WOODBURY, NEW YORK — Arizona Beverages is partnering with Italian mineral water maker Ferrarelle to launch the beverages in the United States.

The collaboration includes 16.9-oz canned formats of Ferrarelle’s sparkling and still waters.

Additionally, the Italian water brand is partnering with Arizona to add an exclusive collection of flavored sparkling waters. The sparkling canned waters include varieties such as orange and tangerine (Capri style), grapefruit and elderflower (Sicilian inspiration) and lemon and basic (Amalfi dream).

“The US has long been an important part of Ferrarelle’s international journey, and this partnership marks a new level of ambition for our business in the market,” said Carlo Pontecorvo, chairman and chief executive officer of Ferrarelle. “Arizona and Ferrarelle bring complementary strengths and, together, create the conditions to build something neither could achieve alone. For us, this is the essence of a strong international strategy: choosing the right partners, combining capabilities and creating the foundation for sustainable, long-term growth.”

The canned sparkling waters will launch in retailers nationwide.

KANSAS CITY — Artificial intelligence (AI) quickly gathers information from commodity reports, production lines and customer orders, opening up more time for buyers and purchasers. More advanced AI programs may give recommendations, too, but successful AI implementation in supply chains will require the right program or programs, the correct data and human oversight.

AI reduces the time needed to gather information and maintain spreadsheets, said Erin Nazetta, an executive adviser for agriculture, commodities and global risk.

“It is freeing up time for buyers, purchasers and the decision-makers to focus a little bit more on relationships and decisions,” she said.

Nazetta, who has experience across investment management, banking and global agribusiness and previously worked for Rabobank and Bunge, spoke at the Sosland Purchasing Seminar, held in June in Kansas City. She electronically fielded a poll on AI in a session that had over 100 attendees. Forty-eight percent said their companies were experimenting with AI through pilots with no commitment, compared with 24% not using AI yet, 18% deployed in real workflows and 10% embedded in daily work.

“Things are moving fast,” Nazetta said. “But again, in our industry, which is still very physically driven and (where) some pieces of the information and the processes are not digitized, it’s a little bit slower than in other industries, I would say, to be able to adopt AI.”

Research from Aptean, a supplier of vertical AI and industry-specific software, showed that 23% of food and beverage organizations said that AI was essential to their workflows and decision-making, said Katherine Parr, senior food and beverage solutions consultant at Aptean.

“Daily commodity reporting is exactly the kind of activity that’s moved from a once-a-week manual pull to something people expect AI to help with every single day,” Parr said.

AI may track baking ingredients such as flour, sugar, cocoa and butter or other fats, she said.

“AI-supported reporting can help a bakery track how a flour lot’s protein content or a swing in cocoa prices are likely to affect dough yield or formulation cost, so a team can see that impact before it hits the production schedule, not after,” Parr said.

AI may reduce the time that lines are shut down to clean out allergens.

“You don’t want to spend all your shift time with your lines down for washouts,” Parr explained. “You want to start with the least allergenic items and then move on to the items with allergens. This can also be relevant for colors of items or flavor profiles. Having an AI tool can help intelligently schedule items in an order that helps minimize those changeovers and downtime.”

Weather and tariffs are the next frontier for AI in sourcing, she said.

“Predicting exactly how a drought affects a wheat crop, or how a new tariff schedule hits one specific imported ingredient, means layering external weather and trade data on top of operational data,” Parr said. “That’s the direction this is heading, and it’s where I expect the most value to unlock next for buyers managing ingredient risk.”

AI programs: a closer look

Large language models (LLMs) and agentic AI are two examples of programs in the AI realm.

“So the way I’d put it is, a large language model is reactive,” Parr said. “You ask it something or give it a prompt, and it gives you an answer, a summary or an analysis right then. Agentic AI actually goes and does something. It can run a multi-step process on its own, like watching a vendor’s on-time performance, flagging when it slips, and routing an approval to the right person, with a human still signing off along the way.”

LLMs are fast and conversational with minimal setup, she said, but agentic AI would be better for tasks that need to happen the same way every day, such as flagging inventory nearing expiration and routing it for markdown.

“That distinction between technologies matters,” Parr said. “Our research found 63% of food and beverage organizations are using general-purpose AI, but only 46% have put in AI built specifically for their industry.

“The ones using industry-specific tools are consistently more likely to see improvements in competitive positioning, workforce morale and forecast accuracy. A general-purpose tool can answer a quick question just fine. It’s the industry-specific, workflow-aware tools that actually move the business metrics that matter.”

Aptean compared generic AI programs with industry-specific AI programs. Forecast accuracy, after switching to a generic AI program, increased by 19%, but switching to an industry-specific AI program increased accuracy by 29%.

Nazetta said industry-specific platforms might cover commodities or lengthy legal documents.

“What is it that you’re trying to solve, and what’s the best tool to get the best outcome for that task?” she said, adding, “The winners aren’t necessarily going to have the best model. The winners are going to be able to combine their proprietary data with their commercial judgment and have the ability to act on it.”

Anyone selling full automation without a human checkpoint is selling risk, said Marc Losito, vice president of regulatory solutions for FoodChain ID.

| Photo: ©ARSENII – STOCK.ADOBE.COM

Two models in one

An LLM model answers a question, and agentic AI takes an action, said Marc Losito, vice president of regulatory solutions for FoodChain ID, which helps customers mitigate supply chain risk, strengthen audit-ready compliance and accelerate product innovation.

The company has built FoodChain ID Scout to do both. The LLM layer reads and generates language: It summarizes human-curated regulatory and commodity data or drafts a report when asked, Losito said. The agentic layer chains multiple steps together without a person prompting each one. The agentic layer pulls the data, checks it against a proprietary rule set, flags the exception and routes it to the right person.

FoodChain ID Scout connects proprietary data from FoodChain ID with partner data and public data streams such as commodity futures, weather, and geopolitical and trade feeds.

“AI does the connecting work across all of it,” Losito said. “Most solutions confirm a food safety problem after it shows up as a border rejection or a failed audit. Scout is built to catch the earlier signal — a fertilizer market shock, a crop forecast, a tariff change — and map it against the documented fraud and compliance patterns that follow, specific to a company’s own ingredient and supplier portfolio.”

AI turns commodity tracking from a manual literature review into continuous, intelligent monitoring.

“Instead of an analyst pulling CME futures, USDA WASDE data and weather feeds by hand every morning, FoodChain ID Scout ingests all of it in real time and flags deviations outside historical norms,” Losito said. “The report stops being a data dump and becomes an exception list: what moved, why and what it means downstream. Purchasing teams get the hours back and catch signals days or weeks before a manual scan would surface them.”

He gave an example of FoodChain ID Scout analysis after the Strait of Hormuz closed due to US conflicts with Iran. Since the strait carries roughly a third of global seaborne fertilizer trade, Chicago Mercantile Exchange urea futures spiked within weeks, Losito said.

“For the market, that was read as an energy story, not a food story,” he said. “But fertilizer scarcity forces farmers to cut application rates and shift acreage away from fertilizer-intensive crops, which tightens wheat, corn and soy supply, the exact inputs behind flour, starches and syrups in baked goods.”

Tightened grain supplies historically trigger economically motivated adulteration such as dilution, species substitution and mislabeled origin, he said.

“AI connects a commodity futures shift to that documented fraud pattern and gives a bakery’s sourcing team a three- to four-month head start on supplier requalification and incoming testing, instead of finding out from a border rejection,” Losito said.

Scout also is designed to watch weather anomalies against crop calendars, tariff announcements against harmonized tariff schedules and currency moves against sourcing geography.

Avoiding “garbage” data

The need for accurate data is found in a term heard often in the AI industry: garbage in, garbage out.

“So, I would say this comes back to something I tell people all the time: You don’t get to good reporting without a good data backbone first,” Parr said. “A lot of the businesses I talk to are still on QuickBooks or spreadsheets. So, before you can even think about what AI can do with commodity pricing, you need your data in one place. Once that’s true, a planner can ask a plain-language question, like which ingredient costs moved the most this week, and get an answer instead of pulling numbers out of five different systems.”

An Aptean 2026 survey found that 81% of food and beverage decision-makers said data quality and access was the biggest challenge to successfully implementing AI.

Nazetta added that data might not be perfect.

“If you have a junior analyst and still you want to go in and double-check their work, I think this is probably a similar situation,” she said.

Humans needed

After implementing AI programs, companies still need buyers, sellers and hedgers, Nazetta said. AI pulls the data together quickly, “but at the end of the day, you still need that experience and that wisdom (that) comes from within the industry and understanding what questions to ask and then ultimately being the one that pulls the trigger.”

Parr said AI can find a risk or make a recommendation, but planners or buyers can make the final call on financial decisions like purchasing commodities.

“This could look like AI making purchasing suggestions based on market conditions, vendor compliance and lead times,” she said. “Then, an experienced person can take a look, then confirm those suggestions. What we want the AI to do is take on some of the effort and time it takes to compile all those outside factors and then have a person spend time on confirmation and action.”

Generic AI is fast at pattern detection but is “tragically poor” at judgment, Losito said.

“It can tell you a signal is unusual,” he said. “It cannot tell you with certainty what it means or what to do about it, especially when the decision touches supplier relationships or regulatory nuance that shifts by jurisdiction. Every credible AI deployment in this space keeps a human in the loop for validation and the final call. Anyone selling full automation with no human checkpoint is selling you risk.”

International giant Panattoni hopes to have the logistics unit ready for Q2 2027

A team of commercial property agents have been appointed to market the forthcoming Wakefield 500 scheme in Castleford.

Construction is under way at the large scale speculative scheme off Junction 31 of the M62. It is being developed by global name Panattoni, which recently acquired the 23-acre site at Wakefield Europort from Delin Property.

Now experts from Knight Frank’s Leeds, Sheffield and London offices will join with Colliers and CPP to market the 490,771 sqft unit which is due to be completed and ready for occupation by Q2 2027.

Iain McPhail, logistics and industrial property partner at Knight Frank’s Leeds office, explained: “This development comes at a time when supply of large-format logistics space remains severely constrained across the UK and specifically in the West Yorkshire region. Construction began in June, with completion scheduled for the second quarter of next year. This is a very exciting project for the whole team, as we have been heavily involved in this site for a number of years from its original conception and design stages. It will be very satisfying to see steels going up on this prime development.”

Chris Brown, development director for Panattoni, said: “The property will be delivered to a best-in-class specification, with 56 dock doors, eight level access doors, cross docked loading, yard depths of up to 50 metres, 62 HGV spaces, 384 car parking spaces and a power supply of 2.5 MVA. The scheme will target BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ and will achieve net zero carbon in construction, aligning with occupiers’ demand for sustainable, future-proofed buildings.”

Rob Whatmuff, director at Colliers, said: “Wakefield 500 ticks all the boxes for occupiers looking for large-scale logistics space, combining a prime location with excellent road and rail connectivity, access to a strong local workforce and a high-quality, modern specification. With a real shortage of good-quality space across West Yorkshire, we expect strong demand from businesses looking to grow or relocate. It’s a great addition to the Wakefield market, and we’re pleased to be part of the team bringing it forward.”

Toby Vernon, director at CPP, added: “This is one of the most highly anticipated speculative industrial/logistics developments to come out of the ground across the whole of the Northern UK market. The scale of the building and the super prime location makes this development significant from a national perspective and we anticipate a high level of occupier demand from a broad range and depth of end users.”

The World Gold Council is the market development organization for the gold industry. Our purpose is to stimulate and sustain demand for gold, provide industry leadership, and be the global authority on the gold market. We are a unique organization that delivers tangible benefits to the gold industry. We are an active force within the market, working with a large and diverse set of partners to create access, drive innovation and stimulate demand, while providing a collective voice for our members. We provide insights into the international gold markets, helping people to understand the investment qualities of gold and its role in meeting the social and environmental needs of society. For more information visit www.gold.org.

Beyond football

In-N-Out fans were sent into a frenzy Tuesday after the burger joint announced changes to its ingredients. 

The California-based chain, which operates in 10 states, said it recently altered two ingredients, removing sesame flour from its buns and replacing its packets of iodized salt with sea salt.

The company said the changes are consistent with its ongoing commitment to providing quality food, pointing to a previous decision in 2025 to replace high-fructose corn syrup in its ketchup with real sugar. 

“We remain committed to serving our Customers with the freshest, highest-quality food possible. Over the years, we’ve made meaningful changes to our ingredients, and this past year was no exception. We’re pleased to share our latest updates, and we’ll continue building on that commitment for years to come,” the company said.

CALIFORNIA CITY PUSHES FOR DRIVE-THRU BAN AFTER NEIGHBORS SOUND ALARM OVER BURGER CHAIN’S PROPOSED ADDITION

An In-N-Out Burger employee holds up an order on April 23, 2017, in Culver City, California. The chain has removed sesame flour from its buns and replaced iodized salt packets with sea salt. (Tommaso Boddi / Getty Images)

The ingredient changes quickly sparked a mixed reaction online, with some customers praising the removal of sesame while others complained about the switch from iodized salt. 

“This is great news! I have a sesame allergy I developed a few years ago and I missed In-N-Out burgers,” one Facebook user wrote. 

“Removing sesame is a game changer for so many with allergies including my family. How great to be able to put In-N-Out back on the list of options,” another user said. 

IN-N-OUT TO ENTER NEW MARKET WITH MULTIPLE RESTAURANTS BY YEAR’S END: REPORT

Workers serve customers at an In-N-Out Burger outlet in Los Angeles, California, on May 7, 2025. The fast-food chain’s latest announcement quickly divided loyal customers across social media. (Daniel Cole/Reuters / Reuters)

In-N-Out did not explain whether the decision to remove sesame flour was made specifically to accommodate customers with allergies. 

The change reverses a decision In-N-Out made in 2024 after the federal FASTER Act designated sesame as a major food allergen. Because sesame is difficult to prevent from cross-contaminating other foods, the company added it to its buns in select locations as a precaution against potential lawsuits and recalls. 

However, the switch from iodized salt to sea salt drew criticism from numerous customers, with some raising concerns about iodine deficiency and related health problems. 

“Remove iodine? Sure, because apparently goiters needed a comeback,” one Reddit user said. 

“The salt was a downgrade imo. The iodized sticks to the fries better,” another Reddit user added. 

“I enjoyed your salt more before the change, which I noticed a while ago when the crystals got larger. It used to be so silky smooth,” one customer said in a post on Facebook.

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A hamburger and fries are pictured at an In-N-Out Burger outlet in Los Angeles, California, U.S., May 7, 2025. The ingredient changes come after In-N-Out replaced high-fructose corn syrup in its ketchup with real sugar last year. (REUTERS/Daniel Cole / Reuters)

In-N-Out did not explain why it switched from iodized salt, which has been used in the U.S. since the 1920s to help prevent iodine deficiency and conditions such as goiter. 

Iodized salt is also typically paired with anti-caking agents, while sea salt generally does not contain them and undergoes less processing.

“Over the last two years, the energy market has faced one external shock after another,” Wilson said.

“Throughout that period, we’ve worked hard to shield our customers from the full impact, absorbing costs where we could and delaying increases for as long as it was responsible to do so.

“Unfortunately, we have now reached the point where the combined impact of wholesale energy costs and regulated network and system costs is simply too significant for us to continue absorbing.”

Wilson added that when the costs of electricity fall the company will “look to reflect that in the prices our customers pay”.

Share Energy has 41,092 customers, 417 of those are commercial customers and 40,675 are domestic.

The company is owned by local business people with long experience in the renewable electricity industry.

It is committed to sharing half its profits with its customers and based on its current trajectory, Share Energy expects the first profit share could be available in 2028.

“Despite the price increase, our commitment remains unchanged: 50% of our profit will be shared with qualifying customers,” Share Energy said in a statement.

“The amount each customer receives will depend on the profit generated and how long they have been a Share Energy customer.”

The supplier added that it will contact customers directly with the new prices, and will offer support to those who may have difficulty paying their bills.