Meat of the Future

Could lab-grown meat soon be the solution to the world's food crisis?
Adeline Tan finds out.

PepsiCo Inc - best known for Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay chips - is taking its Muller yogurt brand nationwide expanding its portfolio of healthier foods at a time that U.S. consumers are increasingly shunning traditional soft drinks.

WHAT AND HOW much of its production to offshore to other countries is one of the most important choices a company can make. France’s two big carmakers illustrate the point. PSA Peugeot Citroën, the younger of the two, has tried over time to find cheaper places than around Paris to make its cars; in the 1950s and 60s Citroën opened a factory in Brittany and started manufacturing in Spain and Portugal, the China and Vietnam of their time for offshoring. Nowadays it makes cars cheaply in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic. But two-fifths of its global production is still in France, where it has seven expensive factories. One reason is that the company is family-owned, and families tend to be particularly loyal to their countries of origin.

On-the-go snacking continues to nibble away at the sit-down meal. As more consumers snack more often, brand owners provide products in portable, single-serving packs to appeal to these grab-and-go consumers and the retail outlets they frequent.

Denver-based 34 Degrees, a maker of savory crackers, has added a single-serving, 0.22-oz. size to its line of 34° Natural Crisps in windowed folding cartons, which hold 4.2 oz. Available nationwide, each snack pack contains approximately five natural crisps wrapped in a moisture- resistant lamination of reverse-printed 70g oriented polypropylene (OPP)/adhesive/70g OPP. Flexo-printed, heatsealed packs ship in 144- count cases and are suitable for airline meal boxes, café meals, soup and salad bars and delis.