TNO has developed a drying technology that requires less energy to remove the moisture from food, and boosts the capacity of existing driers. The result of an EET research project (Dutch Economy, Ecology, Technology project), which TNO worked on with HB Drying Systems, Hosokawa, Kievit (Friesland Foods), Unifine and Wageningen University, the adsorption dryer technology reduces energy consumption, yet ensures that the organoleptic qualities of products are retained. According to TNO, the system works by conditioning the dry air sucked in from the environment (which has a varying moisture content) and by generating dry air that has a constant moisture content and constant temperature. Attached to an existing dryer, it improves the dryer capacity and production yield. In addition, the energy extracted from the warm, moist air can be reused in the adsorption process, said TNO, thereby reducing the energy consumption still further. Extracted moisture is no longer transported away from the plant as water vapour but as liquid water. The pilot system has already been installed at the food ingredient company, Friesland Foods Kievit, where it's connected to equipment that's used to make products that are susceptible to temperature and oxidation. In February 2009, the pilot installation will be transported to the spice producer, Unifine, where it will be used to recirculate the drying air, enabling the expensive aromas and flavourings of the spices to be retained.

PET Engineering’s Research & Development team has perfected what it claims is a revolutionary lightweight 500ml bottle that uses only 6.6g of PET. The new Bottle Fly lightweight bottles has been designed with a weight distribution and thickness that guarantees that it can withstand all the rigours of the production process and treatment throughout the supply chain. It features a geometrical shape with stiffened ribs, shoulder and bottom, and has horizontal rings that make handling easier. It is said to have excellent resistance to axial load, which protects it during distribution and transport on multilevel pallets. According to PET Engineering, Bottle Fly is suitable for use in all modern filling lines and is compatible with several cap variants.

*Northern Ireland-based contract bottler, Norbev, has won a contract from Elbar Services, the Derby-based food distributor, to supply a range of drinks to the UK operations of Makro, the leading cash and carry chain, in a deal worth around £1.5m. * Elbar is a major supplier of products to Makro depots. Norbev, based in Ballymena, secured its first contract from Elbar following a meeting organised by Invest Northern Ireland, the region’s business development agency. The contract for the supply of still and sparkling water under Makro’s established Rioba brand was announced by Damian McCarthy, Norbev’s Commercial Director. In addition, Norbev is developing a range of fruit juices for Makro as part of the Elbar agreement. The products will be sold through Makro’s 300-strong UK network of depots. Elbar is also discussing an opportunity to supply a range of mixers for the European cash and carry client. McCarthy described the Elbar contract as “very significant business” for the company, which has been in bottling since 1919 and now operates from a plant that opened in April 2004, in Ballymena, County Antrim. Mr McCarthy said: “We were delighted to be given the opportunity by Elbar to bid for the contract to develop a wide range of new products for such a prestigious client as Makro. It’s a tremendous endorsement of our experience in contract bottling for major clients, and also of the high quality of services that we provide across the UK. “Our strategic focus is on building close partnerships with clients that enable us to provide products that meet their individual requirements. “Extensive capital investment in plant and equipment enables us to produce about 100 million bottles of water, minerals and juices annually. We now have one of the most modern bottling operations in the UK and our vast experience in logistics means we can provide the consistently high quality that clients require. We can distribute these efficiently throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland,” he added.

Jacek Pastuszka has been appointed CEO of Carlsberg Polska with effect from 9 January 2009. He replaces Marcin Pirog, who has decided to set up his own company after eight years as CEO of Carlsberg’s subsidiary in Poland. Jacek Pastuszka began his business career at Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1991 when the global company had just entered the Polish market. In 1996, he took a managerial job in the USA with P&G where he worked for Wal-Mart. He was made head of a P&G team developing the Tesco business in Central and Eastern Europe and Asia markets in 1999. Two years later, Pastuszka became Danone Trade Manager for Poland, where he managed sales and distribution within all sales channels. In time, his responsibilities were extended to include the Baltic States. Today Pastuszka is CEO of insurance company Amplico AIG Life.

*Anheuser-Busch InBev will be cutting 1,400 US jobs in its beer-related divisions. * About 75% of the cuts will be in St Louis, where the company's North American headquarters are based. In addition, more than 250 US positions that are currently open will not be filled, and 415 contractor positions will be eliminated. Most of the reductions will occur by the end of 2008. The cuts announced are in addition to the more than 1,000 US employees who accepted an early retirement programme. The company said the job losses will help it save at least $1.5bn a year by 2011 and cope with a "challenging economy". Anheuser-Busch had 8,600 salaried workers this summer and had planned to reduce that by 10% to 15%, mostly by offering some 1,000 employees a voluntary early retirement package. The redundancies occur only three weeks after the recent acquisition of Anheuser-Busch by InBev, based in Belgium. It is part of ongoing consolidation in the brewing industry, including the merging of Miller Brewing Co and Coors Brewing Co into the MillerCoors LLC joint venture.

Developments in the second half of this year have had a serious impact on earnings at Arla Foods. As a result, the Danish dairy company has downgraded its expectations for 2008 from profits of approx 900m DKK to 600-700m DKK. The financial crisis is affecting Arla in several ways. During this autumn, it became clear that the financial crisis had developed into an economic crisis, with consumers opting for cheaper dairy products and, in certain markets, avoiding buying them altogether. The latter especially has had a strong impact on Arla’s trading business. In addition, earnings were hit by losses on securities as a result of the general fall in share prices and foreign exchange adjustments in relation to Arla’s two main currencies: Sterling and Swedish Krona. Also, the market situation changed from a global shortage of milk in 2007 to a milk surplus at the end of 2008, which caused global market prices to fall. The trend was further intensified by the financial crisis and the provision for losses in the Chinese market as a result of the melamine crisis. Arla Foods wants to maintain the on-account price throughout the year, but the reduced earnings mean that the amount available for distribution is expected to fall from 15.6 DKK øre to 10-12 DKK øre per kg milk. “At the beginning of the autumn, we still believed that we would meet the budget. In recent months, however, global market prices for milk have fallen at a rate that nobody could have predicted only a few months ago – a fall that has been intensified by the financial crisis,” said Arla Foods CEO, Peder Tuborgh. The Board of Directors will assess the situation when the annual accounts for 2008 are available and will propose how profits should be allocated at the Board of Representatives’ meeting in early March. To alleviate the effects of reduced earnings, the leadership will be focusing on cost savings in its 2009 budget. “The economic crisis is developing dramatically. As we are preparing the budget for 2009, it seems that we are taking a snapshot that may be superseded by subsequent events,” said CFO Jørn Wendel Andersen. At its meeting in January, the Board of Directors will consider the budget for 2009 and a reduction in the Arla price.

**In its search for a solution to the financial challenges ahead, Danish-based Hirtshals Co-operative Dairy has approached Arla Foods with a view to merging the two companies. **This means Hirtshals’ co-operative members will be offered membership of Arla Foods following a takeover by Arla Foods. Hirtshals Co-operative Dairy’s Board of Directors will present their decision to the dairy’s co-operative members at an extraordinary meeting on 18 December. Hirtshals Co-operative Dairy has also decided to close down production at Ingstrup Dairy and to suspend operations. The Chairman of Hirtshals Co-operative Dairy, Cyril V Post, welcomes the fact that the dairy’s future has been settled, and accepts that it would have been hard to raise the finance to solve the problems in the current economic crisis. “We stand to lose 30-40% of our milk from the end of 2008 because several co-operative members have given notice of their intention to resign,” said Post. “The financial crisis is also causing many consumers to opt for cheaper products. As this is an area we don’t cover, our financial situation has been extremely difficult. In this situation, we're pleased that our approach to Arla Foods has been successful and that the dairy will now continue.” Arla Foods intends to maintain Hirtshals Co-operative Dairy and will, together with the dairy, evaluate its production and dairy products. “Hirtshals Co-operative Dairy has some interesting products,” says Arla Director of Danish Business Lars Aagaard. “We will now look into the opportunities for regional milk from North Jutlandian farmers. We will also ensure that it is still possible to buy milk from Hirtshals with the lighthouse on the carton.”

Mains-fed water cooler manufacturer Tana Water (UK) has announced its relocation to larger premises, and has gained a £1.26m investment in recognition of the company’s growth potential in the UK market. In a vote of confidence from parent company Tana Industries, Tana Water has gained additional funding to support its growth strategy, which includes relocating to larger headquarters at the new Henley Business Park near Guildford, increasing its sales and marketing staff and launching an expanded product range into the business and domestic markets. For more than a decade, Tana Water has supplied mains-fed water machines to UK government, healthcare, manufacturing, leisure, hospitality and educational organisations. In June 2008, the company was named as an approved supplier of mains-fed water coolers to the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA). This year, the company has delivered on ambitious growth plans, including opening a new telesales office on the Isle of Wight to support sales and service nationwide. Commenting on the funding, Danny Taragon, CEO of Tana Industries, said: “We've been impressed with the progress made by Tana Water UK. Since we set up our UK manufacturing operation in 2004, the company has gone from strength to strength and we're happy to support its continued growth.” Nick Heane, MD of Tana Water UK, added: “I'm delighted that our UK growth plans have gained the financial backing of Tana Industries. At a time when most UK companies are battling the credit crunch, this is a major endorsement of the Tana Water UK staff who have worked so hard to look after existing customers as well as winning new business.”

Whitbread plc reported slow growth in November and announced plans to cut capital spending despite reporting overall revenue rise. The owner of a series of restaurant and hotel brands, including coffee chain Costa and Premier Inn budget hotels reported that it has experienced some "softening" of growth in November, while revenue in the 39-week period increased by 6.7% at comparable outlets. "We have been reviewing our future development plans as the macro economic situation has become increasingly challenging," Whitbread CEO Alan Parker said in a statement. Parker added, "We believe that while this environment remains, we should take a more prudent approach to organic expansion." Whitbread said total sales across the group have increased by 13.4%. Sales growth sluggishly increased at Premier Inn and Costa in the third quarter. Revenue at Costa in the 39-week period increased by 2.6%, slower than the 3.7% growth in first half period. The Luton, England-based company said it has decided to limit capital expenditure next year to £200m ($297m) compared to £300m ($443m) in 2008.

*Zenith International will host the Second BeveragesMiddleEast (BevME) Congress in Dubai on 27 and 28 January 2009. * The two-day programme includes a conference with a focus on ‘Meeting the cost and innovation challenge’, market briefings and a visit to Del Monte’s state of the art Dubai production site. This will be the second BevME Congress and is designed for regional industry leaders and senior management, as well as marketing and technical professionals, industry suppliers and analysts. “Tightening economic conditions and cost pressures led us to seek practical responses on these issues for our 2009 Congress,” said Zenith International Chairman, Richard Hall. “Understanding consumer motivation and developing excellence in innovation accordingly become all the more important. The conference will deliver ideas and insights to help regional producers meet these challenges to better effect than their competitors.” *Speakers at the conference include managers from: * Aujan Industries CHR Hansen Del Monte Foods MasterCard National Beverage Company Red Bull Starcom MediaVest Group Tetra Pak TNS Worldpanel Maurizio Patarnello, CEO and Chairman of Nestlé Waters Zone Asia, Oceania, Middle East and Africa, will give the keynote address on the subject ‘Best practice in cost management’. Zenith International experts will present the latest beverage trends and provide market briefings on emerging growth opportunities and cost control. Leading suppliers CHR Hansen and Wild are sponsoring the Congress. For full programme details and to book online, visit <<1>">www.zenithinternational.com/events]<1> <1>: http://www.zenithinternational.com/events/

The new president will be faced with a range of important issues, not least of which will be the oncoming global recession, as governments attempt to deal with the downturn in world economies and the collapse of the banking sector that is bringing considerable pressure to bear on companies of all sizes. All this on top of the recent rises in food and energy prices. Other important issues will include the environment and the need to cut down the carbon footprint, the growing importance of alternative fuels and the need to cut down on waste and improve our recycling performance. And then, of course, there's legislation. The new president will surely be mindful of how governments around the world have introduced legislation that has a profound effect on the efficient operation of important businesses, not least of which is businesses in the dairy industry. So it is that we welcome Canada’s Richard Doyle as president of the International Dairy Federation. (Sorry, did you think I was talking about someone else?) Doyle, who is currently executive director of Dairy Farmers of Canada, took over as IDF president at the recent IDF Global Dairy Summit in Mexico. He succeeds the UK’s Jim Begg who has completed his four-year term. Keeping doom and gloom at bay I spoke to Jim about two weeks before the Mexico event. When we were talking about the need for the dairy industry to get the health message about milk and dairy products across to the consumer, he said we must aim for a situation “where governments never have an opportunity to advise consumers not to consume dairy products for either nutritional or environmental reasons”. And with the current volatility caused by the global economic downturn, he warned that we must not allow the doom and gloom merchants to prevail. If we do “it shatters confidence and you enter a vicious circle”. As we approach a new year, we should make those two aims part of any list of new year resolutions. We mustn't take our eye off the ball, because there are detractors out there who will use any opportunity and any excuse to undermine this industry of ours. Show them, in the words of Jim Begg’s Dairy UK campaign, that you are ‘Proud of Dairy’. I'm tempted to paraphrase a famous quote from another president, and this time it is an American president who took office nearly 50 years ago: Ask not what dairy can do for you – ask what you can do for dairy.

A polished steel water sculpture, promised to the people of Bath several years ago, has finally been unveiled to the public. The artwork by the sculptor William Pye, who also created the new font at Salisbury Cathedral, was one of several sculptures, installations and art displays paid for and chosen by people in Bath which had never materialised. The council finally agreed to install the sculpture at the end of Walcot Street and The Paragon, in the heart of the city's artisan quarter, six months ago. 'Offspring' is made of polished stainless steel and features a gentle cascade of water. Inspired by a section of a nautilus shell, the water for the sculpture is recycled from a small tank through a pump. The sculptures have been paid for by Lottery funding, plus donations and sponsorship from Zenith International, Wessex Water, The Joyce Fletcher Charitable Trust, The Marquess of Bath, and a contribution from the council's arts budget. Zenith contributed £15,000 from its company fund managed by the Quartet Community Foundation. Councillor Terry Gazzard, cabinet member for tourism, leisure and culture, said: "The installation of this piece of sculpture was the result of the council working together with local businesses and residents to deliver an improvement that they had requested. Enhancing public spaces and street scenes is one of the council's priorities and this project has given us the opportunity to deliver a scheme that will help to promote the excellent range of businesses in the Walcot Street area. The sculpture was paid for by funding from external national and local organisations, and the council would like to thank everyone for their contributions." Zenith International Chairman Richard Hall said: "Zenith International is delighted to support this prestigious piece of public art. Bath is rightly famous for its beauty and architectural heritage, and Offspring shows that we have contemporary design and art of equally high quality. This is the city's first new sculpture in a public open space for a generation."