Category Archives: Food & drink industry

‘Something a bit naughty’: British snackers fall for the posh crisp

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Top chefs and brands transform once-humble snack with growing number of imaginative flavourings

When it comes to crisps, British appetites have traditionally been sated by a packet of Frazzles or a bag of Skips. But, according to chefs, supermarket insiders and social media, 2025 is gearing up to be the summer of the posh crisp.

Jay Ledwich, a crisp buyer at Waitrose, said demand for premium and unusual flavoured crisps was “soaring”. This week, the shop became the exclusive British supermarket stockist of what it is tipping to be the next viral hit in crisps – a fried-egg flavour from the Spanish specialist Torres. It follows other savoury sensations from the brand, including black truffle, caviar, and sparkling wine flavours.

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UK supermarkets suspend supplies from Lincolnshire pig farm over cruelty claims

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Workers at farm owned by UK’s biggest pig meat producer Cranswick filmed killing piglets by banned ‘blunt force trauma’

• Warning: graphic content

Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons have suspended supplies from a Lincolnshire pig farm linked to abuse against pigs.

Secretly filmed footage has shown farm workers at Northmoor Farm appearing to grab piglets by their hind legs and smashing them on to the hard floor – a banned method of killing known as blunt force trauma or “piglet thumping”.

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Profits fall at Premier Inn owner Whitbread on drop in UK bookings

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Shares rise on promises to return £2bn to investors through buybacks and dividends, and more hotel openings

Profits at the Premier Inn owner Whitbread have fallen after it was hit by higher costs and a drop in UK bookings, but shares rose on the promise of a share buyback and more hotel openings.

Britain’s largest hotel group, which owns 852 hotels in the UK and 61 in Germany, reported a 14% fall in adjusted pre-tax profit to £483m for the year to 27 February. Revenues dipped by 1% to £2.9bn, as revenue per available room in the UK was down by 2%.

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Primark owner’s shares drop as sales fall amid Trump tariff fears

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Company says consumer confidence could deteriorate further as countries face risk of recession

Shares in the owner of Primark fell after the budget clothing chain posted a sharp drop in UK sales and lost market share, as the company warned that consumer confidence was likely to worsen further amid Donald Trump’s trade wars.

Associated British Foods (ABF), which also owns a sugar business and food brands such as Ryvita and Kingsmill, said several countries could slide into recession as a result of US trade policy.

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‘Morally repugnant’: Brazilian workers sue coffee supplier to Starbucks over ‘slavery-like conditions’

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Brazil has been the world’s leading coffee producer due to the forced labour of enslaved Africans and Afro-Brazilians

“John” was just days from turning 16 when he was allegedly recruited to work on a Brazilian coffee farm that supplies the global coffeehouse chain Starbucks.

Soon after his birthday, he embarked on a 16-hour bus journey to the farm in the state of Minas Gerais – only to discover that none of what he had been promised would be fulfilled.

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Gail’s to drop soya milk surcharge after campaign by Peta

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UK bakery chain says it will offer free soya with coffee or tea from 21 May but will still charge for oat milk

The bakery chain Gail’s is to drop its soya milk surcharge after a campaign by a leading animal rights charity argued the fee “unfairly discriminated” against customers.

Gail’s will offer free soya from 21 May, but will continue to charge between 40p and 60p if costumers want oat in their coffee or tea.

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Big brands send out barrage of junk food ads before obesity rules bite

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Advertising on snacks rises 26% compared with last year, months before restrictions on promoting unhealthy food come into force

Big food brands dramatically increased their spending on advertising last year, months before new junk food regulations aiming to curb Britain’s obesity crisis are due to come into force, the Observer can reveal.

Food companies spent an extra £420m in 2024, an increase of 26% year on year that coincided with a bumper 12 months for sales of snack foods. Shoppers bought an extra 45.4m packs of chocolate, cakes and crisps from the top-selling brands.

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Travellers arriving in Great Britain face import ban on EU meat and dairy

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Government introduces measure to prevent spread of foot-and-mouth disease after rise in cases across Europe

Tourists from Great Britain who travel to the continent to satisfy their epicurean desires for cured meats and fragrant cheeses will be frustrated in their attempts to bring home some of their favourite foods after a ban on meat and dairy imports from EU countries came into force this weekend.

From Saturday, holidaymakers will no longer be able to bring meat from cattle, sheep, goats or pigs, or dairy products, from EU countries into Great Britain for personal use, in a move aimed at preventing the spread of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) after a rise in cases across Europe.

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Revealed: nearly 2m hectares of koala habitat bulldozed since 2011 – despite political promises to protect species

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Guardian Australia is highlighting the plight of our endangered native species during an election campaign that is ignoring broken environment laws and rapidly declining ecosystems

Nearly 2m hectares of forests suitable for endangered koalas have been destroyed since the iconic species was declared a threatened species in 2011, according to analysis for Guardian Australia.

The scale of habitat destruction in Queensland and New South Wales – states in which the koala is formally recognised as being at risk of extinction – has continued despite political promises it would be protected.

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Cost of Easter rises as UK chocolate, lamb and hot cross bun prices soar

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Shoppers also face more ‘shrinkflation’ as manufacturers ‘try to offset rising production costs’

Exchanging Easter eggs and tucking into a roast dinner are among the highlights of the spring holiday but Britons face paying more for this year’s celebrations after a sharp rise in the price of essentials such as chocolate, lamb and hot cross buns.

A leg of lamb joint now costs on average £13.94 a kilo in supermarkets, which is 10%, or £1.31, more than last year, according to the price analysts Assosia. Over two years, the jump is nearly 27%, or approaching £3 more a kilo, based on the pre-promotion price across Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons.

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Controversial bill to protect Tasmanian salmon industry passes despite environmental concerns

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Critics say industry threatens the endangered Maugean skate and laws were rushed through with ’no proper process’

Controversial legislation to protect the Tasmanian salmon industry has passed parliament after the government guillotined debate to bring on a vote in the Senate on Wednesday night.

Government and Coalition senators voted in favour of the bill, which was designed to bring an end to a formal reconsideration by the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, into whether an expansion of fish farming in Macquarie harbour in 2012 was properly approved.

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West Papuan Indigenous people call for KitKat boycott over alleged ecocide

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Thousands of acres of rainforest is being cleared to produce palm oil, used in popular Nestlé and Mondelēz brands

West Papua’s Indigenous people have called for a boycott of KitKat, Smarties and Aero chocolate, Oreo biscuits and Ritz crackers, and the cosmetics brands Pantene and Herbal Essences, over alleged ecocide in their territory.

All are products that contain palm oil and are made, say the campaigners, by companies that source the ingredient directly from West Papua, which has been under Indonesian control since 1963 and where thousands of acres of rainforest are being cleared for agriculture.

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Just Eat Takeaway.com bought by South Africa’s Prosus in €4bn deal

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Food delivery group’s board approves takeover by investor in German rival Delivery Hero

The food delivery business Just Eat Takeaway.com has been snapped up by an investor in its German rival Delivery Hero for €4.1bn (£3.4bn), two months after it left the London Stock Exchange.

Just Eat’s board has unanimously approved the takeover by the South African-owned internet investor Prosus, in an all-cash deal six years after Prosusmade its first effort to buy the British part of the business.

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Trump cuts reach FDA workers focused on food safety and medical devices

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Positions cut also appeared to focus on agency’s centers for tobacco products, including oversight of e-cigarettes

The Trump administration’s effort to slash the size of the federal workforce reached the Food and Drug Administration this weekend, as recently hired employees who review the safety of food ingredients, medical devices and other products were fired.

Probationary employees across the FDA received notices on Saturday evening that their jobs were being eliminated, according to three FDA staffers who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

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Johnnie Walker owner Diageo says Trump tariffs could hit profits by $200m

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UK drinks company considering possible price rises as shares fall despite strong Guinness sales

Diageo, the company behind Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker whisky, has said US tariffs could damage a nascent recovery in its sales and result in a $200m (£161m) hit to profits, with its tequila portfolio and Canadian whisky most affected.

The UK drinks company returned to sales growth in the latest half year, as strong performances for Guinness and tequila offset weakness in other spirits – but Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports could stop this recovery in its tracks, analysts said.

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Protests by fruit pickers and farmers put spotlight on price of cheap food in UK

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In two actions, migrant workers claim exploitation while farmers demonstrate against inheritance tax plan

This is a tale of two countrysides. One was featured prominently on Saturday by broadcasters as farmers held demonstrations throughout the UK against inheritance tax plans they believe will cripple family farms.

A smaller protest staged a day earlier outside the Home Office received almost no attention. A small band of fruit and vegetable pickers, mainly from Latin America, were highlighting their battle against what they call the exploitation of migrant workers.

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Guinness boom prompts owner Diageo to consider sale or spin-off

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Stout, which has become fashionable with gen Z drinkers, likely to be valued at more than £8bn

The drinks company Diageo is considering cashing in on booming demand for pints of Guinness by selling or listing the famous beer brand on the stock market, according to reports.

Selling or spinning off Guinness are among the options being considered by the FTSE 100 company as part of a plan to revive its fortunes, according to Bloomberg which first reported the story.

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Hospitality firms ‘to incur £1bn costs from employer NICs on 774,000 more workers’

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Industry body says businesses and jobs at risk unless Rachel Reeves’s tax changes delayed or altered

The hospitality industry will incur an extra £1bn of costs for 774,000 of its workers who will be newly eligible for employer national insurance contributions from April, endangering jobs and businesses, a leading industry body has claimed.

UKHospitality, which represents thousands of restaurants, hotels, pubs, cafes and nightclubs, is calling on the government to delay or alter changes to the tax announced in Rachel Reeves’s October’s budget in order to protect jobs.

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Champagne makers say sales losing fizz amid global gloom and changing habits

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Shipments fell nearly 10% last year with French firms blaming economic and political anxiety, and cheaper drinks

Changing habits and the gloomy state of the world are taking the fizz out of French champagne sales, the producers’ association has said, with shipments down nearly 10% last year.

Consumers in crucial markets such as the US and home country France cut down on the luxury beverage, as economic and political anxiety dampened the party mood.

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Scotland’s largest haggis maker creating new recipe to meet US rules

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Macsween working to circumvent food regulations that have banned traditional recipe in US for more than 50 years

Scotland’s largest haggis maker is creating a “compliant” recipe of the nation’s most famous dish to circumvent strict American food regulations after more than 50 years in exile.

The decision by Macsween of Edinburgh comes after traditional haggis was banned by the US authorities in 1971, taking issue with the sheep’s-lung component of the recipe, which was then prohibited for use as human food by federal regulation.

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