News on Food Trends from United Kingdom

Snyder's-Lance, Inc. today announced that the Company's Kettle Foods subsidiary completed the acquisition of Metcalfe's skinny Limited, by acquiring the remaining 74% interest in the leading UK premium popcorn brand. Kettle Foods had initially acquired a 26% stake in the business from Metcalfe in January 2016.

AHDB Potatoes has produced provisional estimates of planted areas by variety for Great Britain for 2016.

Amplify Snack Brands, Inc. (“Amplify” or the “Company”) (NYSE:BETR) and Crisps Topco Limited and Subsidiaries (“Tyrrells”) announced last week that they have executed a definitive agreement under which Amplify will acquire Tyrrells, an international, market-leading and rapidly growing premium Better-For-You snack food business.

Jobs are to be axed at Herbert Engineering in Wisbech after the company went into administration on July 14

AHDB Potatoes’ Next Generation educational programme continued to explore GB’s diverse potato industry with a processing-focussed, whole supply chain day at McCain GB Foods Ltd Headquarters in Scarborough recently.

Work to make potatoes more nutritious by including nanoparticles in the fertilizer formulation is proving promising, according to the AHDB-funded researcher Karen Davies

UK Supermarket chain Tesco has announced it will issue contracts worth £12 million over three years to help support British Agriculture, and become the first retailer in the UK to introduce new long term contracts for potato growers and packers.

Waste from potato crops could be ‘recycled’ into personal care products such as medical gels and beauty creams – thanks to a new University of East Anglia (UEA) research project.

Ian Wright CBE, Director General at the Food and Drink Federation, the voice of the UK's largest manufacturing sector - food and drink, responds to the vote to leave in the UK's EU Referendum.

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board’s Chief Executive, Jane King, comments on the Brexit vote earlier today.

Farm Electronics Limited, a UK based potato storage specialist has become part of the Tolsma-Grisnich group. The company will continue to trade and manufacture crop storage systems as Farm Electronics Limited

Purple Magic, a Northern Ireland potato with high anthocyanin content, was bred by Paul Watts at the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute and just reached the finals of INVENT 2016, a Northern Ireland innovation competition.

In the United Kingdom, Kettle Foods Ltd is supporting the KETTLE® Bites range throughout May and June, with the aim of educating target consumers that the new products offer great taste, but also a lighter eat for everyday snacking

McCain Foods (GB) in Whittlesey, near Peterborough, has been fined £800,000 (1.15 million USD) for safety failings after an employee nearly lost his arm.

El AFBI (Instituto de Agroalimentación y Biociencias) de Irlanda de Norte ha desarrollado una papa morada, conocida como Purple Magic. Los investigadores la desarrollaron con la esperanza de que tenga propiedades anticancerígenas debido a los efectos beneficiosos de las antocianinas (los pigmentos), que son un tipo de compuestos antioxidantes.

A team of scientists from The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) and The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC) have developed a new method to accelerate isolation of plant disease resistance genes and - using their new method - a brand new source of blight resistance genes in Solanum americanum, a wild relative of the potato.

Delegates of AHDB Potatoes first ever Next Generation Programme overwhelmingly voted McCain Foods as their ‘Best Industry Host’, presenting the award at their final session at AHDB Headquarters, Stoneleigh Park, last month.

Elveden Farms, a West Suffolk estate is set to become a Regional Research & Demonstration Hub for potato growers and suppliers, thanks to funding from the Eastern Agri-Tech Growth Initiative.