Confectioners in Europe are under threat from an MEP’s report proposing to postpone abolishing EU sugar quotas until 2020, according to industry bodies whose members include Mars, Nestlé, Kraft and Ferrero.
Lack of consistency and gold-plating is causing confusion and undermining the European meat industry on the global stage, according to a leading livestock and meat trading union.
Brazil and Argentina will face increased competition on the international poultry market now that the EU has announced it would lift its bird flu-related ban on raw chicken from Thailand on 1 July 2012, a report has said.
Europe’s food and drink industry has tipped its decade-long downward export balance; a shift defined by strong export figures underpinned by emerging market demands, according to FoodDrinkEurope.
CLITRAVI, the liaison centre for the meat processing industry in the EU, has criticised the “sudden and drastic” elimination of export refunds for pig meat products implemented by the European Commission last week.
Frustration at the inability of European Union lawmakers to decide on nutrient profiling rules made unusual bedfellows of health NGOs and Big Food representatives, who have agreed the EU would be better to borrow a model already in use than pursue its...
A relaxed attitude to ritual slaughter in some EU member states has led to systematic slaughtering without stunning, regardless of consumer need, according to EU welfare experts.
The National Farmers’ Union of England and Wales (NFU) and Italy’s Confederazione Nazionale Coldiretti are working together to ensure the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform benefit farmers in both countries.
A new organic trade deal between the EU and the US will eliminate much of the costs for producers, particularly small and medium scale firms, looking to leverage both markets, claim trade groups.
Power in the world’s meat market is expected to stay concentrated in Europe and North America despite growing pressure from emerging economies, a new report shows.
Sugar prices for the coming year are forecast to fall by 12% as the market records a surplus for the first time in three years, according to financial service provider Rabobank.
Cargill is looking beyond beverage to dairy as it flags up pending product launches for Truvia in both table-top and as an ingredient on the EU market next year.
Illegal fishing, which now accounts for 15% of world catches according to EU calculations, distorts the market for fish, and threatens the viability of honest businesses that refuse to deal with criminals, warned politicians.
Gum giant Wrigley has been granted novel food approval in the EU for an extract to be used in chewing gum and mints that will allow it to introduce new products with perceived breath-freshening benefits.
Post-market monitoring of stevia use levels in food and drink products could see the European Commission broaden the current authorised food categories, claims a stevia trade body.
A decision is not expected until spring 2012 on whether the EU Ecolabel would be extended to food and drink products, reports the EU, following the publication of a feasibility study last week.
Instability in the European sugar market is set to continue in the near future though further deregulation anticipated for 2015 could help bakery and confectionery manufacturers, according to a report from financial services provider Rabobank Group.
In anticipation of stevia approval in Europe, leading producer, PureCircle, has announced that it is setting up its European headquarters in the UK to support customers in their launches throughout the region.
Tate and Lyle Sugars, one of the main suppliers to the UK food and drink industry is seeking €35m in compensation from the EU Commission, claiming that due to EU sugar policy mismanagement its refinery is not at full capacity, placing upward pressure...
The European Commission will consider boosting the availability of sugar at its next tonnage tender meeting on August 25 after sharp rises in prices and calls from food manufacturers for it to increase sugar quotas or abandon them.
Europe’s diverse and proud agriculture and food sector is set for a promotional makeover, with the European Commission calling for input on how to best promote the bloc’s agricultural produce.
The EU has banned the import of seeds from Egypt, including fenugreek seeds, after they were identified as the probable cause of recent E.coli 104 H4 outbreaks which killed 48 people in Germany, sickened about 4000 and affected 15 people in France.
The European Commission has defended its decision to release thousands of tonnes of sugar on to the market after accusations that the move would have a detrimental impact on the yeast industry.
CIAA is lobbying the new Polish presidency to improve EU research funding policy as food industry R&D spending continues to lag behind other developed countries.
European Commission measures to open a further 200,000 tonne import quota for raw or refined sugar at zero import duty and the possibility for further imports at reduced import duty via a tendering system have been backed by member states.
A major stakeholder in the European Union Platform on Diet, Physical Activity and Health that has established 297 individual commitments to improve the health of Europeans in the six years of its existence, has highlighted its effectiveness.
A European Commission initiative to release 500,000 tonnes of out of quota sugar onto the EU market has been backed by member states in the EU sugar management committee today.
The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the EU and South Korea means European food and drink businesses will benefit from improved trading conditions, and agricultural exporters will save an estimated €380 million a year thanks to eliminated tariffs.
Sugar supplier to the bakery and confectionery industry, Ragus, said it expects further commodity price hikes and contests whether proposed EC intervention on import duty tariff reductions would have the desired effect on the deficit in the EU market.
In a move to ease EU market pressures, the Commission has announced that it is to suspend import duties on low and medium quality wheat and barley from next week until the end of June.
The European Commission, in a policy about face, said it may open the import quota or allow the sale of out-of-quota sugar into the bloc - a move that would bring relief for bakers and other food makers set to negotiate new sugar contracts.
The deficit in the EU sugar supply could put production at risk for confectioners and other food and drink industry users of the commodity if market intervention does not occur, said Irish trade body FDII, who are calling on the EC to keep out-of-quota...
Lack of clarity on the implications for the cocoa industry of the financial penalities imposed by the EU on the Ivory Coast has prompted trade representatives in the bloc to seek additional information from the Commission.
Awareness of the importance of nutrient profiling within the EU food industry is prompting many companies to reformulate products to decrease calorie content, fat, sugar and salt in products, which gives rise to the challenge of maintaining tastes that...
The leading traders of physical raw sugar claim that the commodity is likely to surge to a 30-year high in the coming months, with all eyes on the pending Indian sugar crop output which is hoped will ease supply pressures.
Low levels of R&D, high input costs and uneven relations with retailers are amongst the reasons for emerging economies are outpacing growth of the EU food and drink sector, says a new CIAA report.
The European Commission has confirmed that fruit glazed with wax containing morpholine cannot be sold in the economic bloc because the additive has not been approved under EU legislation.
The Provision Trade Federation (PTF) and other trade organisations representing the meat industry, which oppose compulsory EU extensions of country of origin labelling (COOL), will meet DEFRA in mid-September to discuss voluntary alternatives.
The EU has agreed to match almost £1m funding raised by the UK organic sector to promote the benefits of organic food and farming to consumers over the next three years.
Increased yields of UK wheat varieties through the use of plant growth promoting root bacteria could render chemical fertilizers obsolete, if the preliminary results of a four-year, international study are substantiated.
The food industry has received ringing praise from the EU’s director general for health and consumers are it charts five years of progress towards helping make a healthier, more balanced diet and lifestyle attainable by consumers.
Food from cloned animals must be excluded from draft legislation on ‘novel foods’, Environment Committee MEPs said yesterday - in direct opposition to a position adopted by EU environment ministers just weeks ago.
European food and drink exports saw a double-digit drop last year, reflecting a shrinking demand for most major food categories in foreign markets, according to a new report.
Restrictions on guar gum imported from India into the EU have been revised on fears that the risk of dioxin contamination of the product remains too high.
A recent study uncovering levels of antimony in juices above EU limits for drinking water has provoked calls for more research into the issue but industry insists that juices are safe.
NutraSweet’s zero calorie sweetener neotame will be permitted for use in the EU from next Tuesday, following official authorisation by the European Commission.
The EU has launched a new campaign to encourage healthy eating among school children, bringing the Tasty Bunch roadshow to 18000 kids in 180 schools, in seven counties.
