This week in industry news, frozen food manufacturer Americana injected US$100 million into a French fries factory in Saudi Arabia to bolster food security and a UK study revealed that Halal meat accounts for 30% of lamb sales in the country. Meanwhile, Brazilian coffee growers targeted sustainable coffee supply chain logistics with a minimal carbon emissions vessel.

Business highlights

The Agricultural Growth and Processing Company, an Americana Holding for Food subsidiary, invested US$100 million (SAR 375 million) in a Greenfield Frozen French Fries manufacturing plant in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to expand its business operation. The move continues Americana’s partnership with Egypt-based frozen French fries producer Farm Frites. The funding aims to diversify the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s economy, while also contributing to its food security agenda by boosting local production and creating employment opportunities for KSA nationals, local potato growers and farmers.

UK’s Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) revealed that Halal meat accounts for 30% of lamb sales in the country, after assessing the attitudes and shopping behaviours of Halal meat consumers. According to the study, 80% of halal consumers eat lamb weekly and 64% consume mutton per week, compared with only 6% of the general UK population eating lamb. based on the results, the AHDB estimates farmers could benefit from finding out more about the Halal sector and its requirements.

Valante Capital acquired a significant stake in American Foods, a distributor of consumer goods from the US to Latin America. The move will add a key player in the food distribution industry to Valante’s portfolio and enable American Foods to accelerate its growth plans across the US, Latin America and the Caribbean, supporting its mission to deliver high-quality products to an ever-growing consumer base.

Wholesale food order management platform Fresho closed a US$17 million Series B funding round, bringing its total investment to US$50 million to date. The cash injection is expected to accelerate the company’s AI innovation and US expansion. Fresho’s AI-powered system automatically converts incoming orders into structured data while giving restaurants direct access to live pricing and availability through its app. This eliminates unsociable working hours and improves order accuracy and processing speed.

Sustainability highlights

The Brazilian Cooperative of Coffee Growers (Expocacer) shipped its first batch of coffee with minimal carbon emissions to Europe to ensure sustainable logistics of the coffee supply chain. The project results from a partnership among Expocacer, Seaforte, FAFCoffees, Belco and TransOceanic Wind Transport. The cargo vessel is powered by solar and wind energy and uses a combustion engine only when insufficient wind is available to propel the vessel.

Innovation and launches

Food packing and safety solutions provider Ishida installed an X-ray inspection system at Polish ripened cheese specialist Mleczarnia “Turek” Dairy’s premises to ensure protection of blue cheese products from contamination. This was done because the cheeses are packed in aluminum foil and a metal detector is unsuitable for checking for foreign metal bodies. The machine inspects bulk cartons of the packed cheeses and stops on finding a contaminant, followed by removal of the faulty pack.