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Pork is firmly fixed as a family favourite in the UK with sales continuing to rise, according to new figures published by the British Pig Executive (BPEX).
During August the total meat market rose by 1%, while sales of fresh pork saw a rise of 11%. Meanwhile, the latest 52-week figures from consumer research concern Kantar Worldpanel showed that the market had risen by 2% and pork was 5% better.
BPEX head of marketing Chris Lamb said: "That means an extra £19 million worth of pork has been sold over the past year out of a total of £860 million.
"I believe there are two main reasons for this. The first is a reaction to the recession as more and more families are now cooking from scratch at home, and they are choosing to use pork.”
Unilever is making plans to sell its Chicken Tonight brand, continuing its recent trend of revamping its food portfolio as it explores possibilities in the personal care sector.
The brand, along with sauce brand Ragu, is expected to go for £30 to £40 million. "We are assessing strategic options for Chicken Tonight and Ragu in the UK and Ireland," said a company spokesperson. "We regularly evaluate the performance of our brands in the market place and we will consider all options when reviewing their future." Sales of Chicken Tonight have slumped in recent years.
Unilever has lately been pushing into personal care, though food still makes up more than half of its revenues.
EuroTier has announced its Innovations awards, including three gold and 18 silver medalists. The German Agricultural Society setup an international commission of experts to assess the innovations submitted by EuroTier exhibitors.
Gold Medals:
SonoCheck
Big Dutchman Pig Equipment, of Vechta, Germany, won for its SonoCheck -- an automated system for pregnancy examinations in sow group management in conjunction with Big-Dutchman demand feeding.
Automatic Milking Rotary System AMR
DeLaval International, Tumba, Sweden, won for its DeLaval AMR -- an automatic milking rotary that automates udder preparation, attachment of the milking cups and teat spraying on a rotary platform.
Galactor – the milking taxi
Siliconform Vertriebs, Türkheim, Germany, won for its Melktaxi (milking taxi) -- a milking guidance system in an auto-tandem milking parlour connected with rail-bound transport of the milker and automated milking parlour cleaning after milking.
Read more about all of the 2010 EuroTier Innovations award recipients.
P&C Poultry Distributors Inc. and its affiliate Custom Processors Inc. have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to declining sales.
According to court papers, sales of $55.8 million in 2008 declined to $47.2 million in 2009, and fell even further in early 2010 when Yum! Brands Inc., the company's largest customer, revised its menu to focus on grilled, rather than fried, chicken. Sales went up later in 2010, but chicken prices rose due to a heat wave. P&C's largest supplier, Lawrence Wholesale, also sued to recover $12 million, and a settlement agreement did not make it out of negotiations due to secured lender Eat West Bank's non-approval.
According to court documents, P&C owes the bank $5.5 million on a revolving credit and $3.3 million on a term loan. Liens have been placed on all assets.
At the International Egg Commission (IEC)'s 2010 conference in Prague, Joanne Ivy was elected to the position of IEC chairman.
Ivy has been the president of the American Egg Board since 2007, and has been involved with the IEC for 23 years. She has served as chair of the IEC's marketing committee and has been an office holder since 2001. In 2005 Ivy received the Denis Wellstead Memorial Trophy as the International Egg Person of the Year.
A Gold'n Plump Poultry plant in Arcadia, Wis., has shut down due to fears of overtaxing the city's sewer system as a result of recent flooding.
The city of Arcadia requested the closing after four to eight inches of rain caused a state of emergency. "Local law enforcement officials reported that substantial flooding was occurring across the area," said a statement from the National Weather Service. "Numerous road closures, areas of standing water, mudslides and road washouts were reported across western Wisconsin and southeast Minnesota." While Gold'n Plump is headquartered in Minnesota, it has a large mill and poultry production plant in Arcadia. A spokesperson for the company said they expect to reopen on Friday.
The Danish pig industry has claimed all its producers will be ready to meet the conditions of the ban on traditional stalls for keeping sows during pregnancy, which comes into effect across the EU in January 2013.
The results of a survey conducted earlier this year indicated that nearly 70% of producers already keep pregnant sows in group systems in line with the requirements of the new EU legislation.
Of those who had not yet converted, around 50% had secured the necessary environmental approval or had submitted an application to gain approval, said a spokesman for the Danish Agriculture & Food Council DAFC).
Around 6% of those responding to the survey, which covered some 700 producers, and who represent about a third of the total number of sows kept in Denmark, said they intended to stop production before 2013.
But the DAFC spokesman pointed out that this loss in numbers was likely to be more than offset by those farmers who planned to expand their sow herds prior to 2013.
It is understood the EU Commission has no intention of extending the deadline of the ban beyond January 2013, in spite of representations form a number of EU pig producer groups for a derogation to continue the use of traditional stalls for pregnant sows beyond the original deadline.
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