News on Food Trends from United Kingdom

Yorkshire crisp brand Seabrook embarks on a major growth drive to increase its market share after a management buyout backed by private equity investor LDC, a subsidiary of the Lloyds Banking Group

The AHDB Potatoes ‘Next Generation’ tour kicked off in Yorkshire last month, visiting two progressive Yorkshire based potato processing businesses.

New branding and a proposed new way of working for the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) was formally launched at the Cereals event in Lincolnshire earlier this month.

Researchers in the United Kingdom aim for a new commercial potato that resists many of the worst vulnerabilities of potato crops around the world.

AHDB Potatoes launched its first ever ‘Next Generation’ programme, a series of 9 business and technical days that - for a selected few - will provide exposure to the whole supply chain.

Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Morrison’s are recalling a number of food products after a batch of potatoes used as ingredients in all of them was found to contain small pieces of metal. The affected batch of potatoes originated from a single supplier.

In the latest Consumer Category Report of the Potato Council, one of the topics addressed is the online sales of fresh potatoes - including actual growth, comparison to competitive products and grocery in general as well as future opportunities

Physical activity has little role in tackling obesity - and instead public health messages should squarely focus on unhealthy eating, doctors say.

Smashburger restaurant chain makes its way to the United Kingdom, with 35 restaurants expected to open.

Permira announces today that a company backed by Permira Europe III has entered into a definitive agreement to sell Iglo Foods Holdings Limited (“Iglo Group”, or the “Group”), Europe’s largest frozen food business, to Nomad Holdings Limited (“Nomad”) for €2.6 billion.

BrandOpus, a strategic design agency specialising in brands, has worked with McCain Foods (GB) , the best selling frozen potato brand in the United Kingdom, to create a new range of Fries designed to appeal to an adult audience.

The Heinz 'Aunt Bessie' potato factory in Norfolk that was scheduled to close this April, will be sold to potato company Albert Bartlett.

Late last week, the Potato Council published its annual GB Potatoes Market Intelligence report, wrapping up all key information about the GB potato market in order to inform decision-making and provide answers for common questions about the industry.

The UK food industry has seen a surge in the sales of organic foods according to an annual report by the Soil Association.

Building on the growing success of its collaboration over the past two years, Potato Council and Horticultural Development Company (HDC) brought the largest collaborative UK stand yet to this year’s Fruit Logistica event in Berlin.

To combat tumbling potato consumption, NFU Scotland has urged the industry’s statutory levy body to consider shifting its funding emphasis from research and development to more promotion.

While most of the UK’s largest supermarkets reported stronger than expected food sales over the festive period, their ongoing and brutal price war is pushing many food suppliers and smaller high street grocers to the brink, warns business recovery specialists Begbies Traynor.

'Potato Council' will become 'AHDB Potatoes' later this year as the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board’s (AHDB) operating divisions will be rebranded to create a simplified family of levy-payer facing brands under the AHDB name.