UK DTI opens door to 17bn euro fund
Metabolix enters natural plastics market
California seeks European links
Give me a break

BRIEFLY

Just as Monsanto gives up its conventional seeds business in Europe comes the news that it is working on reducing the trans and saturated fats content of soybean oil. It is using conventional breeding techniques to produce a Roundup Ready soybean low in linolenic acid. This would produce a soy oil that reduces the need for hydrogenation, and, in turn, could help reduce trans-fats in many foods and even eliminate trans- fats in some. Now under test, limited quantities should be available for the 2006 harvest. 

Monsanto also is researching an oilseed crop that could produce a vegetable oil enriched with omega-3 fatty acids. Usually found in fish oil, these help keep cholesterol levels low, stabilise irregular heart beat (arrhythmia), and reduce blood pressure.

Babies and pre-teens in the US and UK are over-eating, thanks to diets high in carbonated drinks, potato crisps and sugary sweets, report separate studies. This is a probably leading cause of teen and adult overweight and obesity, now affecting one in five people.

Cadbury Schweppes plans to cut 5500 jobs and GBP400m in costs, following the absorbtion of the Adams confectionery business last year. It will also close one-fifth of the 133 factories it has worldwide, but plans to spend GBP900m over the next three years on restructuring and capital goods. Up to GBP133m will go on extra marketing and innovation.

Kraft Foods reported third quarter 2003 diluted earnings per share of $0.47, down 6.0% versus 2002, due mainly to lower sales of biscuits in th4e US and of chocolate and coffee products in Europe.

Researchers in the US are using nanotechnology to restore fire-damaged land, prevent erosion and protect water sources. The product is an aerosol solution that causes silicate particles to self-assemble in the presence of water. This acts as a mulch, preventing erosion and allowing seeds added to the mix to establish themselves in the soil. Using helicopters, it was sprayed on 1400 of 5500 acres of land sacred to the Taos Pueblo Native Indians. But the move has upset environmental activists worried about the large-scale released on nanotechnology into the environment.

The European Union is considering approval of 22 genetically modified (GM) products as the end of the moratorium on gene modified food products looms. Monsanto is involved with 11, Bayer with five, Mycogene and Syngenta with two each, and one each for Amylogene, Saat, Pioneer, Trifolium and Danisco.

UK-based packaging firm Rexam became the world's top beverage can after agreeing to buy Brazil’s top canmaker, Latas de Alumínio, for $462m in cash and debt. The deal gives Rexam 23% of the world’s drink can market or about 50 billion cans. Its closest rivals are Ball and Crown Cork & Seal.

Market researcher ACNeilsen’s subsidiary, NetRatings, has launched Homescan Online to help track consumers’ buying behaviour on the Internet. The service aims to improve the effectiveness of online marketing for consumer packaged goods (CPG) marketers and Web publishers.

Half of Britain’s consumers are prepared to pay more for environmentally friendly food packaging, says market researcher Grapentine Company. Of the 51% who are happy to buy fresh food in packaging such as Cargill Dow’s NatureWorks, roughly 77% said they would pay five pence more, and three in four were willing to spend an extra 10 pence per food item.

Research

UK DTI opens door to 17bn euro fund

The British government’s Department of Trade & Industry has set up a website to help British researcher tap into the European Commission’s €17.5bn euro fund that underpins its Sixth Framework Programme (FP6).

“Research and development are essential to the health and wealth of the UK. The EU funding is a vital resource for universities and businesses,” said the science and innovation minister, Lord Sainsbury.

Sustainability

Metabolix enters natural plastics market

US-based biochemistry firm Metabolix has joined Cargill Dow in the plastics-from-food market for biobased, biodegradable plastics market. It has just won a Defense Supply Center contract to prototype moulding of PHA (polyhydroxy- alkanoate) plastics products such as disposable cutlery. The US federal government buys more than half a billion single-use cutlery items each year. Other candidates include paper cups and plates.

Metabolix's PHAs range in properties from rigid to highly elastic, making them suitable for film, fibre, adhesives, coatings, and moulded goods. Although PHAs are stable to hot liquids such as coffee or tea, they will biodegrade in fresh and sea water, soil and composting environments, and even under anaerobic conditions.

Biotech

California seeks European links

The California biotech industry is well-represented at the up BioEurope Conference from 16-19 Novemberin Frankfurt, Germany, where exhibitors will be seeking cross-border deals with European biotech firms.

The European biotech industry is worth about one-sixth of the US’s $43bn, but in 2001 there were 1,879 biotech companies in Europe compared the US total of 1,457, according to Burrill & Co’s Biotech 2003 Report.

"Medium-sized European pharmaceutical firms are also becoming a major force in the bio-partnering scene. Californian biotech firms who do not possess blockbuster drugs but who are developing unique "orphan drugs" are finding that European mid-size pharma companies are increasingly interested in licensing these technologies," said Carola Schropp, principal of the EBD Group, which is organising BioEurope.

Stress

Give me a break

Research into the incidence of stress in the UK for none other than Nestlé’s KitKat confectionery brand (slogan: have a break – have a KitKat) reveals (unsurprisingly) that 75% of Brits suffer from stress. Moreover, having a couple of breaks, and presumably a KitKat or three, during the day can cut those stress levels tremendously. Now we only have to stress about putting on weight.

For what the 1000-interview study by Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology and health at UMIST, is worth, it showed 25-34 year olds suffer the most from stress; 88% claimed to feel stressed sometimes or often. Next were 45-55 year olds with 81% stressing daily. Despite exams and peer pressures, those aged 15-24 are the least stressed age group, as were the over 65s (69% and 56% respectively).

"With longer hours at work or the exam culture in schools and college, we're heading to exploding point,” Cooper said. “It's very easy to think 'I don't have time', to save time in the short term, but it's clear that those who take regular breaks feel less stressed."