The Cheese Company is set to launch its popular Tickler cheese in the US just in time for Thanksgiving Day. The cheese will be available over the counter at Murray's Deli in New York, and will launch across the Midwest at selected Hy-Vee and Sendik’s stores. Under the Tuxford and Tebbutt brand (owned by The Cheese Company), Stilton and other speciality cheeses have been successfully exported to the US for many years, and adding the Tickler brand to the range will further enhance sales. Rebecca Miah, Senior Brand Manager at The Cheese Company, said: “We're very excited to launch Tickler in the US, and we're confident that this award-winning Cheddar will be a hit with the American market." Tickler is made in the heart of the Devon countryside at Taw Valley Creamery, and was launched in February 2007.

*Stonyfield farm has been running its own 'Flavor Election' concurrently with the US Presidential election campaign. * The promotional activity was run on the company's website and included candidate profiles, debates and videos. After weeks of campaigning and 28,000 votes further down the road, it was the Pomegranate Berry flavour that was chosen as the official winner of Stonyfield Farm's Flavor Election. And one lucky voter will win a year's worth of delicious Stonyfield Farm organic yogurt, just for casting one of the thousands votes counted. "Let's hope the results of our national elections are as satisfying as our Flavor Election," said Stonyfield Farm President and CEO Gary Hirshberg. "People want their vote to count, and Pomegranate Berry promises rich, creamy, fruity flavour, made with the goodness of organic milk and including our exclusive blend of natural probiotic cultures. Good tasting and good for you, too!"

Pepsi Raw, a natural cola launched earlier this year, will now be available to the take-home channel after an initial launch to UK pubs and bars, Britvic and PepsiCo announced today. The existing 300ml glass solus format is currently on-shelf in Waitrose, Harrods and Harvey Nichols. A new 250ml aluminium can format will go on sale at Boots in November before rollout to the convenience and impulse channel in 2009. New pack formats are in development to give consumers the opportunity to purchase exactly the right pack for their needs including a 4x250ml can multipack and a 4x300ml glass multipack. An 8x150ml can multipack will also be introduced for mixing purposes. Both formats will be on-shelf in early 2009. Pepsi senior brand manager at Britvic, Ounal Bailey, said: “Bringing Pepsi Raw to a wider audience is an exciting prospect as it allows us to build on the success the brand has already achieved in the on-premise channel. Pepsi Raw really adds value to the category for consumers and retailers, driving increased interest through its new and exciting yet recognisable cola taste. We’re sure Pepsi Raw will soon become a staple product in consumers’ cola repertoire.” Ounal added: “Cola is a hugely important category to the soft drinks market as it represents a quarter of all soft drinks sales in take-home and almost half in the on-premise sector. However, it's also a maturing category that needs rejuvenation to drive further growth. “Pepsi Raw has provided this through its unique formulation made with ingredients from natural sources, putting a new spin on an old favourite and generating real excitement in the category.”

The Coca-Cola Company, in partnership with World Wildlife Fund (WWF), has created a new set of targets to improve water efficiency and reduce carbon emissions within its system-wide operations, while promoting sustainable agricultural practices and helping to conserve the world's most important freshwater basins, the company stated. "Our sustainability as a business demands a relentless focus on efficiency in our use of natural resources," said Muhtar Kent, President and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company. "These performance targets are one way we're engaging to improve our management of water and energy." "In this resource-constrained world, successful businesses will find ways to achieve growth while using fewer resources," said Carter Roberts, President and CEO of WWF-US. "The Coca-Cola Company's commitment to conservation responds to the imperative to solve the global water and climate crisis." The partnership, announced by WWF and The Coca-Cola Company in 2007 with $20m in funding, has now been extended by two years (through 2012) with the company providing $3.75m in new funding. The Coca-Cola Company also joined WWF's Climate Savers programme, in which leading corporations from around the world work with WWF to dramatically reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. By 2010, Climate Savers companies will collectively cut carbon emissions by 14 million tons annually – the equivalent to taking more than three million cars off the road each year. "Water and energy conservation are areas where we can truly make a difference. Last year, we set a goal to return to communities and to nature an amount of water equal to what we use in our beverages and their production. These targets support our work to achieve that goal," said Muhtar Kent. "The expansion of our partnership with WWF demonstrates our shared dedication to achieving large-scale results, and a grounded understanding that collaboration is key if we are to help address the world's water challenges."

By Nayl D'Souza Editor, Water Innovation It was a great privilege to co-present the Water Innovation awards prize ceremony in Wiesbaden on 23 September. Although the splendid venue, food and hospitality on the evening were highly praised, the event's success was largely due to Zenith International Publishing Group Editorial Director Bill Bruce, who founded the competition, tackled the main hosting duties and screened a highly entertaining awards presentation for dinner guests. As you're aware, we received more than 200 entries from 40 countries in 2008, so thank you to everyone who participated this year. I'm sure you will enjoy the coverage on FoodBev.com, which includes <1>, <2> and some <3>. If you're a subscriber to Water Innovation itself, a 44-page Showcase Supplement is included with issue 50, featuring brief descriptions and pictures of all competition entrants based on submission materials. <(you can subscribe to water innovation magazine here.)>(you can subscribe to water innovation magazine here.)><4> Such a huge response kept the team at Water Innovation magazine very busy so please allow me to give some of my colleagues a special mention, particularly Awards Administrator Jane Harris and Awards Co-ordinator Jo Shilton. For those guests who attended the awards gala dinner, thank you also for joining in the Happy Birthday sing-song for our recently appointed Sales Executive Karen Collins. <1>: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=B7BDAD320BA47D4A <2>: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=k24bD4TqYtg <3>: http://www.flickr.com/photos/foodbev/sets/72157607486588646/ <4>: /subscription/subscribe.aspx

Los Angeles-based Aquamantra, a packaged water company that offers ‘I Am Lucky’, ‘I Am Healthy’ and ‘I Am Loved’ bottled water, has added an ‘I Am Grateful’ variant for the American Thanksgiving season. Sold in 1-litre bottles alongside the company’s existing range, the product will be exclusively sold through at least 39 stores of Whole Foods Market beginning 1 November. Aquamantra CEO Alexandra Teklak said: "'I Am Grateful’ continues our promise to deliver innovative products exclusively for our retail partners. We're thrilled to introduce our fourth mantra, which is highly complementary to the Whole Foods Market's business mission.” California artist Dan Johnson is responsible for the label artwork, which is intended to convey the human aspect of gratitude for the planet and showcases a pink lotus flower overflowing with water, before it forms a teardrop which contains the world. Aquamantra is one of a few bottled water companies, including H2Om and Liquid OM, that have entered the “healing energy” enhanced water category in the US market in 2006. The prestigious Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting competition awarded Aquamantra with 'The Best Tasting Bottled Water Gold Medal' in 2007.

Jamaica’s Wisynco Group has added the Ocean Spray brand to its own line of purified water. Ocean Spray WATA has been soft launched and is already on some shelves in the country, but a formal roll-out will take place in December. It's expected that the range of cranberry flavoured water will be distributed across Caribbean markets early in 2009. Wisynco, a former industrial conglomerate, still makes a range of disposable utensils and plastic-based products. In recent years, the privately held, family owned company has become more widely recognised for its production and distribution of beverages, including its WATA brand of purified water which recently launched a sub-range of fruit-flavoured water. The firm’s aggressive marketing and distribution strategy helped make Jamaica, per capita, the market leader for Ocean Spray's cranberry juices. Wisynco Trading Managing Director William Mahfood estimated that production could be a million cases a year by 2010. WATA already controls more than 60% of the Jamaican market for bottled water.

UK drinks logistics provider Tradeteam has announced a seven-year contract with Coors Brewers Ltd valued at £140m. Under the terms of the primary distribution deal, Tradeteam will be responsible for delivering well-known products such as Carling, Worthington’s and Grolsch to supermarkets and other distribution depots throughout the UK. The contract will see Tradeteam use the largest capacity (44 tons) of vehicles available, working from Coors breweries in Burton-upon-Trent (Staffordshire), Alton (Hampshire) and Tadcaster (North Yorkshire). Tradeteam Commercial Director Alastair Isbister said: “We are ideally placed to support Coors in delivering great service to the ‘off trade’ by ensuring customers receive their products within increasingly demanding time windows and short lead times. "We lead the market in the provision of logistics to the drinks industry, and this contract win underlines our ability to meet the most demanding service requirements and provide exactly what customers need.” Coors’ Head of Distribution Chris Machin added: “Tradeteam’s commitment to developing their service has impressed us and we're looking forward to a very successful relationship over the coming seven years.”

I was pleased to be invited to the recent British Water Cooler Association General Meeting and to hear that all BWCA Distributor members now offer plumbed-in POU water coolers as well as bottled water coolers. BWCA chair, Michael Barnett, commented that the realignment of businesses to ‘dual-service‘ had meant that members had been very successful in winning major supply contracts for both types of water coolers, and that the phrase “one industry, two solutions” provided clarity for customers who appreciated being given a choice. All those years ago, when I was the editor of the world’s only bottled water cooler magazine, H2O Europe (and at the time we launched the first POU industry magazine, The Point), I recall that we seemed to constantly talk about the fact that the water cooler industry was a service industry and, for the sake of long-term viability – or sustainability, as we might call it now – the accent at all times had to be on maintaining the highest possible service standards to customers while providing solutions that best matched their particular needs. Merging the two successful magazines to launch Cooler Innovation was an easy decision, as we have always maintained that customers see only “one industry, two solutions” and that to a client, “a cooler is a cooler”. Nice then to note that at least part of the industry has caught up with our way of thinking. This article first appeared in Cooler Innovation magazine.

PepsiCo will launch its energy drink, SoBe Adrenaline Rush, in India a few months from now. The company is targeting the 24+ segment in major urbancentres. Sucheta Govil, Executive Director and Vice President of Innovation, PepsiCo India, told The Economic Times: “India is a young country and energy is one of the important consumer needs of its youth.” SoBe will initially be sold in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore and will debut in modern trade and on-premise outlets, and will be supported by point-of-sale promotions and sampling offers. The Indian energy drink market is estimated to be worth INR 5bn (US$101.07m), and PepsiCo intends to capture a substantial section of the segment within two to three years. The company's plans to roll out its SoBe Adrenaline Rush energy supplement comes hot on the heels of PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi's announcement of investing US$500m in the Indian market over the next three years with the aim of trebling the company's sales. The new drink is available at INR 75 per 245ml can.

Lucozade Sport Hydro Active is being relaunched by Lucozade Sport to enhance brand awareness. The emphasis for the relaunch is on the new pack design, which focuses on the fact that it's a "low-calorie option", and that the best-selling beverage is "more effective than water in keeping consumers hydrated". "The move into the proven Lucozade Sport range will help widen the relevance of Lucozade Sport Hydro Active to sporting participants," said Adam Prentice, Lucozade Sport Group Brand Manager. "The eye-catching new look is set to further drive consumer awareness and demand."

The UK Government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has published a new BSI Publicly Available Specification – a new standard method for assessing carbon footprint for the food industry across the UK. An ongoing project commissioned by Defra, and led by environmental and agricultural consultancy ADAS, has informed the development of the BSI Publicly Available Specification (PAS 2050) for assessing the lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of goods and services – enabling all food businesses to use a consistent approach to assessing product carbon footprints. Food businesses feeling the strain of particularly tough trading conditions will welcome the benefits of employing the PAS standard, as those involved in manufacture and supply will now be able to identify carbon 'hotspots', implement cost-saving efficiency gains and invest in innovative low-carbon solutions. The industry is also under increasing pressure from the government and retail customers to meet ambitious targets for carbon reduction. Prior to the publication of PAS 2050, there was no widely accepted standard method for testing GHG emissions of products and services, and there has been confusion surrounding what should and shouldn't be included. The availability of a reliable, fully tested method is likely to be of significant interest not only to the food industry but also to the consumer. The application of PAS 2050 will reveal a wealth of new information about the sustainability of food chains, and could lead to major changes across the food supply network in a drive towards carbon reduction and increased efficiency in terms of the way food is produced, manufactured, supplied, distributed, retailed and used. ADAS Senior Consultant Jeremy Wiltshire said: "The PAS is an extremely valuable tool which will enable us to analyse the global warming potential of all food production systems, whether organic or conventional, UK or international, present or future. It's a major milestone in the move towards a low-carbon economy, and immediately allows businesses to develop strategies that drive down emissions." Wiltshire continued: "Following the assessment of a carbon footprint using PAS 2050, strategies to decrease GHG emissions will usually lead to cost savings for a food producer. However, it's important that strategies to decrease emissions also account for wider environmental implications such as water use." James Clarke, ADAS Business Development Manager, said: "This provides an important tool for the food chain to assess its carbon impact and drive business improvement. Assessing a carbon footprint can identify opportunities and priorities for business to significantly improve productive efficiency, energy efficiency and waste minimisation, thereby saving costs." The Defra-funded research project, which commenced in November last year, also drew on support from <1>, <2>, the <3> environmental consultancy and <4>. ADAS is holding a conference next month to offer advice and strategic guidance to the food and farming industry, on the benefits of assessing carbon footprinting for business, the practical application of PAS 2050, and approaches to working together effectively. "It's important that the food chain now works together to ensure that footprints are assessed in a cost-effective and representative manner. The ADAS Carbon Conference will aim to start this process," added Clarke. <1>: http://www.campden.co.uk <2>: http://www.cranfield.ac.uk <3>: http://www.eugeos.co.uk <4>: http://www.northwyke.bbsrc.ac.uk