Food and Drink Matters

October 2009

Camel's milk over the hump

Europe's first, and possibly only, camels' milk farm is seeing growing interest from Western health food outlets and top retailers for its product. The milk is recognised by the UN and other organisations as having rich nutritional value.

Based in Holland the farm has had to overcome many obstacles, including the might of EU bureaucracy. Frank Smits started the farm in 2006 with only three camels, which he had to find within the EU territories as importing them from outside the EU was banned. The animals were eventually found in the Canary Isles, which is part of Spain

Today he has 40 camels and wants to expand this number to 120 by 2012 to meet the growing demand for milk and other products. Initially he was closed down because camels were not designated as farm animals. Having overcome this and several other obstacles Smits then had to design a special milking machine to meet EU hygiene requirements but also to accommodate the rather temperamental beasts.

The milk sells at a premium price of €6 per litre and current outlets include several dozen Islamic groceries and health stores. Much of the rest is exported to Germany and the UK.

Camels' milk contains antibodies which can fight serious diseases such as cancer, HIV and Alzheimer's and Hepatitis B, it is claimed. It contains less than 2 per cent fat, compared with cow's milk which contains 5 per cent.

 Green & Black's turns gold

A new, ‘plastic free' pack for an Easter egg from luxury confectioners Green & Black's won a Gold Star in the Environment- New Developments category at the prestigious 50^th Starpack Awards, organised by The Packaging Society.

The pack, manufactured by Chesapeake Branded Packaging, provides a 60 per cent packaging weight reduction by removing the need for additional vacuum-formed fitments, while creating excellent shelf impact. To meet Green & Black's directive to produce ‘a plastic free Easter' Chesapeake and design house Pearlfisher came up with the concept of a bag shaped carton which did away with the need for a plastic fitment to hold each egg in place. Manufactured entirely from carton board, the new concept has resulted in an annual reduction of more than 70 tonnes of plastic and cardboard packaging. Two years in development, the resulting packs are printed in six colours plus a special drip off varnish process, combining registered high gloss and matt varnishes. The amount of chocolate in the shell of the eggs has also been increased.

"A lovely piece of structural and graphic packaging design that really connects with Green & Black's brand image" said WRAP, which sponsored the award. "It improves the recyclability of the pack and uses recycled content. The decision to increase the thickness of the chocolate in the egg to reduce the potential for breakages in the supply chain will go down very well with consumers!"

 

Sales of frozen food hot up

According to the British Frozen Food Federation the latest data for the 52 weeks ending in September 2009 has shown that the value of the global retail frozen food market is now worth just over £5.1 billion.

Other sectors that continue to perform well in value growth are frozen potatoes (6.1 per cent), frozen confectionery and desserts (6.5 per cent) and frozen meat and poultry (6.8 per cent). Volume is flat or declined slightly in most sectors, but frozen confectionery and desserts showed some significant growth at 2.8 per cent year on year.  All nine product sectors analysed by TNS Worldpanel, which compiles the report, are showing value growth of at least 2.4 per cent with the savoury food section showing the most impressive growth at 9.6 per cent year on year. However the volume of units sold is generally lower than in 2008.

Over the last three years the frozen food market has grown by over £700 million, says the Worldpanel, with savoury foods putting on over £150 million in value growth, while the fish sector has grown by more than £140 million and potato products by £100 million. In the same period value growth has been 15.9 per cent. Potato products, vegetables, meat and poultry and fish have all grown by more than 20 per cent.

 

Sending offal overseas makes sense

The English Beef and Lamb Executive (EBLEX)  says beef processors in the UK are missing out on a potential £95 million income boost by failing to tuck in to the ‘fifth quarter' export market for offal products.

Developing the offal processing capabilities in abattoirs will help expand the capacity for exporting parts of the animals for which there is little or no domestic market and enable producers and processors to improve productivity.

EBLEX hosted a seminar recently to highlight the opportunities available in exporting offal to markets in the Far East, with the aim of promoting discussion on the topic to drive development at processing facilities.

"There is an estimated £95 million to be gained in adding value to the bovine fifth quarter in the UK," said Jean Pierre Garnier, export manager for EBLEX.

"The seminar is part of a continuing development programme that started in 2006 when we resumed beef exports. Current sales of bovine offal are encouraging but still lag behind what has been achieved in the pork and poultry sectors."

He added that there was also significant potential for sales of sheep offal.EBLEX is planning the publication of a new offal specifications guide for the Far East this autumn.

Water, water everywhere...

Bottled water consumption grew by 4.5 per cent during 2008 to reach 218 billion litres worldwide, according to a recent report by Zenith International. Still water continues to dominate the market with 86 per cent by volume.

Significant growth in less developed bottled water markets helped to counteract the combined pressures of the economic downturn and public concerns about the environment. Asia/Australasia consolidated its position as the biggest volume regional market, achieving a 28 per cent share, on a rise of 11 per cent. Africa and the Middle East also recorded gains, of 14 and 6 per cent respectively, but these regions have a combined market share of just 11 per cent. Consumption increased in all other regions except West Europe, which remained static, and North America, which declined by 0.7 per cent in 2008. Despite these figures, the United States is still the largest national market in the world in both volume and value.

The world's top four bottled water companies - respectively Nestlé, Danone, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo - held a combined 31 per cent volume share in 2008.

In forecasts by country for the next five years, Zenith predicts bottled water consumption will rise a further 18 per cent to 259 billion litres by 2013.