Plans to tighten ingredients labelling laws on alcoholic drinks
have been ditched by the European Commission as part of an
efficiency drive because not enough progress has been made.
French wine cooperatives have rejected the recent wine labelling
agreement between the EU and US, claiming the deal will not benefit
European producers as much as the Commission thinks.
EU farm ministers met with African and Caribbean counterparts on
Monday to discuss the sweeping EU sugar reform that will bring
cheaper sugar ingredients into the bloc.
US wine producers may soon scrub names of traditional European wine
regions, like Champagne and Burgundy, off their bottles in exchange
for better access to EU markets, in a breakthrough deal.
Opportunities await for Europe's beer industry to tap into growing
consumer health trends as Belgian brewing scientists offer newly
developed testing to assess the nutritional quality of beers.
Several Dutch brewers, including Inbev and Heineken, could face
tough fines after the European Union charged them with price-fixing
on their home market.
The UK's food processors will come under greater pressure to ship
their products in environmentally-friendly materials after
government announced a plan to increase minimum recycling targets
for glass and plastics packaging.
Although the EU's member states were due to impose tougher laws on
recycling packaging waste, only five countries have completed the
task, the European Commission said yesterday.
Dairy producer Arla Foods, which supplies butter to a number of
bakeries, has sent out one of the first signals that the dairy
sector is hurting from a reduction in EU agricultural export
subsidies.
France will have to give back three times the amount of money it is
receiving in crisis distillation funding for appellation contrôlée
wines as the EU cracks down on wine sector mis-management,
reports Chris Mercer.
The first wrangling over EU sugar reform proposals by agriculture
ministers saw protests and a passionate debate in Brussels
yesterday, but the opposition looks increasingly isolated,
reports Chris Mercer.
Danish packaging company Superfos says it is expanding its
packaging production in Poland as part of a focused growth strategy
that targets all consumer packaging including food and drink
products, reports Simon Pitman.
Food makers and ingredients firms will benefit from a new European
platform that will prioritise research and development initiatives
to keep the €800 billion food and drink industry
competitive,reports Lindsey Partos.
Sweeping changes to Europe's subsidised sugar regime announced
yesterday will see sugar prices cut by 39 per cent paid to
companies that include sugar and sweetener suppliers Danisco and
Tate and Lyle, but will bring price relief...
Food and drink makers could soon expect cheaper sugar ingredients
with Brussels expected to publish its proposals on EU sugar reform
today, writes Lindsey Partos.
The European Parliament voted yesterday to radically modify the
proposed regulation on nutrition and health claims so that food
companies do not need to gain prior authorization for claims, nor
subject their healtlh products to nutrient...
Proposals to create a list of about 100 vitamins and mineral
substances that may be added to foods are being debated in the
European Parliament today, part of the long process of harmonising
food legislation in the bloc, reports Ahmed...
The first ever survey of research and development (R&D)
personnel across all industrial sectors in Europe reveals most
participants predict there will be little change in their
companies' R&D investment levels over the...
Alcan has acquired the assets of Parkside's flexible food packaging
plant in Zlotow, Poland in order to increase its presence in a
growing and competitive economy.
Falling beer markets across Western Europe have claimed Carlsberg
as their latest victim, handing the Danish brewer heavy losses in
its first quarter despite strong performances in Russia and Asia,
reports Chris Mercer.
An EU Commission committee has promised extra money to help French
wine makers distil more than a million hectolitres of quality wine
into undrinkable industrial alcohol after the French government
promised to rip up vines and make...
Moves to reform the European sugar regime will accelerate after the
EU loses its appeal against a World Trade Organisation decision
that its handouts to sugar farmers are illegal, reports Lindsey
Partos.
Small-time Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar has beaten US beer giant
Anheuser Busch for the right to sell its beer under the Budweiser
brand in Cambodia, after winning an appeal in the country's Supreme
Court, reports Chris Mercer.
The EU's main wine-producing countries, led by France and Italy,
this week torpedoed discussions to raise the minimum excise duty on
all alcoholic drinks, fearing a domestic backlash from vintners,
reports Chris Mercer.
GM ingredients are here to stay as Brussels confirms 'full
confidence' in the regulatory framework that controls the entry of
biotech foodstuffs into the European food chain, reports Lindsey
Partos.
Chr Hansen's innovative Eastern European marketing campaign, which
kicks off today, should help the Czech Republic's dairy sector find
new ways of adding value to their products, writes Anthony
Fletcher.
Food manufacturers need to consider a risk/benefit analysis of
activities on acrylamide, a harmful chemical recently identified in
carbohydrate-rich foods, conclude stakeholders after a recent
meeting in Brussels,reports Lindsey Partos.
The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) has slammed new EU
packaging standards, claiming they are likely to encourage
increased packaging volumes and do little to facilitate greater
recycling.
With the countdown extended, talks continue this week in Geneva
between the US and Brussels to move the entrenched trade dispute on
genetically modified organisms forward.
The European Union's highest court ruled this week that the EC had
been wrong to prohibit a merger between packaging groups Tetra
Laval and Sidel four years ago.
InBev has spread rapidly beyond the borders of its native Belgium
in the last few years, with major acquisitions in Asia, Latin
America and Europe. But the world's biggest brewer is not always
successful in its takeover bids,...
Companies seeking to do business across the Atlantic face
significant hurdles if the United States and European Union do not
work to remove non-tariff trade barriers, claimed Coca-Cola chief
executive Neville Isdell.
Following the success of a controversial TV advert, Blavod is set
for further growth in the UK as it signs up with wholesaler Matthew
Clark. Abroad, it sees Poland and other EU accession countries as
lands of opportunity, reports...
The European Court of Justice (ECJ)'s ruling on Germany's packaging
regulations has been welcomed by both the EC and firms that import
packaged beverages into the country.
The controversial issue of nutritional profiles will remain one of
the biggest hurdles for EU legislation on health claims but recent
reports suggest that Germany may be ready to concede some elements
of profiling, reports Dominique...
An illegal red colour identified in a popular food oil prompts a
recall in the UK, the latest in a series of similar moves by the
country's food watchdog.
Driving research in the area of chemical contaminants, nutrition
and microbiology the UK's food agency is calling for scientists to
fulfill a batch of new research requirements.
Plans for EU sugar reform are unfair and would only benefit the
biggest producers, according to 10 member states including
Slovenia, Hungary and Latvia, as new discussions split opinions in
eastern Europe, reports Chris Mercer.
The rise of snacks as grazing food has seen the Czech Republic,
recently identified by the European Commission as having the
longest working hours in Europe, emerge as one of the region's most
dynamic savoury snacks markets,...
The European Commission has decided that a German subsidy scheme
for the producers of Kornbranntwein, a brandy made out of corn, is
in breach of European Union State aid rules because it distorts
competition with other brandy producers.
EU steel producers are likely to push through price increases in
the new year, and packaging firms and machinery makers will have no
choice but to accept them, writes Anthony Fletcher.
Coca-Cola Services S.A. has applied to the UK's novel foods
committee seeking approval to market fruit juices, fruit nectars
and tomato juice with added plant sterols.
The EU Commission's announcement this week that Germany will be
referred to the European Court of Justice unless it establishes an
effective, simple and non-discriminatory deposit system for
beverage packaging is music to the...