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tate & lyle has taken new measures to remove itself from volatile commodity markets and refocus on value-added ingredients, with a plan to sell its mexican sugar business, grupo industrial azucarero de occidente. the firm's plan to sell its 49 per cent stake in occidente to e d & f man holdings for us$93m (£46m, €66.5m) represents tate & lyle's exit from the sugar industry in the americas.

food companies have been focussing on value-added products in a bid to reduce their reliance on commodities, which can fluctuate wildly and deliver slim margins. but now that prices of basic foods are at an all-time high, can value-added foods still compete for their share of the consumer buck? the value-added strategy is one that has figured large for food ingredients firms.

dsm food specialities has developed a new mould and yeast inhibitor for meat products, said to ensure an even coating of natamycin on products like sausages and give stronger protection against health risks. cheese and meat producers have, for some time, used an antimycotin called natamycin (derived from a streptomyces natalensis culture) to curb the growth of harmful mould and yeast on meat and cheese products.

givaudan has reported sales growth in its flavours division in q3, particularly in the european beverage and dairy segments, and in developing markets. in the first nine months of 2007, switzerland-based givaudan recorded sales in the flavour division of chf1.675m (€1.005m), compared to last year's total of chf1.282m (€769,846). this is a 30.6 per cent increase in local currencies.

fermenting purple sweet potatoes may lead to better extraction and stability of the anthocyanin pigments for use as natural food colourings, chinese researchers report. gongjian fan and co-workers from nanjing agricultural university investigated the extraction of the pigment from purple sweet potato, and tap into the trend to source natural alternatives to artificial food colours such as sunset yellow, tartrazine and quinoline yellow.

anheuser busch yesterday denied claims by environmental organisation greenpeace that batches of its beer, including the flagship brand budweiser, contain genetically modified (gm) materials. greenpeace, pointing to independent laboratory testing, alleges that traces of a genetically engineered strain of rice known as " liberty link" had been found in beer made at the company's eastern coast us breweries in 2006.

the cnv food union said that the company's employees in the netherlands are confronted with uncertainty as a result of the global restructuring plan that includes around 20,000 job cuts. the union said that it would be forced to take action against unilever if the company cannot reach a new wage deal or a plan to avoid forced redundancies with its employees. earlier this year, unilever announced restructuring plans, which include job cuts and divesting of slow-growing business, to attain more profitability.

grupo industrial azucarero de occidente (occidente) operates three sugar mills in mexico. ed&f man's right to acquire tate & lyle's 49% interest in occidente is subject to occidente's majority shareholder's option to acquire 1% of those shares. if such an option is exercised then ed&f man would acquire a 48% interest in occidente. on completion of the deal, tate & lyle will receive a consideration of $93 million.

franchising will begin in the provinces of ontario and british columbia, specifically targeting toronto, ontario and vancouver, british columbia due to their population density, average incomes, culture, and proximity to the us. dan stone, director of franchise sales, said: "we have received a lot of interest and leads from canadians in recent years for the melting pot franchise concept. we are energized by the potential with our concept in canada and are happy to say that we are ready to begin offering franchises in select canadian provinces.

combined with additional restructurings, this has resulted in the loss of approximately 100 jobs in total, with approximately 60 staff affected by the closure of its stockholm plant.christer aberg, managing director of atria scandinavia, said that the company has strong belief in the future of sandwiches and salads. he added that, despite this, the company is being forced to restructure the business within sardus latta maltider as costs within the unit have been high.