Creative in the kitchen

       Introduced to in the US in the early 1970, the first modern food processors were designed by Carl Sontheimer, the brilliant engineer who founded Cuisinart, a brand that is today recognised by culinary experts the world over.
       In 1989, Conair Group took over Sontheimer's business and expanded the product line to include hightech kitchen utensils such as coffee makers, toasters, kettles, food processors, water filtration units, ice cream/yoghurt makers, cutlery, electric knives, blenders and can openers.
       Cuisinart recently launched five new products and they're already proving popular with professional chefs and the brand's many fans.
       For the coffee lover, there's a Grind & Brew Thermal 10-Cup Automatic Coffeemaker that grinds the beans before rustling up a brew. It's a double-wall, insulated, brushed metal, thermal carafe that keep up to 10 cups of java juice hot for hours.
       Also new to the Thai market is the Supreme Grind Automatic Burr Mill, an elegant stainless steel unit that consistently grinds coffee beans to preserve delicate natural oils, maximising both flavour and aroma. It's easy to use too:simply select the desired grind consistency and cup quantity and the Burr Mill automatically stops when the right amount of coffee has been ground.
       Tea making is easy and fast with a Cordless Automatic Electric Kettle in stainless steel that boils two litres of water in minuteds. While the tea is brewing, make the toast in the Classic 2-Slice Toaster in brushed stainless polished chrome that lets you defrost and toast bagels and bread.
       Last but not least, the Smart Stick Hand Blender lets you blend, prep and whip a variety of ingredients and also features whisk and chopper attachments, perfect for that morning smoothie!

AMINO-ENABLED MILK EXTRACT FOR ALLEGIC BABIES

       Siriraj Medical School has invented an aminoenabled milk extracted from rice for children with milk allergies. The milk can substitute for foreign brands extracted from corn, which sometimes fail to prevent the allergic reactions and are also much more expensive.
       Dr Theerawat Kulthanant, rector of Mahidol University's Siriraj Medical School, said at a press conference yesterday that the "amino rice milk" was the first of its kind and had been registered for copyright protection.
       Amino rice milk is the result of further research after a similar milk extracted from chicken breasts was also invented by Siriraj Medical School a few years ago. That "chicken milk" costs around Bt400 an ounce while the amino rice milk costs Bt600.
       Foreign brands of milk extracted from corn are priced much higher.
       Of 4,000 babies allergic to baby milk made of cow milk under care at Siriraj Hospital, most of them can drink chicken milk, but 200300 of them are still allergic to chicken milk and need to drink milk extracted from corn. Thailand imports this milk at a cost of tens of millions of baht each year.
       Dr Phiphob Jiraphinyo, of the School's division of paediatric medicine, said an experiment with 250 babies with milk allergy would begin next year, with eight other medical schools participating, with a Bt6million funding.
       An estimated 20,00040,000 babies are born in Thailand each year with allergies to baby's milk made from cow's milk.

Carlyle buys into China's dairy firm

       The Carlyle Group said on Sunday that the US private equity giant had bought a minority stake in Yashili to help the leading Chinese infant formula maker improve its research and production.
       Washington-based Carlyle obtained a 17.3% stake in Yashili, headquartered in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, according to an e-mailed statement from Carlyle, which disclosed no further financial details of the deal.
       Carlyle's deal came after rivals including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR), Sequoia Capital and other funds invested more than $1 billion combined in China's domestic dairy industry, which was badly hit by a food safety scandal last year.
       The deal signified the growing interest of global private equity funds in China's consumer sector despite the international financial crisis.
       More than a dozen Chinese dairy firms including market leader China Mengniu Dairy Co were found to have sold milk containing melamine during last year's tainted milk scandal, putting the Chinese government under pressure as families questioned poor quality controls.
       With foreign investors buying stakes in Chinese dairy makers in the past few months, Chinese officials said the domestic dairy industry had shown opportunities for growth again.
       "China's dairy industry presents a great opportunity for investment. We are pleased to see a value-adding partnership of this kind that draws on international resources to raise product standards," said Song Kungang, chairman of the China Diary Association, commenting on the Carlyle-Yashili deal.
       In August, US venture capital firm Sequoia Capital said it invested $63 million in China-focused American Dairy Inc, a strong and direct competitor of Yashili in China's fast growing baby formula market.
       In July, Hopu, a $2.5 billion fund set up by influential China dealmaker Fang Fenglei, teamed up with a domestic firm to buy 20% of Mengniu for $800 million.
       In June, KKR said it completed a series of investments in Ma Anshan Modern Farming Co Ltd, a leading dairy company headquartered in central China.
       "We see great scope to contribute to China's rapidly growing infant formula industry through this investment," said Patrick Siewert, senior director of Carlyle Asia Partners."The infant formula market in China is undergoing a positive transformation and is set to continue its strong growth trend."
       "After the deal, Carlyle will help Yashili hire an industry veteran as chief quality officer for the dairy maker and it also plans to strengthen quality control of dairy production through measures under international standards," Carlyle said in the statement.
       In June, Carlyle said it raised $1.04 billion for its fourth Asian growth capital fund, a 46% increase from the previous fund size, to focus on investments in high-growth private companies in China,India and other Asian markets.

All eyes on Dairy Milk and Milk Product Draft Act. Best solutions come from sincerity!!

       Milk for Thai Club has proposed that Dairy Milk and Milk Product Act B.E. 2551 (2008) should be revised and amended. One of the most important calls is to establish the National Dairy Council as a full-function agency, which serves as "a foundation" to develop the dairy farm industry and to ensure that dairy farmers will sruvive.
       In its latest move, the Department of Livestock Development under Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives drew up a "Draft Act for Dairy Milk and Milk Product B.E......." and conduct a public hearing on August 26, 2009.
       The Milk for Thai Club was concerned with two main issues: the representative proportion and the structure of the Committee of the Dairy and Milk Product Fund; and the management of the Dairy and Milk Product Fund.
       In the first issue regarding the structure of the committee, the new draft of the Dairy Milk and Milk Product Act makes it clear that the representation of the state in the committee is higher than the representation of dairy farmers and business operators. The Milk for Thai Club proposed equal representative proportion of the committee. The government sector should play a role as the supporter to coordinate stakeholders in solving problems such as milk oversupply and milk quality, for example.
       In the second issue regarding the Daily and Milk Product Fund, which serves as a major source of funds for the sustainable development of the dairy farm industry by collecting income from stakeholders in the industry. However, in the draft act of the Dairy Milk and Milk Product Fund, the authority to manage payment is controlled by the government, not the fund committee which is appointed from stakeholders who will ensure that the Thai dairy farm industry to be sustainably developed, to be self-dependent, and to be stable in a long run.
       More information, pelase visit www.milkforthai.org.

Betagen revamps data solution

       The economic downturn has been a good time for business to redesign its process for better efficiency, leading to 15-20 percent annual growth, according to Tom Van Der Lee, Chief Finance Officer of Betagen, a producer of fermented milk and yoghurt in Thailand.
       Under the company's old system, many tasks were performed manually and data could not be structured properly, making it difficult to produce relevant and reliable management information.
       Betagen decided to implement SAP Business All-in-One solution to replace its old proprietary system. The new business management solution helped to integrate sales forecasting, production planning and logistics throughout its supply chain as a single, integrated solution providing a unified view of operations.
       This provides good management information critical for business growth. It also make-to-stock production by weekly update sales forecasts, with orders coming in every 30 minutes via Electronic Data Interchange automatically checked for pricing and credit. The sales orders are turned into a distribution order, and as the transportation is planned the warehouse prepares the pick up slips. The process from order to delivery takes between 2 to 36 hours depending on order lead time.
       This has given the company full visibility of production costs, including variations down to the batch level. The result has lead the company to increase working capital by increasing the inventory turnover rate by 12 percent and reducing days sale from 31 to 29.5 days as well as reducing the head count by 50 percent both in administration and finance.
       The new system will support future integration with the Dutch Dairy cooperative FrieslandCampina, a major shareholder which helps the entire group of companies to leverage better information for global procurement. "In our experience, such projects may not involve high investment but if implemented on too big a scale, it risks failure and you get nothing in return. This is different from purchasing a car if you did not like it you can resell it. The important factors for projects like these are finding the right partners, commitment from the management as well as employee co-operation," the CFO explained.

GREEN SPOT SPOTLIGHT ON HEALTHIER SOYMILK

       Green Spot Co, manufacturer and distributor of Green Spot non-carbonated orange dirnk and Vitamilk soymilk, is focusing more on healthy products, to tap rising numbers of health-conscious consumers.
       General manager Chanit Suwanparin said the company's net profit had declined over the past year, due to rising raw-material prices and transport costs.
       Therefore, if will adjust its marketing strategy by launching new products targeted at health-conscious consumers.
       The company has maintained sales growth in its health products with such new offerings as Vitamilk to Go in Black, a soymilk product for men.
       Chanit said more than Bt20 million was earmarked to launch UHT soymilk product Vitamilk Plus 200, targeted at health-conscious consumers, especially young adults.
       The company expects to boost its UHT market share to 5 per cent this year, from 3 per cent now.
       "There is a growning trend of health-consciousness, spurred to some extent by the type-A (H1N1) influenza outbreak," Chanit said.
       He said Green Spot had spent more than Bt100 million on new production machinery and that consumers were consuming more UHT soymilk because it suited a modern lifestyle and was economical.
       The local soymilk market is valued at Bt10.5 billion. Bottled soymilk accounts for 40 per cent, with Vitamilk that sector's leader with a 50-per-cent share. UHT soymilk accounts for 20 per cent of the overall soymilk market.

F&N OPENS LIQUID-MILK PLANT IN THAILAND

       Malaysia-based Fraser & Neave Holdings hopes to double its revenue in Thailand and Indochina to two billion ringgit (Bt19.5 billion) within five years with the opening of its new hi-tech 250-million ringit "green field" liquid-ilk plant in the Rojana Industrial Estate.
       CEO Tan Ang Meng said sales revenue for F&N Dairies (Thailand) was expected to reach 900 million ringgit this year and that it was now ranked among the top five food-and-beverage companies in Thailand.
       "We have 45 per cent of dairy markets, and we see more potential, as there is a huge market of about 200 million people in Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam," Tan told Malaysian media after the company's board of directors visited the plant.
       He said the company, which acquired Nestle's canned-milk business in Thailand and Malaysia in 2007, had a significant presence here in the sweet-ened-condensed, evaporated, sterilised and UHT segments.
       Located on a 9.31-hectare site and 70 kilometres north of Bangkok, the plant has a total capacity of 3.5 million cans a day, or annual production of 11 million cases of product, and is fully integrated with an outsourced on-site can-manufacturing facility and logistics operations.
       Tan said the Thai plant would serve as a blueprint for F&N Dairies Malaysia's new 350 million ringgit plant at the Pulau Indah Halal Hub in Selangor, which is scheduled to being construction later this year.
       Total turnover of the group's dairies division leaped from 600 million ringgit in 2006 to 1.95 billion ringgit last year, Tan said, adding that sales revenue in the first nine months of this year reached 1.4 billion ringgit, whilw operating profits improved 50 per cent to 97.1 million ringgit.
       "The dairies division has clearly emerged as a major growth engine for the group and currently accounts for 51 per cent of sales revenue and 40 per cent of operating profits," he said.
       From purveyors of carbonated soft drinks, the F&N Group is one of Malaysia's diversified companies, with many top brands under its purview, including Coca-Cola.
       But Coca-Cola is not fully extending the bottling and distribution agreements with F&S when they expire next January 26.
       Instead, the US-based company decided to extend the agreements until September 2011.

       Sales revenue for F&N Dairies (Thailand) was expected to reach 900 million ringgit this year.