It's highly likely that you're more than familiar with the term 'carbon footprint'. Now a group of water conservation organisations in the US are calling for people to address their 'water footprint'. [ H2O Conserve]<1> was developed as a result of the increased pressure that's being placed on Earth’s freshwater sources – a knock-on effect of climate shifts and rise in population levels. It aims to provide a one-stop-shop for Americans to gain advice and information about how to implement water conservation into their everyday lives. The first step, according to the site, is to recognise how much water you're using on a daily basis. Although it's common knowledge that taking a shorter shower in the morning or watering your lawn less at the weekend can assist with cutting back water use, less is known about how much water is spent on day to day activities and items. For example, it takes 24 gallons of water to produce a single pound of plastic, and more than 100 gallons to make a pound of cotton. The website’s 'H2O calculator' takes statistics such as this into consideration, enabling it to reveal how much water you're using up by answering a few questions about your lifestyle. According to its calculations, the average American citizen guzzles 1,189.3 gallons of water every day. "By allowing visitors to calculate their ‘water footprint’ – including the water they use at home, the water used to produce their food, energy and household products – we hope to encourage people to think about water in a whole new way," said Executive Director of Food & Water Watch, Wenonah Hauter. "This great educational tool incorporates actions people can take with broad informational resources on issues such as water pollution, our water infrastructure and bottled water." Food & Water Watch worked alongside the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, and environmental organisation GRACE to create the site. <1>: http://www.h2oconserve.org

Welch’s automatically springs to mind when anyone mentions grape juice. Not surprisingly, with over 400 products in its portfolio and exports to 35 countries across the globe. beverage innovation spoke with CEO Dave Lukiewski to discover how staying one step ahead of consumer needs has been the root of good ideas. New Jersey-based Welch’s has been producing juice for well over 100 years and now has 400 products in its portfolio. Ranging from refrigerated juices and cocktails, to frozen and shelf stable concentrates, sparkling juices cocktails and a variety of single-serve products, each designed to meet the needs of its myriad consumers. The company started in 1869 in the home of Dr Thomas Bramwell Welch in Vineland, New Jersey. Here, Dr Welch and his son Charles processed the first bottles of ‘unfermented wine’ for use with the communion service at their church. Today, Welch’s is the food processing and marketing arm of the National Grape Co-operative Assocation. Organised in 1945, it's an agricultural cooperative with 1,350 members. The association’s growers share a commitment to the highest standards reflected in the quality of the Concord and Niagara grapes used in Welch’s products. The fruits of their labour are sold throughout the US and in more than 35 countries. Claire Phoenix speaks to Welch's CEO Dave Lukiewski How has the drink sector changed over the years Welch’s has been in business? Change is happening more quickly. Fragmentation of customers is accelerating, the gap is widening between successful manufacturers and retailers versus others. This all necessitates a super-quick flow of information. Many years ago, we were the only grape juice around, and you’d find us in your one local grocery store. Now, consumers look for beverages in a wide variety of channels, and they expect to find an array of options to meet specific needs. *What are your volumes now in comparison to 50 years ago? * A good portion of our portfolio is in juices, but our consumer research shows that consumers agree we can expand into other fruit categories. Of course, we’re also known for Welch’s jams and jellies, but we have fast-growing platforms in areas such as dried fruit. Within juices, we’ve done a great job in following the consumer into the single-serve and refrigerated businesses. These areas didn’t even exist for us in the 90s, but today they’re reaching half our portfolio. In which sectors have you found greatest growth? In the US, the refrigerated business has been a large growth area, as consumers are looking for freshness and variety in that section. We’ve been able to consistently offer new flavours that appeal to the tropical flavour trend. We’ve also seen excellent growth in single-serve juices, as consumers are looking for convenient packaging that fits in with their busy lifestyles. We’ve greatly increased our presence in convenience stores, obviously with the 14oz bottle, and we’re continuing to offer new 10oz varieties of multipacks in grocery and club stores. How does Welch’s meet consumer concerns on obesity? For consumers concerned about calories, we have a line of Light juice products – with half the calories and sugar of regular Welch’s juices. A new flavour, Light Wild Berry, has just joined the existing flavours of Light Grape, White Grape and White Grape Peach. They're sweetened with Splenda for a natural taste. However, Light juices aren’t the only option. Consumers can still maintain a healthy weight and enjoy 100% Grape Juice, despite the fact that it contains natural sugars. Just 4oz counts as a serving of fruit and is less than 100 calories. In fact, an analysis of data from the <1> (NHANES 1999-2002) on people who drink grape juice showed no differences in weight, BMI, waist circumference or triceps skinfold measurements compared to non-drinkers. Welch’s has been in the media recently thanks to the antioxidant credentials of grapes. Can you outline some of the studies behind these reports and what can be claimed? Many of the benefits of drinking Grape Juice made from Concord grapes appear related, directly or indirectly, to its antioxidant effect. Welch’s 100% Grape Juice has a high concentration of polyphenols, natural plant compounds that function as antioxidants, which appear to promote and protect our good health. Three recent scientific studies point to the abundant antioxidant capacity of Welch’s 100% Grape Juice. Firstly, Grape Juice from Concord grapes ranked the highest in antioxidant capacity, with the broadest range of phenolic compounds, as well as the highest total concentration of phenolic compounds, among popular UK juices and juice drinks. Secondly, the USDA just published an updated database that provides the antioxidant capacity values of 277 foods, in terms of Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC), which can be found at <2>. Finally, Welch’s 100% Grape Juice made from Concord grapes was ranked the number one antioxidant beverage among all juices and beverages tested, and number two overall in an independent study measuring antioxidant capacity per serving. Unlike in the US, Welch’s doesn't have the advantage of almost 140 years of heritage in the UK. Therefore, we need to look to our strengths. Purple Grape Juice is naturally high in antioxidants and polyphenols, it has a unique taste and it’s only available in the UK through Welch’s. So it makes sense to concentrate on Purple Grape Juice as our flagship product. Advertising and PR have concentrated on the antioxidant properties of Purple Grape Juice, and it has gained popularity as a result. However, it’s only available in one variety in the refrigerated section. We need to extend distribution of Purple Grape Juice to more consumers. As a first step, we’ve blended Purple Grape Juice with popular high antioxidant berries to extend the flavour range to Strawberry and Raspberry, giving consumers alternatives that still have high antioxidant properties. The next steps are to extend Purple Grape into the smoothie market, again with naturally high antioxidant blends based on Purple Grape Juice and other popular fruits. We plan to make Purple Grape Juice available in new pack formats, including single-serve, which will let us distribute in smaller stores and food services. In 2005, Welch’s introduced 100% Grape Juice in single-serve bottles for immediate consumption. This was the first time consumers could buy Welch’s 100% Grape Juice in convenience stores, and the response was overwhelming: 100% Grape Juice became a top-selling flavour in both our 16oz glass and 15.2oz plastic bottles. This success reflected changing consumer dynamics, as on-the-go lifestyles merged with increased demand for healthy beverages. To build on this success, in 2006 we entered a partnership with Amcor. The goal was to create a proprietary bottle design that would deliver groundbreaking shelf impact for Welch’s 100% juices. The joint development team met this challenge by creating a 14oz PET bottle that could withstand hot fill manufacturing, without the need for heat panels on the sides of the bottle. This revolutionary new bottle was then wrapped with a full shrink label that significantly increased the shelf appeal of the package. This played an integral role in the line’s success, as coolers in convenience stores are highly cluttered, and only the most bold and eye-catching packaging stands out. The 14oz line began shipping in January 2007. The initial line consisted of 100% Grape Juice and 100% White Grape Juice, as well as four additional 100% juice blends. Customer and consumer response was extremely positive, and we will introduce four more flavours in February 2008, bringing the total line to ten flavours. Our busy consumers can find Welch’s 14oz at Wal-Mart, 7-11, Walgreen’s, CVS, Target and thousands of regional and independent convenience stores. What are the big issues for Welch’s right now? Calorie concerns about juices have hurt the entire category, which is declining for the first time in memory. I don’t believe, however, that this is a long term trend. Consumers are constantly searching for healthy alternatives, and the goodness of fruit juices, particularly 100% juice, offers just that. We're constantly receiving good health news about the many benefits of Concord grapes and other 'purple' fruits and vegetables. Our goal is to ensure these studies are indeed correct and then communicate these benefits to the consumer. Having a unique, great-tasting grape juice like Welch’s is also a big plus. At the same time, we need to keep up with the fast pace of change in our industry by constantly evolving, making smart changes and being flexible. Where do you see Welch’s in five years’ time? In the next three to five years, we’re going to move from being a good company to a great company. That means we’ll be growing in terms of global reach, sales volume, profit and in value of the enterprise. We’ll be viewed inside and outside the organisation as an example of an excellent and successful company. The grape growers who own Welch’s will be profitable and satisfied that we’re also growing the value of the business that they own.

Tetra Pak has called on EU policy makers and the packaging industry to take concerted action to contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions. "Packaging has a key role to play in supporting moves towards a low carbon economy, as do European policy-makers in creating the right framework for effective business and consumer action," said Tetra Pak Environment Director Erika Mink, speaking at a conference hosted at the European Commission. "We need internationally agreed rules and scientifically robust standards for determining the carbon footprint of a given package or product in order to create the right policy support for business action and consumer behaviour," said Mink. Meglena Kuneva, the European Commissioner for EU consumer policy, opened the conference on "A Low Carbon Future: Releasing the Potential for Business," which was co-sponsored by Tetra Pak and the British Retail Consortium. Highlighting the 25 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent saved by the packaging sector in the last decade, Mink, said: "We believe the packaging sector has the potential to make further contributions to CO2 reduction by a combination of company commitments, voluntary agreements, and partnering with key stakeholders." As part of WWF’s Climate Savers’ Programme, Tetra Pak has committed to reduce its CO2 emissions between 2005 and 2010 by 40,000 tons world-wide, or 10% in absolute terms. Tetra Pak is also a partner of the Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign supported by the Commission. A second priority for Tetra Pak is to use a maximum of renewable materials in its packages, a practice which further mitigates CO2 impact. Already an average 75 percent of Tetra Pak cartons are made from renewable wood fibres and the company seeks to increase this percentage by replacing non-renewable material with renewable material. "It is our aim to offer the packaging solutions with the lowest carbon footprint in our market segments," said Mink Recycling, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding landfill, is another key priority for Tetra Pak, which currently recycles 21 billion cartons each year. This is expected to increase by 1 billion each year." In Europe 30% of all beverage cartons are recycled into new paper products, saving some 300,000 tonnes CO2 equivalents from landfill every year. "With the positive response Tetra Pak is getting from retailers and other market stakeholders, our long-term commitments to reduce our carbon footprint now appear to be bearing fruit," said Mink. Beyond its own CO2 reductions, the packaging sector may also have a broader role to play. "Through the symbols and environmental information it can carry, packaging can help guide consumer and so spread sustainable consumption practices across the European market," she said. Company profile As a world leader in food processing and packaging solutions, Tetra Pak's motto ˜protects what's good"™ reflects the philosophy upon which we conduct our business in order to make food safe and available, everywhere. Operating in more than 165 markets with over 20,000 employees, Tetra Pak believes in responsible industry leadership, creating profitable growth in harmony with good corporate citizenship and a sustainable approach to business. We work closely with our suppliers and customers on preferred processing and packaging solutions to provide convenient, innovative and environmentally sound products to millions of people worldwide.

Exquisa Fruiss from Exquisa Italia is the first fruit and vegetable shot in Italy that provides 50% of a consumer’s recommended daily amount of fruit and vegetables. The company is an associate of German dairy producer Exquisa, best known for its fromage frais products. Various major Italian hypermarkets and some supermarket chains in Italy are selling the product.

Both football stars featured in the annual National Milk Mustache ‘Got Milk?’ ad that precedes the Super Bowl, becoming the 11th pair of football athletes to be featured together in the campaign. Their joint 'Body By Milk' ad ran for the first and only time on Friday 1 February in USA Today. With the New York Giants lifting the trophy following their 17-14 win over the Patriots, Strahan appeared in the celebrated campaign for a second time when his solo ad featured in USA Today on Monday 4 February . Welker and Strahan both join the ranks of legendary athletes, singers and actors who have sported the milk moustache as part of the 'Body By Milk' campaign, created to encourage teenagers to drink three glasses of low fat or fat free milk every day, be active and eat right to stay lean and healthy. The ad copy reads: "Who's thirstier? On Sunday, the competition's fierce. So, everyone's passing the milk. It's got nine essential nutrients bodies need. Anything less is incomplete."

Why Solar Cola? Founder Nelson Kruschandl explains: “We are a new company producing energy drinks using natural ingredients - kola nut (which has a history going back thousands of years) and raw cane sugar for instance. A percentage of our profits goes to fund vital research into alternative technologies such as solar powered land and sea transport and in keeping world leaders informed on vital environmental issues. “There are five flavours - the traditional energy drink Solar Cola in the iconic Earth can. A natural berry flavoured drink with orange, Solar citrus with vitamins and now Solar Spice with cinnamon. “We are looking for distributors in Australia, Canada, China, Europe, Japan, India, Nepal, Russia, South Africa, South America UK and the USA. Negotiations are in progress in the Middle East and North Africa. “According to researchandmarkets.com the UK drink market alone is worth £53.5 billion a year - representing 7% of total consumer spending. The new Earth bottle is to launch very soon. Our aim is to meet the needs of the mainstream market with a natural product and push the boat out, if you’ll excuse the pun, when it comes to performance. “We already have two Solar racing teams, one from the UK the other a Swiss French team. Check out <1> for news on the music scene too. “The Solar navigator is an electric boat which began as a catamaran but has now been rebuilt from the hull up. We have already crossed the Atlantic but still have a way to go in terms of demonstrating how solar power is kind to the world. In one sense we are all Solar Navigators and we need to leave this world as we found it.” <1>: http://solarnavigator.net

On Thursday 28 February 2008, Ty Nant will be supporting Sparks, the registered children’s medical research charity, as they present their ‘Girls Night In'. Sparks is giving you the chance to enjoy a giggle with the girls over glitzy cocktails in the stunning Inner Temple, London, to celebrate the launch of Adele Parks' book, Young Wives' Tales. With readings from Adele Parks and Jane Fallon, this extremely exclusive and intimate event is a first for Sparks and is strictly No Boys Allowed! Hosted by TV presenter and Sparks President Gabby Logan, the evening includes a cocktail reception sponsored by Ug’s & Kisses, delicious food, a literary quiz, silent auction, raffle and a glamorous goody bag to take home. Ty Nant is delighted to have donated its latest in-demand innovation for the must-have goody bags: Ty Nant Replenish – a cool, refreshing facial spray. The perfect VIP gift! For your chance to win tickets to this glamorous event simply log in to <<1>.">www.tynant.com]<1>. Alternatively, to purchase tickets for this fun and worthwhile event, contact Pippa Sparks at pippa@sparks.org.uk, or call 0207 340 0691, or visit <<2>.">www.sparks.org.uk]<2>. <1>: http://www.tynant.com <2>: http://www.sparks.org.uk

Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages (CSAB) has sought to achieve the holy grail for kids’ drinks - the creamy rich frothiness of an ice cream float in a bottle. A&W and Sunkist Floats launched this January in the US in 11.5oz, vintage, soda shop inspired, glass bottles with twist off tops. “For years, beverage makers have tried to crack the code and develop an indulgent drink that tastes like a homemade float,” said, CSAB Vice President of Marketing Andrew Springate. “The A&W and Sunkist Floats are indulgent treats like nothing consumers have experienced before; one pour and your taste buds will be amazed - no work, no hassle.”

Syzmo from the Organic Beverage Company, a subsidiary of Integrated BioPharma Inc, has been recognised as the first USDA organic energy drink. To celebrate, the company has launched two new variants - Original and prickly pear with lemon lime flavour in the Rexam Sleek can. The original Passion flavour already sells well through Whole Foods Market. The new products include premium blue agave nectar, organic caffeine, RDA vitamins, but doesn't have any high fructose corn syrup.

Meeting consumer demand for products which make them look younger, Nestlé launched a yogurt range in 2006 under the Day & Night name, with collagen for added beauty benefits. Nestlé has now released a a collagen enriched low fat drink under the same name in Hong Kong. The pack comprises 22.5cl bottles of night ‘vitalising’ mixed berry flavour and a day drink in a ‘brightening’ grapefruit flavour. The formulation contains less than 0.3% fat and is said to maintain skin elasticity and moisture thanks to its collagen ingredients. It is positioned almost as a beauty care product in food with a daily and nightly regime - rather than a beverage product with beauty benefits.

Havoc Distribution recently added a sugar free variant to its Havoc energy drink brand. Formulated in Amsterdam, Havoc was launched in the US at the end of the 1990s with the slogan ‘Disrupt the Ordinary.’ Havoc contains taurine, caffeine, vitamins B2, B6 and B12 and pantothenic acid. Havoc President CK Williams commented on the brand extension: “Customers have been asking us to give them a sugar free version of Havoc for months because they like the flavour so well. We expect sales to nearly double over the next couple of months and expect to grow market shares through aggressive marketing and distribution. We are committed to growing into a top tier energy drink manufacturer in 2008.”

**Britvic Soft Drinks has introduced apple blueberry as a new exotic flavour for its J20 range replacing orange cranberry. **According to Britvic Sales Director Andrew Richards: “Premium soft drinks have grown significantly over the last few years, driven by consumers’ increasing desire for high quality, great tasting choices. 53% of people will pay more for a quality drink and enjoyment as a driver of purchase has increased 7% since 2005." Worth more than £183 million to the on-premise market J2O is the number one packaged soft drink. In take home J2O is worth £46 million and across both channels the range sells more than 14 bottles every second.