Shares in TreeHouse Foods tumbled on Thursday after the US group issued a profit warning, saw its third-quarter results miss expectations and announce the departure of a senior executive. Kraft Heinz, meanwhile, booked a jump in third-quarter profits that were driven by cost cuts and Kellogg made changes to its own forecasts for 2016. In the UK, Muller outlined plans to invest in its dairy network that look set to include the end of production at a plant in London.

“We inadvertently overloaded the newly acquired team with an administrative workload, and it interfered with their day jobs and distanced them from the private-label marketplace” – TreeHouse Foods CEO Sam Reed tries to explain why the US private-label group has struggled with its acquired assets from ConAgra Foods.

“Our third-quarter results are a good representation of where we are as a company. While our financial performance is respectable, we continue to have the opportunity to improve our offerings and retail execution in several key markets and take our brands to places they don’t currently compete” – Kraft Heinz CEO Bernardo Hees reflects on a quarter of rising quarterly profits but lower sales.

“When we acquired Dairy Crest’s fresh milk dairy and distribution operations just under a year ago, we made it clear that change would be required to secure a better and more vibrant future for the dairy sector in Britain” – Andrew McInnes, MD of Müller Milk & Ingredients, explains why the German dairy giant is looking to phase down production at a dairy in London.

“Our sales were affected by trade-inventory reductions in US cereal, a challenging UK market, and portfolio transformations that have taken longer than anticipated to execute” – Kellogg chairman and CEO John Bryant after the US company booked falling third-quarter sales and lowered its top-line forecast for 2016, although it upped its estimate for the underlying earnings per share it expects to generate this year.

“I’m not a sensationalist. This is the first time in all of the years I’ve been in that I’m really concerned that we’re not going to meet the labour supply that we require for the Christmas peak” – David Camp, the chief executive of the Association of Labour Providers, said UK food manufacturers may not be able to fill seasonal vacancies amid the worst labour shortage for 12 years, in part caused by the country’s Brexit vote in June.

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“Regulatory divergence will be one of the major problems in years to come” – Paul Kelly, director of Irish trade body Food Drink Industry Ireland, outlines a series of possible consequences on the sector of Brexit.

“The business is smaller, but is in much better shape than last year” – First Milk chairman Clive Sharpe as the UK dairy co-operative reported smaller annual losses this week.

“Regrettably, the red meat sector in the UK faces many serious challenges including declining markets, falling volumes, higher input costs and a fiercely competitive retail landscape” – a spokesperson for 2 Sisters Food Group explains why the UK business could close a meat packing site in Wales.