Growing Kent & Medway

We were at The National Fruit Show in #Maidstone yesterday to talk about some of the projects we have supported with relevance to the fruit industry 🍎🫐 It was a fantastic opportunity to make new connections with innovative individuals and businesses, and to catch up with old colleagues and friends. The Growing Kent & Medway network is stronger than ever! Thank you to the National Fruit Show and Kent Event Centre for hosting us, and to all the people who stopped by to find out about how we're strengthening #Kent & #Medway's outstanding food and drink sectors. If you missed us or weren't able to attend but want to find out more about the work that we do, please visit our website for more information and contact details: https://lnkd.in/gbe2Zrj

Essel Innovation & Development Services Ltd (Aures Packaging) has secured funding through our Business Sustainability Challenge for an innovative project to create #sustainable packaging from Brewer's Spent Grain 🥡 ← 🌾 → 🍺 Brewer's Spent Grain is a by-product of the brewing process. By developing a new use for this by-product in the form of sustainable packaging, Essel aims to reduce both #foodwaste from the brewing industry and #plasticwaste produced by their takeaway food business ♻️ This grant will support comprehensive safety testing of the new packaging 👩🔬 and experimentation within the manufacturing process to optimise the packaging for South Indian takeaway cuisine 😋 By collaborating with Goachers Maidstone Ales in #Maidstone, Essel also aims to grow the local #circulareconomy 🚀 Visit the Maidstone Eco Hub to find out more!

On #WorldSustainabilityDay, we're sharing this fantastic opportunity for indoor and vertical farms to improve the sustainability of their businesses 🌱 With support from our Business Sustainability Challenge grant, RUBISKO can offer three new clients custom software solutions at reduced rates 🧑💻 The project aims to streamline data infrastructure and optimise resource allocation for indoor farms, potentially improving resource use efficiency, minimising waste, and reducing the sector's environmental impact ♻️ Connect with RUBISKO to find out more. #IndoorFarming #AgriTech #SustainableBusiness

🌟 Clear Labelling for Gluten-Free Products 🌟 If a product is labelled Gluten-Free, it should not include "may contain gluten" warnings. Conflicting information like this can create confusion, risk cross-contamination, and put the health of gluten-sensitive and coeliac customers at serious risk. A gluten free product should be produced in a gluten free environment and batch tested for compliance! Understanding correct labelling is critical for protecting consumers and maintaining trust in your products. Did you know? "Vegan-friendly" is not a legal term, and using it on labels doesn’t provide a guarantee of compliance or safety for consumers with vegan or allergy-related requirements. Without legal standards, this term can lead to confusion, as it may not fully account for cross-contamination risks or hidden ingredients. For businesses, it's important to use clear, regulated terms to build trust and ensure transparency. Join Caroline Benjamin MSOFHT & me for the Growing Kent & Medway webinar tomorrow - Thursday 24 October at 9.30 to learn more about accurate food allergen labelling and compliance. 👉 Register here https://lnkd.in/eUqt8sUB

See how Inspro feeds Kent & Medway's chickens 🐓, exotic pets 🦎, and leafy greens 🥬 with black soldier fly larvae 🐛 grown on food waste 🚮 In this video, Richard Small 🍅🐛🐔♻🪰 (Inspro's founder and one of the winners of our Business Sustainability Challenge ♻️) explains how Inspro are trialling frass (insect excrement) as a natural fertiliser for leafy green vegetables 🥬 This video features several exotic pets, looked after by Princess Christian's Farm, including geckos 🦎, a chameleon, and a pair of meerkats! There, Richard demonstrated how Inspro are setting up these trials to find out if black soldier fly larvae have a bonus commercial value 💰 Watch the full video to learn more about this innovative project and its potential to make horticulture more sustainable: https://lnkd.in/eiP3Yx7i

If you'd like to know more about food allergens and allergen labelling, don't miss our next free webinar this Thursday, 24th October at 9.30am. Georgina Stewart MRSPH, The Nutrient Gap and Caroline Benjamin MSOFHT, Food Allergy Aware will be sharing critical information on food labelling to help you keep your customers safe. They will also cover the importance of reporting and how it can save lives. This is a critically important topic, so thank you to our hosts for taking the time to deliver this webinar, as part of our Food Accelerator programme. Please register if you'd like to attend: https://lnkd.in/ekECduxt

Our webinar tomorrow is with one of the UK's leading food branding and marketing experts. The formidable Eddie Stableford will provide an honest and robust perspective on the true cost of growing your food and drink brand. You will leave the session with a better understanding of your finances and where to invest to successfully scale-up your brand. Don't miss it: Thursday 17th October, 9.30-10.30am Register for free here: https://lnkd.in/ePZsW9JV Valerie Pondaven #foodentrepreneur #foodmarketing #foodbrands #plantbased

Take a peak inside the Medway Food Innovation Centre with our Food Accelerator manager Valerie Pondaven to see how their lab is helping to develop new plant-based foods 👀

Finding a manufacturer can be a major hurdle for food and drink start-ups and can significantly impact the ability to scale production and meet market demand. Join us on Tuesday at 9.30am for our weekly online Growing Kent & Medway masterclass on How to find a co-manufacturer or co-packer to produce your food or drink product. The session will be run by Zoe Plant from FOODWORKS. Book your place on https://lnkd.in/e29SsDsY

Last week, we visited Doug Wanstall's Bank Farm and Princess Christian's Farm with Richard Small 🍅🐛🐔♻🪰 from Inspro to check out their bioconversion units. These units use black soldier fly larvae to convert food waste into frass, a type of fertiliser that Richard is trialing as a top dressing for leafy green vegetables. After successfully applying for funding from our Business Sustainability Challenge, Inspro is supplying several smallholdings and regenerative farms in the area with similar units. These farms will assess the effects of frass, produced with their own food waste, on their own plants. The plants will then be evaluated for safety and nutritional content. #sustainability #foodwaste #circularity #horticulture #innovation #plantbased #strengthinplaces #kent #blacksoldierflies #lizards #chickens #smallholdings