tk-report - die Fachzeitschrift des Tiefkühl-Zeitalters!

Dear readers!

Dr. Albert Vollmer — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:00:19 +0000

The ink of the article with my interview with Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group General Manager Korkasamwong in the March issue of the tk-report was not even dry, when a series of roadside posters in South-East Thailand caught my eye, announcing the opening of new “CP Fresh Marts”. I followed the posters to Ban Phe, a busy fishermen’s town about 200 kilometres south of Bangkok facing the island of Koh Samet. There, right on the main road it was: the new “Fresh Mart”! Imagine my surprise when setting my eyes on as many as three rows of chest and deep freezers – and nothing else but chest and deep freezers! The entire product range of the neat shop with a very friendly atmosphere consisted of frozen food! The selection was impressive, too. Meat (poultry, pork, beef), fish, crabs, and shrimps in many exotic variants, readymade meals (from Japanese to Thai style), sausages, meatballs, and hot dogs (by a Japanese brand) as well as Asian noodle dishes, shrimps wonton soup and ice cream, of course, from the French-sounding brand été.

The equipment of the Fresh Mart was perfectly geared to the tropical temperatures outside. It goes without saying that there were insulated shopping bags to take the purchased goods home. And it can be assumed that staff expenses are rather low, since there was only one young lady at the check-out desk. These Fresh Marts are extremely popular among consumers. I was told that in the entire country, thousands of these corner shops have popped up – especially in small towns and rural villages in secluded provinces. And then an idea flashed through my mind: such Fresh Marts with a wide range of frozen food would be the ideal substitute for the gradually disappearing groceries in the country. That way the less mobile population – not only in Germany but in England and elsewhere, too could count on a proper food supply! And so the hot topic for the letter from the editor for this issue was born!

Internorga: snack trend

Anastasija Barinova — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:00:36 +0000

The trip to the far North of Germany was definitely worthwhile. More than 1,200 companies from Germany and abroad flocked to this year’s Internorga to display their products, services, and concepts for the entire food service and catering market. Innovative kitchen technology or traditional food classics in a new guise: many companies appreciated the opportunity to show the more than 100,000 visitors exciting novelties. At the busy cooking shows staged in almost every hall, guests were invited to participate and learn about the advantages of the used products. In retrospect, the exhibitors were perfectly content with this year’s trade show. The atmosphere at the food service and catering market is good and hoteliers and caterers are planning new investments. “Restaurant proprietors and caterers are willing to invest. New ideas and innovative concepts are thus in great demand. The discussion forum of the catering and hotel trade has become a popular platform among colleagues from the industry to exchange opinions and keep up to date”, confirms Rose Pauly, chairwoman of the event committee and president of the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (DEHOGA), Hamburg. When the event closed its doors after six days on Wednesday, exhibitors agreed that the quality of the trade show visitors had been excellent. The 31st International Foodservice Forum, Europe’s largest congress for professional catering, had attracted a record number of 1,700 participants from all around the globe. Additional highlights of the supporting programme had been the Deutsche Kongress für Gemeinschaftsverpflegung (congress for large-scale community catering) as well as the Forum Schulcatering (school catering), which registered 430 participants – the highest number so far. All those who have missed the great and diversified show of the latest developments of the industry, may want to highlight the period from 8th to 13th March 2013 in their calendars. Then, the 87th Internorga is opening its doors.

Full text: Internorga: snack trend continues in 2012

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The domestic ice cream industry gains momentum

Anastasija Barinova — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:00:26 +0000

The last two years took a heavy toll on the ice cream industry. Rainy summers had a negative effect on ice consumption and sales plummeted. Another factor that causes manufacturers quite a headache are the soaring prices for agricultural resources like sugar, vegetable fats, butter and nuts. The BDSI (Bundesverband der Deutschen Süßwarenindustrie e.V., in English: Association of the German Confectionery Industry) observes this alarming trend closely, too. “Frequently, companies can only pass on the increased procurement costs in form of mark-ups at a later point in time and at a reduced scale because of the tough competition in the food retail market. This implies a massive burden in terms of revenue of the ice cream industry”, elucidates Ernst Kammerinke, BDSI managing director in the division Brand Ice Cream. However the positive volume trends as well as the announcement that the per capita consumption has risen to 7.6 litres in 2011 are a light on the horizon of the ice cream industry. Despite the inauspicious general conditions of this year, the industry is currently gaining momentum thanks to clever innovations and popular classics which boost the market development. In the last years, the weather did not really promote the impulse to go out and get some ice cream. The fact that the market did not hit rock bottom was only due to the innovative energy of many manufacturers.

Full text: The domestic ice cream industry gains momentum

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International Issue April 2012

Redaktion — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:00:06 +0000

Since its first issue published in the early 1970s, the tk-report has made a name for itself as the leading German-language specialist magazine of the frozen food industry. Products news, market trends and exciting reports – it is our aspiration to shine a light on frozen food in all its facets. From the very beginning, chief editor Dr. Albert Vollmer has focussed on high journalistic quality and gripping coverage. Today’s issues perfectly fulfil these claims.

In the future our international readers can look forward to a 16-page e-paper including the most interesting news and stories in English. A subscription offers you the possibility to read the articles online on our website and to download them, too. On top of that, you can opt for a trial subscription which allows you to test three issues free of charge and without commitment.

International ePaper Subscription

Our trial subscription offers you the possibility to read three issues free of charge and without commitment. During this period the subscription can be cancelled at any moment. If you choose not to cancel, you will automatically receive ten issues of the tk-report during the coming year for 18 € incl. VAT.

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Anuga FoodTec is breaking records in advance

Anastasija Barinova — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:53:52 +0000

March his brimming with exciting trade shows. While professional chefs, caterers and hoteliers meet in Hamburg for the Internorga, the international food technology industry comes together at the FoodTec in Cologne. From 27th to 30th March the exhibition grounds in merry Rhineland are opening their gates. The effort and dedication of the two organisers Koelnmesse and Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft (DLG) is paying off. The trade show offers exhibitors and visitors an information and sales platform which covers the entire range of production technology and investment in the industry.

The sixth Anuga FoodTec keeps the international food industry up to date on all relevant topics in food production, based on the three mainstays of „Food Processing“, „Food Packaging“ and „Food Safety“. Almost 1,300 exhibitors from 35 countries have announced their coming – a new record for Koelnmesse. This holds true for the exhibition area, too, which sums up to 127,000 square metres this year.

Full text: Anuga FoodTec is breaking records in advance

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The traceability of fish is absolutely exemplary

Anastasija Barinova — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:57:43 +0000

Seeing the bigger picture: more and more consumers want to know more about the fish they have on their plates. The industry has responded to this wish by offering information on the packages and online on where the fish comes from, whether it was caught in the wild or raised in aquacultures. Seals such as the one by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) assure consumers that the awarded products stem from sustainable fishery. In addition, over-fishing of global stocks has been a hotly debated topic at the specialist conference of the fishing trade during the fish international. Discussions about the seal of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) were on the programme just as well as the new EU regulations which will come into effect on 1st July 2012. Dr. Matthias Keller, managing director of the Bundesverband der deutschen Fischindustrie und des Fischgroßhandels e.V. (association of the German fishing industry and fish wholesalers) is up to date on the latest trends and developments which keep the industry busy.

Full text: The traceability of fish is absolutely exemplary

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International Issue March 2012

Redaktion — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 05:00:38 +0000

International ePaper Subscription

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Innovative process of cleaning walk-in freezers

Henning Klein — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:42:38 +0000

According to national and international regulations, all companies in the food industry have to clean their walk-in freezers at regular intervals. It goes without saying that this is not one of the most popular tasks and is usually procrastinated as long as possible. Especially during the business hours of food retail markets such cleaning processes are a challenge which is hard to manage. Until now, the supermarkets had to find ways to store the frozen goods in a different place before the de-icing process could be carried out. And then, the procedure used to take quite some time. In conventionally built walk-in freezers with a concrete floor and tiled walls, frost damages caused by water entering in joints and cracks were rather common. And special cleaning agents which promise to work at temperatures of 18° C below zero tend to have little to no effect on large and rough surfaces.

Full text: Innovative process of cleaning walk-in freezers

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Dear readers!

Dr. Albert Vollmer — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 17:11:23 +0000

The German food retail sector expects frozen food to be among the front runners turnoverwise in 2012. This was the result of a survey conducted by the specialist magazine Lebensmittel Praxis among 1,000 German executives. Frozen food takes rank four behind organic products, fruit and vegetable (fresh/preserved) and soft drinks and is followed by dairy products, wellness articles and chilled food.

Consumers set great store by heath aspects

This sequence shows that consumers prefer to spend their money on products which benefit their health. The logic consequence: liquor and tobacco goods are the taillights of the list of 38 trade groups. Even sweets and ice cream suffered from this trend.

Optimistic outlook for investments

When being asked about their investment plans in 2012, 63 per cent of those polled said that they were planning to spend their money on energy-saving technology, 61 per cent opted for modernisations, 32 per cent for shop equipment in general, and 26 per cent were thinking about extending their cooling capacities.

Unique winning streak of frozen food in retailing sector

For many years, tk-report has been following the surveys conducted by Lebensmittel Praxis: for almost 30 years frozen food has been among the five strongest growing segments with the highest turnover expectancy! This is a unique record!

Between 1987 and 2010 frozen food was number one for 13 times!

This is a convincing argument for the high quality and excellent reputation of frozen food – and not least for the tk-report: after all, there is only one tk-report which has put itself out for frozen food over the course of more than 40 years! Any additional comment is superfluous.

Albert Vollmer

How many people will our world be able to feed?

Kornél Klement — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 05:00:25 +0000

In the German weekly news magazine Focus issue 47 (p. 79/80) there was an extremely interesting article written by Harald von Witzke, professor at the Humboldt University in Berlin, on exactly this highly relevant question. He expects the demographic growth to continue as before with a declining population in the industrial nations and an increasing population in the emerging nations. But it is especially in the developing world that people live on such a low income that rising food prices threaten the survival of a large part of the population. Here, people spend 75 per cent of their income on food. In the industrial countries on the other hand, food consumption is high but what is even more alarming is that 20 per cent of the food ends up in the trash.

Full text: How many people will our world be able to feed?

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