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Buzzing brews: Japan’s VinVie sees large untapped potential in local cider market due to demand for lower-alcohol options By Pearly Neo Homegrown Japanese alcohol firm Vinvie believes that there is major untapped potential to be found in the ‘niche’ local cider market as consumers are increasingly on the lookout for lighter, lower-alcohol options.
VinVie operates its own orchards and vineyards in Japan’s Nagano prefecture, about 3.5 hours away from Tokyo by car, growing a large variety of Japanese table apples, cider apples, pears and grapes to make its wines and ciders.
According to the firm’s Director of Wine and Cider Making and Grape Cultivation Tsuyoshi Takemura, there are few companies in Japan that make cider as the industry is currently very niche.
Plant-based firm and social impact venture Green Monday has recently made major strides into the South East Asian market with product and retail debuts in Singapore and Malaysia, and is now eyeing opportunities to reduce its prices in order to sustain momentum in the category.
Hong Kong-based Green Monday and its plant-based product development arm OmniFoods launched three plant-based meat products into the Malaysian retail market last month under its OmniMeat brand, and also opened its first ASEAN plant-based retail store and eatery Green Common in Singapore.
According to Green Monday Founder and CEO David Yeung, one of the reasons for the firm’s focus in this area is due to the rapidly rising trend for plant-based eating in both markets.
Zeroing in on zero-sugar: Yeo’s plans portfolio-wide reformulation efforts for beverage products Singapore F&B heavyweight Yeo Hiap Seng (Yeo’s) is making plans to reformulate as many products as it can within its beverage portfolio to both keep up with consumer trends, as well as fall in line with upcoming government standards.
Yeo’s is one of Singapore’s oldest beverage firms, having recently celebrated its 120-uear anniversary at the end of 2020, but the firm is adamant on keeping in touch with new trends to improve and enhance its portfolio, according to Yeo’s Singapore CEO and Group Chief Growth Officer Angela Lu.
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China food safety alerts: Warnings and directives for fermented foods, counterfeit foods and beverages issued by government By Pearly Neo The Chinese government has issued a series of warnings and directives on the consumption of fermented foods, counterfeit foods and beverages on the back of a deadly mass food poisoning event and the rapid rise of food fraud cases in the past year.
All the warnings and directives were issued by China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), with particular emphasis on the safety of fermented foods due to a lethal mass food poisoning case in Heilongjiang province last year where nine members of a single family died after eating homemade suantangzi (fermented corn noodles).
Consumption of an omega-3 supplement produced by Australian health company Max Biocare is clearly linked to socio-demographic status among adults residing in China, Thailand and Vietnam, according to new research.