US plant-based drinks consumption grew by almost 30% between 2014 and 2018, from 2.8 to 3.6 litres per person, according to a new report from leading beverage industry experts Zenith Global. Sales reached a value of $2.3 billion in 2018. “The main drivers behind plant-based drinks’ popularity reflect consumer concerns and perceptions about lactose intolerance, digestive benefits, health attributes, animal […]

Public Health England (PHE) has published its second-year report on progress made by the food industry to voluntarily reduce sugar in everyday foods revealing some welcome results. The report reveals the sugar reduction achieved by retailers and manufacturers (in home sector) and the out of home sector (including restaurants, pubs and cafes) in foods contributing the most sugar to children’s diets, such […]

Westways Vending has teamed up with iPro Sport to bring healthy hydration drinks into the vending sector.  Westways has branded, configured and installed state-of-the-art vending machines to display and deliver the iPro Sport range. Contactless payments systems have been fitted to facilitate payment by card or cash to ensure that customers aren’t left thirsty. Westways uses intelligent vending to improve […]

AMC Group has unveiled its first purpose-built factory for freshly-squeezed juice and a variety of plant-based and free-from products in Skelmersdale, Lancashire.  The new 55,000ft2 site has created over 100 jobs and aims to supply the growing demand for healthier food options. Build on the £11M facility started in February 2018 and production of dairy-free products, baby food and soups started in […]

‘Crafting the Future’ is the theme for the next UK Soft Drinks Conference on May 15 in central London, because consumers want to identify more personally with what they drink, and more people are seeking adult tastes without alcohol. The event will be opened by Tim Warrillow, chief executive officer of Fever-Tree. Major players will also be strongly represented including the […]

The Government has set out its plan to ban the distribution and sale of plastic straws, drinks stirrers and cotton buds to protect our rivers and seas. The plan is subject to a consultation launched by Environment Secretary Michael Gove. In England, it is estimated that annually we use 4.7 billion plastic straws, 316 million plastic stirrers and 1.8 billion plastic-stemmed cotton buds. An estimated 10% […]

In a bid to help reduce waste created by single-use plastics, Shmoo has decided to part ways with plastic straws from the end of this year. Karen Green, marketing manager at Aimia Foods said: “To be able to do our bit in terms of helping the environment, whilst supporting a local business, is something that the Shmoo team is tremendously […]

The world market for aseptically packed products amounted to 152 billion litres in 347 billion packs during 2017, according to the new Global Aseptic Packaging report from food and drinks consultancy Zenith Global and packaging experts Warrick Research. Volumes have risen by 2.7% a year since 2012, with South East Asia achieving the fastest annual growth rate of 7%, followed […]

The European soft drinks association, Unesda, has announced a set of EU-wide ambitions to make the sector’s plastic packaging more sustainable. The ambitions aim to contribute towards building a circular model for plastic packaging by improving its recyclability, recycled content, collection, and reuse. Beverage packaging is the most collected packaging in the EU and large soft drinks companies have been instrumental […]

With the ‘milkshake market’ booming (flavoured milk was up by more than £15m to £156.7m in 2017) and a new wave of millennials fuelling the rapid growth of the Grab and Go sector, Rich Products – a supplier of frozen food and beverages – has launched the a self-serve milkshake solution in the UK. Offering leisure operators the opportunity to boost revenue, f’real […]