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There's never a dull moment in the dynamic Australasian packaging industry, with M&A activity, leadership changes, and product innovation keeping our news desk busy all year long.

From Orora's booming growth over the financial year, to the Australian Government's pledge to make all packaging in the country reusable, compostable or recyclable by 2025, to needles in strawberries and plastic bags out of supermarkets, to the first ever Print21 + PKN LIVE joint event, 2018 was a rollercoaster of a year for the packaging industry... and PKN was there to cover all the news highlights.

See our review of the year that was in the latest issue of PKN magazine.

Food & Drink Business

Select Harvests has appointed Kristina Hermanson as the company’s new managing director and CEO, effective from 3 August. She takes over from David Surveyor, who has been in the role since February 2023, and will finish on 31 July.

Lactalis Australia has paid $59,400 in penalties after the ACCC issued it with three infringement notices for alleged misleading labelling – the latest in a string of food companies to be hit with penalties over the past two months.

Across Australia and internationally, food and beverage businesses are facing growing pressure to provide greater transparency about where products come from, how they are produced, and whether claims relating to quality, sustainability, and authenticity can be verified. Griffith University Asia Institute associate professor of agribusiness and international trade, Robin E. Roberts, offers advice for companies to transform this pressure into a competitive advantage.