The EU has adopted its Food Improvement Agents Package (FIAP), a comprehensive set of rules that ensures consistent use of additives and enzymes throughout the EU. The acceptance of the package means improved security for consumers, as food in the EU has to comply with the same strict requirements for additives and enzymes. In future, all additives and enzymes will be evaluated by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Danisco, a Danish provider of food ingredients, enzymes and bio-based solutions, released a statement following the news: "Danisco has followed the making of the FIAP closely and we're very satisfied with the outcome. It's a huge step forward for the consumers, who can now be confident that in future, additives have to meet the same standards throughout the EU. "For us as an industrial business, the harmonisation particularly in the enzyme area means that we now only have to obtain approval from one central authority. This is a good result for the consumers and the industry." In addition to harmonising the rules, the adoption also means that fixed time limits will be established for approval procedures as well as shorter processing time for applications filed by the industry. EU countries will monitor the consumption of additives and submit the results to the European Commission and EFSA going forward.

UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) has appointed new Accredited Trade Organisations (ATOs) to manage the groups that form the British Pavilion at shows previously handled by Food from Britain (FFB). The organisations are the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, PS8 Ltd, Montgomery International and William Reed Business Media. 10 of the trade shows organised by FFB will be covered by the new ATOs, as well as shows for the ingredients and brewing sectors. UKTI TAP funding will remain in place, offering eligible SMEs up to six grants to exhibit at accredited international trade shows from 1 April 2009, under new rules announced by UKTI recently. Commenting on the announcement, John Adams, CEO at Food from Britain, said: “We want to reassure producers that British Pavilions at many of the world’s leading trade shows will continue after FFB’s closure in March next year, and that funding will still be available to assist new, small exporters. It’s satisfying to see that a forum that offers so much value and such great returns will still be available to help British companies build their international business. “We've spent many years working to create a strong national group that has been such an attraction for buyers looking to source new, innovative and unique products abroad, and feel that we have successfully accomplished that mission. It's good to know that the British Pavilion will continue to thrive under the guidance of the various ATOs at international food and drink trade shows across the globe.”

*PepsiCo has appointed Jill Beraud to the newly created position of Chief Marketing Officer, reporting to Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo Chairman and CEO. * Beraud comes to PepsiCo after spending the past 13 years at Limited Brands, where she was most recently Chief Marketing Officer of lingerie brand Victoria's Secret. At PepsiCo, Beraud will be responsible for developing global marketing strategies to drive long-term growth and innovation. Her responsibilities will include: Uncovering consumer insights through the most current approaches to give the company's brands a jump on the latest consumer trends; Providing leadership in determining the style and functionality of packaging based on consumer needs; Further developing the capabilities of PepsiCo's marketing organisation; Coordinating marketing efforts across agencies, and working closely with functional leads in research and development, finance, sales, operations and the company's business sectors. “We have some of the world's strongest brands and some of the world's greatest marketers, but never have we integrated our marketing efforts in a holistic, global and disciplined fashion across the PepsiCo enterprise,” said Nooyi. “Jill has a proven track record of building brands and delivering profitable sales growth through innovative marketing. Her experience overseeing the entire Limited Brands portfolio, as well as her consumer goods background, will enable us to integrate our brand marketing efforts and stay ahead of macro-consumer trends with a deeper level of sophistication.”

*The Carrefour Group is launching trials of a new store banner, Carrefour Contact, to build on the strength of the Carrefour brand. * Located at the entry to or in the centre of small towns and villages, Carrefour Contact is a convenience store format offering a selection of everyday essential food items, with a broader range of fresh produce and a butcher's counter. The store also enables customers to shop for pleasure or for last-minute essentials. Shoppers at Carrefour Contact will enjoy all the benefits of the Carrefour brand, most notably the full diversity of the product range: Bio, Sélection, Baby, Kids, Light, Solidaire and Ecoplanète. The Carrefour loyalty card, which is valid in all Carrefour and Carrefour Market stores in France, is also available for the customers. Two pilot stores have opened in Antrain (Ile et Vilaine) and Verson (Calvados). Two further pilot sites, under the Carrefour Contact banner, will be opened in the next few months. With this new banner, Carrefour will offer its clients stores that are tailored to their requirements and thereby meet even more their expectations. At the same time, the Carrefour Group is reviewing the possibility of a new store banner for the urban environment, Carrefour City.

The Campbell Soup Company has made it more convenient for people to get their vegetables on the go by expanding the distribution of several of its V8 juices to vending machines for the first time. Campbell has created a new 12oz bottle that will enable the company to offer its popular V8 juices in approximately 15,000 vending machines across the US, including those in malls, offices, hotels, hospitals and schools. The single-serve refrigerated juices will be managed by Coca-Cola Enterprises’ (CCE) leading distribution system as part of an agreement Campbell entered into with Coca-Cola North America and CCE in June 2007. “Leveraging our partnership with Coca-Cola to make vegetable-based juices more accessible and available is another important step in the V8 brand’s goal to expand our distribution capabilities and to help people get more vegetables into their diets every day,” said Darren Serrao, Vice President, Marketing, V8 Beverages. “Providing nutritious, functional juices like V8 vegetable juice and V8 V-Fusion in more places like schools is especially important given that healthy habits begin early in life,” he added. Demand for health-promoting, functional beverages is on the rise. Mintel International Ltd, a global supplier of consumer, product and media intelligence, estimates the total functional beverage market exhibited a 29% growth since 2003, and forecasts sales to increase another 19% by 2012. V8 will offer six 100% juice varieties in the new 12oz bottles to meet different taste and lifestyle priorities: V8 100% vegetable juice Spicy Hot V8 100% vegetable juice V8 V-Fusion Strawberry Banana juice V8 V-Fusion Pomegranate Blueberry juice V8 V-Fusion Peach Mango juice Campbell’s Tomato juice. In addition to vending machines, the new 12oz bottles are currently available in convenience, grocery and mass merchandisers.

*Daskalidès and Chocolaterie Smet, two Belgian chocolate makers active in Belgium and abroad, will release a range of tooth-friendly chocolate – an innovation courtesy of chocolate producer Barry Callebaut. * Barry Callebaut’s tooth-friendly chocolate has received the ‘Happy Tooth’ label from Toothfriendly International, a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving dental health, supported by dental associations from all over the world. Dr Albert Bär, Director of Toothfriendly International, said: "We only give the Happy Tooth seal of approval to products that are guaranteed safe for teeth. All sweets that carry this logo have been scientifically tested by recognised and independent academic institutes for dental health. Their tests demonstrate that the product does not cause dental caries or tooth decay. The Happy Tooth logo helps consumers in their choice for tooth-friendly products.” To make the tooth-friendly chocolate, milk powder is replaced by milk proteins and sugar is replaced by isomaltulose, a natural sugar that's found in small concentrations in honey and sugar cane. Isomaltulose belongs to the sugar group and, just like refined sugar (sucrose), is composed of glucose and fructose. Isomaltulose differs, however, in its resistance to decomposition by oral bacteria and therefore doesn't cause an increase in acidity in the mouth, thus protecting the teeth from decay. The Belgian company Chocolaterie Smet will release a series of four Hopla hollow figurines (Hopla, Lola, Nina and Onkie) made from tooth-friendly chocolate. The figurines are packaged in easily recognisable boxes of 85g (containing three figurines per box), with a colouring-in puzzle on the back. Daskalidès’ toothfriendly, hazelnut filled milk chocolate bars are part of its new 'Health and pleasure' range. The 45g bars are available from all Daskalidès retail outlets.

From May 2009, leading Swiss dairy brand Emmi will produce its yogurt and muesli products in Emmen, Switzerland, using renewable energy. The brand is working with partners to build a wood chip plant that will generate steam for Emmi's dairy production. The new eco-friendly steam plant will save Emmi 1.6 million litres of heating oil annually. Each year, Emmi uses some 32,000 tons of steam at Emmen during the manufacturing process. To date, the steam has been powered by heating oil. To reduce heavy CO2 emissions and trim costs, Emmi has decided that it will generate 70% of the steam using green energy. To this end, construction began this month and the total project investment is around CHF3.5m. From late May 2009, the new facility is expected to produce some 22,000 tons of steam per year. The existing steam plant will remain operational to cover peak demand and at times of malfunction or during maintenance work. However, it will be powered with environmentally friendly natural gas instead of heating oil. In all, Emmi will save about 1.6 million litres of heating oil a year – equivalent to that consumed by 800 single family homes. The switch to the wood chip facility means a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of some 4,700 tons a year. Since 2005, Emmi has been working towards reaching the CO2 objectives agreed for 2012. These include reducing CO2 intensity to 79.18% and increasing energy efficiency by 12.18% compared to 2000 figures. Emmi will exceed this goal – set with the Federal Council – thanks mainly to the new wood chip facility in Emmen.

The 2008 IDF Award has been granted to Professor Ylva Ardö from Denmark. It was presented during the International Dairy Federation Open Forum on Present and Future Work at the recent IDF World Dairy Summit in Mexico. The Award pays tribute to her significant contribution to dairy research worldwide. Professor Ylva Ardö has developed a new technique to preserve milk samples using bronopol (not detrimental to health) for analysis of milk for payment and breeding. The technique is useful for spectroscopic as well as laboratory reference methods analysing such things as fat, protein, lactose and cell content. The technique is used by most routine analysis laboratories for milk samples in Europe, North America and Australia. Professor Ardö is an initiator of a concept for a new variety of highly appreciated, low-fat, semi-hard cheese (10% fat) that has been produced by dairy companies for more than 15 years, with the first such cheeses produced winning several prizes. Ardö is also a pioneer for using Lactobacillus helveticus as the ripening culture in cheese made with mesophilic starter, and has also contributed to characterisation of the non-starter microflora and its synergy with starter in ripening of European cheese. Moreover, the professor has played a leading role in the development of analysis methods for characterisation for cheese ripening in international cooperation. In the field of international education in dairy technology, Professor Ardö has been the initiator and driving force behind internationalisation of the renowned Danish dairy education MSc programme at a high academic level.

A group of Chinese herbalists, led by Dr Chao, have developed a herbal drink based on a 130-year-old family recipe to help combat stress and its negative impact on health. Dr Chao and his research team claim they discovered that Dr Chao's family’s herbal drink could be used to reduce the symptoms of stress by regulating the immune system and the brain’s central nervous system. According to a company statement, the family’s herbal formula improves blood capillary circulation, which in turn regulates high blood pressure and reduces feelings of depression, stress and worry. In 2008, under the guidance of the American National Food Laboratory, the herbal drink has been made available in the US, where the beverage maker US Panda Foods & Beverages Inc hopes to help consumers reduce stress without any side effects. Dr Chao’s Herbal Drink has been certified by the American National Food Laboratory to be sugar-free, calorie-free, caffeine-free, and contain no preservative and other addictives. The 100% natural herbal drink can be consumed by people of all ages, children and adults, including those whose intake of sugar is restricted, said the company.

Experts in nutrition gathered at the recent International Dairy Federation World Dairy Summit in Mexico to discuss the Nutrient Rich Foods system, a useful tool now in development and testing that will make it easier for consumers to select nutrient-rich foods. The tool will be able to score the nutrient richness of an individual food, beverage or meal, or meals from a whole day, and ultimately improve healthy eating habits. Internationally, food rating systems that attempt to measure the nutritional quality and healthfulness of foods are exploding in retail and regulating environments. Nutrition labels and nutrition profiling systems are an opportunity to demonstrate dairy’s health benefits to consumers, if the science behind them is sound. “Some nutrient profiling systems currently available may change food choices in the short-term, but in the long-term, focusing on choosing nutrient rich foods rather than focusing on avoiding certain nutrients is the smarter choice to get more nutrition from calories and build a healthier diet,” said Gregory D Miller, Executive Vice President, Research, Regulatory and Scientific Affairs at Dairy Management Inc and the National Dairy Council in the US. Since 2004, the Nutrient Rich Foods (NRF) Coalition has been educating health professionals and targeted consumers about the Nutrient Rich Food approach, which emphasises choosing nutrient-rich foods first from the five basic food groups. Nutrient-rich foods, also known as nutrient-dense foods, provide a significant amount of beneficial nutrients per calorie. This means that when choosing a food or beverage, or judging how healthy a day’s diet is, it's important to consider how many beneficial nutrients it contains, such as vitamins, protein and fibre, as well as the amount of fat, sugar and sodium. The next step for the NRF Coalition is an educational tool that utilises the algorithm to help people identify and enjoy nutrient-rich foods within and among the basic food groups. The tool is expected to be complete in 2009. Also as part of its work, the NRF Coalition is conducting consumer research to develop messages on the health benefits of nutrient-rich foods that resonate best with consumers, so it can share these with health professionals as well as the food industry. “Reducing consumption of nutrients to limit such things as fat and sodium may have unintended consequences for many nutrient rich foods, including some dairy foods,” said IDF Director General, Christian Robert. “Consequently, nutrition labels and nutrient profiling systems need to fairly characterise the role of nutrient-rich foods in a well-rounded, healthy diet. “The dairy sector can help convey this message to those who give dietary guidance as well as to consumers,” he added. “Dairy can improve the quality of life for people, and we should make sure everyone is aware of it.”

"I’m excited about this opportunity to take Skinny Water to the next level,” said Wilson. “In less than six months, Skinny Water has been embraced by millions of customers who are searching for great-tasting flavoured water that provides functional benefits – and most importantly, zero calories and zero sugar. As we go forward, we’ll expand our flavour offerings and look to use the Skinny trademark in other beverage categories, such as ready to drink teas and coffees." Wilson brings with him more than 38 years in the beverage industry. He began his career in the soft drinks industry in 1969 as a route salesman for Pepsi-Cola, and worked his way up to branch manager. He joined the Coca-Cola system in 1977 as a financial analyst with Coca-Cola Bottling Company of New York. Over the years, he held various positions within Coca-Cola Bottling Company, rising from division manager to vice president/general manager of the New Jersey division. In 1985, he became the president and chief operating officer of The Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Company. He led the company to become the fourth largest Coca-Cola bottler in the country. While at the helm, he was also president of the Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Association and a vice president of the Dr Pepper Bottlers’ Association. In October 2008, Ron Wilson was inducted into the Beverage World Soft Drink Hall of Fame. "The appointment of Ron Wilson as the President and CEO represents the transition of the company from the start-up phase to a growth and operational phase,” said Don McDonald, former president and CEO of Skinny Nutritional Corp. “Ron’s experience and leadership will be invaluable, and we know he’ll take the company to new levels of profitability.” McDonald will now serve as chief financial officer of Skinny Nutritional Corp, and will focus on investor relations to introduce the company to a variety of institutional bankers. “Ron Wilson’s tenacity for detail and years of beverage experience brings the financial disciplines and leadership to build the Skinny brand into a beverage powerhouse,” said Pat Croce, member of the board of advisers. “As an emerging company, it’s a real triumph to get a veteran executive of this magnitude to join our company.”

The research, conducted by independent research company TNS for the British Soft Drinks Association, shows that squash has retained popularity as a low-cost, enjoyable beverage choice for children of all ages. Children’s drink choices have also become more varied, and fruit juice, juice drinks, bottled water and milk are now chosen twice as often as in 1993. Key findings from the research show that: 55% of soft drinks consumed by children now contain no added sugar compared with 46% in 2004. Children are now 20% more likely to consume a drink with no added sugar than they were in 2004. Squash is the most popular soft drink in children’s school lunchboxes. Bottled water has also become increasingly popular. 97% of drinks consumed in school hours are obtained at school or brought in the lunchbox from home, and only 3% are obtained elsewhere. >More than 86% of soft drinks (and 93% of fruit juices) are consumed with food. These findings highlight that children now have a wide range of soft drinks to choose from, with new choices gaining in popularity alongside old favourites. The research found that parents want to play an active role in ensuring their children have a balanced diet, and want to set a good example so their children understand the need to maintain a healthy, active lifestyle. In the upper age group (11-16s), there is an increased proportion of children opting for more adult-oriented drinks such as carbonates, 21% of 11-16-year-olds opting for carbonates in comparison to 13% of 6-10s. Squash still remains the most popular soft drink type and is chosen 22% of the time. When consuming soft drinks with their parents, the research showed that children drink a similar range of drinks. The most noticeable difference when children are with adults is that for children between the ages of 6-16 years old, tea is three or four times more likely to be consumed. Commenting on the findings of this research, Jill Ardagh, BSDA director general, said: “This research provides a fascinating insight into what children are drinking and how their habits have changed. Children and their parents now have a wide range of soft drinks to choose from, helping them keep refreshed and hydrated throughout the day and maintain a balanced diet and active lifestyle."