People & Skills

FoodStart aims to help attract a new generation into food and drink manufacturing by helping them find work experience placements

IFST tackles skills gap with FoodStart project

By Michael Stones

The Institute of Food Science & Technology (IFST) is planning a new online project called FoodStart to help plug the yawning skills gap in food and drink manufacturing. 

31% of sandwiches bought in the UK are chicken

The UK’s favourite sandwich is chicken

By Nicholas Robinson

Sandwiches with a chicken filling are the most popular variety bought by consumers, new data from the British Sandwich Association (BSA) has shown.

By 2030 8% of adults in Europe will have diabetes, experts predict

Sweet answer to the obesity crisis

By Nicholas Robinson

Stigma surrounding low calorie sweeteners (LCSs) must be stamped out if the obesity and diabetes epidemic in Europe is to be tackled, leading nutritionists have said.

Katharina Vogt: 'We are working to replicate food industry standards'

Cheshire college helping fill skills gap

By Nicholas Robinson

Katharina Vogt is making big steps in her mission to turn Reaseheath College’s Food Centre (RFC) into an educational institution with the highest quality food and drink standards known to the industry.

Jackson said investment is important to keep the business fresh and efficient

Meadow Foods invests £3.1M to boost efficiency

By Nicholas Robinson

Meadow Foods has been investing to raise its efficiency. It’s important to invest in a business to keep things fresh and efficient and we’ve had a lot of that here at our Peterborough site, where we produce cream and cream products for food manufacturers.

School Pilot - part of Feeding Britain's Future campaign - aims to arm unemployed youth with the skills to succeed in job interviews

Food manufacturers and retailers tackle unemployment

By Michael Stones

Premier Foods and other food and drink manufacturers are teaming up with retailers to tackle Britain’s youth unemployment, as part of the grocery think-tank IGD’s Feeding Britain’s Future campaign.

Clare Cheney gives traffic light labels the red light

Traffic light labels: 'not the answer to obesity'

By Clare Cheney

Now that common sense has been confirmed by a consumer survey that traffic light labelling is confusing and misleading, maybe the Department of Health (DH) should sit up, take stock and review its strategy on healthy eating

Knowles is looking forward to leading the business in a new direction

New boss for Scottish brewer

By Laurence Gibbons

Scottish firm Harviestoun Brewery has appointed Toby Knowles as its new md, following Chris Miller’s decision to quit the business.

Confusion about how many calories people should consume is adding to rising obesity levels in Britain, AB Sugar claimed

Confusion surrounds calories intake

By Laurence Gibbons

Confusion about how many calories people should consume is contributing to the obesity epidemic gripping the country, AB Sugar has claimed.

Weighty problem: about a quarter of the UK's adult population is now obese. Don't miss our free, one-hour webinar on obesity at 11am on Thursday July 3

Taxes needed to curb obesity too high

By Rick Pendrous

Taxes on food and drink containing high levels of saturated fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) would need to be so high to have any significant effect on reducing obesity levels in the UK population that they would not be acceptable to consumers, leading academics...

Women are more likely to buy food targeted at their gender than men

Women drawn to personalised food products

By Laurence Gibbons

Women are more than four times as likely to purchase food and drink products with personalised or gender-specific packaging as men, according to a study of over 500 marketing and packaging professionals.

Consumers will not choose a food product if they have to think about whether to buy it or not

Food firms must cater for consumers on autopilot

By Laurence Gibbons

Food and drink manufacturers need to make their products appear to be an effortless choice for consumers operating on autopilot and stop over rationalising their habits, advises leading behavioural scientist Dr Nick Southgate.

Cause for celebration: Alex Ferguson's extensive wine collection is expected to raise £3M at auction

Football boss Ferguson to score £3M for wine collection

By Laurence Gibbons

A collection of over 5,000 bottles of wine owned by former Manchester United football manager Sir Alex Ferguson is expected to fetch £3M when sold in Hong Kong, London and online by auction house Christie’s.

David Jones (left) and Jonny Bingham have previously worked for high profile manufacturers (Photo©Sacha Ferrier)

Bakkavor and Greencore rivals join forces

By Rod Addy

Former food industry rivals Jonny Bingham and David Jones have joined forces to form Bingham & Jones, a firm advising major manufacturers and retailers on product development.

Kendall is the new chair of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board

Peter Kendall to chair AHDB

By Laurence Gibbons

Former National Farmers Union (NFU) president Peter Kendall has been appointed as the new chair of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (ADHB) for a three-year term.

McIlwee: 'proud of what we have achieved'

It’s official: finance chief to leave Tesco

By Rod Addy

Tesco has confirmed rumours that finance chief Laurie McIlwee will leave the business, announcing the news days before it is set to announce 2013–2014 results.

Eaton will chair New England Seafood International

Eaton to chair New England Seafood International

By Laurence Gibbons

New England Seafood International (NESI) has appointed former Uniq and Premier Foods boss Geoff Eaton as its new group chairman, in line with its international growth strategy.

Paterson: 'delighted' to see Mondelēz 'bringing in lots of bright young local people'

Overseas and national food firms invest in UK jobs

By Rod Addy

UK-based food and drink firms are investing in jobs as much as internationally-owned outfits, according to Owen Paterson, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) secretary of state.

Food and drink industry issues tackled at Foodex – video highlights

Foodex 2014

Foodex 2014 – video highlights

By Laurence Gibbons

The consequences of the horsemeat crisis, filling the yawning skills gap, lean and green manufacturing and social media were just some of the topics tackled by the Food Manufacture Group at Foodex 2014, at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham...

Michael Rudge said food and drink manufacturers should reach out to youngsters more effectively

Foodex 2014

Foodex skills debate highlights the challenge

By Michael Stones

A more co-ordinated approach to attracting youngsters into food and drink manufacturing, and greater efforts by firms to promote the benefits of working in the sector were two of the key themes to emerge from the Big Video Debate on ‘Plugging the skills...

More co-ordinated initiatives are needed to attract new talent to the food and drink industry, according to our Big Video Debate

Foodex 2014

Skills gap in food and drink frustrated by fragmentary solutions

By Rick Pendrous

Initiatives designed to cut the skills gap that is emerging in Britain’s food and drink manufacturing sector are too “fragmented” and need to be better co-ordinated if the problems of attracting new talent to the sector are to be addressed.

Rick Pendrous, editor, Food Manufacture

Get ready for a ‘scary ride’ to retailer shelves

By Rick Pendrous

Morrisons’ appalling results and the associated announcement last month by the retailer’s boss Dalton Philips that he planned to sell off a large slice of its estate to raise funds towards the £1bn earmarked for price cuts sent shivers throughout the...

Taplin predicts more logistic partnerships will be formed by retailers

Distribution partnerships a growing trend

By Laurence Gibbons

Distribution partnerships where retailers and food manufacturers share truck space with competitors will become a growing trend, predicts Roly Taplin, vice president of agrifood at DHL Supply Chain.

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