Category Archives: Food & drink industry

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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UK bans German meat and dairy products after foot-and-mouth case

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Import of pork, lamb and beef as well as live cattle, sheep and pigs suspended amid outbreak near Berlin

Britain has banned imports of German pork, lamb, beef and dairy products to prevent foot-and-mouth disease spreading to the UK after a case of the disease was confirmed last Friday on the outskirts of Berlin.

As well as prohibiting imports of ham, bacon, salami and cheese, the measure bans the import of live cattle, sheep and pigs, along with other animals which are susceptible to foot-and-mouth. No health certificates will be issued by Britain for fresh meat from Germany.

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Tesco enjoys ‘biggest ever Christmas’ as shoppers switch from rivals

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Supermarket now controls 28.5% of grocery market, with sales at UK stores up 4% in six weeks to 4 January

Tesco has recorded its “biggest ever Christmas”, with the UK’s largest supermarket chain landing its biggest share of the festive shopping trolley since 2016.

Sales at established UK stores rose 4% in the six weeks to 4 January, with fresh food performing particularly strongly and clothing and homeware sales also up.

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Gaza Cola launched by Palestinian activist to rebuild destroyed hospital

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Sales of fizzy drink from London hoped to raise money and send a message to big firms ‘investing in armed trade’

Gaza’s healthcare is on the brink of “total collapse”, according to the UN, because of the targeting of hospitals by Israel. While it is still impossible to say how much time and money it will take to rebuild, one Palestinian activist has plans to piece one small part of it back with the help of a soft drink.

Osama Qashoo, the creator of Gaza Cola, hopes to use profits from his Coca-Cola alternative, recently launched in London, to rebuild al Karama hospital, which used to stand in northern Gaza. “It’s been reduced to rubble for no just reason, like all of these hospitals in Gaza,” according to the 43-year-old film-maker, human rights advocate and, now, fizzy-drink maker.

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Ripe for the picking? Irish wine on the up – but ‘nobody will retire rich’

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Global heating has made conditions more favourable for growing grapes – and finding the right variety is key

Heard the one about Irish wine? Like its English counterpart, it is no longer a joke, with more than a dozen vineyards now producing bottles to emulate those of the terroirs of France, Spain and Italy.

At about €60 (£50) a bottle and produced in small quantities, it is far from a commercial activity, but efforts over the last 10 years have produced what one retailer described as an “arguably very fine” rosé.

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Sake: Japan’s ‘divine gift’ given special status by Unesco

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Rice wine enshrined as part of ‘cultural heritage of humanity’

Sake is perhaps more Japanese than the world-famous sushi. It’s brewed in centuries-old mountaintop warehouses, savoured in the country’s pub-like izakayas, poured during weddings and served slightly chilled for special toasts.

Now, the smooth rice wine that plays a crucial role in Japan’s culinary traditions - and is a favoured tipple of celebrities such as Cate Blanchett – has been enshrined by Unesco, which has put it on its list of the “intangible cultural heritage of humanity”.

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Typhoo Tea bought out of administration for £10m

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Vapes and batteries maker Supreme acquires collapsed 121-year-old tea company

The historic tea brand Typhoo has been bought out of administration by the vapes and batteries maker Supreme in a £10m rescue deal.

The company filed to appoint administrators last Wednesday, risking the future of the 121-year-old brand.

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Beekeepers halt honey awards over ‘huge fraud’ in global supply chain

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Warnings that genuine products are bulked out with cheaper sugar syrup prompt international congress to withdraw prizes

The World Beekeeping Awards will not award a prize for honey next year after warnings of widespread fraud in the global supply chain.

Apimondia, the International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations, says it will showcase honey from around the world at its congress in Denmark, but for the first time make no awards for the product.

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UK hospitality group Loungers to be bought by US firm for £338m

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London-listed company strikes deal with Fortress Investment Group, although shareholder approval needed

The cafe bar business Loungers has agreed to be bought by a US investment group in a deal that values it at about £338m.

Fortress Investment Group said it had made an offer for the UK hospitality group through a newly formed investment vehicle.

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Spain’s floods force some UK sellers to buy oranges from southern hemisphere

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British suppliers source from South Africa and South America as Spanish farmers struggle to harvest and ship

Some British retailers and wholesalers have been forced to switch to sourcing oranges from South Africa and South America early after last month’s catastrophic floods in eastern Spain left farmers struggling to harvest and ship their crops.

Companies in the UK have moved to buying fruit from the southern hemisphere several weeks earlier than in a typical year to prevent gaps emerging on supermarket shelves and amid fears over the quality of Spanish produce.

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Tesco’s £25 champagne beats Moët & Chandon in festive taste test

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Supermarket fizz bursts the prestigious French label’s bubble in blind tastings by consumer group Which?

Champagne at prosecco prices? Every little helps. Tesco’s Finest champagne has triumphed over the prestigious French label Moët & Chandon in a festive quaff test.

The Tesco Finest premier cru brut champagne received the top score of 82% in a blind taste test conducted by the consumer group Which?. The £25-a-bottle bubbly was hailed by judges for its “nutty aroma and fresh, fruity flavours”. The supermarket fizz beat Moët & Chandon, which scored 77% and at £44 is almost twice as expensive.

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Markets and farm shops among targets of organised crime gangs, say experts

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Smoked salmon, artisan cheese and fine wine among food and drink lost by European outlets

Small food producers are increasingly being targeted by organised crime gangs and rogue industry insiders looking to exploit national and global supply chain challenges , according to food crime experts.

The warning comes after several food businesses in the UK and continental Europe revealed how they had lost hundreds of thousands of pounds in scams where thieves apparently posed as legitimate buyers.

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‘Africa in a glass’: Abidjan cocktail week mixes local flavours for global palates

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Ivory Coast drinks festival aims to champion and change perceptions of alcohol made in the region

At an event in Abidjan in late October, Alexandre Quest Bede noticed someone staring at him. Then the stranger walked up to him with a T-shirt and asked for an autograph.

“He pointed at me excitedly and said: ‘You’re Monsieur Gnamakou, I know you from Instagram!’” recalls Bede at the poolside bar of Bissa, a boutique hotel in the upmarket Deux Plateaux neighbourhood on the eve of Abidjan cocktail week.

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Tax unhealthy foods to tackle obesity, say campaigners

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Health and children’s groups urge UK ministers to impose levies on products containing too much salt or sugar

Dozens of health and children’s groups have urged ministers to tackle obesity by imposing taxes on foods containing too much salt or sugar.

New levies based on the sugar tax on soft drinks would make it easier for consumers to eat more healthily by forcing food manufacturers to reformulate their products, they claim.

74% think food firms are not honest about the health impact of their products.

61% worry about the amount of sugar and saturated fat in what they eat.

Only 13% believe producers will make their food more nutritious without government intervention.

72% worry about high levels of processing used in food production.

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Greggs scoffs at reports of snub by its Christmas ad star Nigella Lawson

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TV chef, who has signed up for bakery chain’s first ever festive advert, says she is a fan of its sausage rolls

Nigella Lawson has issued an impassioned paean to the Greggs sausage roll, amid reports of a banger-based dust-up that threatened to cast a shadow over her appearance in the bakery chain’s first ever Christmas advert.

Greggs confirmed on Sunday that the celebrity chef and cookbook author had agreed to star in its inaugural Christmas promotion, in which Lawson will purr over such delicacies as vegan festive bakes.

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Cheese firm hails ‘overwhelming’ response after £300,000 theft

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Owners of Neal’s Yard Dairy say they have heard from ‘a lot of incredible people’ since losing 950 wheels of cheddar

The owners of Neal’s Yard Dairy have said they have had an “overwhelming” response after it emerged that more than 22 tonnes of cheddar had been stolen from the London cheese specialist.

The company delivered 950 wheels of cheddar – reported to be worth as much as £300,000 – to an alleged fraudster posing as a wholesale distributor for a major French retailer. The cheese is believed to have been spirited away to Russia or the Middle East, according to suppliers to the company who were caught up in the scam on 21 October.

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