In the 90th year since the end of the First World War, The UK Dairy Council has once again hosted the Ceremony of Christmas Cheeses at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea, London. Dairy Council Chairman Barry Nicholls said: “The Cheese Ceremony is a fantastic opportunity for the dairy industry to pay tribute to the bravery and heroism of our war veterans. It's a wonderful and festive event, heaped in tradition and pageantry, which The Dairy Council has been organising for nearly 50 years.” Every year, British cheesemakers from across the country kindly donate their cheese and present it to the pensioners. The tradition began in 1692 when the hospital asked a local cheesemonger to provide the pensioners with cheese as a Christmas treat. At the Ceremony, 95-year-old Bob Costley, who served in the Royal Artillery, cut the ceremonial cheese with a sword. “This is a very special Cheese Ceremony, as this year marks 90 years since the end of the First World War,” he said. “I'm thankful that The Dairy Council recognises our efforts with this annual ceremony and am honoured to cut the ceremonial cheese on behalf of my fellow veterans.” Dairy Council Director Dr Judith Bryans added: “The cheesemakers are always generous, and each year we receive a wonderful selection of British cheeses for the veterans. This year, they've outdone themselves by donating more than 250kg of cheese, which I am certain that the veterans will enjoy feasting on throughout the Christmas season and into the New Year."

The International Dairy Federation announced the winners of the 2008 IDF Marketing Awards at a Gala Dinner during the IDF World Dairy Summit in Mexico. The awards cover four categories: Nutri-Marketing, Innovation, Communication and Environment. And the winners were … India’s Mother Dairy won the Nutri-marketing category with its Nutri-fit campaign, while Dairy Farmers of Australia took the Innovation category with its Thick and Creamy Yogurt campaign. Arla Foods’ Lactofree campaign in the UK won the Marketing Communication section. “This is a fantastic opportunity for us to celebrate innovative work and talented people from within the dairy industry,” said IDF Director General, Christian Robert. “Everyone involved in these awards has been most pleased with the level of the entries, making the judging very difficult. We're looking forward to seeing this high standard continue next year with the same enthusiasm towards innovation and creative performance in dairying.”

**Plans are progressing well for the 2009 International Dairy Federation (IDF) World Dairy Summit, being held in Berlin, Germany in September 2009. **The new Summit website has gone online and the German National Committee of the IDF has announced a series of stimulating conferences covering a wide range of interests. World markets for agricultural commodities and market globalisation changes rapidly, with dramatic repercussions on supply and demand in the dairy industry. Focus of the Summit will therefore be placed on the presentation and development of forward-looking solutions related to nutrition, sustainability and environment, animal health/welfare and food safety, as well as to technological innovation in milk supply and dairy processing, taking the whole of the dairy food chain into account. A panel discussion between the world’s top dairy leaders will outline a vision and path for dairying in the 21st century. The Summit offers the perfect setting for networking. Professionals and experts in their respective fields will come together to explore new ways of collaboration with the objective of increasing the value of milk and milk products and dairy ingredients, and to advance knowledge in order to meet today’s and tomorrow’s consumer needs. The IDF World Dairy Summit 2009 will comprise a large exhibition for presenting and promoting dairy products, ingredients, equipment and latest technological solutions contributing to the sector’s development. IDF Director General Christian Robert invites everyone with an interest in dairying to attend the Summit and be part of the debate about promising challenges and opportunities that this dynamic sector is facing. “The annual World Dairy Summit is the optimal platform of the international dairy community for the presentation of the latest knowledge and insights, for exchanging experiences and decision making. It's unique in terms of boosting the development of scientific technical cooperation worldwide, as well as in linking academic research with industrial developments and applications.” IDF World Dairy Summit is being held in Berlin, Germany, 20-24 September 2009. For more information visit: www.wds2009.com.

Golden Circle Ltd shareholders have overwhelmingly approved the food and beverage company's AUS$288m acquisition by US giant HJ Heinz Company. At a shareholder meeting in Brisbane on Monday, 97.05% of shareholders voted in favour of the Heinz proposal, where the US company would offer AUS$1.65 cash for each Golden Circle share. The Golden Circle board, along with the company's largest shareholder Anchorage Capital Partners, which holds 35% of the group, had backed the Heinz offer. "The support for the Heinz proposal by our shareholders is an important step in this process, which will help to secure Golden Circles' future and provide benefits for shareholders, growers and our employees," said Golden Circle Chairman Phillip Cave. In a statement, Heinz MD Peter Widdows said the company looked forward to growing the business and making the Golden Circle name stronger. The takeover is subject to approval by the Supreme Court of Queensland, and will be implemented by 30 December 2008. * *

In 2006, Unilever Foods and Home & Personal Care President Vindi Banga led a review of the company's science and technology capabilities as part of the 'One Unilever' programme. The review showed that reorganisation of research and development sectors was necessary in order to improve market competitiveness. A further review of the business this year resulted in the appointment of Geneviève Berger as Unilever's Chief R&D Officer and the decision to create a single category function by combining the three global R&D operations. Now Unilever has announced six strategic research sites Vlaardingen (NL), Port Sunlight and Colworth (UK), Trumbull (USA), Bangalore (India) and Shanghai (China). For product design and deployment, which is part of the category organisation led by Vindi, Unilever has decided to consolidate Food activities in the Americas to Englewood Cliffs (USA), Valinhos (Brasil) and Mexico City (Mexico). Global Laundry R&D is consolidated in Vlaardingen (NL), Port Sunlight (UK) and Mumbai (India). Geneviève Berger explained: "The steps we've announced today will enable us to go further in focusing our resources on creating fewer, bigger innovations, and deploying them at scale in areas where we want to win. These changes to our organisational structure, together with an increased focus on our open innovation collaborations, will enable us to more efficiently deliver improved product performance to our consumers." As a result of the intended changes, Unilever expects that approximately 390 full-time positions will be impacted resulting in a net reduction of 250 full-time positions.

Decline in demand for Gatorade and Propel fitness water means that the city of Albany, Oregon, will no longer be the site of the long-planned PepsiCo factory. The construction of the plant was put on hold early in 2007 due to a comprehensive analysis of capacity needs, the results of which have led to PepsiCo's recent change of heart. SVC Manufacturing, a PepsiCo subsidiary, had a contract with Albany, Linn County and the state of Oregon to build the $165m factory on 244 acres. City officials said earlier that if the company backed out, it would owe the city tens of millions of dollars because the benefits of the project, including more than 200 jobs, would be lost. Reportedly, SVC would reimburse the city at least $2m for "out of pocket" costs related to water and sewer lines to the plant site. By giving the notice, the company avoided having to pay the city $700,000 in 2009 and again in 2010, which would have been due had the construction merely been postponed. City officials are in talks with PepsiCo to try to come to a financial agreement that takes into account the damages to the community because of the decision not to proceed with the plant construction.

Vital Fontaines, the leading water cooler distributor in Mauritius, has begun supplying customers with drinking water in 10-litre bottles from Capsnap Europe. The bottles are specially designed to serve private households with their low weight and easy handling. The bottle handle is mounted in the shoulder area of the bottle for the first time. There's no longer a need to tip over the bottle to carry it, thus making the product convenient to handle. The product was jointly developed by SipWell Belgium and Capsnap Europe as a convenient alternative for private households and small offices. The water cooler industry had long demanded smaller bottle volumes than the typical 18.9-litre offering. Capsnap and SipWell met this demand by introducing their 10-litre bottle to the market in 2007. Vital Fontaines, which currently supplies over 5,000 water coolers on the Island of Mauritius, is looking to heavily target private households in its plan for achieving further growth.

A new, sustainable glass carafe for tap water, to be used by London’s bars, hotels and restaurants, has been unveiled by the Mayor of London and Thames Water at a busy press launch at London’s City Hall on 1 December. The carafe, called ‘Tap Top’, from industrial designer Neil Barron, is the winning design in the London On Tap campaign competition, which challenged London-based designers to create an iconic and sustainable carafe to serve tap water across the capital. Mayor Johnson, who presented Neil with his £5,000 prize from Thames Water, said: "I've been hugely impressed by the magnitude of London-based design talent that this fantastic carafe competition has revealed." He told the assembled crowd that there was no water more sweet and delicious than London tap water and urged businesses across London to place orders and make tap water an easier choice. For more on this story, please see the Dec/Jan 09 issue of cooler innovation magazine.

*In the US, Celsius – the original calorie burning beverage – is now available in 438 outlets of the Midwestern retailer, Kum & Go. * Celsius has been scientifically formulated and clinically tested to burn up to 100 calories or more per serving will be available in all Kum & Go locations. Kum & Go will carry the popular green tea raspberry acai, green tea peach mango and sparkling wild berry and orange flavours. Celsius can be found in Kum & Go stores in New Year’s end cap displays for consumers eager to start their New Year’s resolution of consuming healthier beverages and foods. Celsius will support sales at Kum & Go with pump toppers, promotional pricing and advertising. According to Kevin Krause, Senior Vice President of Marketing: "We pride ourselves on providing quality products and superior customer service in each and every Kum & Go store. We believe that our customers are looking for great-tasting, functional beverages such as Celsius calorie burning beverage. The clinical studies that scientifically support Celsius confirm that this is a high performance drink our customers will embrace." Celsius Vice President of Strategic Accounts and Business Development Janice Haley said: "Kum & Go is a cornerstone of the Midwest community as is evident by their recent award for Retail Leader of the Year, by CSP magazine. We're honoured to be working with them to deliver Celsius to their customers, and have been impressed with their launch process and the education within their company ranks, which has resulted in great enthusiasm for Celsius. It's clear to us how Kum & Go continually retains their leadership position in convenience store ranking." Sustained calorie burn Celsius drinks are powered by a proprietary blend of ingredients including green tea with EGCG, ginger, caffeine, calcium, chromium, plus B vitamins and vitamin C. Scientifically shown to raise metabolism over a three-hour period, consuming Celsius results in a sustained calorie burn while keeping you energised. Kum & Go, awarded as Convenience Store, Petroleum’s 2008 RetailLeader of the Year, was started in 1959 in Hampton, Iowa and now hasmore than 430 stores in 12 states.

IPP Logipal has been awarded a new pallet contract with drinks packaging manufacturer Esterform Packaging. Based in Leeds, Esterform is an independent converter of PET in the UK and a manufacturer of 38mm neck bottles for the juice sector in Europe. The company, created in 1998, also designs and produces a range of bespoke plastic containers for the beverage, water and household chemical sectors as well as DIY products. With a five-year investment programme, Esterform aims to ensure that capacity continues to keep pace with growing customer requirements. As part of this investment, the packaging supplier has appointed IPP Logipal to provide a simple, yet reliable one-way pallet service to deliver products to manufacturers in the UK soft drinks industry. IPP Logipal makes weekly deliveries to Esterform’s production facility from its Widnes depot and, once utilised, pallets are collected and inspections carried out to KPI (key performance indicator) criteria, ensuring customers receive consistently high-quality pallets.

At the 39th 'Swiss Star' competition of the Swiss Packaging Institute (SVI), the jury awarded the "tpod in Pull Pack" with the Swiss Star 2008 in the sales-packaging category. The concept was presented by Sigpack Systems, a Bosch Packaging Technology company. The "tpod in Pull Pack" is based on the Bistrozucker (Stick Pack) packaging style which replaces the traditional tea bag with a modern lifestyle product for ease of use for the consumer. The Stick Pack, also referred to as tpod (tea portion of design), offers a user-friendly alternative to the traditional tea bag and can be used at the same time as a spoon for stirring. Other applications for this concept include coffee, sugar or pharmaceutical products. In partnership with Alcan Packaging, Bistozucker and Mendel, Sigpack Systems combined the Pull Pack with the Stick Pack. "Our creative team working with Alcan and Bistrozucker was the key to the success of the project," said Holger Botsch from Sigpack Systems. "We combined our unique and complementary competencies to create an innovative convenience product." Primary packaging of the tea is conducted with a system developed by Alcan Packaging which includes an FDA-certified, springback foil that reverts to its original, cylindrical form after filling. The Pull Pack Packaging concept functions as secondary packaging and guarantees a quick and exact opening for the clean withdrawal of the tea sticks. The combination of these two packaging formats sealed with a tight closure ensures the quality and protects the aroma of the tea. Sigpack Systems developed the machinery for the production of the perforated Stick Pack as well as for the filling and secondary packaging of the "tpod". The line concept was planned and projected according to specific customer requirements, such as packaging format and capacity. The Swiss Packaging Institute Award was launched 50 years ago. All packages receiving the award are qualified for the 'WorldStar' of the World Packaging Organization.

Stella plans to remove two brands from its Artois family: Peeterman Artois and Eiken Artois to focus on its newly launched 4% Stella Artois, according to MarketingWeek. The move comes months after brewer Inbev axed the Bock brand from the Artois family to replace it with Eiken, earlier in the year. The launch of 4.6% Eiken, brewed using hand-picked hops, was supported by a heavy-weight press campaign created by Lowe. The agency has since been dropped by Stella Artois. Mother has successfully won its pitch for the £20m Stella Artois account, and will take on the global advertising for the beer brand. "In order to focus support and investment on Stella Artois and the recently launched Stella Artois 4%, InBev UK is phasing out Eiken Artois and Peeterman Artois," said Stuart MacFarlane, president InBev UK and Ireland. "Stella Artois 4% has already proved to be the most successful lager brand to be recently launched in the off-trade, and it's complementing the established success of Stella Artois, which is the most widely available draught lager in UK pubs and the third biggest grocery brand in the UK. "InBev UK is informing stockists of the decision and will continue to work with them to ensure that the InBev UK range of brands, including Stella Artois and Stella Artois 4%, reflects their consumer profile and commercial needs. "Eiken Artois and Peeterman Artois will be phased out in the on-trade by the end of the year and in the off-trade by April 2009."