Chinese companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to buy at least $50 million of Blue Diamond almonds in the next 12 months.
Barry Callebaut, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality cocoa and chocolate products, has trained 15,000 cocoa farmers from 50 farmer cooperatives in Côte d’Ivoire in sustainable cocoa production, enabling them to become independently certified by Rainforest Alliance. The cooperatives are located throughout Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa production belt, with the majority located in Bas-Sassandra, the country’s biggest cocoa-producing region today.
Kellogg Company announced that seven U.S. Kellogg bakeries earned EPA´s EnergyStar certification, in the top 25 percent of similar facilities nationwide. From its plants in Bremen, Germany, to Linares, Mexico, Kellogg has made significant strides to reduce energy use.
After two days of competition at the World Pastry Team Championships in Las Vegas, Team Japan was named first place overall winners and Team USA won best dégustation and second place overall in the challenge, inspired by astrology and horoscopes. The all-American team of National Pastry Champions consisted of Chef Donald Wressell, team captain, and Chefs Scott Green, Joshua Johnson and, alternate, Della Gossett of the The French Pastry School of Kennedy-King College at City Colleges of Chicago. The achievement for Team USA comes after two years of preparation, including the qualifying National Pastry Team Championship in 2011.
Spooner Industries, established in 1932 by Mr William Wycliffe Spooner, is a leading global innovator and manufacturer serving a range of global markets. The main industries Spooner provides industrial processing equipment to are food / baking, coil coating / galvanising, paper manufacture, converting, non-wovens and pharmaceuticals. Spooner Industries’ manufacturing headquarters is based in the UK; however, Spooner agents and representatives are based across the globe to provide a local point of contact for every market.
Demonstrating its commitment to the growth of the Nigerian economy, the management of Honeywell Flour Mills Plc trained more master bakers and revealed plans to open its new state-of-the art production plant in September, raising the company’s output by 62 per cent.
New technology joins the Old World wholesomeness of European-style baked foods at iba 2012, to be held Sept. 16-21 in Munich, Germany. This year’s trade show is expected to be bigger than previous ones with more than 1,600 exhibitors from around the globe filling 12 halls compared with 10 halls at iba 2009. In all, exhibitors will take up more than 1.4 million sq ft of the city’s main convention center.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Washington, D.C.; the University of California, Davis, Calif.; Agilent Technologies Inc., Santa Clara, Calif.; and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Washington, D.C., collaborated to create a public database of 100,000 foodborne pathogen genomes to help speed identification of bacteria responsible for foodborne outbreaks.
The global battle for natural resources – from food and water to energy and precious metals – is only beginning, and will intensify to proportions that could mean enormous upheavals for every country, leading academics and business figures told a conference in Oxford.
A study released in the August issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN) provides a new understanding of almonds’ calorie count, showing they have about 20% fewer calories than originally thought. The study, conducted by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists, provides yet another reason to choose almonds as a nutritious snack.