The FMT Blog
Opinion, analysis and musings from the FMT editorial team and expert guest writers about the food processing and manufacturing sector.
Sainsbury’s reveals what Asda merger could mean for suppliers
In a report released by Sainsbury’s, the supermarket explains what its merger with Asda really means for suppliers. Working with is described to be stronger combined Sainsbury’s and Asda, the supermarket claims its suppliers will have the opportunity to develop its...
Iceland sales rise 8% despite supply chain challenges
Iceland has released its full-year results, revealing an increase in total sales to more than £3 billion. The grocer, which specialises in frozen foods, has also seen an increase in like-for-like sales by 2.3% in the 53 weeks to the end of March this year. However, it...
Tesco UK and Republic of Ireland sales up 3.5%
Tesco has released its First Quarter Trading Statement 2018/19, and growth plans are on track with total UK and Republic of Ireland (ROI) sales up 3.5%. Tesco’s UK like-for-like sales were up 2.1% as performance improved through the quarter (after taking the timing of...
Food figures recognised in Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2018
The Queen’s Birthday Honours List has recognised the achievements of several people in the UK food industry; among them Stephen Hall, Archibald MacMillan, James McCrum and John Alvis. Below is a brief profile of each of the recipients ... Stephen Hall OBE Stephen Hall...
New technology required for country of origin labelling
A new paper by Professor Iain Fraser from the University of Kent states that new technology will be required for mandatory country of origin labelling (COOL). Currently only a small number of products in the European Union legally require COOL information, such as...
Positive results for the meat, fish and poultry market
Recent meat, fish and poultry (MFP) results shows that burgers and chicken are seeing major growth, while fish has also received a boost. This is according to the most recent data from Kantar Worldpanel, covering the 12 weeks to 20th May. Burgers up 17% Hot weather...
Tesco to tackle lemon shortage
Tesco has announced it wants to prevent a potential lemon shortage by putting a greener version of the fruit on its supermarket shelves. A lemon shortage in the UK has allegedly been caused by a significantly reduced end of season volume in Spain, which is where the...
Heinz Salad Cream renaming rumours
Media reports over recent days are suggesting that food processing company Heinz is considering changing the name of its long-established Salad Cream product to a new brand name ‘Sandwich Cream’. Some years ago, the company was believed to be considering stopping...
Apparent traces of meat found in supermarket vegetarian meals
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has begun an investigation after claims that traces of meat were found in food classified as vegan or vegetarian at two major supermarkets. The information comes after The Daily Telegraph claimed to have tested ten vegan and vegetarian...
Grocery market predicted to increase by 15% by 2020
The UK food and grocery market is forecast to grow by 15% between now and 2022, according to grocery research organisation IGD. IGD is predicting growth across all the major grocery channels, and forecasting that by 2020, one in every £7 will be spent at a discounter,...