McKenzie’s Foods, a household name in pantry staples, has launched into an entirely new market with the release of its Ready to Bake Cookies. It is the company’s first foray outside ‘scratch cooking’ products such as specialty flours and baking aids in its 172-year history.

In a bid to remove more than 10,000 kilograms of plastic from circulation, Coles has begun phasing out the plastic bottle seals for its two and three litre milk bottles.

For the fourth consecutive year, Mars Food & Nutrition Australia has committed to help Foodbank Australia by supplying Dolmio and MasterFoods products and ingredients that will make three million meals for people experiencing food insecurity.

In partnership with the International Packaging Press Organisation (IPPO) and the Australian Packaging and Processing Machinery Association (APPMA), Food & Drink Business will join fellow Yaffa Media titles PKN Packaging News and Print21 in presenting the industry forum, Packaging Perspectives: Global Trends Driving Change at APPEX next week. On Tuesday, 12 March, from 2pm at the APPEX Seminar Theatre, join us for an afternoon of expert insights and discussion with some of the industry's leaders and brightest minds.

Fortifi Food Processing Solutions has acquired New Zealand-based MHM Automation to extend its automation and robotics capabilities. MHM had entered a Scheme Implementation Agreement with Bettcher Industries, a business unit of Fortifi, in November. Fortifi is owned by private equity firm, KKR.

Altered to be resistant to a disease that could cripple the global banana industry, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) says the genetically modified (GM) Cavendish banana, QCAV-4, is permitted for consumption.

Poultry processor Inghams Group says the acquisition of New Zealand’s only organic poultry producer, Bostock Brothers, will build the company’s capabilities and extend its range. Ingham’s existing New Zealand operations showed a strong recovery in 1H24 with a 17.5 per cent increase in revenue.

Public hearings for the Senate Select Committee on Supermarket Prices get underway in Hobart today (7 March). There have been 111 submissions to the committee since it was launched in December to investigate the price setting practices and market power of major supermarkets.

Every week, Food & Drink Business editor Kim Berry reports on the latest news in the food and beverage manufacturing sector. This week: Senate Committee hearings underway into supermarkets' pricing and power, PepsiCo, Red Rock Deli, Pnau, Roy Morgan, RTDs and alcohol consumption, Gravity Drinks Co, Fonterra NZMP, Nestlé, Mother of Pearl Vodka, Frugalpac, First Nations Native Food Blockchain Workshop, consumer trends, and APPEX.

Victorian winery Fowles Wine has partnered with the University of New England (UNE) for a study on some of Fowles’ smallest inhabitants – the micro-bats that call the winery home – that could see Australia’s wine industry save $50 million per annum on pest control.

Beston Global Food Company says its 1H24 results were heavily impacted by higher-than-expected milk flows at historically high prices, with the seven million litres above forecast putting “inordinate pressure on working capital”.

In one of the more ambitious collaborations to come across the news desk at Food & Drink Business, PepsiCo has partnered with Australian band, Pnau, to launch Red Rock Deli’s new platform, Awaken your Senses, by releasing a track featuring sounds made by the ingredients.

After the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Scheme transitioned to a new Responsible Alcohol Marketing Code at the end of 2023, the regulator has released its recent decisions and warnings for complaints about alcohol products breaching the new code.

It is a common misconception that a thorough understanding of a factory’s operations equates to also knowing how best to solve any issues when they arise. Chris Sackett from CDE Design Solutions explains how to avoid this mistake.

Australians’ love of the ready-to-drink (RTD) beverage is at a record high, with the latest data from Roy Morgan finding “well over” one in five of us regularly enjoying them. While RTD consumption has more than doubled since before the pandemic, what else has changed?

Latest figures from inventory management software provider, Unleashed, reveal Australian beverage manufacturers ended the year with a strong $2.93 profit margin on each dollar invested in Q4 CY23. Food producers’ margins weren’t quite so rosy, at $1.87 per dollar spent.