Fairtrade product sales rose 12% worldwide in 2011 due to ethical sourcing commitments from the food and drink industry and increased consumer awareness.
Big interview: Rod Sowders, CEO and president, Synergy Flavors
Synergy Flavors aims to move all of its product development, marketing, commercial and admin functions to a new flavor innovation and manufacturing campus less than a mile from its current facility in Wauconda, Illinois, by the end of August.
Sales of natural flavours in Western Europe are set to be overtaken by sales in the Asia-Pacific market within the next three years, according to market research firm RTS.
Kraft Foods is inviting potential partners to pitch “ingredients, formulations or technologies" that could help it create an environmentally-friendly chewing gum base that will degrade after disposal.
Big Interview: Ilene Gordon, chairman, president and CEO, Ingredion
With R&D departments at some food manufacturers pared down to the bone as bosses slash overheads to control costs, open innovation has moved from a hot topic on the conference circuit to a practical necessity, says Ingredion CEO Ilene Gordon.
A completely new source of the coveted long chain omega-3s EPA and DHA should be commercialized by the end of the decade thanks to a multi-million-dollar tie up between ingredient giants BASF and Cargill to produce the next generation of canola oils.
Interview: Samy Jandali, VP Nutrition & Health, North America, BASF
Chat to any major ingredients supplier at a trade show and you can expect to hear liberal use of buzzwords from ‘partnership’ and ‘collaboration’ to ‘open innovation’ says Samy Jandali.
Day two of the IFT annual meeting and expo in Las Vegas, and the FoodNavigator-USA team was still standing (just about), roaming the aisles in search of innovation, inspiration (and free snacks)...
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting is increasing rapidly in the United States, and as more companies get on board, the most important food industry-specific issues are becoming better defined, according to a Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)...
Hershey plans to increase the amount of cocoa it sources from Mexico by initiating a $2.8m crop growing programme in partnership with Ecom Cocoa that it says will boost yields in Southern Mexico.
Fair Trade imports into the US grew 75% in 2011, as food manufacturers look to secure their supply chains through more direct contact with suppliers - and as they bet on growing demand from 'conscious consumers', says Fair Trade USA president...
More than 25,000 firms from small farms to PepsiCo and Kraft are now using an online platform for managing ethical supply chain data called Sedex (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange).
Do consumers care whether the ingredients in their favorite foods are produced sustainably, and whether the people that produce them are treated fairly?
Food companies’ demand for sustainably sourced ingredients is increasing rapidly – but supply of certified ingredients is not keeping up, according to ISEAL, the global association for sustainability standards.
