Ferré & Consulting Blog (English Version)

From mid-2010 onwards, IOI-Loders Croklaan Europe will become the first palm oil supplier in continental Europe to supply fully segregated, RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil.

The announcement was made by Chris Linderman, business unit manager bulk oils Europe for IOI-Loders Croklaan, during a seminar on sustainable palm oil held in Paris. The seminar included presentations from Unilever, WWF France and Carrefour to underline the importance of palm oil to the world’s food production, as well as ways to transform it into a fully sustainable commodity.

“The seminar is being held at a crucial moment in time”, says Marc den Hartog, sales & marketing director for IOI-Loders Croklaan and RSPO executive board member. “The interest in sustainable oil continues to grow, and it’s important to inform food manufacturers of the ways in which they can contribute to the sustainability efforts currently underway.”

Up to now, the only sustainable palm oil available on the European continent has been certified by the RSPO as Book & Claim or Mass Balance. While both these supply chain models make sustainably produced palm oil available to the European market, they do so by administratively monitoring the trade of sustainable palm oil and its derivatives, providing a driver for the mainstream trade of sustainable palm oil.

IOI-Loders Croklaan’s ability to provide segregated palm oil is possible thanks to the opening of the company’s new refinery on the Rotterdam Maasvlakte in June 2010. It has the storage capacity, infrastructure and technology necessary to keep sustainable palm oil wholly segregated from other oils.

Ingredients IOI-Loders Croklaan, segregated palm oil, suppliers

Take part in the first international meeting of the “wheat-flour-bread” cereal sector in France

The AEMIC (Association of former students of Schools of the Cereal Industry Trades) is organizing its 61st JTIC in partnership with IAOM Eurasia (International Association of Operative Millers) and the FFI (Flour Fortification Initiative) to create the biggest international event around the milling and cereal industries.

The event will take place in the Convention Centre in Reims, France,from 13th till 15th October 2010, in the heart of the Champagne region.

This event is an opportunity to gather the whole sector around a series of conferences (by INRA, ARVALIS Institut du végétal…). It also consists of an exhibition where suppliers of the cereal industry sectors can display their latest innovations. Special events and activities throughout the convention will help to create an atmosphere that is both friendly and conducive to business.

* 3000 French and foreign visitors, the majority of which are heads of companies and decision-makers of the cereal sector, are expected on these 3 days.

* 2500m² of exhibition and workshops are at your disposal to showcase your products and your services.

* Several sponsoring formulas will allow you to increase the visibility of your company and to optimize your participation.

Numerous exhibitors have already reserved their stand, apply now, places are limited!

For more information, do not hesitate to consult the participation file (click here) as well as their website www.jtic2010.eu which displays the exhibit plan updated in real time.

Events AEMIC, cereal industry, milling

Bioglane, a spin-off from the Spanish Research Council (CSIC), located also in Barcelona Science Park, is producing a natural molecule that enables the effective development of new functional foods for weight management. It is the iminosugar fagomine, a natural component analogue of glucose that is found in buckwheat. Fagomine reduces the usual high absorption rate of glucose from starches (cereals, potatoes or pasta) and refined sugars, therefore helping to prevent overweight and the paradoxical effects of hunger after the consumption of sugar-rich foods.

Fagomine is going to be a relevant tool in weight management. Bioglane’s I+D team –coordinated by Josep Lluis Torres, researcher of the Institute of Advanced Chemistry of Catalunya (IQAC-CSIC)- has developed an enzymatic industrial process –based on the work of IQAC scientists Pere Clapés and Jesús Joglar- to produce the molecule D-fagomine that will be launched into the market under the name “Fagopure” (pure fagomine). Early next year the biotech hopes to start the regulatory process to commercialize this product in the United States, and later in Europe, which requires a longer authorization process. The company hold by the entrepreneurs, Genoma España and Caja Navarra, has received financial support from the Spanish and Catalan Administration.

Buckwheat is commonly used in many traditional recipes of Asia, Europe and North America, but its production is currently being reduced in front of other more productive crops. Bioglane believes that the scientific knowledge that is being generated regarding fagomine and buckwheat will stimulate the recovery of this healthy food that mankind has consumed over thousands of years worldwide. “It is a relevant scientific but also business development challenge transferring this real breaking innovation from a conceptual phase to the market under the entrepreneurs control”, explains Sergi Pumarola, founder and general manager of Bioglane.

Bioglane, with offices at the Barcelona Science Park and the Institut de Química Avançada de Catalunya-CSIC, focuses its activity on the development of new bioactive substances and their industrial production by clean efficient and competitive processes. The spin-off was created in mid-2007 in an initiative of CSIC researchers and the current Manager of Bioglane.

Ingredients

Barry Callebaut expects cocoa prices to gain further this year on supply concerns in top cocoa regions in West Africa and a recovery in global demand. The Swiss-based firm says prospects of weaker output from top grower Ivory Coast have shifted some of the company’s focus to Asia.

CEO Juergen Steinemann noted recently that Malaysia may drive some of the expansion once farmers improve the flavour of their beans through microbial fermentation to cater to a global market used to Ivory Coast beans. “Fundamentally, demand is higher than offers. Prices should go up,” Steinemann told reporters at Malaysia’s administrative capital of Putrajaya.

“Asia is the logical move away from Africa. Malaysia is the largest grinder in this region and we want to use our collaboration with the Malaysian Cocoa Board (MCB) to improve the quality of cocoa and improve the incomes of farmers.”

Under the three-year project, the MCB will ferment cocoa beans using microbe cultures developed by Barry Callebaut. MCB Director-General Azhar Ismail said Barry Callebaut will purchase the beans at a premium to local market prices.

Chocolate, Companies Asia, Barry Callebaut, cocoa

Nestle has opened a new a production facility for powdered milk and a packaging unit for imported Mackintosh’s Quality Street chocolates in Dubai. The facility will also manufacture chocolates and wafers later this year.

Yves Manghardt, chairman and CEO of Nestle Middle East, comments, “The production capacity of the new facility will be more than 100,000 tonnes per year. We have made enough provision to expand our operations to meet growing market demands for the next few years.”

Nestle’s Middle East operations recorded a revenue of over $1.4 billion (€1bn) in 2009. The company has 17 factories and 37 offices in the region employing over 7,000 people.

Companies Dubai, Nestle, plant