26 Apr 2019 --- This week in regulatory news, industry body FoodDrinkEurope welcomed the adoption of a new EU regulation which sets a maximum limit on the use of industrial trans fats in food. The Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) announced its investment in the planned Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Malaysian stock exchange of poultry business Leong Hup International (LHI). Also this week, Barry Callebaut is to construct its first chocolate factory in Serbia, expected to be operational by 2021, as part of the company’s South Eastern Europe expansion.

In brief: Regulatory
FoodDrinkEurope has welcomed the adoption of a new EU regulation which sets a maximum limit on the use of industrial trans fats for foods in the EU. Thanks to product reformulation and innovation efforts over the past decades, the majority of Europe’s food and drink sector has successfully eliminated industrial trans fats in foods – to such levels that EFSA concluded in 2004 that the total intake of trans fats in most EU Member States is below the WHO recommended level of 1 percent dietary energy. As a result, EFSA confirmed that, overall, trans fats are not a source of public health concern in the EU. With the adoption of the Regulation this week, food manufacturers will have until April 1, 2021, to ensure products comply with the limit of 2g of industrially produced trans fats per 100g of fat in food intended for the final consumer and food designed for the supply to retail. Now that a legal limit has been set at EU level, FoodDrinkEurope recommends the deletion of the mandatory labeling requirement for hydrogenation as part of the next round of labeling updates to Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, given that such labeling will be redundant.

In brief: Business
Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) has announced its cornerstone investment in the planned IPO on the Malaysian stock exchange, Bursa Malaysia, of Leong Hup International (LHI) Berhad, one of the largest fully integrated producers of poultry, eggs and livestock feed in Southeast Asia. Established in 1978, LHI is seeking to list all of its shares on Bursa Malaysia. A leading “pure-play” poultry producer, it has developed a successfully integrated livestock and feed milling model, with activities in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. LHI’s portfolio also includes a branded processed food business. The IPO will support LHI’s intentions to continue to grow its integrated business model in newer markets, with a focus on expanding upstream operations. “LDC’s cornerstone investment in LHI’s IPO is in line with LDC’s strategy to diversify further downstream and strengthen our footprint in growth markets by partnering with key players in the feed, food and nutrition value chain,” says Ian McIntosh, LDC’s Group CEO.

Barry Callebaut is to construct its first chocolate factory in South Eastern Europe. From left to right: Stojan Kemera (General Manager Southeastern Europe), Antoine de Saint-Affrique (CEO), Goran Knezević, (Minister of Economy, Serbia), Massimo Garavaglia (Regional President EMEA).Swiss-based chocolate manufacturer Barry Callebaut is to construct its first chocolate factory in South Eastern Europe. The facility will be located in Novi Sad, Serbia, roughly 90km northwest of the country’s capital Belgrade. It is set to have an initial annual production capacity of over 50,000 tons. Before the signing, the Barry Callebaut delegation was welcomed by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. “Novi Sad is the perfect location for us,” says Antoine de Saint-Affrique, CEO of Barry Callebaut. “It is the second largest city in Serbia and has a reputable university. It offers us access to the resources we need to realize our plans. With the new factory, in line with our ‘smart growth’ strategy, we will be able to expand our footprint in the region and supply current as well as new customers with a wide range of chocolate, compound and filling products. The factory will serve as a regional hub from which Barry Callebaut can address the rapidly growing chocolate markets of South Eastern Europe,” he explains.

In brief: Recognition & awards
Specialty enzymes business Biocatalysts Ltd. has been named one of the best businesses in the UK, winning the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation. The prestigious award is in recognition of Biocatalysts’ drive and enlightened approach to providing the best enzyme solutions to their customers. Among thousands of applicants, Biocatalysts is just one of 201 companies to receive the award, which recognizes the innovative products, processes and service that they supply worldwide. Rod Sears-Black, Biocatalysts’ Managing Director, comments: “We are very proud to receive the Queen’s Award for Innovation. It recognizes the dedication and commitment of the Biocatalysts team to create this unique offering to the market.” Biocatalysts is a company that is continually looking at how to improve its offering. The most significant and most recent investment to date has been a £6 million (US$7.7 million) extension, housing a new 10m3 fermenter, high tech mini fermenters and downstream processing. This will increase the company’s fermentation capacity more than 10-fold and considerably reduce development time, ensuring that Biocatalysts maintains its commitment to exceeding customers enzyme expectations.

In brief: Other highlightsOcean Spray has announced its commitment to advance sustainable agriculture practices across the entirety of its farmland by 2020. 
To celebrate Earth Day 2019, which was held on April 22, Ocean Spray announced its commitment to advance sustainable agriculture practices across the entirety of its farmland by 2020. The farmer-owned cooperative has committed to sustainable farming all of its cranberries, making Ocean Spray Cranberries the first fruit cooperative in North America to verify 100 percent of its crop as sustainably grown. In its next phase, Ocean Spray will work to verify Ocean Spray’s fruit as sustainably farmed by benchmarking it to the Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA), a comprehensive tool for sustainable farming that was developed by the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform (SAI Platform). “It is important to have companies like Ocean Spray that create sustainable agricultural systems and lead as an example to other companies,” notes Nick Betts, Director, Americas, SAI Platform. 

Netherlands-based TOP B.V. is to outsource the sales and marketing of food processing equipment to Like Fresh. All equipment that is produced in series by TOP will be marketed by Like Fresh, starting this week, according to the company. This will allow TOP to continue to focus on the development of new technologies. TOP is the innovation organization behind successful introductions such as the Cold Press, Pluckr, PurePulse, Hygienisator and Compact Food Dryer. The demand from the industry for these technologies is high, as a result of which the equipment is now produced in series. To maintain its unique innovation capabilities, TOP has decided to outsource the marketing of this equipment to Like Fresh. TOP will continue to focus on the development of highly innovative food processing technologies. Also, TOP will continue to offer consultancy projects for customers and provide Like Fresh with the necessary engineering support.

By Elizabeth Green