The Port of Melbourne will be the first home for the Purple Hive Project – an initiative by Bega Cheese’s B honey brand – which uses ‘smart hives’ to protect Australia’s honey bees from exotic pests and diseases.

Victoria Bitter will let customers trade their excess solar energy for slabs of beer as it partners with energy retailer Diamond Energy and blockchain-powered platform Power Ledge.

The Australian Manuka Honey Association has called on the Australian government to intervene in the upcoming New Zealand court hearing on the use of the term ‘manuka honey’.

The federal government has released the Modern Manufacturing Initiative’s Food & Beverage Roadmap with the goal to drive investment in the sector and maximise “every opportunity”.

Food Innovation Australia Limited (FIAL) and employers' industry body Ai Group have welcomed the federal government’s Food and Beverage Roadmap.

Paola and Michael Karamallis’ part-time experiment spinning up clouds of sweet joy to sell at local markets steadily grew to become Australia’s most-awarded fairy floss brand. Stuart Ridley writes.

A global pandemic forced business to re-evaluate how it defines risk. Julia Seddon writes a similar rethink is needed for climate and water risks to be assessed like any other business risk.

The US and Europe could reach "peak meat" by 2025, a report on the alternative protein sector says. Venture capital firm Blue Horizon and Boston Consulting Group found alternative plant-, microorganism-, and animal cell-based proteins could account for 22 per cent of the entire protein market by 2035.

Widespread food fraud and significant supply chain disruption are driving greater risks for global beverage brands, a report by Lloyd’s Register says.

Yume, the B2B online marketplace for surplus food, has won a Banksia Award for its leadership in the food waste arena.

A student-led team from Monash University has taken out a silver award at the global WorldStar Student Awards for its packaging design made from peanut husks.

The health and wellbeing Naturally Good Expo is back, after being one of many to cancel in 2020 due to COVID-19. It will be held on 30-31 May at Sydney’s International Convention Centre in Darling Harbour.

The Australian Institute of Packaging has launched its first industry-wide training program aimed at improving the Cold Chain credentials of those working in chilled and frozen food supply.

As the markets closed on Friday afternoon, Freedom Foods Group lodged its recapitalisation plans. On Monday, its trading halt ended and shareholders raced to the exit.

The arrival of our March 2021 issue not only signals the year is underway – if anyone was in any doubt – it also heralds our return to a monthly format after the year that was 2020. So, it seems fitting to have a Schmitz Cargobull truck and trailer on our cover – we’re going places!

Frucor Suntory has released its inaugural sustainability report, Growing for Good. Head of sustainability Ben Walkley says it reflects achievements since setting goals in 2017 and what lies ahead.