Potato News from United Kingdom

September 29, 2011

Greenvale sees turnover rise, profit drop

A Scottish potato producer that supplies Birds Eye, McCain and Tesco has unearthed a 10 per cent rise in turnover in its maiden results as a listed company. Revenues at Duns-based Produce Investments grew to £171.4 million in the year to 25 June, boos...

September 28, 2011

Pepsico's Zero Waste to Landfill program saves money too

PepsiCo UK has now achieved Zero Waste to Landfill status at 11 of its major manufacturing sites, including Walkers in Leicester and Quaker Oats in Cupar. In 2008, PepsiCo UK revealed a number of commitments to grow sustainably and minimise its impact...

September 28, 2011

Glenn Bryan, Anton Haverkort and John Beddington to speak at World Potato Congress

Top potato researchers from Britain and The Netherlands have joined the speaker panel at the World Potato Congress (WPC 2012) due to take place in Edinburgh, Scotland, May 27-30. Exploiting the potato genome and how new-found knowledge will ultimatel...

September 26, 2011

Irrigation of potato crop a key topic at East of England Potato Day

Irrigate with the right amount of water, at the right time, in the right place, growers were urged by Dr Jerry Knox at the well-attended Potato Council East of England day (September 1, Tuddenham, Bury St Edmunds). Improved water efficiency may not ne...

September 26, 2011

Tong Peal launches new side eject box tipper

To ensure efficient, robust and reliable box tipping, Tong Peal, the UK’s leading designer and manufacturer of handling and sorting equipment for the vegetable handling industry, has introduced a new side eject box tipper.

September 23, 2011

Potato companies sign potato breeding deal with Mylnefield Research Service

Two Potato companies - Taylor Food Group and QV Foods - have signed a five year deal with the James Hutton Institute's Mylnefield Research Service (MRS) subsidiary to continue a potato breeding programme that originally started in 2005. Taylor Food Gr...

September 22, 2011

Tyrrells Crisps launch heritage variety winter limited edition

Next month, Tyrrells Crisps are launching a Winter Seasonal limited edition seasoning in time for the winter period, Sour Cream &Roasted Garlic, which will be on shelves from October to February and will be priced at 69p for 40g and £1.89 for 150g ...

September 20, 2011

'Cook your own potatoes' new classroom project Potato Council

Potato Council is introducing a wide range of potato related resources into secondary schools as part of the national curriculum after successfully piloting a new classroom project;‘Cook Your Own Potatoes’. Following on from the increasingly popular ...

September 20, 2011

Potato Council successful at Potato Europe 2011

International seed breeders and exporters sharing the Potato Council stand enjoyed a very busy time at this year’s Potato Europe (Tournai, Belgium, September 7-8). “The record-breaking 2011 seed potato export season reflects our success in this secto...

September 16, 2011

Packaging firms ignored safety warnings for 3 years

The directors of a Bolton-based, fast food packaging company have been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after ignoring safety warnings for more than three years. First Packaging company directors Anthony Smith and Yvonne Barrett wer...

September 16, 2011

GEA Eurotek - Kiremko partnership is recipe for success

The strategic partnership between GEA Eurotek and Kiremko - two world leading food processing specialists - is proving to be a recipe for success. Food processing equipment specialist Kiremko first teamed up with chilling and freezing systems market l...

Guinness Book of records: World's Largest potato

September 15, 2011

Nottinghamshire gardener grows world's heaviest potato

A potato grown by an amateur gardener in Nottinghamshire has been confirmed by the Guinness Book of Records as the world's heaviest. The 11lb (4.99kg) spud was grown by Peter Glazebrook in his garden at Halam, near Newark in Nottinghamshire. The prev...

September 15, 2011

Extensive survey in Scotland shows no sign of Dickeya Solani

After the feared potato disease Dickeya Solani showed up in Scotland in imported seed potatoes in 2009 and 2010, a new survey shows no signs of the disease in 2011. The survey was carried out in support of Scottish legislation which established a &quo...

September 15, 2011

Worker crushed in potato harvester

A Cupar farming partnership has been fined £112,500 after a worker was killed when he was crushed between the rollers of a potato harvester. Keith Wannan, 34, from Cupar, died as he was replacing rubber sleeves on the rollers of a potato harvester to ...

September 12, 2011

Walkers runs 'great British potato' crisp ad

Walkers has commissioned a new ad about the life of a potato crisp, in an effort to highlight the "three simple things"that make its potato snacks.

September 09, 2011

Signature Staycrisp Fries can improve profitability, McCain Foods (GB) claims

McCain Foods (GB) has launched new Signatures Staycrisp Fries, pre-seasoned chips that remain crispy from fryer to plate. It’s latest ‘Cashing in on Chips’ report revealed consumers are after a natural, regular-shaped, golden, crispy and hot chip, wit...

September 07, 2011

Chefs urged to take part in Potato Week 2011

Potato Week 2011 is kicking off next month (1-7 October) and is offering chefs and caterers the chance to take part in the event. Simon Bull, marketing manager for Potato Council, believes potatoes are a versatile product and are a great ingredient fo...

September 05, 2011

Potato emergence unaffected by working soil at depth due to dry conditions

Latest results from cultivations work at Cambridge University Farm show that working the soil at depth has had no effect on emergence this year, due to the dry conditions. "These are different to our previous results,"admitted Mark Stalham o...