Hiperbaric, a leading Spanish company in high-pressure technology, has released the report – 'New European regulation on zero Listeria and its impact on food for human consumption' – in which it provides a comprehensive analysis of the new legal framework that will become mandatory as of 1 July 2026, its impact on the food industry and technological solutions for prevention and preservation, such as high-pressure processing (HPP) technology. The new Regulation (EU) 2024/2895, adopted in 2024 and effective as of 1 July of this year, introduces significant changes to the microbiological criteria applicable to ready-to-eat foods that are capable of supporting the growth of Listeria monocytogenes. As of that date, product safety must be guaranteed throughout the entire shelf life of the product, not just at the time of release from the factory. To date, the legislation provides for two scenarios. First, the producer must demonstrate that the pathogen will not exceed the limit of 100 CFU/g (colony-forming units per gram) during the product’s shelf life or, in the absence of such evidence, guarantee its absence – that is, ensure it is not detected before the food leaves the manufacturer’s control. The main change is that this second criterion is being tightened. If the producer cannot scientifically prove that the bacteria will remain below the permitted threshold, they must ensure its non-detection (< 1 cfu in 25g) not only at the factory, but throughout the product’s shelf life on the market. Carole Tonello, vice president of business development at Hiperbaric, said: “Product responsibility no longer ends at the factory gate, but extends throughout the product’s entire lifecycle to ensure maximum protection of public health from production through distribution". Carole Tonello New challenges for the industry Regulations require the industry to implement stricter controls, improved traceability and greater product accountability, while facing higher costs associated with shelf-life studies, laboratory analyses and adjustments to manufacturing and/or logistics processes to prevent the presence of bacteria during transport and through the end of storage. This regulatory shift is based, among other studies, on the European Union’s One Health 2024 report, which ranks Listeria monocytogenes as the fourth most commonly reported zoonosis, with 3,041 confirmed cases in 2024. The data show that infections have followed an upward trend over the past five years, partly linked to an ageing population and increased consumption of ready-to-eat products. Furthermore, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), this pathogen is responsible for the highest proportion of hospitalizations and deaths among foodborne infectious diseases. Nearly seven out of ten infected individuals require hospitalization, and approximately one in twelve dies. To put this into perspective with other common pathogens, and according to 2024 data from the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority), salmonellosis has a case fatality rate of 0.24% and STEC infection has a rate of 0.31%. However, the fatality rate for listeriosis soars to 15.6%. “We are dealing with a disease that has a critical impact: nearly one in six people diagnosed dies, which justifies the need for extreme control measures in the industry,” explains Tonello. Technological solutions for prevention and conservation Given this new legal framework, there are various technological solutions for prevention and preservation applied to the food industry to ensure food safety. Among these is high-pressure processing (HPP), one of the most promising technologies for preventing cases of food poisoning, ensuring food safety, and extending shelf life. The technology involves subjecting packaged food to very high pressure of up to 6,000 bar, which is applied uniformly using water. Applying it after sealing helps manage contamination risks introduced during cutting, handling, filling, or packaging, with minimal impact on flavour, texture, appearance, and nutritional values compared to heat-based pasteurisation methods. Scientific validation of HPP for zero Listeria Anna Jofré, a researcher in microbiology and food safety at the Institute for Agri-Food Research and Technology (IRTA), explains that there are three tools for validating the effectiveness of treatments against Listeria. Scientific literature, which involves searching scientific publications and reports for evidence that the technology we apply against Listeria in a food similar to the one we want to test is effective against this pathogen; predictive microbiology, which uses mathematical models to predict the inactivation of Listeria pathogens; and the challenge test, in which experimental trials are conducted with the food. “Various studies and trials conducted by the institute show that applying HPP at a pressure of 6,000 bar for three minutes is the most effective strategy for reducing the risk of listeriosis in cooked ham, for example. Pressure is the solution for achieving zero listeria in ready-to-eat foods”, concludes Jofré. The success story of Tappers' ready-to-eat meals For her part, Elena Rodríguez, director of operations at MRM and Tappers, who also participated in the presentation of the report as a success story in the application of HPP, highlighted the excellent results achieved in the product lines treated with this technology. Elena Rodríguez She explains: “In the fresh prepared meals sector, where water activity and pH levels can promote the growth of Listeria throughout the product’s shelf life, high-pressure processing has established itself as the definitive solution. It achieves total efficacy against the pathogen and significantly extends the product’s shelf life, while keeping its sensory and nutritional qualities intact."

Heineken Costa Rica has signed an agreement to acquire RainForest Water, a Costa Rican premium artesian water brand, through its subsidiary Distribuidora La Florida. Founded in Sarapiquí, RainForest Water bottles artesian water directly at its natural source and packages it in recyclable and reusable aluminium bottles. Its operations are powered by renewable energy and supported by initiatives focused on reforestation, forest conservation, biodiversity and community development. The acquisition is expected to provide RainForest Water with a platform to expand into new markets while retaining its focus on sustainability and reducing plastic use. Ariel Aizenman, founder and CEO of RainForest Water, said: “When we started this project, we wanted to demonstrate that a brand born in Costa Rica could compete with the best in the world. This agreement confirms that innovation, quality and purpose can transform a Costa Rican product into a brand of international value.” He added that the deal recognised the contribution of the company’s employees, customers, suppliers and partners to the development of the brand. The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval. Financial details were not disclosed.

UK plant-based gut health brand Biomel has expanded its portfolio with a new line of Love Your Gut protein drinks. The drinks are designed to support gut health, muscle health and overall wellbeing, with each beverage containing billions of live cultures, 20g of complete plant-based protein and 7g of fibre. They also contain less than 2.5g of sugar per 100ml. In addition to protein and fibre, the formulation contains branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) including leucine, isoleucine and valine, as well as a blend of 20 vitamins and minerals to support general health. The combination of protein and fibre aims to keep consumers feeling fuller for longer, retaining the brand’s gut health focus while tapping into the rising protein demand. The drinks are available in three flavours – chocolate, vanilla, and matcha, responding to one of the beverage industry’s biggest trends over the past couple of years as interest in the Japanese tea surges. Made in the UK, the range is also free from artificial sweeteners, gluten, lactose and GMOs, allowing it to cater to a range of dietary needs. Steven Hegarty, co-founder of Biomel, said: “Following the strong performance of our existing range, which has firmly established itself as a category leader in 2026, we're expanding Biomel’s portfolio with the launch of our new Protein Drinks”. “By bringing the brand into new occasions and formats, we're making it easier than ever for people to enjoy the benefits of our products throughout the day, while also supporting their broader health and wellbeing.” Biomel has also announced it will expand its operations beyond its London headquarters, establishing a new Innovation & Production Centre facility in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. The new plant will enable increased production to meet growing demand, and is expected to open in Q4 2026. Biomel’s new Love Your Gut protein drinks are now available at Whole Foods, and will roll out via Ocado later in the summer, with an RRP of £3 per 330ml bottle. The range will expand into further retailers from autumn.

Fox's Burton's Companies (FBC) has expanded its Maryland S'wich range through a new collaboration with Terry's Chocolate, launching Maryland S'wich Terry's Chocolate Orange – the first time Terry's signature chocolate orange flavour has been introduced into the sweet biscuit category. The launch brings together the UK's number one small cookie brand and the country's leading orange chocolate brand, targeting a combined shopper base of around 15 million consumers. The new product features Maryland's crunchy chocolate chip cookie sandwich filled with a Terry's Chocolate Orange-flavoured centre made using the brand's signature orange oil, creating a biscuit inspired by the confectionery favourite. The product is launching as a four-week exclusive across Tesco Group and Booker stores from 15 July before rolling out to major retailers and wholesalers from 12 August. It will also be available in a price-marked pack with a recommended retail price of £1.39 for a 150g pack. The launch marks the first flavour extension to the Maryland S'wich range since the sandwich biscuit debuted in July 2025. According to FBC, chocolate orange ranks among the top five flavours in the anytime treats category, while consumer taste testing generated an 85% purchase intent, highlighting the flavour's appeal. Jo Harwood, chief sales and trade marketing officer at Fox's Burton's Companies, said: "By partnering with Terry's, Maryland is once again S'wiching up the biscuit aisle. The collaboration is designed to engage both existing fans and new consumers in the chocolate confectionery category, while creating meaningful opportunities to support category growth and sales performance. The launch is also expected to benefit from the seasonal association and pull that Terry's has around Christmas following its initial launch period." My-Anh Bosquet, marketing director for Terry's Chocolate UK & Ireland, added: "Terry's is all about finding new ways to bring people joy, and teaming up with the UK's number one small cookie brand is exactly that. Seeing our iconic orange flavour baked into the Maryland S'wich for our first-ever entry into the biscuit aisle is a genuine landmark for Terry's." The collaboration is Maryland's second high-profile licensed launch of 2026, following its limited-edition Harry Potter Butterbeer-flavoured cookies, reflecting FBC's strategy of driving consumer engagement through brand partnerships and flavour innovation. The launch also demonstrates the continued blurring of lines between confectionery and biscuits, as manufacturers leverage well-established confectionery brands to create new products that encourage cross-category purchasing and attract loyal brand fans into adjacent categories.

Adrian Teixeira-Porrescas For decades, food and drink brands built desire through indulgence, sensory appeal and the promise of wanting more. But in a market shaped by protein culture, GLP-1s, functional wellness trends and tighter HFSS regulation, craving now needs more than appetite appeal. Adrian Teixeira-Porrescas, senior art director at Chuck Studios, explores the shift from' craveability' to credibility, and why brands increasingly need to give consumers permission as well as pleasure. For years, food and drink brands won by making people want more. More crunch, more fizz, more cheese, more sweetness, more flavour, more of that immediate sensory hit. You can see it in confectionery, from Lindt’s 1990 'The Supreme Sensation' ad to its more recent 'Made to Melt You' work, where rich, melting chocolate imagery makes indulgence feel luxurious and irresistible. You can see it in snacks too, where Doritos’ 'For the Bold' platform turned flavour, crunch and intensity into a whole brand attitude. In both cases, the job was to make the product feel impossible to resist. But now, the market is asking more of brands. Indulgence alone no longer sells A wider cultural shift is changing the context around food and drink. Kyra’s State of Fitness 2026 report points to a shift in how people are thinking about health and wellbeing. The report highlights that wellness is moving away from transformation and optimisation, and towards stability, routine and self-regulation. Consumers are seeking 'less performance' and 'more maintenance,' 'less depletion' and 'more regulation.' That mindset is not staying inside fitness. It is starting to shape how people think about food and drink, too. If wellness is becoming less about transformation and more about everyday self-management, then what people eat and drink is being judged through that same lens. Consumers are more conscious of ingredients, protein, sugar, additives, pesticides, gut health, ultra-processed foods and how broader food systems affect their health. As a result, packaging claims, ingredient lists and sourcing cues now play a much bigger role in shaping perceptions of what counts as a better product. GLP-1 weight-loss drugs are also changing appetite itself, while HFSS advertising restrictions are changing how less healthy food and drink brands are allowed to show up. Together, these forces are creating a new credibility pressure for indulgent brands: they need to explain why their products still deserve a place in people’s lives. That pressure is now colliding with a commercial one. Value-conscious shoppers are pushing back on price, with PepsiCo reportedly cutting prices on Doritos and Lay’s to win back consumers. Meanwhile, health-conscious consumers are giving more attention to products that promise some kind of added benefit. That is why the growth of functional food and drink matters. Functional foods, broadly defined as foods that offer benefits beyond basic nutrition, have gained momentum as consumers look for products that support energy, focus, gut health, protein intake or everyday wellbeing. Challenger brands such as Neutonic show where that expectation is heading, with the business reportedly on track to exceed $25 million in sales this year after scaling rapidly since launching in 2023. This is where legacy indulgence brands are starting to shift. Whether these products are becoming meaningfully healthier is debatable, but the marketing is changing. The same crisps, coffees, burgers and soft drinks still need to deliver pleasure, but they are increasingly being framed in ways that make the indulgence easier to justify. This is the move from 'craveability' to credibility. The new era of food credibility Consumers still want to indulge. What is changing is that they increasingly want the indulgence to come with a reason. Starbucks’ new drink offering with Protein Cold Foam is still, fundamentally, an indulgent coffee drink. But the added whey protein gives it a new role in the consumer’s mind. It turns a treat into something that feels more functional, giving it emotional justification. The drink has not stopped being indulgent, but the protein gives the craving permission. The same applies to Lay’s, which recently underwent a rebrand to root its identity in 'real, farm-grown potatoes.' The product still sits firmly in the world of treats and snacks, but the communication shifts the emphasis. It now communicates ingredient cues, provenance and a sense of transparency to consumers. The product is still craveable, but it is being framed in a way that feels more credible. This is also happening in a culture where people are demanding more from food while having less time to properly engage with what they eat. GLP-1s have added another layer to this. Appetite is being reshaped, and weight loss is increasingly being detached from the slower work of understanding food, habits and nutrition. Consumers may still want the indulgent drink or snack, but they also want it to carry some kind of functional, emotional or nutritional justification. Craveability still matters, but so does credibility That does not mean indulgence is going away. People still want pleasure, comfort, flavour and reward from food. But the old promise of 'you’ll want more' is becoming less powerful on its own. Brands now have to help people feel better about wanting it. This is where Culinary identity plays a bigger role. In food and drink, credibility is cumulative. It is not built by one health claim, one packaging line or one campaign, but by the consistent depiction of a brand’s product over time. Culinary identity is how brands make credibility visible, not just claim it. The way a product is styled, lit, textured, served and framed repeatedly teaches consumers what to believe about it. When a brand consistently shows freshness, craft, quality, real ingredients or sensory satisfaction, those cues start to become part of its credibility. They become visual proof points. A crisp does not just need to look crunchy once. A cola does not just need to look refreshing once. A burger does not just need to look juicy once. These cues need to show up consistently enough that consumers begin to associate them with the brand itself. For me, that is an interesting creative challenge. Brands cannot completely abandon appetite appeal. A crisp still needs to sound crunchy. A cola still needs to look fizzy and refreshing. A burger still needs to look juicy. A chocolate bar still needs to feel indulgent. But those cues now need to work alongside reassurance, whether that comes through portioning, protein, reduced sugar, ingredient transparency, naturalness, provenance or functional benefit. The big shift is not from unhealthy to healthy. It is from guilt to permission.Indulgent brands are learning that craveability still gets attention, but credibility gives consumers permission to act on it. Ultimately, the future of indulgence is not about pretending the craving has disappeared. It is about giving the craving a better alibi.

McCain Foods has launched a new grower pilot programme with agricultural intelligence company Ceres AI to improve field-level visibility and decision-making across its North American potato supply chain. The initiative is designed to provide McCain agronomy teams and contracted growers with a shared, data-driven view of crop performance throughout the growing season, enabling earlier identification of field variability and more targeted in-season interventions. The programme addresses a common challenge in large-scale agricultural operations, where field insights can be fragmented or delayed, limiting the ability to coordinate scouting activities, prioritise field visits and respond quickly to emerging crop issues. Through the pilot, participating growers and McCain teams will receive continuous field-level insights that identify areas requiring closer attention. The information is intended to help agronomists and growers focus scouting efforts, prioritise actions and make more informed management decisions during the growing season. A key feature of the programme is that both McCain and its growers access the same field-level intelligence, creating a common understanding of crop performance and enabling more coordinated decision-making across participating acreage. Jeremy Buchman, director of agronomy at McCain Foods, said: "Through this grower pilot programme, we are working to provide our growers with better visibility into their fields and more targeted support during the season. By aligning our teams and growers around a shared view of performance, we can act earlier, focus on the right areas and improve outcomes together." Ceres AI is providing the underlying analytics platform, translating field-level data into actionable insights that integrate with McCain's existing agronomy workflows and systems. The aim is to ensure data can be incorporated into day-to-day operational decisions rather than existing as standalone information. Anubhav Sharma, head of marketing at Ceres AI, added: "At its core, this work is about helping growers and McCain teams make better decisions, faster at scale. By turning complex field data into clear insights, we are supporting focused scouting, better coordination and more effective decision-making across participating acres, in a way that aligns with McCain's broader agricultural goals over time." The pilot reflects the increasing adoption of digital agriculture technologies across the food and beverage supply chain, with processors and growers using AI and remote sensing tools to improve crop management, strengthen supply resilience and optimise yields. McCain said it expects the programme to evolve over time, with a focus on enhancing grower engagement, improving operational efficiency and increasing confidence in crop performance across its potato supply network. Ceres AI's platform is built on more than 17 billion plant-level measurements collected across 32 million acres, providing agricultural businesses with field intelligence designed to reduce production risks, improve efficiency and protect crop yields. McCain Foods, the world's largest manufacturer of frozen potato products, supplies customers in more than 160 countries and continues to invest in technologies that support resilient and sustainable agricultural practices.

Kellogg's has expanded its Crunchy Nut Crunchies portfolio with the launch of Crunchy Nut Crunchies Caramelised Biscuit Flavour, capitalising on growing consumer demand for caramelised biscuit-inspired products. The new cereal, available in 420g packs with an RRP of £3.50, is rolling out across major UK retailers including Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrisons and selected independent stores. Designed as a non-HFSS breakfast option, the latest addition features Crunchy Nut's signature flakes reimagined as deep golden curls, delivering a crunchy texture alongside a sweet caramelised biscuit flavour. The launch follows strong growth for caramelised biscuit flavours across the food and beverage sector. According to Kellogg's, the cereal segment has seen value sales increase by 52% year-on-year, reaching £5.4 million. The new variety replaces the limited-edition Crunchy Nut Hot Honey Crunchies, introduced earlier this year as one of the UK's first spicy breakfast cereals. The move reflects Kellogg's strategy of introducing trend-led flavours to keep the Crunchy Nut range fresh and appeal to consumers seeking more indulgent breakfast experiences while meeting non-HFSS criteria. Tori Dunning, brand activation executive at Kellogg's, said: "Crunchy Nut fans love big flavour and serious crunch, so we're excited to bring one of the nation's favourite biscuit trends to the breakfast bowl. Our new Caramelised Biscuit Flavour Crunchies combine that unmistakable Crunchy Nut crunch with a deliciously golden, biscuity taste – giving shoppers a new non-HFSS way to make mornings feel a little more indulgent."

The Ben & Jerry’s Foundation has announced that it will suspend operations at the end of this year unless it wins a favourable court ruling, after The Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC) allegedly evicted the charity from its offices and cut its funding. The development comes as tensions continue to escalate between the charity – founded by Ben & Jerry’s co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield – and TMICC, which was born out of a spin-off of Unilever’s ice cream business in December 2025. In a statement, Cohen said: “For Magnum Corporation to now be shutting down the Ben & Jerry's Foundation is a profound betrayal of everything it was created to stand for. And I will do everything I can to oppose this abuse of power and help Magnum to see the light.” A spokesperson for TMICC pushed back against the claims, commenting that the company is “deeply disappointed” by the Foundation’s statement, which they said “mischaracterises events past and present”. “The decision to suspend operations is entirely down to the trustees and their decision to ignore the findings of an independent audit and failure to put in place basic good governance; much to our dismay,” the spokesperson said. The Ben & Jerry’s Foundation was formalised in 1985 when Ben & Jerry’s went public, established as an independent non-profit organisation supporting grassroots social justice projects. The Foundation has been funded by Unilever and TMICC since Unilever’s takeover. Amid preparation for TMICC’s listing on the stock exchange, the company said it conducted independent audits across various parts of the business, including the Foundation. According to TMICC, this audit highlighted “failings” in financial controls, and conflicts of interest. A source close to the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation claims that they were denied access to the audit – and that in multiple audits conducted over the past five years, no similar concerns were identified. TMICC’s spokesperson said that the trustee president, Liz Bankowski, received a summary of the findings last Autumn. “As Liz will recall, Ben & Jerry’s invited the Trustees to work with them on implementing a stronger governance framework, which they declined for reasons that remain unclear, and the paper policies that the Foundation put in place did not fully remedy,” they told FoodBev. “The Foundation has since initiated legal action, again for reasons that are unclear, and more recently took the position that its staff are not Ben & Jerry’s employees – despite utilising Ben & Jerry’s offices and systems – and not bound by Ben & Jerry’s policies.” A legal dispute between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever/TMICC has been running since 2024, when Ben & Jerry’s first filed a lawsuit against Unilever, and has since been updated to include TMICC and the Foundation. Litigation is currently ongoing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The dispute centres around the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream brand and co-founder Cohen’s claims that former parent company Unilever – and now TMICC – has ‘repeatedly violated’ its social mission. Ben & Jerry’s independent board governs the brand alongside its CEO, taking responsibility for guiding the brand’s social mission – a core part of the merger deal that saw Unilever commit to safeguarding Ben & Jerry’s values when it acquired the ice cream maker in 2000 for $326 million. Social activism has been at the centre of the Ben & Jerry’s brand since its inception. Under Unilever and TMICC’s ownership, the brand has continued to advocate for causes such as refugee rights, workers’ rights, criminal reform and voting access, and climate initiatives. However, the relationship between Ben & Jerry’s and its parent group has become increasingly strained in recent years after the co-founders accused Unilever/TMICC of attempting to silence their stance on geopolitical issues, particularly their expression of support for Palestinian refugees. They have also accused the parent company of removing several members of Ben & Jerry’s leadership team due to their commitment to the brand’s social mission, including several independent board members and former CEO David Stever. A series of governance changes introduced by Ben & Jerry’s in late 2025 led to three of the brand’s independent board members’ removal. This was a result of a newly established nine-year term limit for board members, with any director who had served longer than this period becoming ineligible for re-election. According to BBC News, Cohen described this as a “blatant power grab designed to strip the board of legal authority and independence”. Jochanan Senf, who TMICC appointed as Ben & Jerry’s new CEO in July last year, said the changes were made to “strengthen governance, increase transparency and commit ourselves to greater accountability”. The latest update from The Ben & Jerry’s Foundation comes as a ‘Free Ben & Jerry’s’ campaign, launched by Cohen and Greenfield, continues to escalate internationally. The campaign is calling for TMICC to sell off the ice cream brand to ‘more socially aligned investors’. More than 1,500 posters appeared across Amsterdam, home of TMICC’s headquarters, last week calling for a boycott of Magnum’s brands (excluding the Ben & Jerry’s brand itself). Despite the ongoing rift, TMICC said it remains committed to supporting the Ben & Jerry’s team and its mission. “To date, Unilever/TMICC has given $60 million in grants to grassroots causes through the Foundation, and TMICC is firmly committed to funding a grant-giving foundation, supported by appropriate governance controls to ensure it is living by its values,” the spokesperson said. “Our focus remains where it belongs: on supporting the Ben & Jerry’s team and its three-part mission while making great ice cream and campaigning on the causes the brand cares about – and the team is doing a fantastic job.”

US dairy brand Breakstone’s has expanded its cottage cheese portfolio with the launch of single-serve snack cups containing 17g of protein per serving. The new cups are made with Breakstone’s 2% milkfat low-fat small curd cottage cheese and are designed for on-the-go consumption, including as a breakfast, afternoon snack or post-workout option. The packaging prominently displays the product’s protein content, reflecting growing consumer interest in convenient, protein-rich foods. Amanda Vaal, director of brand marketing at Lactalis Heritage Dairy, a division of Lactalis USA, said: “Consumers continue to seek convenient ways to add more protein throughout the day, whether they're looking for a quick breakfast, afternoon snack or post-workout option”. She added that the portable format would provide consumers with an easier way to incorporate cottage cheese into their routines. The launch expands Breakstone’s existing cottage cheese range, which includes multi-serve tubs, fruit-topped varieties and four-count snack packs. Breakstone’s Single-Serve Cottage Cheese Snack Cups are available at selected US retailers, including Giant Eagle, Harris Teeter, ShopRite, Food Lion, Stop & Shop, Giant Food and H-E-B. Further retail distribution is planned.

BrewDog co-founder and former CEO James Watt has formally submitted an offer to acquire the craft beer business from Tilray Brands through his new venture Second Best. In a LinkedIn post, Watt said the proposal had been sent to Tilray and that 43,000 former BrewDog crowdfunding investors, known as Equity Punks, had registered with Second Best to participate in the bid. If the acquisition is successful, Watt said registered Equity Punks would receive BrewDog equity free of charge. He also pledged to reinstate the Real Living Wage and restore an employee equity programme. “The punks and the crew built this company and BrewDog deserves to belong to them once more,” Watt said. “Equity Punks, you backed me once. This time, I’m backing you.” Watt said he is personally funding bid alongside and unnamed partner. It added that Second Best would become part of BrewDog if the deal completes. If the offer is unsuccessful, Watt said he would continue developing Second Best as a standalone business. Financial terms were not disclosed. Watt also did not specify which BrewDog assets are included in the proposal and how equity would be allocated to registered investors. Watt co-founded BrewDog with Martin Dickie in 2007 and led the company as CEO for 17 years, before stepping down in 2024. Dickie later stepped down as a director of the craft beer company in August 2025. Tilray completed its £33 million acquisition of selected BrewDog assets in March. The transaction included the brand's global intellectual property, UK brewing operations and 11 brewpubs across the UK and Ireland. The acquisition took place after BrewDog entered administration, with 38 bars closing and 484 jobs lost. Investors who had participated in BrewDog's Equity for Punks crowdfunding programme were left with no return of their shares.

The South African Competition Commission has recommended approval of Coca-Cola HBC AG’s proposed acquisition of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA). The Commission announced that it has recommended that the Competition Tribunal approve the deal with conditions, concluding that the transaction is unlikely to substantially lessen or prevent competition in any relevant market. Coca-Cola HBC AG and Coca-Cola HBC Holdings BV intend to acquire CCBA, the largest Coca-Cola bottling operation in Africa. Coca-Cola HBC, headquartered in Switzerland and listed on both the London Stock Exchange and the Athens Exchange, is an authorised bottler of the Coca-Cola Company’s brands across Europe, Eurasia and Africa. Its portfolio spans sparkling soft drinks, water, juice, sports and energy drinks, ready-to-drink tea, coffee and premium spirits. CCBA operates across the carbonated and non-carbonated soft drinks market in South Africa through authorised bottling subsidiaries producing and distributing Coca-Cola-branded beverages, as well as other licensed brands, including Monster Energy. Following its assessment, the Commission said the merger would not raise significant competition concerns. However, approval is subject to a series of public interest commitments agreed by the merging parties. These include a moratorium on merger-related retrenchments in South Africa, commitments to maintain historically disadvantaged persons and worker ownership levels, continued procurement from empowered suppliers, HDPs and small and medium-sized enterprises and investment in downstream distribution, retail operations and capital expenditure within the country. The parties have also committed to ensuring CCBA remains incorporated and headquartered in South Africa. In addition, Coca-Cola HBC has agreed to pursue a secondary inward listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, subject to obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals. The Competition Tribunal will make the final decision on whether to approve the transaction.

US ready-to-drink protein beverage brand Splyt has expanded its portfolio with the launch of a limited-edition Banana Milk flavour, tapping into the growing demand for nostalgic flavours within the functional beverage category. Available exclusively through Amazon and TikTok Shop while stocks last, the new product combines the taste of classic banana-flavoured milk with a high-protein formulation aimed at health-conscious consumers. Each shelf-stable can contains 20g of protein, 0g of sugar, 90 calories, 60mg of caffeine and is made with lactose-free ultrafiltered milk, positioning the drink as an on-the-go option that blends indulgence with functionality. The launch is the latest addition to Splyt's range of protein milk beverages, which already includes Chocolate, Strawberry, Cookies & Cream, Peanut Butter Chocolate, Vanilla Milkshake and Max Chocolate varieties. Josh Mendenhall, co-founder and president of Splyt, said: "It delivers that familiar banana flavour people grew up with, but with 20 grams of protein, added energy and the bold experience Splyt is known for. It's playful, functional and built for how people actually drink today." The launch also highlights the continued evolution of the RTD protein drinks category, where brands are increasingly pairing functional nutrition with nostalgic flavour profiles to broaden appeal beyond traditional sports nutrition consumers. Splyt's Banana Milk is available for a limited time via Amazon and TikTok Shop.