The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Aquaculture Stewardship Council have recognised organisations and individuals making a difference in aquaculture at the 2025 Sustainable Seafood Awards Australia.

South Australia’s wine export industry is thriving, contributing significantly to the country’s $2.39 billion wine exports in 2024. Maintaining a competitive edge while meeting growing demand means embracing new solutions, like automation.

Small business accelerator, Seedlab Australia, is championing female-led innovation in the FMCG sector, as International Women’s Day approaches this weekend (8 March).

Italian confectionery company, Ferrero, is celebrating 50 years in Australia with sustainability initiatives and expansion plans, including partnering with Ceva Logistics to invest in 13,800sqm of temperature-controlled warehousing capacity.

New Zealand based goat milk formula brand, The LittleOak Company, has been launched in 443 Sprouts Farmers Market stores across the US, expanding its availability for American families.

The interim FY25 financial report for Maggie Beer Holdings was a continuation to its lacklustre FY24 performance, recording a $4.4 million loss with further write downs and losses on its Paris Creek Farms dairy business.

The federal government is investing $3.5 million to start development of a “comprehensive” national food security strategy, dubbed Feeding Australia. With plans in place to collaborate with farmers and stakeholders, the strategy will aim to increase security and supply chain resilience of Australian agriculture and food production systems.

The highly anticipated PKN Women in Packaging 2025 program has opened for entries, backed by strong industry support. This prestigious initiative celebrates the achievements, leadership, and innovation of women across the Australian and New Zealand packaging industry.

The Australian Made Campaign has received a $5 million multi-year federal government grant to increase awareness of the Australian Made logo and strengthen its legal position in key export markets.

While Woolworths was grappling with industrial action and underperforming business units in 1H25, Coles Group was reaping the benefits of its savings and value campaign and internal Simplify and Save program to record $23 billion in sales.

Melbourne-based producer, Pure Dairy, has appointed Lee Shipley as general manager of wholesale/retail sales and Tim Bonaguro as general manager of corporate sales, as the company gears up for expansion.

Welcome to our February/March issue of the Food & Drink Business magazine. The year has already delivered some major acquisitions and people movements, and while change is always underway, 2025 is a special one for Yaffa Media as it celebrates 100 years.

The ACCC has granted conditional authorisation for the major supermarkets to continue their soft plastics recycling collaboration until 31 July 2026. Coles, Woolworths, and Aldi will continue to process stockpiled soft plastics, and expand the in-store collection program.

Hort Innovation has launched a new R&D program aiming to increase the daily vegetable consumption of Australians by one serve a day, which the organisation says could contribute $3.3 billion across the vegetable supply chain.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has gone part way in addressing calls from beer and spirit producers to freeze the twice-yearly indexed excise they pay by doing so for two years from this August, but only for beer. The spirits industry says there is no policy rationale to not include spirits in the decision.

Calling on all innovators in food and drink manufacturing! Entries for The Hive Awards 2025 need to be in today! This is your last opportunity to showcase your project or product on centre stage and be celebrated in Australia's only awards program that encompasses the whole sector.