What should the Chancellor do to help the UK food industry?
Speaking in advance of this week's Budget announcement, Melanie Leech, Director General of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), said:
"Food security is at the top of the agenda nationally and globally. This must be the year that the Chancellor recognises the strategic importance of the food and drink manufacturing industry - the UK's largest manufacturing sector, giving a clear signal of confidence to investors and potential industry entrants alike."
She goes on to say; "We also need financial incentives to encourage businesses to invest in key capital improvements earlier than they will otherwise be able to in the current economic climate. And to invest in the skills of the future, including continued efforts to tackle the shortage of food scientists, engineers and technologists and flexibilities in the Train to Gain Programme to support an industry on which the country's future food security and prosperity depends."
The food and drink manufacturing industry is the single largest manufacturing sector in the UK, with a turnover of £72.6bn and a gross value added of £21.6bn, accounting for 14% of the total manufacturing sector. The industry employs some 440,000 people representing 14% of the manufacturing workforce in the UK.
Alistair Darling has a difficult task on his hands. Food prices are rising due to the weak pound and a recent report told us that a fifth of older people are cutting back on food to save money, with a quarter skipping meals altogether.
So what measures do you think he should he implement to aid the UK food industry? Here's your chance to play Chancellor for the day and share your ideas with us...
"Food security is at the top of the agenda nationally and globally. This must be the year that the Chancellor recognises the strategic importance of the food and drink manufacturing industry - the UK's largest manufacturing sector, giving a clear signal of confidence to investors and potential industry entrants alike."
She goes on to say; "We also need financial incentives to encourage businesses to invest in key capital improvements earlier than they will otherwise be able to in the current economic climate. And to invest in the skills of the future, including continued efforts to tackle the shortage of food scientists, engineers and technologists and flexibilities in the Train to Gain Programme to support an industry on which the country's future food security and prosperity depends."
The food and drink manufacturing industry is the single largest manufacturing sector in the UK, with a turnover of £72.6bn and a gross value added of £21.6bn, accounting for 14% of the total manufacturing sector. The industry employs some 440,000 people representing 14% of the manufacturing workforce in the UK.
Alistair Darling has a difficult task on his hands. Food prices are rising due to the weak pound and a recent report told us that a fifth of older people are cutting back on food to save money, with a quarter skipping meals altogether.
So what measures do you think he should he implement to aid the UK food industry? Here's your chance to play Chancellor for the day and share your ideas with us...
Food Opportunities in Saudi Arabia - Video, Map update
Following from this recent post about a major recruitment project in Saudi Arabia, Stephen Jones, MD of FMCL, talks about the roles on FoodJobTV, also embedded here:
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
Bank on Tesco
UK supermarket chain Tesco plans to open 30 bank branches in its stores by the end of 2009 as it looks to cash in on consumer mistrust of traditional banks and extend its presence in financial services. The company announced in March that the amount of money deposited in its savings accounts had nearly doubled over the past six months, with more accounts opened in December 2008 than in the whole of 2007.
The move by the retailing giant comes as public anger spills over about the hundreds of million of pounds paid out in bonuses to bankers this year despite several of the biggest banks, including Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland, being saved from collapse by taxpayer-funded bailouts.
Tesco - which bought out the Royal Bank of Scotland to take complete control of Tesco Personal Finance in December - has been running a trial of the concept branch in Glasgow since 2006. The first new branches will open next month in Blackpool, Coventry and Bristol.
Each branch will offer credit cards, savings accounts and insurance via its Tesco Personal Finance (TPF) brand. Late last year they announced that they could be offering mortgages later this year and they hope to be able to offer standard current account products within the next 18 months. Customers will also be able to gain Clubcard loyalty points through using the bank.
Andy Higginson, chief executive of Tesco Retailing Services, says the supermarket bank will be "old-fashioned and conservative".
Resurrecting old-fashioned banking has to be good news for consumers. Banks used to specialise in building up personal relationships with their customers. Now when you phone your 'local branch' your query tends to be channeled to a call centre in India where you are simply an account number.
Will Tesco Bank become a direct competitor to the likes of HSBC and Barclays? Only time will tell. Are you one of the growing number of people dissatisfied with the performance and service of the high street banks? What would encourage you to do your banking along with the weekly shop?
The move by the retailing giant comes as public anger spills over about the hundreds of million of pounds paid out in bonuses to bankers this year despite several of the biggest banks, including Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland, being saved from collapse by taxpayer-funded bailouts.
Tesco - which bought out the Royal Bank of Scotland to take complete control of Tesco Personal Finance in December - has been running a trial of the concept branch in Glasgow since 2006. The first new branches will open next month in Blackpool, Coventry and Bristol.
Each branch will offer credit cards, savings accounts and insurance via its Tesco Personal Finance (TPF) brand. Late last year they announced that they could be offering mortgages later this year and they hope to be able to offer standard current account products within the next 18 months. Customers will also be able to gain Clubcard loyalty points through using the bank.
Andy Higginson, chief executive of Tesco Retailing Services, says the supermarket bank will be "old-fashioned and conservative".
Resurrecting old-fashioned banking has to be good news for consumers. Banks used to specialise in building up personal relationships with their customers. Now when you phone your 'local branch' your query tends to be channeled to a call centre in India where you are simply an account number.
Will Tesco Bank become a direct competitor to the likes of HSBC and Barclays? Only time will tell. Are you one of the growing number of people dissatisfied with the performance and service of the high street banks? What would encourage you to do your banking along with the weekly shop?
April Fools Day fun
Today is April Fools Day and we thought it would be fun to remind you of just a few of the stories that have taken in the unsuspecting public in previous years.
In 1957 the BBC enthralled viewers with a spoof documentary broadcast about spaghetti crops in Switzerland. The hoax Panorama programme, narrated by distinguished broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, featured a family from Ticino in Switzerland carrying out their annual spaghetti harvest. After the programme, the BBC received hundreds of calls from viewers wanting to buy spaghetti bushes.
In 1998 Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Today announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a "Left-Handed Whopper" specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty, etc.), but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers. The following day Burger King issued a follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the new sandwich. Simultaneously, according to the press release, "many others requested their own 'right handed' version."
2006 saw The Daily Express telling us that biscuits were being mixed into tarmac to help make roads safer. "Scientists yesterday revealed that broken biscuits are in fact the perfect material to help resurface roads... Years of experimental research revealed that crushed-up ginger nuts are the best biscuit for a road's sub-base, as they are more porous and allow water to drain away."
BMW ran an ad in the Guardian in 2004 to unveil its new Satellite Hypersensitive Electromagnetic Foodration (SHEF) Technology, which would allow drivers to cook their dinners from their car as they drove home from work. All the dials for the home oven were built into the dashboard of the car and communicated wirelessly with the actual oven at home. Drivers could monitor the progress of their meal via a built-in oven-cam. The ad directed readers to a website that featured images of a roasted chicken and a sleek sedan, and offered recipes such as "chicken a la M42."
What's your favourite food related April Fools story? We'd love to hear...
In 1957 the BBC enthralled viewers with a spoof documentary broadcast about spaghetti crops in Switzerland. The hoax Panorama programme, narrated by distinguished broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, featured a family from Ticino in Switzerland carrying out their annual spaghetti harvest. After the programme, the BBC received hundreds of calls from viewers wanting to buy spaghetti bushes.
In 1998 Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Today announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a "Left-Handed Whopper" specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty, etc.), but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers. The following day Burger King issued a follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the new sandwich. Simultaneously, according to the press release, "many others requested their own 'right handed' version."
2006 saw The Daily Express telling us that biscuits were being mixed into tarmac to help make roads safer. "Scientists yesterday revealed that broken biscuits are in fact the perfect material to help resurface roads... Years of experimental research revealed that crushed-up ginger nuts are the best biscuit for a road's sub-base, as they are more porous and allow water to drain away."
BMW ran an ad in the Guardian in 2004 to unveil its new Satellite Hypersensitive Electromagnetic Foodration (SHEF) Technology, which would allow drivers to cook their dinners from their car as they drove home from work. All the dials for the home oven were built into the dashboard of the car and communicated wirelessly with the actual oven at home. Drivers could monitor the progress of their meal via a built-in oven-cam. The ad directed readers to a website that featured images of a roasted chicken and a sleek sedan, and offered recipes such as "chicken a la M42."
What's your favourite food related April Fools story? We'd love to hear...
