Breaking News on Food and Beverage Processing and Packaging

On your radar > Sustainability

Sustainability

The challenge for the food and drink industry and others throughout the sector is to continue to achieve economic success while reducing carbon emissions, waste and water and energy consumption.

Global roll out for Nestlé’s eco-friendly measuring tool

Nestlé is implementing Ecodex, a web tool analyzing the environmental impact of its business across all its global operations, claiming it is more effective than standard life cycle analysis.

Market failures threaten PET recycling, says Plastics Recyclers Europe

Plastics Recyclers Europe has called for more polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to be collected to make use of industry resources.

Big savings from lighting choices, says ABA
ABA Energy Guide: Light Savings

American Bakers Association sheds light on energy savings

The American Bakers Association (ABA) has produced a guide to energy saving for industrial bakers that says costs can be significantly cut by making the right lighting choices.

Sustainable foods summit calls for supply chain efficiencies

The desperate need to improve supply chain efficiency was the core message of the Sustainable Foods Summit in San Francisco in the US, which ran from January 22-23.

Sealed Air president outlines food safety priorities

Sealed Air president outlines food safety priorities

The food industry should urgently address food access, food safety and food waste as its core priorities, according to Sealed Air Corporation president and chief executive officer Jerome Peribere.

Nestlé Waters enrages US shock jock Glenn Beck

Nestlé Waters North America is under fire from high-profile US shock jock Glenn Beck, who rubbished the company’s Pure Life water and its PET bottle on his radio show Monday....

Large scale solar food processing under investigation

Large scale solar food processing remains under-exploited, especially in hot countries, according to a study that is due to be published in the Journal of Food Science and Technology.

EFBW challenges video savaging $11.7bn bottled water ‘bad habit’

The European Federation of Bottled Water (EFBW) strongly denies that bottled water has hidden costs for human health and the environment, after a US pressure group urged consumers to kick...

International survey flags up packaging concerns

Consumers have raised significant concerns about plastic food packaging in response to a survey covering the US, India and Sweden conducted by Innventia.

Could renewable p-xylene be used in PET in the future?

Anellotech signs agreement for technology to boost yield of chemical used in PET production

Anellotech is a step closer to becoming the first commercial producer of renewable p-xylene after signing an agreement with a US university for technology which boosts yield of the chemical...

Used packaging sent for final disposal is declining, says EU data

European countries boosting packaging waste management, finds EUROPEN

Higher recovery and recycling rates has seen a drop in the amount of used packaging sent to landfill or burned without energy recovery, according to EU data.

Petainer invests millions in PET factory

Specialist plastics packaging firm Petainer Group has invested millions of euros into new injection moulding equipment to boost production at its site in Lidkoping, Sweden, with more investment planned.

Salmon trimming robot outperforms manual handler

Marel has launched a salmon trimming robot, which it claims can perform more quickly, consistently and continuously than a master trimmer working at peak performance.

Researchers turn sugar beet into biodegradable packaging

US scientists are hailing sugar beet pulp as a potential source of biodegradable thermoplastic packaging.

Exclusive interview

Bosch Packaging Technology outlines MAP trends

Seal integrity and taste preservation are some of the topics driving the global development of modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), according to Bosch Packaging Technology.

Biodegradable packaging from peat fibre

Researchers are pursuing a means of creating biodegradable packaging from peat fibre for use in a range of applications.

Software delivers fresh produce distributor six figure savings

A UK chilled produce distributor has secured six figure savings annually for the past two years by implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system across the business.

Energy efficiency keeps driving innovation for Multivac

Multivac continues to pursue energy efficient design for its processing equipment, with the launch of a thermoforming machine, which it claims uses 20% less energy than existing models.

News in brief

Dairy UK partners with WRAP to promote water efficiency

Dairy UK has signed an agreement to become an official partner to the Federation House Commitment (FHC) – a voluntary commitment to reduce water use.

Sustain plans industrial food waste campaign

UK charity Sustain aims to launch a campaign later this year designed to boost the amount of food waste being used for animal feed.

Dow and Mitsui postpone second phase of joint venture

Dow and Mitsui postpone manufacturing of biopolymers from sugar cane

Dow and Mitsui have postponed phase two of their joint venture to build a production unit to manufacture biopolymers for packaging from sugar cane-derived ethanol.

Asparagus waste: new nutrient extraction method

Researchers are investigating the commercial potential of a process for extracting nutritional ingredients from asparagus waste for use in functional food products.

AF&PA welcomes USDA issue to comment

US paper-based packaging plans issued for comment

Public comments are being invited on a research proposal covering four types of paper and paper-based packaging aimed at maintaining and expanding the products’ markets.

Consumers rank easy opening packs above eco-friendliness

UK shoppers are influenced by how easy packaging is to open more than by its environmental credentials, according to packaging supplier Payne.

High caffeine extraction from ethyl lactate

Ethyl lactate offers an eco-friendly and efficient method of decaffeination, according to a study just published in the journal Food and Bioproducts Processing.