Zumos Pascual and Refresco Iberia have signed a letter of intent to closely cooperate in juice and fruit drinks manufacturing and packaging in the Spanish market. It concerns the Zumos Pascual production plant in Palma del Río, Córdoba. For both parties, this intended agreement brings advantages and new opportunities. Refresco is European market leader in private label fruit juices and soft drinks manufacturing and the sought collaboration would fit within its 'buy and build' strategy, enabling the company to build on and reinforce its market position in Spain. The cooperation gives Zumos Pascual an opportunity to optimise capacity. Refresco would add additional packaging activities to the location providing employment stability in the local community and reinforce its market position in Spain. Refresco will take on the majority of manufacturing activities, allowing Zumos Pascual to focus on the production of Not From Concentrateh fruit juice and the marketing of its own brand. "Both Refresco and Grupo Leche Pascual share a clear focus on distinguishing quality, in terms of products, people and performance. I’m sure that an alliance between the two companies would have a positive impact on our employees, suppliers, and customers. "Moreover, it will allow us to move forward in the creation and consolidation of the industrial sector in the region, guaranteeing employment stability,” said Teo Barredo, Managing Director of Zumos Pascual in Palma del Río. "I'm confident that an agreement will be highly beneficial for both parties. Our companies are complementary: whereas Zumos Pascual has a strong brand focus, Refresco is not concerned with brand management at all and focuses solely on the quality of manufacturing and packaging. "This gives Zumos Pascual the comfort they can count on a reliable industrial partner. The co-operation with Zumos Pascual is needed to offer capacity to the existing growth of Refresco Iberia and it will enable us to offer an extended product-portfolio under the same quality standards that have always characterized our company," said Dominique Luna, Managing Director of Refresco Iberia. * Terms of the intended agreement* Zumos Pascual’s plant in Palma del Río has a production capacity of over 100 million liters of fresh pressed orange juice (NFC). The factory employs over 100 people. If the agreement between both companies is finally reached, Refresco will lease part of this factory – excluding the fresh fruit juices pressing area and activities – and will close a co-manufacturing contract to produce and pack Zumos Pascual juices and fruit drinks at the location at Palma del Río. Also, Refresco will add additional manufacturing activities to the plant to supply other customers in the region. Finally the companies will agree that Refresco buys the yearly surplus of NFC produced by Zumos Pascual in Palma del Río. Both parties expect the proposed agreement to be settled in the coming months.

Targeting the event and stadium beverage dispensing market, where the challenge is to maximise yield in a short timeframe, Scotsman’s truly innovative Trufill concept can serve 10 pints of beer in 10 seconds with less manpower than traditional methods, and no spillage. The system incredibly fills cups from the bottom. Yes, I'm not joking. You have to see it to believe it! The soft drinks beverage dispenser adds ice from the top, but fills from the bottom. Pure theatre. Pure innovation. "The challenge at events and in stadiums has always been to pour faster to sell more," said Scotsman Beverage Systems’ Simon Miller. "This has always been expensive in terms of labour and refrigeration. This self-filling process enables a single operator to deliver 10 drinks in 10 seconds. We estimate labour saving of between 75-80%.” True innovation# FoodBev Media's Bill Bruce said: “While the beer dispenser may be destined for high-consumption events and stadium outlets, and is jaw-droppingly attention grabbing while at the same time practical, the ‘magic’ of the soft drinks unit could transform a brand or deliver a truly unique theatrical aspect to energy drinks in the on-trade. “Self serve, self fill – this takes the old-fashioned world of dispense into the vending arena with a mix of Star Trek meets Harry Potter. I tour most of the major trade shows and it's rare to see true innovation. Bottoms up, Scotsman! You’ve made my Brau. We can’t wait to follow this story as it unfolds."

We do know that you can create hype in a millisecond, such as the latest amusing advertisement, or pass on scandal as quick as a success story via YouTube. So be careful what you say. Peter Kruse of Nextpractice GmbH, speaking at the recent CIES Supply Chain Conference, filled us in on such data and asked the question: Is the internet making us stupid? Apparently, yes in the short term, but not in the long run because the discourse of this large group has the potential to problem solve. “People and computers result in collective intelligence,” said Kruse. “When we're no longer able to take the pain of too big a complexity, that’s where intuition comes in, both individual and collective.” Networking is key. We've all invested in the internet and there are 18 million of us involved in semantic solutions. We're discoursing on a bigger scale than ever before and so can solve our global resource problems together. We choose to belong to internet communities that share a common target and the same value systems. No doubt that’s why we've already received a number of entries for our 2009 Beverage Innovation Awards being presented at Drinktec in 2009. The credit crunch may have hit the global markets, but the stock of innovation is thankfully riding high, and in today’s marketplace, group approval and awards logos have a substantial effect on consumer purchase. As Pierre Mille of Unilever said at the same conference: “Fascination is not product bound, but communication bound. Because they are fascinated by a possibility, entrepreneurs will take that personal risk.” And communication is the key, whether it's ingredients or packaging benefits, a strategy for success or a totally new concept in beverages. Beverage Innovation In issue 61 of Beverage Innovation, we show more product innovation than ever before, news on how global entities are dealing with the current economic crisis, who's riding high and who's buckling under the strain. “Creativity and innovation is key to success,” as Immanuel Hermreck of Bertelsmann said. “Creativity in management is inspiring people and valuing creativity in others. In business, you need more dialogue than an entertainer. Choosing the right people is your best investment of time. Pay for skills, pay for performance – creative talent in the right place is an engine driver." And to finish, according to Der Spiegel: “There are now 100 million downloads a day taking place with all the push-pull resonance that creates.” Few of us have the time or inclination to surf the net 24 hours a day. That’s why we bring you the best news on your sector. Easy to read, easy to refer to and visually stimulating. Read by more decision makers than any other magazine in this sector: digestible intelligence in an instant, backed by daily updates for those 24-hour surfers on FoodBev.com, of course.

**Coca-Cola Great Britain has acquired Waters & Robson, the owner of the Abbey Well water brand, according to Marketing Week. It will join premium water brand Malvern in the Coke portfolio.** Abbey Well will be bottled and distributed by Coca-Cola Enterprises, which will take over its base in Morpeth, Northumberland on completion of the deal. It will also see its staff move to CCE. Sanjay Guha, President of Coca-Cola Great Britain, said: "We have been looking for the right bottled water opportunity to expand the range of drinks we offer consumers for some time, and in Abbey Well we have acquired a natural, sustainable and high-quality British sourced water." Cocal-Cola GB's last acquisition was the purchase of the Schweppes drinks brands in 1999, though its parent company – The Coca Cola Company – acquired vitamin water brand Glaceau in June last year for a record $4.1bn.

*Xymbiot Interactive Packaging, a division of ThinkAtomic, has introduced to the beverage packaging world a patent pending plastic bottle designed to fly up to 100 feet when empty. * Xymbiot is launching several versions of the flying bottle concept in addition to incubating several other amazing packaging concepts. Xymbiot is currently looking for a beverage partner to launch the first beverage in a flying bottle. Because of the bottle's high visibility, dual functionality and intrinsic value, projections for success in the market place with this new interactive packaging concept are promising, according to the company. "It will redefine the youth beverage market as we know it," said Ralph Yarro, CEO Xymbiot. The new bottles were on display at this year's InterBev show in Las Vegas.

The overall consumer purchase volume of dairy products in China plummeted by 54% during the worst week of the recent melamine in milk scandal when compared to the same week in 2007, according to recent findings by TNS Worldpanel, which specialises in global consumer purchasing information. However, despite the initial dramatic response to the news of the melamine contamination, when measured over a period of four weeks up to 3 October, dairy purchases were down only 18% compared to 2007. Consumers have actively been seeking safer milk and have shifted their purchases from standard to premium products; and from local to international brands, particularly when buying infant milk products. For international brands, this has led to market share gains, according to TNS Worldpanel, even though prices were increased by an average of 26% and 33% for infant milk. The largest impact was felt in smaller cities, as many of the local brands that previously had a strong presence had to withdraw their products from the shelves, giving way to international brands. Dumex, a widely distributed international infant milk brand with factories in China, saw its market share in lower tier cities increase from 9.8% to 20.1%. Another winner was the local manufacturer, Ausnutria (Aoyou), whose market share shot up from 2.6% in 2007 to 6.8% in the same four-week period in 2008, indicating consumer appreciation for Aoyou sourcing its raw materials from Australia, which it emphasises in its marketing.

**Energizer Brands entrepreneurs Alberto Ingber and Roberto Shahriar have launched all natural energy drink Attitude – a lightly carbonated malt beverage made with organic ingredients. **Attitude natural energy drink is being launched through UK nightclubs and bars and is to be distributed in Benelux, Japan and Russia during 2009. Aiming to tick every box, Energizer Brands opted for Rexam's lightweight Fusion alubottle as being climate-friendly. The company is also ethically linked with the Make A Wish Foundation in the US. Boasting 20 times more antioxidants than black or green tea, it has a base of Swiss spring water and contains lemongrass, guarana and ginger root as well as a hefty 1.5mg of yerba maté and 500mg of natural L-carnitine as Lonza's L-Carnipure. Sweetened with Wild's natural Fruit Up, it's said to provide a lasting energy lift, with the yerba maté known in Brazil as a slimming agent.

*Red Bull Cliptomaniacs is a TV series launched by Red Bull on Sky channel Nuts TV this month. The show will feature tricks and stunts from the company's portfolio of sports and athletics across the world. * Presented by Tim Warwood and Adam Gendle, the show will air at 9pm several days a week for the next three months and will reach 1.2 million viewers in the UK. Red Bull Cliptomaniacs, co-produced by UMTV, is a selection of the best of Red Bull’s vast moving image archive, clips including the Red Bull Air Race, Motorsports, Adventure Sports, Red Bull X Fighters, street-style football and many more. A TV show like this is the first of its kind, as the programme content comes entirely from the brand (as opposed to Red Bull being a sponsor). Tom Smith, Red Bull Trade Communications Manager, said: “The increased consumer awareness of the brand means increased awareness in energy drinks, which means additional profit opportunities for retailers across the UK. Sports & Energy is already the best performing category within soft drinks at +15%, so we recommend retailers stock up on the top-selling lines, ensuring Red Bull is readily available in chillers to capitalise on impulse purchases.”

IBWA, the International Bottled Water Association, recently released a statement on the current bisphenol A (BPA) situation. Recent media stories and a statement issued by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) have raised questions about the safety of polycarbonate plastic bottles due to the presence of a substance known as bisphenol A. Polycarbonate plastic is used in a wide variety of consumer products, including food and drink containers. Many three- and five-gallon bottled water containers are made of polycarbonate plastic and consumers can remain confident about the safety of these products. Bottled water is comprehensively regulated as a food product by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Plastic food and beverage containers, including polycarbonate plastic made with BPA, must meet or exceed all FDA requirements. FDA clears all food-contact plastics for their intended use based on migration and safety data. The clearance process includes stringent requirements for estimating the levels at which such materials may transfer to the diet. FDA's safety criteria require extensive toxicity testing for any substance that may be ingested at more than negligible levels. This means FDA has affirmatively determined that, when cleared, plastics are used as intended in food-contact applications, the nature and amount of substances that may migrate, if any, are safe. Polycarbonate plastic has been the material of choice for food and beverage product containers for nearly 50 years because it's lightweight, highly shatter-resistant and transparent. During that time, many studies have been conducted to assess the potential for trace levels of BPA to migrate from polycarbonate bottles into foods or beverages. The conclusions from those studies and comprehensive safety evaluations by government bodies worldwide are that polycarbonate bottles are safe for consumer use. The 14 April 2008 http://cerhr.niehs.nih.gov/chemicals/bisphenol/BPADraftBriefVF\_04\_14\_08.pdf " href="http://cerhr.niehs.nih.gov/chemicals/bisphenol/BPADraftBriefVF\_04\_14_08.pdf%20">NTP Draft Brief on BPA confirms that there are no serious or high-level concerns for adverse effects of BPA on human reproduction and development. Steven G Hentges, PhD, of the <1>, states that the “findings in NTP’s draft report provide reassurance that consumers can continue to use products made from bisphenol A. Importantly, this conclusion has been affirmed by scientific and government bodies worldwide.” The NTP Draft Brief confirms that human exposure to BPA is extremely low and noted no direct evidence in humans that exposure to BPA adversely affects reproduction or development. The limited evidence for effects in laboratory animals at low doses primarily highlights opportunities for additional research to better understand whether these findings are of any significance to human health. On 18 April 2008, the Canadian Minister of Health confirmed the safety of most consumer products made from polycarbonate plastic, including reusable water bottles. The Minister announced that Health Canada (similar to the FDA in the US) completed an extensive safety review of BPA and concluded that most products made from polycarbonate plastic are safe. However, Health Canada issued concerns about the potential risk of baby bottles made from polycarbonate plastic. As a result, they have proposed a ban on baby bottles made form this substance. IBWA welcomes the scientific rigor of Health Canada’s safety review, which confirms the safety of reusable polycarbonate water bottles. For more information on this issue, visit the American Chemistry Council’s website at <<2>">www.factsonplastic.com]<2> or <<3>">www.bisphenol-a.org]<3> <1>: http://www.americanchemistry.com/s_plastics/doc.asp?CID=1106&DID=7941 <2>: http://www.factsonplastic.com <3>: http://www.bisphenol-a.org

*Could Addressable TV advertising lure food and drink advertisers back to TV? Packet Vision's Barry Llewellyn thinks it could ... * *With so many advertising restrictions facing food and drink brands, it’s no surprise that the latest report commissioned by the Department of Health into the advertising spend of food and drink brands shows a sharp drop in TV advertising spend: a 46% decline from 2003 through 2007. * At the same time, spend on other media has increased as food and drink advertisers look for other opportunities to position their brands and impact sales. But while print, email and web marketing all lend themselves to a more tailored approach than TV could traditionally offer, the nature of TV advertising is changing in a way that will solve the problems of waste, relevancy and measurability. A new TV delivery technology called IPTV is behind the change. Available in the UK, IPTV is reaching critical mass across Europe, and it’s not just some concept dreamed up in a lab. Big brand advertisers, including at least one fast food brand, have already used targeted advertising (also known as ‘addressable advertising’) to reach specific consumer groups more effectively. IPTV’s addressable advertising capabilities mean that food and drink advertisers can, for the first time, segment TV viewing audiences in a highly granular way: by demographic groups, geographic locations down to street or town level or communities of interest for example. This also means that specific audiences can be excluded, such as children, which will help advertisers meet Ofcom’s regulations and maintain high reach and impact advertising. Relevance and measurability Since we're watching more TV than ever before, IPTV is good news for food and drink brands that really want to benefit from the reach and impact that TV advertising provides but with improved relevance and measurability. Delivered via domestic broadband connections, usually to standard TV sets (it can also be delivered to PCs), IPTV provides a two-way communications stream enabling advertisers to measure viewership of their commercial on an actual home by home basis. In the UK, there are several IPTV projects and networks. In other parts of Europe, particularly France, Spain and Sweden, IPTV is booming. Multimedia Research Group (MRG) estimates there will be more than 63 million IPTV subscribers by 2011, while Informa claims that there were already over 12 million by the end of 2007. With IPTV, each destination has its own IP address, which is totally anonymous and in no way reveals the private data of the individual, but it does enable the broadcaster to target the information it delivers. This applies not just to programme content, but to advertising too. For example, ads about alcohol could target households without children, and cereal brands could target households with adults over 45 with a high cholesterol cereal product. Some food brands – Weetabix and Cadbury, among others – are already taking part in the world’s first large-scale addressable TV advertising project. Their targeted ads will run over Inuk’s Freewire IPTV service that delivers TV, broadband and phone services (a triple-play offer) to students in university halls of residence all over the UK. The first stage of the project involves inserting student-targeted ads on Channel 4 when carried over Freewire. As the project rolls out, it will involve advertising to selected student audience groups based on gender, age, coursework, location or commercial behaviour. The engagement factor The opportunity IPTV affords broadcasters means that, for the first time, the cost to reach a specified TV audience could be reduced as new demand for television airtime is created. This means it could be feasible for a small farm with organic sheep and goat produce to target families living within their distribution network of Hampshire. Delivering targeted adverts in this way enables food and drink marketers to make ads that are more relevant. And while relevance may not be an end in itself, it's a major step towards increasing the engagement factor and reducing audience churn within a TV ad break. The flexibility of addressable advertising over IPTV doesn't stop there. It can be used to connect to further information, such as a website, or linked to response mechanisms such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Furthermore, since IP allows for return path data, it becomes possible to collect real-time information about which programmes or advertisements the individual TV or PC is tuned into at any one time, giving advertisers a rapid and accurate measuring tool. Television delivered over IP may be in its infancy in the UK, but big food and drink brands and ad agencies are already beginning to explore its potential. With IPTV set to become more mainstream, together with its benefits of more targeted, cost-effective and measurable advertising, food and drink marketers have a useful new tool that will encourage them to continue to prioritise TV advertising. Barry Llewellyn is VP Sales and Marketing of Packet Vision Ltd. He has 25 years' experience in TV, advertising airtime sales on a regional, national and pan-continental basis for ITV (UK) and MTV Europe (among others). Barry has also run international television channels with specific focus on marketing, press and PR, advertising sales, sponsorship and network development.

Selenium and chromium occur naturally in the environment. Chromium is an important factor in the metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins. Selenium, an antioxidant, is a micronutrient is necessary for cellular funtion, yet it's toxic in large amounts. Animals may be supplemented in feed with these two elements. While selenium is already authorised in the EU as inorganic (sodium selenate and sodium selenite) or organic (selenium-enriched yeast) forms, chromium is not yet authorised within the Community. In 2006, the EFSA adopted an opinion on the safety and efficacy of the product 'Sel-Plex 2000' as a feed additive. This opinion concluded that the selenium exposure for young children consuming products of animals supplemented with this additive would be slightly above the threshold identified. Therefore, gathering of additional recent consumption data will be of value when refining the exposure assessment. Regarding chromium, the EFSA is currently evaluating a dossier aiming to investigate the authorisation of chromium-methionine as a feed additive. Recent data on exposure to chromium in food and beverages would be needed for the assessment of chromium as a feed additive. The data should include the analytical method used and, if possible, information on the validation of the method. Additionally, if available, the number of samples analysed, and the number of replicated measures of the same sample for each value. Where possible the data for selenium should indicate if the origin of the selenium was inorganic or organic and any available data on selenium content in multivitamin and mineral food supplements should also be reported. For chromium, the data should distinguish between the two most important occurring oxidation forms of chromium: Cr (III) and Cr (VI), and its origin (ie inorganic/organic). Again, if possible, EFSA asks that the chromium content of multivitamin and mineral food supplement is also reported.

UK-based Bottlegreen Drinks has redesigned the packaging for its lightly sparkling pressé drinks as part of the company's ongoing rebranding strategy. The new-look sparkling pressés will be available in two sizes: a 275ml and 750ml bottle format, and will feature the new brand logo, along with stylised illustrations of ingredients created for bottlegreen by Ziggurat Brands. In addition to the redesign, bottlegreen will launch a new variant, which will be available only in the 275ml impulse size. "Our key marketing objective this year has been to raise our brand profile among consumers and to drive our products within new distribution channels," said Simon Speers, MD of Bottlegreen Drinks. "Although we're a significant player within the premium drinks aisle in the multiples, we're keen to further develop our presence within the on-trade and foodservice sector. "Pubs, bar chains and restaurants are increasingly looking to appeal to those consumers who demand a more sophisticated soft drink as a wine alternative. We're confident that the new 275ml bottle size will cater to these markets as they can be sold in individual servings and will be available in our stylish and iconic conical bottle shape, which will appeal to discerning consumers." The new sparkling pressés will be priced between £1.40 to £2.80 RRP (275ml).