Produce World Rustler, one of the UK’s leading suppliers of onions and other alliums, will be the first company in the UK to install Near Infra-Red (NIR) technology for detecting internal defects in onions. Working in conjunction with MAF, the company which provided its grader, Produce World Rustler will be trialing the ground-breaking detection system as part of its ongoing continuous improvement campaign.

Andrew Holding, business unit director for Produce World Rustler, says: “This is an exciting development that has the potential to further improve the quality of the onions which we supply to our retail customers. We are always looking for ways to improve performance, and over the past few years the Produce World Group has made a number of substantial capital investments designed to increase efficiency and sustainability.”

The company has been monitoring the progress of this technology for some time, and it was always its intention to retrofit such a system to its MAF grader. NIR technology has been used for many years to detect internal defects in fruit, and Produce World Rustler was involved in trials on onions as long ago as 2007.

“Most recently we sent samples for testing in France on a prototype of the machine which we are installing and we were impressed with the results,” he adds. “By definition internal defects are impossible to detect. As a result of using the very best growers, such defects only occur on a small percentage of the crop. However, a reduction in this figure will enable us to further improve quality and customer satisfaction.”

Produce World Rustler works with leading growers in the UK and overseas to ensure year round supply to its customers. The company is part of Produce World Group, one of the largest expert growers and suppliers of high quality fresh vegetables in Europe.

In addition to Produce World Rustler, other Produce World Group companies include Produce World Solanum, Produce World IFP, Produce World RBO, Produce World Marshalls and Growing Trust with Las Lomas (joint venture).

Bonduelle Group, the world leader in processed vegetables, has established a Revolving Credit Facility amounting to Eur300 million. This line of credit, which was largely oversubscribed, is part of Bonduelle’s overall financing strategy and international expansion, which saw it announce three acquisitions earlier this year (Allens’ frozen facility plants in the USA, vegetables canning plants of Globus in Russia and Kelet-Food in Hungary).

This financial arrangement provides the group with greater financial flexibility, increased liquidity at extremely competitive rates and enhances its average financing cost, currently restricted at 3.5% while extending the maturity of its debt.

The Produce World Group has reduced the amount of waste it is sending to landfill by 29 per cent, and seen a fall in its CO2 emissions of 28 per cent. The company’s latest report on its Corporate and Social Responsibility Programme outlines the progress made on each of the four pillars of the programme: environmental stewardship, workplace culture, responsible sourcing and community impact.

During 2011 the UK fresh produce group set itself a target of reducing landfill by 10 per cent and CO2 emissions by 6 per cent, both of which were exceed by considerable margins. In the area of workplace culture, the report highlights the introduction of the Pride of Produce World Awards which recognised achievements by employees across the business. During the year absence rates for employees were reduced to 1.53 per cent against a previous rate of 2 per cent.

On the subject of responsible sourcing the report explains how internal auditing is monitoring the social and environmental performance of the company’s key growers. Other key initiatives in this area include agronomy research; sharing data on crop performance from field to factory; the Soil for Life Project, which is making a crucial impact on the way growers select fields; and water stewardship including the development of water reduction strategies.

Chief executive William Burgess says: “I’m convinced that sustainable, responsible business is good business. In fact, together with my fellow directors I believe it is the only way to do business.”

Produce World is one of the largest expert growers and suppliers of high quality fresh vegetables in Europe. It is a privately owned business, founded by the Burgess family in 1898. Its sourcing is a combination  of produce from its own farms,  joint-ventures, and collaborative working with dedicated grower groups, supplying a variety of root vegetables, potatoes, brassicas, alliums, and organic produce to leading retailers, food service and manufacturing customers.

Produce World Group companies include Produce World Solanum, Produce World IFP, Produce World RBO, Produce World Rustler, Produce World Marshalls, Agromark, and Growing Trust with Las Lomas (joint venture).

Bonduelle Group, the world leader in processed vegetables, has strengthened its position in Central Europe after receiving the approval of the Hungarian competition authorities for its acquisition of Kelet-Food, a canning factory with a capacity of 25,000 to 30,000 tonnes. Located in Nyiregyhaza, north-east of Budapest, Kelet-Food produces canned sweet corn and peas, which it sells under retailers’ own brands at national and local level. The company produced 15,000 tonnes of canned foods in 2011, well below its production capacity.

Bonduelle Group has had an industrial presence in Hungary for 20 years, producing 130,000 tonnes of canned food – mostly sweet corn and peas – in two industrial units, both located in the south of the country: Nagykoros, acquired in 1992, and Bekescsaba, acquired in 2002.

The Kelet-Food plant will enable Bonduelle to supply its booming markets in Central Europe. It is located in a different production area from the group’s other two Hungarian factories, which will allow for a better distribution of agricultural risks

The factory at Nyiregyhaza will be operational for the next harvest with 2,850 ha planted. It employs 60 permanent staff to which will be added 250 seasonal workers this summer. It is expected to produce 20,000 tonnes of sweet corn and 7,000 tonnes of peas.

The Greenery UK, one of the leading suppliers of fruit, vegetables and mushrooms to supermarkets and wholesalers across Britain, has acquired John Baarda, the second largest tomato producer in the UK. The move follows several years of poor financial performance and operational challenges at John Baarda. The Greenery UK is part of The Netherlands-based business The Greenery BV, which is a subsidiary of the grower owned co-operative Corforta.

“The UK supply of tomatoes is obviously what is important to British consumers, our retail partners, and consequently our business,” says Kevin Doran, managing director of Greenery UK. “AcrossEuropewe are involved in ‘local for local’ partnerships with domestic producers. This is consistent with that posture, so with the support of producer partners we elected to step in with the required financing.”

A new managing director and board have been named for David Baarda. Nigel Bartle, currently general manager of Cornerways Nursery in Wissington, has been named equity partner and managing director by Greenery UK effective from 1 March 2012. Nigel Bartle has been successfully managing British Sugar’s horticultural business, Cornerways Nursery, since 2001 and is currently the chairman of the British Tomato Growers Association.

Bonduelle Group, the world leader in processed vegetables, has concluded negotiations regarding the acquisition of the agro-industrial and commercial assets of French co-operative CECAB in Russia and in the countries of the Confederation of Independent States (CIS). The acquisition, which was announced last October, should take effect in the first quarter of 2012 for the start of the sowing season for the 2012 harvest. It is however still subject to the agreement of the Russian competition authorities.

Bonduelle has had a commercial presence in Russia and in central and eastern European countries, where it enjoys a leading position in canned vegetables, since the 1990s. Bonduelle currently supplies its markets in the region from three factories: two in Hungary. and one in Russia, which is currently operating at maximum capacity.

In 2007 the CECAB group, which has been present inRussia since 2001, invested in the construction of a factory in Timachevsk, 30 kilometres from the Bonduelle plant. The acquisition will provide Bonduelle with obvious synergies, resulting from the geographical proximity of the two Russian plants.

Produce World IFP, based in Isleham, Ely, has become one of just a handful of food businesses in the UK and across Europe to achieve top marks following a British Retail Consortium (BRC) unannounced audit. The 31 businesses with A* status account for just 1% of all food businesses that use the BRC accreditation system. Produce World IFP joins the group’s organics specialist, Produce World RBO, in the top 1% – the latter was the very first produce site in the industry to achieve the coveted A* status two years ago.

Every food business in the UK wishing to supply products through retail is subject to the BRC audit process and must achieve a B grade or higher. However, it is up to the business whether it opts for an unannounced audit, which can take place anytime up to six months after its last announced audit. In opting for an unannounced audit a business commits to ensuring the maintenance of extremely high standards throughout the year, guaranteeing total conformity to the food safety standards set out by the BRC.

The audit on Produce World IFP was carried out in early September. The business specialises in the production and marketing of root vegetables, principally carrots and parsnips and is also regarded as an industry leader in the supply of fresh bunched beetroot and carrots, along with speciality carrot varieties such as Chantenay, Mignon, Autumn King, and Golden Beetroot.

Produce World is one of the largest expert growers and suppliers of high quality fresh vegetables inEurope. It is a privately owned business, founded by the Burgess family in 1898. Produce World Group companies include Produce World Solanum, Produce World IFP, Produce World RBO, Produce World Rustler, Produce World Marshalls, Agromark, and Growing Trust with Las Lomas (joint venture).

The company received the Waitrose Technical Excellence Award in June 2011, as well as the re:fresh Innovation of the Year and Packer of the Year awards in May 2011. Its Growing Trust CSR programme, established in 2007, pioritises Responsible Sourcing, along with Environmental Stewardship, Community Impact and Workplace Culture.

Bonduelle, world leader in processed vegetables, has reported at 10.7% rise in turnover to Eur1.73 billion for the year ended June 30th 2011 but operating profit before taxes dropped 22.8% to Eur80.7 million. The sales growth reflected a full year contribution from the consolidation of France Champignon, Europe’s largest mushroom producer, and the positive impact of currency exchange factors. On a like-for-like basis, group turnover rose by 0.6% against a 2.2% drop in the previous year.

A fall in canned vegetable prices inEurope, poor harvests in 2010, which resulted in additional productions costs and shortages, combined with unfavourable exchange rates impacted operating profitability. Reflecting the decline in operational profitability, group net profits slumped 47.9% to Eur30.4 million.

Although profitability declined in 2010/2011, Bonduelle continued to invest in developing the business and enhancing its competitiveness. During the financial year, the French group commenced commercial operations in Brazil, introduced mechanical mushroom cutting and developed its mushroom range under the Bonduelle brand in several European countries, and opened the largest bagged salad processing plant in Europe, at San Paolo in Italy, to support its growth in the chilled vegetables market. Bonduelle also established an industrial joint venture in Spain with Ardo, Europe’s leading player in the frozen vegetable market, while inFrance it opened a fully automated high-rise cold store for storage and preparation of frozen vegetables orders.

Despite the renewed uncertainty due to the current, international economic situation, Bonduelle is forecasting recovery in respect of internal growth of 3-5% and an increase of 40% in operating profitability to Eur95-100 million in its current financial year, while increasing marketing investments by about Eur10 million.

Having reached record levels last year, export sales of Scottish food and drink products have broken the £2 billion mark for the first time in the first six months of 2011. Figures for the first half of 2011 show food and drink exports now stand at £2.4 billion – up 21% on the same period last year.

Scottish food and drink exports reached an all-time high of £4.5 billion in 2010, up 28% since 2007 and up 11% on the previous year. France was the top market for Scottish food exports in 2010, consuming £276 million worth of food, ranging from fish and shellfish to fruit and vegetables.

While fish exports continue to account for the majority of food exports from Scotland (59% in 2010), the sector that saw the biggest growth was fruit and vegetables. The value of exports in this sector grew by £14.6 million, or 62%, in 2010.

When it comes to drink exports, the market is dominated by whisky and the USA remains the top destination with £499 million worth exported in 2010.

The cost of buying and throwing away good food and drink reached £13.7 billion last year, reveals new analysis by the Local Government Association, the voice for local authorities in England and Wales. The analysis, which combined the purchasing price of food which was not eaten with the cost to council tax-payers of sending it to landfill, reveals that households paid an estimated £520 each for uneaten food over the past 12 months.

The LGA is calling on retailers to start making a serious contribution to reducing the amount of food waste discarded from people’s homes, in particular changing the way they promote the sale of perishable goods like fruit, vegetables, dairy and meat. Town hall leaders want to see multi-buy deals, which encourage people to take more food than they need, replaced by discounts on individual products, which offer customers the same value without incentivising over-buying.

“While campaigns like Love Food, Hate Waste are encouraging people to make better use of the food they buy, the source of the problem is not being adequately addressed. With more than five million tonnes of edible food thrown out each year, way too much food is being brought into homes in the first place. Retailers need to take a large slice of responsibility for that,” comments Cllr Clyde Loakes, LGA environment board vice chairman. “Buy one get one free deals, which give consumers a few days to munch through 16 clementines, are not about providing value for money. They are about transferring waste out of retail operations and into the family home. Retailers should scrap multi-buy deals which encourage people to take more than they need and replace them with discounts on individual products which will help reduce excess consumption and increase customer choice.”

The LGA is calling on retailers to set more ambitious waste reduction goals to bring them into line with the big improvements in waste management being produced by local authorities and residents.

Retailers and manufacturers claim that they have prevented 670,000 tonnes of food waste since they entered the voluntary Courtauld Commitment to tackle waste in 2005. The total amount of packaging waste being produced each year since 2005 has remained the same.

In that same time councils and residents have reduced annual landfill by more than 7 million tonnes and almost doubled the recycling rate from 22% of all household waste to nearly 40%. Despite those achievements local authorities will still pay more than £550m in landfill tax this financial year as they put more than 10 million tonnes of waste in the ground.

Fresh produce company Produce World is launching the Green Giant Fresh product line in the UK. The canned range of Green Giant sweet corn and speciality vegetables has been available in the UK since 1960.

In North America, selected growers have been offering retailers premium Green Giant Fresh fruit and vegetables for over 15 years and currently represent nearly one-third of the total annual brand value across all product ranges. Recently, a group of European based produce companies have developed a European Economic Interest Group and partnerships to offer Green Giant Fresh on a range of premium fresh produce in the UK, Spain and other parts of Europe under license through General Mills.

The Green Giant Fresh product line will be offered in the UK by Produce World in conjunction with key product partners, Unica and El Dulze.

“A vegetable brand with 96% consumer recognition in the UK, positions Green Giant Fresh in a class of its own. Our research shows, our line of premium Green Giant Fresh vegetables will create incremental consumer interest for participating retailers,” says Jonathan Tole, business unit director with Produce World. “One-in-four UK households buy Green Giant products today. Green Giant Fresh will provide an appealing new range of products to help families get their five recommended daily servings from a trusted and familiar premium vegetable brand.”

Produce World’s complementary range of Green Giant Fresh products are planned to include broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, peppers and lettuces. It is anticipated that a complete line of products using the Green Giant brand will be on shelves by the end of the first quarter of 2011.

Premier Foods has agreed to sell its East Anglian canned grocery operations to Princes for £182m. The sale is in line with Premier’s strategy of reducing debt and follows the proposed disposal of its meat-free business.

The canned operations are part of the Premier’s grocery division and have two manufacturing sites in the UK at Long Sutton, in Lincolnshire, and Wisbech, in Cambridgeshire. The business being sold employs approximately 1,600 people and manufactures a wide range of canned foods including baked beans, pasta, vegetables, soup, meat and fruit.

Included in the sale are the Crosse & Blackwell, Farrows, Fray Bentos and Smedley’s brands and certain other minor brands which are used on canned products. Premier has agreed a long-term licence with Princes to enable it to use the Branston brand on baked beans and pasta in cans and the Batchelors brand on vegetables, wet soups and pasta in cans, and a short-term licence to use Hartley’s on canned fruit. The sale excludes Premier’s Ambrosia branded canned desserts operations in Lifton, Devon, which are being retained.

Robert Schofield, chief executive of Premier Foods.

For the year ended 31st December 2010, the disposed business is expected to have revenues of £334.2m, EBITDA of £31.7m and a trading profit of £27.8m. As at 31st December 2010, the gross and net assets being sold were £167.1m. The purchase price represents a multiple of 5.75 times EBITDA.

The sale will reduce Premier’s average debt/EBITDA ratios by around 0.2x, making a further contribution toward reaching the target leverage ratio of below 3.25x.

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement to sell our canned grocery operations. As a predominantly non-branded business, it has not been an area of focus for us. Selling the business simplifies our operations and allows us to concentrate our efforts on our current portfolio of great British brands,” says Robert Schofield, chief executive of Premier Foods.

Combined with the proposed disposal of its meat-free business, Premier will have delivered total gross proceeds of £387m, significantly accelerating the delivery of its financial strategy and easing its debt burden.

“This proposed acquisition is an excellent strategic fit for our group and will enable us to further grow our business in the UK and continental Europe by offering our customers a broader range of ambient food products and brands,” remarks Ken Critchley, managing director of Princes. The transaction is expected to complete in late March 2011.

French and international vegetables processor Bonduelle has opened its first factory in Brazil. Based in the state of Goias, the new plant is catering to a large and growing canned-vegetables market and  was designed for year round operation in high-altitude, tropical conditions. Representing investment of Eur15m, the Brazilian factory employs 80 people and has an annual production capacity of 50,000 tons of canned peas and sweet corn.

India will need approximately over $30b worth of investment to completely restructure its processing-food industry to substantially lift up the share of its processed food trade, which currently stands at 2.2% in the case of fruit and vegetables, 26% for fisheries, 6% in poultry, 20% in buffalo meat and 35% milk by 2015, according to a study on ‘Emerging Opportunities and Strategic Thrust Areas for Food Processing’.

The study brought out by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM), also suggests that with projected investment, exports of processed foods could increase by over 70% in next 5 years to touch the targeted level of over $25b from the current level of approximately $15b. However, in spite of vast natural resources, import growth of food products in India is also expected to be strong over the forecast period to reach $13b.

The ASSOCHAM, has projected that $30b worth of investment can revolutionise the Indian food processing sector and take processing of food and vegetables to levels close to 10% by 2015. Fisheries has the potential to reach 40%, poultry close to 15%, while buffalo meat could reach over 40% with milk approaching 60%. Processing levels of fruit and vegetables in the USA, Philippines and China are currently 65%, 78% and 23% respectively.

Fisheries and poultry processing levels in the developed world range between 60-70% and between 60-75% for milk, reveals the ASSOCHAM study.

According to ASSOCHAM president, Dr Swati Piramal, India’s low level of processing is expected to change significantly in future fuelled by sustained economic growth and steady urbanisation.

Growth Drivers

Key growth drivers of the food processing sector in India will include the faster pace of urbanisation, the rise in disposable incomes and changing lifestyle and aspirations, which will lead to significant changes in the food habits of Indians. The key trends for the growth of processed food will include increasing spends on health and nutritional foods, the growth in nuclear families and working women and functional foods.

Consumers are now more focused on health. Any packaged food that has sugar, salt, oil, preservatives etc beyond a healthy level are becoming a unacceptable. Companies already are targeting this segment with numerous product launches. Secondly, increasing nuclear families, students and single employees staying alone on work/education and the increasing number of women employees are leading to a rise in consumption of processed, ready-to-eat, canned and frozen foods.

The number of upper and middle class Indians consuming packaged food is expected to rise to 200m in 2012 from the current level of 30m. Giants like ITC, MTR, Amul etc are quick to capitalise on this trend. Thirdly, changing lifestyle and increasing spend for snacks-on-the-go is responsible for a $3b and growing snack market.

Functional foods, fresh or processed foods that claim to provide health benefits apart from serving the basic function of nutrition, are on a fast-growth path in India.

Organised retail comprises less than 5% of the total retail market in India, but is growing at over 20%. Food retailing, which constitutes 14% of the organised retailing sector is also expected to benefit from the growth of organised retail and the demand for processed foods is expected to rise. With the increasing trend of major retailers towards private labels, the demand from the retail market for processed foods is also expected to increase significantly.

Change in demographics is the most important demand booster for processed food in India. The proportion of the productive age group (15-59 years) is nearly 80% in India. This age group’s propensity and ability to spend on quality processed food is higher. Higher incomes, as more Indians join the middle class and upper class, will also impact positively on the demand for processed food.

Ardo UK is now prepared to meet the growing consumer demand for frozen foods while also improving cost competitiveness after consolidating its two UK operations into a single site at Charing in Kent, following investment of £16 million.

Well known for its Ardo and Shearway brands, Ardo UK specialises in producing and packaging frozen fruit and vegetables, which are sourced and imported from throughout the world. The company has a turnover of about £50 million and is part of Belgium-based Ardo group.

Ardo UK was formed in 2004 following the merger of Ardo’s two British operations – Ardo Shearway and Ryan Foods. The merger of two highly complementary companies served to enhance the market standing of the combined business while also improving customer service.

Consolidation

Ardo UK’s Charing site has now been expanded with the construction of a new state-of-the-art processing and packing hall for freezing and packing fruit, pasta, rice and vegetables for the retail trade and the food service industry. The new £16 million building also incorporates additional cold storage space to increase capacity to 20,000 pallet spaces, along with extra office space and employee facilities. The new development features ‘zero impact’ on the community building visibility and a green approach. For instance, the heat from the freezer cooling system is being used to generate hot water, yielding 15% savings in energy consumption.

The recently completed expansion at Charing has entailed the replacement of Ardo UK’s second site, located about 11 miles away at Headcorn in Kent. The Headcorn site had been used to take bulk materials, from Ardo’s European factories and globally, and repackage them into various customer packages and recipes for customers such as Tesco, Sainsbury and Waitrose. However, in line with the company’s ongoing quest to improve efficiency it was a natural step to consolidate operations into a single site equipped with state-of-the-art facilities.

Low Cost Producer

Consolidating its operations into a single site has streamlined the business and will enhance competitiveness. “This expansion on our existing site enables Ardo UK to meet its commercial aspirations while also helping the company to remain a low-cost producer, with that benefit passed on to our customers and to the consumer through continued competitive pricing,” explains Stephen Waugh, managing director of Ardo UK. “The redevelopment will result in additional versatility and flexibility to the Ardo UK operation, bringing on site the capacity not only to pack, but to handle new and unusual pack types, and it will mean far fewer lorry movements.”

In conjunction with developing the new £16 million facilities at Charing, Ardo UK has been improving the quality of its workforce by investing in training to up-skill its staff. “We believe that our staff provide the key to the future and, as such, we’ve employed a new human resource manager who will co-ordinate our investment in their skills,” he points out.

Ardo UK’s headquarters at Charing is an ideal operating base for both exporting to and importing from continental Europe and part of the expanded storage space has been made available for external customers.

Expanding Market

The £16 million investment will help Ardo UK meet the increasing demand from consumers for fresh-frozen vegetables and fruit, which is very evident in the deep freeze segment of the retail sector. This growth is being fuelled by factors such as stable prices, good availability and the growing consumer recognition of the quality aspects of deep freeze products.

Ardo UK’s parent group is Europe’s largest supplier of frozen fruit and vegetables with a turnover of Eur556 million in 2009. Ardo originated in the 1950s from a small family farming business, which was growing and trading vegetables near the village of Ardooie in Belgium. Ardo’s first vegetable freezing factory was built on the family farm in 1977 and the company took its name from the nearby village.

Ardo has since developed its production facilities and sales throughout Europe and now employs over 2,500 people globally. The group operates 15 production sites across eight European countries. Each year Ardo sells over 500,000 tonnes of processed fresh-frozen vegetables, fruit, prepared vegetables, pasta, rice and herbs to customers in more than 50 countries around the world.

The Ardo motto is ‘preserving the precious gift of nature’ and as a focused vegetable and fruit business its strategy is to be the best in three crucial areas – supply chain, quality and innovation.

Ardo’s goal is to maximise customer satisfaction. For this reason, Ardo’s philosophy from the start has been to sell directly to the customer. In every country in which Ardo is active, the sales offices are run by its own commercial employees.

The Ardo product range offers a wide variety of frozen vegetables, vegetable mixes, vegetable preparations and fruit, and the company has a strong track record of continuous innovation in developing products and production methods in association with its customers.