California Raisins is promoting its juice concentrate for use in the production of baked goods, confectionery and snacks.

Rich Products has added filled cookies to its product portfolio. They come in two varieties - Chocolate Cookie with a cream filling and Vanilla Cookie with a milk chocolate filling.

Bakehouse has announced the launch of a new Chocolate Praline Croissant for the foodservice industry. The product has a chocolate and hazelnut filling and is topped with chocolate and nibbed hazelnut.

A number of festive bakery products have been developed using branded alcohol from culinary alcohol supplier Thomas Lowndes - part of Beam Global Spirits & Wine Inc. Tesco is now using Courvoisier VS Cognac in its Finest Mince Pie range, while Asda uses the same product in its Extra Special Christmas Cakes, made by Finsbury Food Group. "The addition of a well-known brand like Courvoisier gives the product something special," said Ellie Procter, buyer for Asda.

Pantheon has developed its new heavy-duty PM20 Planetary Mixer. The body of the machine is made from solid metal and die-cast aluminium, while the 20-litre mixing bowl and beater, whisk and dough hook are all made from stainless steel. It is powered by a 1.1kW motor and features three speed settings.

European bakery equipment manufacturer König has launched an updated version of its vacuum cooling system the Ceovac. It allows bread, rolls and pastry products to be part-baked without being kept in freezers or on board refrigerated vehicles.

Apuro has unveiled its new Friul juice extractors and is marketing them as a way for bakery retailers, cafés and coffee shops to encourage healthy eating by offering pure fruit or vegetable juice. The machines can also be used to juice vegetables as a base for cold soup.

Nine new Weight Watchers breads are to be launched in January, joining the three already available.

New research conducted by the Institute of Food Research (IFR), entitled Potential Prebiotic Properties of Almond Seeds, has found that finely ground almonds could have prebiotic properties, which can stimulate the growth of healthy bacteria.

Almonds: Continue to look good value against other commodities and tree nuts in particular. Also seasonally and predictably, September to November shipments from California have been strong to date and higher than previous years.

== Nick Harris ==

Latte is the new lager, according to new research commissioned by Costa Coffee. The survey, conducted by market research agency Opinion Matters, revealed that coffee shops have overtaken pubs as the UK's favourite social hang-out.

Sandwich chain Subway plans to open another 650 stores in the UK and Ireland by 2010. It has now overtaken McDonald's for the greatest number of stores in both countries, with a total of 1,350 outlets. The company, which has grown from 25 stores in the UK and Ireland in 2000, is now averaging five new openings a week and, globally, has more than 30,000 stores operating in over 87 countries.

Northern Irish bakery Irwin's has achieved a 300-store distribution deal with Asda for its Irish Batch range.

== Northern highlights ==

Discount supermarket Aldi is to expand in Ireland, with 35 new stores planned.

Premier Foods' interim management statement has revealed sales of Hovis are up 11% for the four months to October.

== Malted inclusion ==

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has published revised guidance for country-of-origin labelling, designed to benefit consumers and to further the FSA's commitment to improve food labelling and consistency.

Premium café chain Patisserie Valerie is forging ahead with expansion plans, despite the economic downturn, opening four more outlets in the next fortnight and a further nine by the spring of next year.

== Softer style ==

Scottish bakery Stephens plans to expand its chain of shops and fleet of snack vans after moving into a custom-built £4.5m bakery.

The steering group tasked with drawing up a new industry-stan-dard foundation skills course for bakery moved to clarify issues surrounding the future of bakery qualifications, following sector skills council Improve's announcement (BB, pg 6, 14 November) that it would be reforming the structure of qualifications.

A West Midlands bakery group has become the first bakery casualty of the banking crisis, after being hit by banks reducing credit.

Finsbury Foods' sales for the 20 weeks to mid-November were up 11% on the same 2007/08 period, with sales in its cake division up 3% year-on-year.

UK wheat quality is down compared to last season according to the HGCA's final 2008 Cereals Quality Survey.

== Scottish baker closes ==

Food producer Greencore has revealed that its cakes and desserts business has performed well for the full year ended 26 September 2008.

Coffee shop chains are to follow Subway's lead by announcing Food Standards Agency (FSA)-agreed healthy eating commit- ments next year,

Craft bakeries fear a massive skills shortage, as the flow of bakers from Eastern Europe dries up and those already here return home.

The EC Commission has published a proposal to update and simplify the complex and long-standing rules that control food labelling. As a Regulation, the final text adopted will apply directly in Member States, without national redrafting or the scope for gold-plating. This would prevent, more reliably than previously, the emergence of bar-riers to trade between Member States on the basis of food labelling inconsistencies. Negotiations are ongoing and the final text may be significantly different from that currently proposed, but bakery manufacturers and retailers need to be aware of what's on the table.

The makers of the latest Wallace & Gromit outing, A Matter of Loaf And Death, have revealed more plot details of the film, which will see the pair running a bakery called Top Bun.

== l Packaging & Labelling ==

For all the office workers maddened by their sandwiches being pilfered from the fridge - or for students in shared accommodation - comes this nifty bag, which gives the sarnie the appearance of being covered in mould. Another possible benefit for retailers could be selling out-of-date mouldy sarnies - the fake mould acting as a crafty disguise for the real mould underneath (but of course, we wouldn't recommend that, Mr Trading Standards Officer). tinyurl.com/5pejr7

Over the past year we have grown to love the undisputed godfather of bowel regulation via his bygone missives, resurrected in BB. But how much do we really know about him? Here's a remarkable insight into his daily routine - an example we should perhaps all strive to follow. This is especially true when it come to spicing up your life - what better way to treat yourself than with a bowl of boiled onions?

"If you think Islington is all air-kissing, cocaine-snorting, gym-going, Guardian-reading, latté-slurping, organic, free-range, GM-free munching fashionistas, think again. It's worse than that - much, much worse than that"

It is common in areas of India for cows, considered by Hindus to be a sacred animal, to stroll the streets freely. Some are known to regularly wander into shops. But finding a cow chomping away at the bakery goods in his shop was a step too far for one New Delhi baker, who ended the bovine's carefree munching by stabbing it to death.

Easy-to-make edible breads over seasonal periods are a sure-fire winner. I demonstrated this technique at the Bakers' Fair and everyone was amazed at how simple, but effective these breads were.

It took several hundred loaves of bread, a tonne of ostrich meat and 1,500 chefs to prepare. But Iran's attempt to make the world's largest ostrich sandwich wasn't just to notch up an entry in the Guinness Book of Records. The monster snack was also created to raise the profile of healthy eating - given ostrich meat's reputation as a low-fat, low-cholesterol alternative to chicken.

Oliver Blank is from Aichinger, a German shopfitting firm handling the McCafé roll-out over there, as well as Birds of Derby and Waterfields over here. Richard Hamilton of Agile Space's clients have included Pret A Manger, Lovejuice, Itsu, FooGo and independent coffee and bakery retailers. Franco Costa heads up Costagroup - a cutting-edge Italian shopfitter that has fitted everywhere from McDonald's in Italy to Paul in France.

A long-time destination for anything from gay bondage wear to, well, gay bondage, pockmarked with seedy snaking stairways and haunted by trench-coated gents shuffling into ribbon-stripped doorways, Soho is the scene of many a piquant fancy. Not least of these is Alan Yau's altogether more salubrious fetish: opening eating holes.

We bake our cakes with eggs fresh from the farm, which gives them a really good colour," says Liz Hedges of Bryngwenyn Farm, who hand-collects eggs from her brood of hens daily. "We believe in proper free-range chickens, which can make it a bit harder to locate the eggs!" she adds. But despite the extra trouble tracking down the odd maverick chicken nest, the resulting cakes have proved a popular seller in her on-site shop. "I always baked cakes and, when we opened the shop, it seemed natural that there would be a cakes offering," says Hedges.

We have recently been developing a range of 'open sandwiches' for a chain of excellent gastro-pubs we supply, writes The SoHo Sandwich Company's Adam Gilbert.

Although available all year round in frozen or dried form, fresh cranberries are in season now. Native to North America, they are the fruit of low-growing, creeping shrubs that grow in acidic bogs. When the fruit turns red in early October, the beds are flooded and a harvester removes the fruit from the vines. The fruits are graded for quality and 95% are used for drinks, sauces and sweetened dried cranberries. The best quality are sold fresh or frozen.

== by Sue Davies ==

== Jo Fairley is co-owner of Judges organic bakery and grocery in Hastings and co-founded Green & Black's chocolate firm with hubby Craig Sams ==

Britvic and PepsiCo have announced that Pepsi will be incorporating quick-response (QR) codes across its brand in a bid to provide entertainment on-the-go. Using mobile phone technology, the codes, which will appear on more than 400 million packs, will enable consumers to gain access to content provided by Pepsi via the WAP service on their phones.

Rombouts Coffee's Pure Origins coffee range is now available for coffee shops and cafés. The range, which was exclusively available to retail consumers through Selfridges stores, is available in two formats - ground coffee in black caddies for cafetières, and coffee pods for the Rombouts' 1,2,3 Spresso system.

Firefly Tonics has launched its new drink 'Recharge'. Available in Pomegranate & Echinacea and Rosehip & Ginseng flavours, it contains fruit juices (white grape, pomegranate, plum, blood orange, rosehip), with botanical extracts, including kola nut, elderflower and chilli. The drink contains no added sugar or artificial ingredients and has been designed to "top up your energy levels", says the firm.

Danone Waters UK has announced that its Evian and Volvic brands will have carbon-neutral status by 2011, forming part of the company's long-term sustainability project. Since 2000, it has been the aim of Danone to reduce Evian's environmental impact by 50%. So far a 20% reduction has been achieved, and the remaining 30% is hoped to be achieved thanks to a major Wetlands Protection and Restoration project, which restores ecosystems destroyed in recent years.

Lincat has launched a new conveyor toaster.

BakeMark UK is launching a Toblerone Cookie under its licensing agreement with Kraft Foods.

Industrial Washing Machines' latest EDi range of utensil washers has been added to the government's Water Technology List, which recognises products that protect the environment by saving water.

Mono Equipment has recently added a number of new products to its range.

The latest version of E&R Moffat's BK Merchandiser has been designed to offer the maximum space available for the display of chilled snacks and drinks. The self-service display unit features a cascade of cold air to keep food at the desired temperature. It has a refrigerated well, to store products at cooler temperatures, with three shelves above. Ticket holders are also available, as is a night blind. The Merchandisers come in a range of sizes from 900 to 1,800mm in length, but all measure 1,950mm high and are 600mm deep.

Packaging manufacturer Huhtamaki has added a new size BioWare bio-coated paper cup to its range. A 14oz cup is now available to complement its existing range, which includes 9oz, 12oz and 16oz variants.

A real time facility - DataTrace RF Temperature Logger - is now being offered by monitoring solutions company Wessex Power. The MPRF temperature loggers provide accurate data across a wide temperature range, -80?C to + 400?C, and come with either a rigid or bendable probe length.

Cargill has introduced two new stabiliser ranges, said to give manufacturers increased flexibility in the production of icings.

At the European Coffee Symposium held in London recently, Paul Ettinger, head of international food and beverages at Caffè Nero, said Britain's coffee shop sector needs to look at new ways of minimising the impact of the recession, including attracting more evening trade, selling more iced drinks and, possibly, selling alcohol.

== Gordon Polson ==

Associated British Food's (ABF) results for the year ended 13 September 2008, have revealed positive revenue growth, despite economic challenges, according to a statement released by the company, with group revenue up 21% to £8.2bn. Operating profit for the food, ingredient and retail group stands at £554m, while adjusted operating profit has increased 7% to £664m.

Canada Bread's third-quarter results reveal increases in its sales of fresh and frozen bread, despite a fall in net earnings of 6.4% compared to the same period last year.

Barry Callebaut has reported a 5.3% increase in full-year opera-ting profit to 31 August 2008 and said it had continued to see good growth in the first two months of the current fiscal year. Profit rose to SFr341.1m (£184.7m), as sales increased by 17.3% to SFr4.8bn (£2.6bn).

Bakery product supplier, CSM, has reported a 23% fall in pre-tax profit to E27m (£22.1m) in the third quarter as the recession starts to bite. Although sales increased by 2% to E639.5m (£523.1m), CSM said it had seen evidence of "downscaling and downtrading" by customers.

== Finsbury increase ==

Fats and oils supplier AAK Bakery Services is about to receive its first shipment of sustainably produced crude palm oil at its Hull-based refinery.

A new market-focused organisation that aims to deliver greater value across the grain supply chain could benefit the baking industry. Ten farmer-owned central storage co-operatives from across the UK have joined forces to create NetworkGrain UK.

== Bakery rise forecast ==

PepsiCo is to discontinue its PJ Smoothies and Tropicana Spirit brands. According to a statement released by the company, the reasons for the move are due to the current economic climate and "unprecedented pressures" being experienced by the firm.

The Franchisee Association says current economic conditions should not put people off consi-dering taking out a licence.

Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, plans to introduce new bakery qualifications by September 2009. The qualifications will be publicly accredited and will mean that workplace skills will be recognised outside the NVQ structure for the first time in 20 years.

== Charity at BIA ==

Restructuring and "significant transition" for Starbucks Cor-poration has seen its profits crash 96.6% to $5.4m, compared with $158.5m in its fourth quarter last year. The coffee chain's fourth-quarter results, ended 28 September, and full fiscal 2008 results also reveal a fall in opera-ting profit for the year from $1.1bn in fiscal 2007, to $504m.

There are less than two weeks left to register for the Baking Industry Summit 2008, on 27 November, so make sure you reserve your delegate place now. The Summit, which will focus on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), is taking place at One Great George Street, London, and will host a variety of top speakers, including Lucy Neville-Rolfe, executive director (corporate & legal affairs), Tesco.

The coming recession is unlikely to affect Costa Coffee's store expansion plans though pricing on food could come under pressure, Costa's MD John Derkach told British Baker.

== Premier's debt talks ==

The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) Food and Drink Group, Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Federation of Bakers and the National Association of Master Bakers are running an event titled Flour dust - respiratory disease in the food industry, on Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at The Turbine in Worksop, Nottingham.

Northern Irish bakery Irwin's, has been fined £1,500 for selling underweight bread, after launching a 600g loaf ahead of next year's EU directive that lifts historical UK bread weights.

Food safety could be put at risk by squeezing salt reduction targets further, it was revealed, as sandwich makers and bakery manufacturers dug their trenches over "unachievable" proposals to slash salt in food.