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Beginning 1 July 2019, international environmental NGO Rainforest Alliance will be offering further mutual recognition offerings for its cocoa, tea and hazelnut programs, following its June 2017 merger with sustainable farming logo UTZ. Companies at the end of the supply chain will be able to source these listed Rainforest Alliance Certified and UTZ-certified ingredients (or a combination of both), and use either the Rainforest Alliance seal or UTZ labelling on product packaging, in accordance with local labelling regulations.

“The launch of this offering will ensure that farmers that invested in meeting our standards can soon access the fullest range of potential buyers we can connect them to,” says Ruth Newsome, Senior Manager of Strategic Markets Solutions at Rainforest Alliance.

This is in addition to the Chain of Custody Mutual Recognition that has been effective since December 2018, which allows companies to purchase both Rainforest Alliance Certified and UTZ-certified ingredients while only having one Chain of Custody certificate in place for either one of the current programs. UTZ and Rainforest Alliance merged in June 2017, forming a single agricultural sustainability standard addressing environmental and social issues around the world, including climate change, deforestation, poverty and unsustainable farming.

Cargill has announced that it will break ground in June 2019 on the construction of a state-of-the-art pectin plant in Bebedouro/Brazil, with a completion date by the end of 2021. The plant will produce HM pectin, a versatile texturizing agent derived from citrus fruits to help meet the growing and global demand for label-friendly pectins for fruit preparations, dairy, confectionery and bakery food applications. The new plant represents an investment of approximately USD 150 m. It is expected to add 120 new direct jobs in the production and support areas.

“Consumers want ingredients in their foods they recognize,” states Judd Hoffman, Cargill’s texturizers segment leader of starches, sweeteners and texturizers. “Pectin, a nature-derived texturizer with superior functionality, helps to meet these needs. The investment in Brazil in combination with our European pectin facilities illustrates our commitment to customers around the globe to provide innovative and label-friendly solutions.”

Judd Hoffman continues: “Adding a new plant in Brazil is part of our comprehensive pectin strategy. By growing our pectin footprint and investing in our plants in Europe (France, Germany and Italy), we aim to meet the growing demand for label-friendly ingredients. In this context we are also announcing the modernization of our pectin plant in Redon/France.”

GEA, supplier for the food processing industry, recently showcased a new cloud-based platform for digital services for the first time. This supplier-independent portal provides customers modern service solutions like remote maintenance, data analysis and comprehensive e-commerce and enables them to seamlessly integrate all their supplier interactions in one common platform.

For a pilot project, GEA won a key customer, starting with e-commerce for ordering spare parts, smaller components and technical service. The platform also includes a documentation part where the customers are being provided with certificates, operating manuals and training documents, for example. The new portal will be launched in July 2019 for the first German customers. Until the end of 2020, additional services will be implemented, like condition monitoring, PLC connections and video support.

Ruby, the fourth type, which has been welcomed by artisans, brands and consumers across the globe, is now broadly available in the biggest chocolate and confectionery market, the United States, as well as in Canada. To obtain a US standard of identity for the breakthrough innovation, Barry Callebaut, therefore, is working closely with the FDA to begin test marketing ruby as a new chocolate product in the US, with the ultimate goal of establishing a new standard of identity reflecting ruby’s distinctive sensory profile. In the meantime, ruby will be launched in the US as ruby couverture.

The artisan proposition, Callebaut® RB1 Couverture, will be celebrated at a private chef-led event in Miami on Monday, May 20, 2019; the Food Manufacturer offering, Barry Callebaut Ruby, will be spotlighted at the National Confectioners Association’s (NCA’s) Sweets and Snacks Expo in Chicago on Tuesday, May 21, 2019. Both events will feature chef demonstrations, product application sessions, and sampling.

“Fueled by the overwhelming consumer response around the globe, Barry Callebaut collaborated with a small group of pioneering artisans over the last six months to soft launch ruby in the US marketplace. The sales of those consumer products have been very strong. As a result, to help ensure that our business partners have access to the product, we feel that now is the time to take the next step in our global roll-out campaign, and introduce ruby to the entire North American market”, said Peter Boone, CEO & President, Barry Callebaut America.

The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) has issued a statement accepting cocoa’s role in deforestation. It also pledged support for initiatives that aim to halt deforestation whilst highlighting the need for farmers and farmer livelihoods to be taken into account in any solutions. Deforestation has become an important issue in the cocoa sector and among consumers in Europe, who are due to go to the polls in the European elections in late May 2019.

Responding to growing demands by politicians and from a growing number of organizations in the cocoa sector, in April 2019 the International Cocoa Council at the International Cocoa Organization issued a communiqué about the issue. The Council said it recognized that many ICCO exporting members have in place national programmes and policies aiming at fighting deforestation and favouring reforestation, but also recognized that the agricultural sector is a major driver of deforestation and that the impact of cocoa is significant in certain deforestation hotspots. The Council acknowledged that deforestation is a global issue that needs a global solution and took note of the EU initiative on deforestation and forest degradation, but it also highlighted the fact that improvement in the revenues and the living conditions of cocoa farmers must be integrated into policies aimed at fighting deforestation.

The communiqué noted that cocoa can play a key role in the process of forest restoration, given that cocoa’s growth environment favours agroforestry systems and the presence of shade trees. It recommended setting up a platform enabling all relevant stakeholders within the world cocoa economy to join forces and scale up their common actions on the issue of deforestation. The cocoa body further committed to encouraging ICCO member countries to enforcing policies and practices that ensure environmental protection, including anti-deforestation and reforestation measures, soil protection, and agroforestry systems.

Since 1944, Vemag Maschinenbau GmbH has been developing and producing machines and attachments for the food industry and small-scale segment. With constant focus on customer demanded solutions for filling, portioning, forming and loading of food products, the company has been able to advance to position 25 in the top rankings of German mid-size segment companies.

The company named Holz- und Gerätebaugesellschaft mbH was founded in Verden/Germany in turmoil of the penultimate year of the war, and in 1950 rebranded into Vemag Verdener Maschinen- und Apparatebau GmbH. The producer of diverse investment and consumable products, such as honey separators, has emerged into a globally active company and an innovation leader for vacuum technology. The development of the continuous vacuum filling machine for the mid-size and small-scale industrial segment, in order to fill and transport dough mass and sausage emulsion reliably and evenly, has been the key factor of success.

Yet, another mile stone has been the innovation of the double screw technology, a unique selling point of the company till today. The Double Screw Feed System handles the filling material with utmost care, reducing product losses and optimizing the total costs of the process through the stability of this proven technology. Different types of double screws, alternatively also rotary vane pumps, serve only one purpose: the combination of a vacuum filling machine and the matching attachment shall help the customers to succeed.