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Anyone who develops new products for a living must be aware of a multitude of influences. Acknowledging this, we cover

scientific discoveries

consumer trends

product design and formulation

engineering technology

process engineering

manufacturing

filling and packaging

logistics and distribution

retail merchandising

end of life disposal

Then there are the legal and regulatory issues, such as safety and labelling, as well as intellectual property rights, brand management, competition and international trade that we have to take into account.

But it all means nothing without the creativity and insights of men and women who can put things together in new ways to create new products that improve our lives.

We celebrate those people.

Ian Grant

Publisher

UK’s FDF says no to food taxes
UK’s biotech ethics body to rethink GM support
Flat market to drive baking innovations
Lunch takes on Mexican flavour
Drug firms spend half the budget at launch
Will it stick? DuPont vows cooperation on Teflon

Business

UK’s FDF says no to food taxes

The UK’s Food & Drink Federation has come out against proposals to tax “junk food” said to boost obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.

The food manufacturers’ association said the loss of zero-rated VAT on foodstuffs would be bad for consumers and the

UK economy. It warned taxes would harm poor families, which spend more of their income on food, increase inflation, and make it harder for them to eat healthy and varied diets.

It said consumers would see the introduction of VAT on foods as a price increase. This “would be bad for the food and drink industry, which is one of the UK's largest manufacturing sectors, employs over 500,000 people, has a gross output of £65 billion and buys two-thirds of UK agricultural produce,” it said.

GM

UK’s biotech ethics body to rethink GM support

The UK’s leading think tank on the ethics of biotechnology, the Nuffield Council, is to review its support for the use of genetically modified crops in developing countries. Tomorrow it will publish for comment a draft document setting out its new views.

The council gets its money from the Nuffield Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. In 1999 it said there was a moral imperative to make GM crops readily and economically available to people in developing countries that want them.

“Now the council has re-assessed the conclusions and recommendations of its report in the light of recent developments. Other organisations, such as Action Aid and Friends of the Earth International, have also produced provocative reports on the topic,” it said.

The developments include the refusal by some hunger-hit African countries to refuse aid in the form of GM seed, the US bringing a trade barrier lawsuit against the European Union for its moratorium on new GM crops and seeds, and the UK government’s six-week public debate on GM technology, which kicked off last week.

The council will submit comments on its draft paper to the UK government’s GM Nation? debate.

Bakeries

Flat market to drive baking innovations

Bakers will have to develop unique selling propositions if they are to increase sales value in the face of flat demand, says a new report from the UK market researcher Leatherhead Food International.

EuroBakery 2003 says volume demand will rise 0.5% for the next five years. Value growth will be higher, led by industrially wrapped cakes. “The bakery industry will continue to face heavy competition from other product alternatives such as cereal bars, breakfast cereals and confectionery, but will rise to the challenge by responding to demand for snack-sized products, wrapped sliced bread with a longer shelf life, healthier ingredients, and indulgence/luxury items with chocolate chips, spices or fruits.”

The report said volume is steady at 35 million tonnes, but last year value rose 3% to 68.3 million euros.

NPD

Lunch takes on Mexican flavour

UK food maker Discovery Foods hopes to switch British appetites to Mexican tastes with a new range of three chilled wraps (fajitas) in chicken, chicken & bacon, and a vegetarian hummus, peppers and pine nuts.

The wraps will be on sale alongside sandwiches and lunch snack from supermarkets’ chiller cabinets, and priced between ₤2.29 and ₤2.69.

Launches

Drug firms spend half the budget at launch

Drug companies spend almost half their marketing budget during the launch phase in an effort to grab customers’ attention, says a new report from US market researcher Cutting Edge Information.

“Aggressive phase III marketing prepares physicians for a particular product, especially if they are familiar with the drug's previous generation. Steady but not overwhelming support throughout launch drives sales for customers who need relatively few new marketing messages,” it says.

"Blockbuster pharmaceuticals are not born in the lab," said Eric Bolesh, senior analyst at Cutting Edge Information. "Rather, the level of marketing support usually determines whether compounds become the next Lipitor or not."

Regulation

Will it stick? DuPont vows cooperation on Teflon

Inventor of the Teflon non-stick surface coating, US chemicals company DuPont, has promised to cooperate with US regulators investigating the effects on humans of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), an unregulated processing aid used to make Teflon.

DuPont global vice president for central research & development Uma Chowdhry told the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “DuPont is fully committed to work with industry to address those questions, to investigate both past and current potential sources of PFOA exposure, to further reduce exposure pathways, and to provide information needed to allow for the development of an accurate, science-based assessment of any risks posed by PFOA."

Despite this, she expects the EPA to regulate the compound.