Page 60 - Food & Drink Magazine Nov-Dec 2018

YEAR IN REVIEW
selection and processing of the ruby cocoa beans – no fruit flavouring or colourants are added to the chocolate.
For every bag of RB1, Callebaut sources sustainably grown beans and supports cocoa farmers in farming communities.
In January, Nestlé Japan launched a limited-edition KitKat Chocolatory Sublime Ruby, the world’s first item made with ruby chocolate. The Ruby KitKat is sold in store at the KitKat Chocolatory boutique in Melbourne.
ACCC CRACKS DOWN ON PRODUCT LABELS
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced it would conduct market surveillance checks on 10,000 food products to ensure businesses are correctly displaying the new Country of Origin labels
which came into effect on 1 July.
All manufacturers, processors and importers
that offer food for retail sale in Australia must comply with the Country of Origin Food Labelling Information Standard which specifies
how claims can be made about the origin of food products.
The ACCC also focused investigations on companies making misleading claims about organic ingredients after identifying concerns with a small number of products.
JULY
PENFOLDS EXPANDS PRODUCTION
Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) announced plans to extend the sourcing of its Penfolds-branded products to overseas markets including the US.
The company will start producing Californian red wine under the luxury South Australian brand out of the Napa Valley later this year, with the first wines to be ready in 2022.
In September, the company released a premium fortified Barossa shiraz that has been infused with the popular Asian spirit Baijiu, especially for the Chinese market.
TWE also rolled out a single batch brandy under the Penfolds brand, and is releasing a classic Champagne sourced from the region of the same name in France next year when the brand turns 175.
IMPORTED FROZEN VEGETABLES RECALLED Several brands of imported frozen vegetables were recalled from supermarkets over fears of potential contamination by listeria bacteria. Food Standards Australia and
New Zealand (FSANZ) issued an alert for a number of brands of frozen vegetable products across Aldi, Woolworths and IGA stores.
Own-brand products for ALDI, including Market Fare frozen vegetables, were among those affected, as well as bags of Essentials snap-frozen
the facility to
allay regulatory concerns over
competition for
raw milk in south-west
Victoria and south-east South Australia.
The Koroit facility will be integrated into Bega Cheese’s broader network of
milk processing facilities, and the company said there is potential upside from the increased milk intake including milk Bega already collects in the region.
Bega Cheese noted, however, that it may take until FY2021 to fully integrate the facility.
✷
ON THE COVER
My Muscle Chef
JULY 2018
MEAL KIT COMPANIES SNACK BAR RANGE HOW TO HANDLE A MAKE INROADS P20 WITH SUBSTANCE P28 MANDARIN BOOM P40
WWW.FOODANDDRINKBUSINESS.COM.AU
Ready meal maker flexes sustainable packaging muscle
mixed vegetables and Bell Farms steam veggie carrot, corn and broccoli bags, which are sold at Woolworths.
Black and Gold branded frozen vegetables were also at risk and were recalled across Australia.
Some of the recalled vegetables were imported from Europe, and the recall in Australia follows recent recalls, and fatalities, in the UK.
The peak body for Australian vegetable growers, AUSVEG, said the national recall involved imported
products only, not locally grown produce.
MODERN
SLAVERY ACT
A draft bill for the
Modern Slavery Act was released as part of a nationwide move to make more Australian businesses accountable.
The Australian Government Modern Slavery Bill 2018, passed by the House, requires more than 3000 large companies to publish annual statements on their actions to address modern slavery in their supply chains and operations.
Fairtrade Australia and New Zealand CEO Molly Harriss Olson said stamping out modern slavery will give ethical businesses a competitive edge.
The Global Slavery Index estimates that 45.8 million people in 167 countries are in some form of modern slavery – whether forced labour, debt bondage, or exploitative work.
BEGA CHEESE SNARES KOROIT FACILITY
Bega Cheese paid $250 million to buy the Koroit facility from Saputo Dairy Australia.
The facility, located in Western Victoria, was formerly owned by Murray Goulburn prior to its acquisition by Saputo.
Saputo pledged to divest
ALDI BLAMED FOR DICK SMITH FOODS CLOSURE The 74-year-old
entrepreneur Dick Smith closed his food business and is phasing out more than a dozen products including peanut butter, tomato sauce, and breakfast spreads.
Smith claimed companies that support Australian workers and produce cannot compete with German supermarket giant Aldi which he accused of building its success on "extreme capitalism".
Smith, the 1986 Australian of the Year, headed up the business for 19 years, offering locally sourced and owned alternatives to big-name food brands. He claimed
Aldi exploited cheap labour overseas to keep costs down.
Thanking industry heavyweights for their two decades of support, Smith said he had created $480 million for
60 | Food&Drink business | November-December 2018 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au
PRINT POST APPROVED 100005338