Potato News from United Kingdom

Administrators at O'Hara & Co have managed to tie up a pre-pack deal for Holme Farm Produce safeguarding jobs and the future of the business.

Experts from the UK and India are working together to identify and develop novel environmentally-sustainable strategies to control plant pests, known as plant-parasitic nematodes to ensure global food production and security.

Ishida Europe has developed a range of entry-level weigher/bagmaker combination units which offer an economic, medium speed solution for food manufacturers, thus delivering a fast payback on a reduced investment cost while ensuring consistent weights.

Potato Council has been working hard to raise the profile of potatoes amongst Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), promoting their health and sustainability credentials and creating awareness of the significant contribution they make to the Scottish economy.

McCain Foods GB is looking for a new agency for its UK advertising account, as part of a £20 million review.

Greenvale, the UK’s leading potato supplier, has been helping schools around Perth and Kinross to dig deep in a bid to educate them about the origins of the food they eat.

Cheshire potato growers gathered at Aston Grange Farm near Runcorn, at the end of June 2014, to discuss the opportunities for the local crop at Potato Council’s Cheshire Potato event.

An international team of experts led by Newcastle University has shown that organic crops are up to 60% higher in a number of key antioxidants than conventionally-grown ones.

Fabcon HCFS 220 Batch Fryer produces up to 220 kgs of finished product per hour using the same or less energy than competitive equipment producing 120 kgs, according to the company.

Potato Council’s One Voice campaign is fast gaining momentum, with people from all sectors of industry getting involved and doing whatever they can to help spread positive messages about potatoes.

The packaging for Tavern Snack’s crisps was redesigned by Greenwich Design, giving a more focused, adventurous, modern style to the range.

The West Midlands Potato Day attracted a good crowd of industry visitors on 19 June when potato grower Jonathan Bubb of J.M. Bubb & Sons hosted Potato Council’s technical field day at Lynn South Farm, Newport, Shropshire, where they grow around 400 acres of potatoes.

Vales Produce Growers , the Greenvale potato grower group, has appointed John Rix as their new Chairman.

In the United Kingdom the value of fresh potato category is growing with a 3.8% rise over the last year, while the volume of fresh potatoes sold has dropped by 8.0%. The Potato Council is figuring out what can be done about it.

Walkers, the number one UK brand in the crisps, snacks and nuts category , is creating excitement with the launch of new Walkers Market Deli – an innovative range of pita, tortilla and classic potato chips that aims to bring home the variety of flavours from across Europe and the UK.

Seabrook Crisps is launching a range of Straight Cut crisps into the Impulse channel following demand from fans to bring back the format, which was last on the shelves a decade ago

McCain Foods GB will be and official supplier of Tour de France 2014, which starts with an opening stage in Yorkshire.

Herbert Engineering, market leaders in handling systems for the agricultural, fresh pack and process industries, has invested in a new state-of-the-art laser cutting machine to increase manufacturing efficiencies and produce highly accurate component parts.