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From the Editor
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Welcome to the latest issue of the PotatoReporter Online newsletter, Colleagues - we trust that you will find the information to be of interest. The newsletter can also be viewed on our web site - please follow this link:
www.potatoreporteronline.com/newsletters.asp. You are most welcome to get in touch if you have any news items that you might want to see published in this monthly newsletter.
With best wishes,
Lukie Pieterse
Editor
editor@potatoreporteronline.com |
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| In the News | | | | | |  Spain and France collaborate to relaunch fresh potato consumption
The marked drop in fresh potato consumption in both countries has led to collaboration between the two organisations with the aim of dynamising the situation. The close relationship between French production and the Spanish market, (France is Spain’s main potato supplier with annual sales of around 650,000 tonnes) has led the organisations in both countries to work jointly on a study which is to come out in June. In addition to the study, the French CNIPT (French Interprofessional Potato Association) has already put a proposal on the table for a new segmentation not based on culinary qualities.
Source: Fruittoday.com
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| In the News | | | | | | McDonalds's switches to transfat free oils
The McDonald's Corp. has completed its changeover to cooking oil with no trans fat at its restaurants in the U.S. and Canada, the company announced in the third week of May. The world's largest restaurant chain is now cooking French fries, hash browns, Filet-O-Fish sandwiches and chicken in a blend of canola, corn and soybean oils.
Source: Wall Street Journal
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| | | | | | McCain UK launches foodservice website
McCain Foods has launched its foodservice website, offering product support and advice to pubs.With a distinct section for pubs, the site at www.mccainfoodservice.co.uk/ helps publicans to discover more about McCain products as well as offering menu inspirations.
Source: The Publican
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| | | | | | Underestimated potato as the food for the future
Long taken for granted in developed countries, the potato has the potential to relieve the pressure of increasing cereal prices on the poorest people and contribute significantly to food security, according to experts at the International Potato Centre in Lima, Peru. Potato is a crop that is grown and eaten locally, with little significant international trade compared to cereals, so it is particularly valuable as a food in the developing countries.
Source: International Potato Center
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| In the News | | | | | | New Frymaster Protector fryers win Kitchen Innovations award at NRA 2008
A new fryer from Frymaster, LLC offers the next generation in ultra-high performance commercial frying, combining oil savings and energy conservation with labor-saving technological features. Frymaster’s new Protector electric fryer is said to take high-tech 'smart' frying to the next level with innovative oil and energy-saving features. Frymaster’s renowned, patented FootPrint PRO® built-in filtration system preserves oil life and ensures the quality of fried foods, putting filtration where it’s most convenient to use – right within the Protector fryer battery.
Source: National Restaurant Association
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| | | | | | Slovenia - Imports of frozen potato products
Slovenia’s Statistical Office reports that Slovenia imported frozen potato products worth USD1.56 million in the first two months of this year, while Slovenian exports of the same type of commodity were worth USD32,000. Slovenia also imported potato flour, meal, powder, flakes, granules and pellets worth USD489,000 in January and February, while exports of these commodities were worth USD92,000.
Source: Slovenia’s Statistical Office
| | | | | | After consolidation, Intersnack faces off with PepsiCo in the Czech Republic
The 1990s ushered in a tidal wave of junk food in the Czech Republic, with various players looking to fill the untapped bellies of Czech consumers. One of the earliest arrivals was Germany’s Intersnack, which came to the market in 1992, taking over a potato chip plant in Choustník, south Bohemia. While Intersnack has courted its customers with a nationally tailored brand, PepsiCo is banking on its global brand Lay’s. The international label, which has its origins in the American South of the early 1930s, is a latecomer to the market, first appearing on shelves at the end of 2004.
Source: The Prague Post
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| | | | | | Potato flakes units shut despite bumper crop in Bangladesh
The country's major manufactures of potato flakes have closed their factories, despite this year's bumper potato crop, complaining that they are unable to raise working capital to run the plants. Officials of Patwary Potato Flakes Limited (PPFL), one of the four potato flakes producers in Bangladesh, said in early May '08 their factory is capable of producing between 7,700-8,000 tonnes of potato flakes a year but they are unable to do so due to lack of working capital to buy potatoes.
Source: The Daily Star
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| | | | | | Starch manufacturer China Essence Group increases revenue 65%
China Essence Group Ltd, one of the largest integrated potato-processing producers in the People’s Republic of China, announced its full year financial results for the financial year ended 31 March 2008. Revenue increased 65% over FY2007, from RMB521.2 million to RMB858.8 million, on the back of higher sales volumes. Mr Zhao Libin, Chairman and CEO of China Essence said, “As demand for potato starch, modified starch and potato starch-based products continues to grow,we are pleased to announce fresh plans to strategically expand our operations to meet with this demand. We are also moving towards being a truly integrated potato-processing producer, with our suite of primary, downstream and by products.”
Source: China Essence Group
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| | | | | | Agrana acquires 50% of Studen Group
Sugar and starch producer in Central and Eastern Europe, Agrana, announced in May that it acquired, subject to regulatory authority approval, 50 per cent of the shares in the sugar sales operations of the Studen Group, Vienna.
Source: Food Production Daily
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| | | | | | Heinz says it's reducing its carbon footprint
H.J. Heinz Co. says it plans to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent within about 7 years. CEO Bill Johnson says Heinz is finding new ways to reduce its environmental impact, which includes converting potato peels into biofuel and reducing packaging by 15 percent. At its plant in Oregon, Heinz is working to convert potato peels into biofuel. The company plans to distribute and sell that fuel through a central natural gas pipeline. It also plans to treat and recycle 90 percent of the water used for daily potato production at the same plant, which could save a billion gallons of water per year.
Source: Associated Press
| | | | | | Processed potato has overtaken fresh potato in terms of output and turnover
Between 1995 and 2005 processed potato output rose from five million tonnes to over 10 million, and the value of these transactions doubled from 2,000 million dollars to almost 4,000. Fresh potato was worth less than 2,500 million dollars for an output of just under 10 million tonnes. These trade figures highlight another clear trend in the sector: fresh potato consumption in developed countries has been decreasing for over a decade.
Source: FruitToday.com
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| | | | Research | | | | | | Researchers reviewed strategies to reduce acrylamide formation in potato fries
Potato products contain high amounts of acrylamide, which sometimes exceeds the concentration of 1 mg/L. However, many strategies for acrylamide reduction in potato products are possible. In this work, scientists from Spain and Italy report on the different approaches for reducing acrylamide formation which they reviewed, keeping in mind that in the application of strategies for acrylamide formation, the main criteria to be maintained are the overall organoleptic and nutritional qualities of the final product.
Source: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
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| | | | | | Researchers at Penn State testing for suitable potato chip varieties
At Penn State University in the US, thousands of potato varieties from around the globe are put through extensive cross-breeding programs, genetic research and intercollegiate collaborations. But once a year, the University's potato researchers switch from pipettes, computers and other high-tech equipment to potato peelers, slicers and a deep fryer. It's potato-chipping time. For a few days, research technicians fry and rate potato chips. They test four potato cultivars at a time, taking eight slices from the center of each to fry them in commercial fryers. Laying out 16 separate piles on a table, the researchers meticulously evaluate the chips with a 10-stage, light-to-dark visual rating chart that shows the chips levels of darkness immediately after frying.
Source: Penn State University
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| In the News | | | | | | Potatoes perish in Gujarat cold storage, farmers cry foul
Farmers in Deesa town of north Gujarat, accounting for the highest potato output in the state, are worried after much of their produce stocked at a state-run cold storage was found to have perished. “We are ruined. Our annual earnings have gone,” lamented Ramesh Thanaji Mali, a farmer from Athamanavas Ranpura village, 10 km from Deesa in Banaskantha district.
Source: Thaindian News
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| In the News | | | | | | Slight increase in Polish potato producer price
Poland’s Central Statistical Office reports that the average price received by potato producers for their potatoes at market places in Poland in March this year was 2.0 per cent higher than in February and 1.1 per cent higher than in March 2007.
Source: Poland’s Central Statistical Office
| | | | | | Potato producer price lower in Hungary; higher in Slovenia
Hungary’s Central Statistical Office reports that the producer price of potatoes in Hungary in the first quarter of this year was 1.8 per cent lower than in the same period in 2007. Slovenia’s Statistics Office reports that the producer price of potatoes in Slovenia in the first quarter of this year was 47.2 per cent higher than in the fourth quarter of last year and 19.2 per cent higher than in the first quarter of 2007.
Source: Hungary’s Central Statistical Office; Slovenia’s Statistics Office
| | | | | | Lam Dong potatoes for Thailand
Officials in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong have reportedly signed a deal to export potatoes to Thailand by the end of the year. Farmers in the province signed the agreement with Pepsico Viet Nam under which the company provides Atlantic potato seeds, initial capital investment and then purchases the product. The company also co-ordinates with local partners to reduce or exempt farmers’ debts incurred when natural disasters or epidemics affect crops.
Source: Vnagency.com.vn
| | | | | | Potato farmers in Gujarat set up export company in response to bumper potato crop
About 50 farmers from different districts in Gujarat have pooled in Rs 1 lakh each to launch their own company to export commodities like potatoes, groundnut, cotton, mangoes etc. KP Agri International Pvt Ltd aims to export agri-commodities to foreign countries and is getting a lot of support from the Gujarati Diaspora settled abroad in the Gulf and Africa.
Source: Times of India
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