Mondel?z International has unveiled ‘Cocoa Life’ – the company’s largest, most comprehensive cocoa sustainability effort to date. As the world’s largest chocolate company, it will invest $400 million (€313m) over the next ten years to improve the livelihoods and living conditions of more 200,000 cocoa farmers and about one million people in cocoa farming communities. Cocoa Life will bring a $100m (€78.2m) new investment to Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s largest cocoa producing country, to help 75,000 farmers double their productivity.
Hostess Brands, a producer of bakery products in the US, has received approval from the US Bankruptcy Court in New York to close its business and sell its assets, a move which will lead to a loss of up to 18,500 jobs.
Nestlé continues to strengthen its global research and development network with the inauguration of its newly extended Product Technology Centre (PTC) for confectionery in the United Kingdom.
France’s National Assembly has reportedly rejected a proposed tax on palm oil that appeared to be a go earlier in the week. On November 12, 2012, the French Senate voted 186-155 against the so-called “Nutella tax,” which aimed to impose a 300-percent tax on palm oil, a key ingredient in the beloved hazelnutchocolate spread that is high in saturated fats.
Proposals have been developed to close two bakery sites in Greenford and Birmingham during the course of 2013, in addition to the previously announced closure of the Eastleigh bakery, and to consolidate production from these locations into the Company´s remaining bread manufacturing sites. In addition, it is proposed to simplify the bread distribution network by removing approximately 130 distribution routes, taking into account the reduction in volumes from the previously announced loss of a low margin bread contract by mid 2013. As a consequence, the Company is proposing to close distribution operations in Greenford, Birmingham, Mendlesham and Plymouth. It is also proposed to restructure the Company´s outsourced logistics operations to optimise the new network. Together, these proposals are expected to result in approximately 900 fewer jobs across the Company´s Bread Division.
Ice cream lovers in Russia can indulge their passion at a new restaurant that includes their favourite frozen treat in every starter, main course and dessert on the menu.
The number of recalls in Canada, the US and the rest of the world point to the need for a robust system of traceability to protect the safety and quality of the food supply. In a new publication for its Centre for Food in Canada, The Conference Board of Canada recommends that all players in the food supply chain be able to trace where they got a product or ingredient, and where they sent or sold that product or a product containing that ingredient. In other words, each producer or processor in the food supply chain needs to be able to accurately trace its products or ingredients one step forward and one step backward in the supply chain, according to the publication, Forging Stronger Links: Traceability and the Canadian Food Supply Chain.
Barry Callebaut will demonstrate how it keeps growing its expertise in developing healthy yet delicious products and continues to respond to evolving modern day consumer needs. The company offers a ‘free-from’ range including dairy-free chocolate, as well as alternative sweetener solutions such as its Sweet by Fruits™ chocolate – a chocolate integrating a sweetening solution entirely derived from fruits. During the HIE Barry Callebaut’s alternative sweetener range can be discovered at the company’s booth.
Created by master chocolatier Andrew Farrugia, from Malta, this edible train model has set a new Guinness World Record the longest chocolate structure in the world. It measures a whopping 34 meters in length and features every detail of a classic steam-powered choo-choo.
