Potato News from United Kingdom

At first glance, the planned 9% increase in the potato levy over the next three years seems hard to justify.For a start, it is coming in a year in which UK potato prices have been under considerable pressure. The last thing any grower needs is another ...

The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) is to give more emphasis to its work to promote the economic importance of the industry as part of a restructure announced today by President Ross Warburton. Each year FDF elects a small group of officers from its m...

Potato growers need no reminding that they now spend well in excess of £100 per acre keeping their crops disease and pest free through a hefty spray programme of nematicides, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides.That is why they would be delighted w...

Breaking the stranglehold of DS Smith and Smurfit Kappa, who accounted for all of the finalists last year in this hotly contested category, Inspirepac just pipped DS Smith's Louth site to this year's top prize, thanks to an entry hailed by judges for i...

I usually like to keep my blogs short and to the point, but following a critical article about the Agency's salt policy in The Times earlier this week, I felt this needed a more detailed response. As Chief Scientist, my job is to ensure that the Agency...

Harvesting throughout Northwest Europe is virtually finished and markets are entering a new phase of the season. Quality concern and wastage, resulting from high dry matter levels and difficult harvest conditions, are now becoming the main influence ...

Organisers of last month's annual PPMA Show said that the "green shoots of economic recovery were in evidence"at the event, with many exhibitors reporting sales and high levels of enquiries. Ishida Europe said it achieved its leads target w...

Exports of food and non-alcoholic drinks bucked the recessionary trend and were up 10.2% to £4.82bn in the first six months of the year, according to new research commissioned by the Food and Drink Federation (FDF)[1]. Exports of all UK goods were dow...

United Biscuits (UBUK), a leading manufacturer of snacks, biscuits and cakes, has launched a range of savoury snacks 35p Price Marked Packs, available now, to help retailers and their customers beat the economic downturn. The new selection of Price Mar...

Research released today by Tate &Lyle shows that consumers continue to see health and wellness as an important issue and will pay more for foods that display health benefits on their labels. The findings are part of Tate &Lyle’s ongoing resea...

Aviko’s Range of Gratins succeed in gaining the Craft Guild of Chefs endorsement! The five gratin varieties, from potato producer Aviko, have just been approved for endorsement by the Craft Guild of Chefs by passing its “Fit for Purpose and Quality As...

Greenvale's new packaging for its Lady Balfour organic potatoes has increased shelf life, decreased wastage and reduced complaints about greening by over 50%.Greenvale AP is the UK's largest supplier of fresh potatoes and Lady Balfour is one of the UK'...

The Potato Council put on a spectacular display in London this morning, cooking up a potato dish, UPSIDE DOWN!In the unique stunt, aimed at getting the younger generation to ‘Love Potatoes’ this autumn, Potato Council took to the London’s South Bank to...

Rising profits and turnover at Kettle Foods have fuelled speculation that its private equity owners will put the business up for sale.City speculation has suggested that Lion Capital, which bought Norwich-based Kettle for about £170m in 2006, will put ...

At least 124,000 new cancers in 2008 in Europe may have been caused by excess body weight, according to estimates from a new modelling study. The proportion of cases of new cancers attributable to a body mass index of 25kg/m2 or more were highest among...

Scientists at the Scottish Crop research Institute (SCRI) have helped unlock the mystery behind potato blight - a disease that costs the global industry an estimated £4billion of losses every year. The same disease devastated crops in Ireland 150 year...

In Fife, Scotland, a farm worker died after falling into a potato harvester in Fife. The arms and legs of the 34 year old man became entangled in the machinery on Foodie Farm near Cupar on Sunday morning.He was taken by helicopter to hospital but later...

A new BBC TV series, Beat the Boss, involves teams of youngsters and adults competing to devise new products. For one of the programmes experts at Bradford’s Seabrook Crisps worked with teams to develop new ranges and flavours. Three 11 and 12-year...