threat was
detailed in a leaked document from the US Environmental Protection Agency.
DuPont and other fluoropolymer
manufacturers have been working with EPA since 2000 to assess what is
known about PFOA and to improve the industry's “stewardship”. There
are currently no EPA regulations governing PFOA.
New products
1
Brie
squares up to sandwich market
 UK-based
cheesemaker Cornish Country Larder is aiming for a bigger slice of
Britain’s £2 billion sandwich market with a square award-winning
Cornish Brie.
Managing Director John Gaylard says
the one-kg block “is an
entirely pragmatic response to the slight difficulty in getting our cheese
to fit a sandwich. This led us to challenge the concept of bries always
being round.”
Since
its launch in 1997, Cornish Country Larder now supplies cheese to all the
UK’s main supermarkets. Its Cornish Brie won a Gold Medal at the British
Cheese awards last September and currently sells 300 tonnes of the brie a
year, plus 120 tonnes of its other cheeses.
The square brie is sold only to the
trade. More from www.ccl-ltd.co.uk.
New products
2
New
pesto sauces debut
UK-based Sapori D’Italia has
launched a range of preservative-free pesto sauces with new flavours -
basil, rucola, sun-dried tomato, grilled pepper and chilli - in
vacuum-sealed 200gm tubs.
The tubs are packed in boxes of 18;
each tub is ideal for presentation within a
refrigerated shelf display and will appeal to the customer who wants
cooking-free convenience.
Markets 1
Male teens
show sensitive side
American teen and “tween” males
could buy up to $2.8 billion of personal care products in 2008, predicts
market researcher Packaged Facts.
Razors, soap, and shampoo are still
top items, but there’s more potential in hair styling and colouring
products, and body sprays. Sales of gels and mousses, for example, grew
over 11 percent in 2002, making sales worth over $75 million.
Markets 2
Sensor
market to double to $4bn
The US market for biological,
chemical, and gas sensors will reach $4bn from the present $2.3bn, says
market research house In-Stat/MDR. “In terms of its potential, the
market remains in its infancy,” it says.
Top markets are likely to be blood
glucose testing (especially coupled with microfluidics technology se in
point-of-care diagnostics), industrial process control (especially food), explosives
and narcotics.
People
Changes
at Lonza
Roland Waibel (45), currently head
of finance, corporate development and IT will take over as chief financial
officer of Lonza Group from Jean-Jacques Illi (43), who is leaving the company
to pursue other interests.
Marketing
Bring
‘em back with colour
Research from a US maker of till
receipt printers suggests adding a promotional message in colour to the
receipt can more than double message awareness and redemptions, and boost
return visits by more than 60 percent.
In research conducted for the firm
by TNS Intersearch, adding colour to receipts increased awareness of
promotions by 165 percent. Only 31 percent of consumers noticed promotions
on black-and-white text receipts within three seconds. Redemption rates
ranged from 56 percent to 71 percent in the comprehensive study of
retailers and hospitality establishments.
More findings are online at http://www.colorreceipts.com. |
