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| First Test Tube Burger Months Away From Grilling but A Decade Away From Mass Production |
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 The world’s first test-tube hamburger, created in a Dutch laboratory by growing muscle fibres from bovine stem cells, will be ready to grill in October, scientists believe.
“I am planning to ask Heston Blumenthal to cook it,” Mark Post, leader of the artificial meat project at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, told the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Vancouver.
Researchers believe that meat grown in factories, rather than on farms, will be a more sustainable and less environmentally harmful source of food. Live cattle and pigs are only 15% efficient at converting vegetable proteins to meat from the grass and cereals they eat.
“If we can raise the efficiency from 15 to 50% by growing meat in the lab, that would be a tremendous leap forward,” Professor Post said.
Starting with bovine stem cells, the Dutch researchers have grown muscle fibres up to 3cm long and 0.5mm thick. The fibres are tethered and exercised as they grow, like real muscles, by bending and stretching in the culture dishes. They feed on a broth of vegetable proteins and other nutrients, equivalent to the grass or grain diet of cattle.
At present the fibres are a pallid yellowish-pink colour, rather than the red of raw ground beef, because they do not contain blood, but Prof Post plans to improve their appearance.
Patrick Brown, biochemistry professor at Stanford University in California, told the AAAS that global meat consumption was expected to double by 2050, yet livestock farming already accounted for 18% of man-made greenhouse gas emissions and threatened biodiversity worldwide.
To provide fat, an essential element in real burgers, bovine fat cells are also being grown in the lab. They will be minced in with the muscle fibres.
“We started this project about six years ago, and I expect it will be another 10 to 20 years before we can mass-produce our meat,” Prof Post said.
An anonymous individual has financed the Maastricht project with a €250,000 grant. He is expected to contribute further funds after the planned production of a “proof of concept” burger from the lab-grown muscle in October. |
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| Item last updated: Tuesday February 21 2012 09:45 |
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| Kellogg Bag Pringles To Build Global Snacks Business |
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P&G announced its intention to sell the Pringles business to Kellogg in a $2.7-billion all-cash transaction. Final timing will be dependent upon receiving all necessary regulatory approvals.
The sale is following an unsuccessful atempt at a sale to Diamond Foods.
This is an excellent development for P&G, Pringles and Kellogg, representing an outstanding opportunity for Pringles employees with a leading company in the Food sector. Kellogg is a strong strategic home for Pringles and will significantly accelerate Kellogg’s goal of building a global snacks business on par with its global cereal business.
“Guided by what is best for shareholders and employees, we believe this agreement with Kellogg presents an exciting new future for our snacks business,” said P&G Chairman of the Board, President and CEO Bob McDonald. |
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| Item last updated: Tuesday February 21 2012 09:45 |
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| Cost Efficiencies Save Kerry Consumer Foods' Bacon |
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Kerry’s Consumer Foods Group margins over the last year have been peddling backwards, as they slumped 30 basis points, although profits were still maintained through business efficiencies and innovation in value offerings.
Highlights for the global ingredients & flavours and consumer foods group, for the year ended in December 2011 include:
• Group sales revenue increased by 6.9% (6.4% LFL) to €5.3 billion
• 3.3% increase in business volumes
• Trading profit reaches a milestone €501m level
• Ingredients & Flavours trading margin up 10 basis points to 11.9%
• Consumer Foods trading margin 30 basis points lower at 7.8%
• R&D investment of €167m
Commenting on the results Kerry Group Chief Executive Stan McCarthy said; "Kerry delivered good profitable growth in 2011 despite weak consumer confidence in many markets and significant raw material & input cost inflation. The Group performed well across developed and developing markets while continuing to build our capabilities and positioning for the future. Trading profit reached a milestone level of €501m in 2011.”
Cost recovery in the Group's consumer foods markets in Ireland and the UK proved more challenging due to the prevailing economic situation and level of price promotional activity in both markets. However, while Kerry Foods saw a moderation in volume growth as the year progressed, profitability in the division was maintained due to on-going business efficiency programmes and successful innovation focused on value consumer offerings.
Further tightening of household budgets in Ireland and the UK has continued to drive value consumption and increased market promotional activity. This has heightened competition across branded and private label offerings and limited cost recovery pricing actions in some categories.
While volume growth in Kerry Foods' business moderated during the year, a satisfactory performance was achieved in particular in the UK. Divisional profitability was maintained through an increased focus on business efficiency programmes.
Sales revenue increased to €1,674m reflecting 3.2% LFL growth. Overall business volumes grew by 1.1%, reflecting 2.6% volume growth in the UK and a decline of 2.6% in Ireland. Trading profit showed 1% LFL growth at €130m. Despite gains through business efficiency programmes, difficulties in cost recovery particularly in private label categories meant that the divisional trading margin was 30 basis points lower at 7.8%.
In the UK market Kerry Foods' UK Brands again achieved a strong performance. Richmond maintained good brand share growth in the sausage sector. While Wall's continues to establish brand leadership in sausage rolls it lost brand share in the fresh sausage market.
Mattessons continued to grow the meat snacking sector but 'Fridge Raiders' margins were adversely impacted by increased raw material costs. Mattessons 'Rippa Dippa' range introduced in late 2010 recorded good progress.
Cheestrings maintained leadership in the children's cheese snack sector despite heavy promotional activity in the category. The 'Cheestrings Spaghetti' variant launched in H2 2010 consolidated its market positioning. Low Low has repositioned its market focus to the cheese spreads and slices segments targeted towards taste and health offerings.
UK Customer Brands food categories remained highly competitive. Cost recovery proved challenging in some of Kerry's selected categories resulting in some loss of business in cooked meats and frozen meals. However Kerry Foods continued to record good growth in chilled ready meals and dairy spreads. In the chilled ready meals sector successful innovation contributed to further growth in Kerry Foods' major retailer accounts.
In the frozen meals category, Headland Foods was acquired to consolidate Kerry's market positioning and assist in restoring stability to the frozen meals category. Due to the level of input cost increases impacting the category in 2011, the integrated Kerry Foods frozen meals business has had to forego loss making sales so as to maintain profitability in the category.
Kerry's Brands Ireland business has been realigned to reflect the current market environment as consumers remain challenged by the recessionary economic situation. The division's brands are now focussed on innovation to meet the needs of value conscious consumers without compromising on quality.
Kerry Foods added value meat brands lost some market share in 2011 due to the level of promotional activity in the marketplace and low pricing from private label and discounter offerings. Since year-end Denny has brought significant product innovation to the sliced meats market with the launch of Ireland's first 100% Natural Ingredients Denny Deli Style ham. Dairygold maintained its number one brand position in the Irish spreads market. In the cheese sector brand leader Charleville grew market share in the first half of 2011 but lost share to heavily discounted offers in the second half of the year. Cheestrings continues to achieve good progress in Belgium and Holland and was successfully introduced to the German market in 2011. The Ficello brand maintained good growth in France. |
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| Item last updated: Tuesday February 21 2012 09:45 |
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