With
the news that Britain’s biggest biscuit company United Biscuits has
been sold to Turkish firm Yildiz, we chart the global drift of the UK’s
kitchen-cupboard stalwarts
Big in Turkey … Jaffa Cakes.Photograph: Clive Gee/PA
Those foreigners, they come over here and steal our
biscuits. That was Ukip’s imaginary response to Monday’s newsflash that
Britain’s biggest biscuit maker United Biscuits, guardian of the Jaffa
Cake, Penguin and McVitie’s Digestives, had been gobbled up by little
known Turkish food giant Yildiz for £2bn. But it’s not the first time
that overseas firms have raided our larder …
Jaffa Cakes
These cakey-biscuity hybrids roll off a production line in
Manchester but its parent, United Biscuits – which also owns Jacob’s,
Twiglets and Mini Cheddars – is based in Hayes Middlesex. Yildiz’s
perhaps less well known brands include “Turtles”, “Kat Kat, Tat” and
“Bizim Mutfak” so opportunities for new biscuit variants abound.
Cadbury Dairy Milk
Cadbury Dairy Milk.Photograph: Linda Nylind/Guardian
It’s as British as Hershey’s these days after US food giant
Kraft wrested control of Britain’s favourite chocolatier for £11.6bn in
2010. Dairy Milk is still made in Cadbury’s spiritual home of
Bournville, but its paymasters are based near Chicago, in Deerfield,
Illinois.
Burton’s Biscuits
Jammie Dodgers.Photograph: Sarah Lee/Guardian
Ahh, Jammie Dodgers with that gooey splodge of red stuff in
the middle. Jammies are part of the Burton’s Biscuit (tin) along with
other dunking favourites such as Lyons fig rolls and Wagon Wheels, but
the St Albans company is British no more having been sold to Canadian
investors, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, for £350m last year.
Weetabix
Weetabix.Photograph: Alamy
The Chinese are literally eating our breakfast these days,
gobbling up British cereal maker Weetabix two years ago in a deal worth
£1.2bn. The takeover by state-owned Bright Food has spawned a number of
spin-offs, with green tea-flavoured breakfast bars, developed in its
Northamptonshire labs, to be exported to China.
Newcastle Brown Ale
Newcastle Brown Ale.Photograph: Alamy
The carve up of UK brewing giant Scottish & Newcastle
in 2008 saw “Newkie Brown” fall to Heineken. According to the Dutch
brewer’s website it is one of the fastest-selling beers in the US with
its “delicate fruit aroma, and caramel and nutty malt taste” making it
easy to drink. That’s not how we remember it from our student days.
New Covent Garden Soup
New Covent Garden Soup.Photograph: Katherine Rose
The posh soup maker, set up by two North London
entrepreneurs in 1986, is now owned by Hain Celestial, the US food group
which is also home to Linda McCartney’s vegetarian sausages.
The Glenlivet
Glenlivet.Photograph: Alamy
This single malt appears to be Scottish as tartan and
shortbread with the Glenlivet distillery nestled in the dramatic scenery
of Speyside, but it has been owned by French drinks giant Pernod Ricard
for more than a decade.
Sarson’s vinegar
Sarson’s vinegar.Photograph: Alamy
The famous condiment was invented by London vinegar maker
Thomas Sarson in 1794, and according to vinegar lore, you used to catch a
whiff of it brewing as you approached London Bridge due to its nearby
factory. Two years ago, it was one of several brands sold off by Mr
Kipling owner Premier Food’s to Japan’s Mizkan Group.
