Carbohydrates and fibres (sugar, starches)

Could a junk food diet cause long-term damage to the brain?

23-Apr-2024 By Donna Eastlake

Junk food has been linked to a number of health issues, including obesity, type two diabetes and cardiovascular disease, but could it also cause long-term damage to the brain?

Nestlé accused of adding sugar to baby food in lower income countries

18-Apr-2024 By Flora Southey

Sugar is added to some of Nestlé’s baby food products sold in poorer countries, but not in its main European markets, claims a new report.

GUEST ARTICLE

Expert vs consumer sensory panels: Best of both worlds?

17-Apr-2024 By René Floris, NIZO Food Research Division Manager

If consumers don't like a product, they won't buy it. Testing with sensory panels can help determine consumer liking, so what kind of sensory panel should manufacturers go for?

Do non-sugar sweeteners make people hungrier?

15-Apr-2024 By Flora Southey

This is the question posed by researchers, who also wanted to find out whether swapping out sugar for artificial and natural sweeteners reduces blood sugar levels.

Royal Cosun bets on potatoes and sugar beet for plant-based alternatives

12-Apr-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Processing potatoes and sugar beet en masse, agricultural cooperative Royal Cosun is able to use these crops as plant-based ingredients.

How potatoes are affected by changing climatic conditions

09-Apr-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

As climatic conditions shift, key crops must face the challenges imposed by the weather’s new regime. Potatoes, one of our most beloved crops, are also highly sensitive to these changes.

How KFC is reformulating the classics to cut fat, salt and sugar

05-Apr-2024 By Flora Southey

From burgers to fries, the QSR major is cutting calories from menus in the UK and Ireland. Which reformulation strategies are at play?

‘Super broccoli’ variety developed to lower blood sugar levels – and it’s on the market

26-Mar-2024 By Flora Southey

Consumers wanting to lower their blood sugar levels with glucoraphanin could eat five heads of raw broccoli, swallow 14 broccoli tablets, or else drink one bowl of soup made with ‘super broccoli’.

How is the food industry supporting childhood nutrition?

21-Mar-2024 By Donna Eastlake

From infancy through to adolescence, nutrition is essential in ensuring a healthy body and mind for our youngsters. So how can this be achieved and what it the food industry doing to help parents?

Are ultra-processed plant-based burgers healthy? WHO investigates

21-Mar-2024 By Flora Southey

The World Health Organization has funded research analysing the nutritional composition of ultra-processed plant-based burgers, and the findings are out.

From non-HFSS cereals to desserts: How unlikely foods hit the sweet spot with regulators

20-Mar-2024 By Flora Southey

How are brands cutting fat, salt, and sugar from popular product categories to hit the mark with both policymakers and consumers?

Ultra-processed food linked to 32 poor health outcomes in largest study to date

05-Mar-2024 By Flora Southey

We ask lead author Melissa M Lane where she stands on the ultra-processed food debate.

Reformulating Ben & Jerry’s dairy-free: Why Unilever swapped out nuts and seeds for oats

27-Feb-2024 By Flora Southey

Having experimented with almond and sunflower bases for Ben & Jerry’s vegan ice cream products, Unilever is changing tack.

The case against ultra-processed food: 'UPF is designed to increase consumption and profit'

23-Feb-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Do ultra-processed foods lead to poor health outcomes by definition? A ‘hyper-literal’ focus on definitions is not the point, suggest Henry Dimbleby and Chris van Tulleken: ‘ultra-processed food’ as a category encapsulates the toll that an industry dominated...

Could low-sugar chocolate actually taste better?

15-Feb-2024 By Donna Eastlake

Less is apparently more when it comes to the amount of sugar used in the creation of the perfect chocolate bar. So will manufacturers reduce the amount of sugar they use in the making of this sweet treat and will consumers welcome the change?

A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work? Banana workers could earn living wage

14-Feb-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Due to informality, lack of contracts, lack of unionisation and low awareness of workers’ rights, many banana workers do not earn a living wage. A range of UK retailers, including Sainbsury’s, aim to challenge this.

Is fibre essential for brain health?

14-Feb-2024 By Donna Eastlake

The importance of dietary fibre for a healthy gut has been hailed for years now. But is it also the secret to a healthy brain?

Could eating beans aid cancer prevention?

05-Feb-2024 By Donna Eastlake

Research suggests consuming nutrient and fibre-rich foods, such as beans, which support the health of good bacteria in the gut, could help in the prevention and treatment of colorectal cancer

Fermentation-based stevia with ‘cleaner, sugar-like profile’ wins EFSA safety nod

01-Feb-2024 By Flora Southey

EverSweet, a stevia sweetener made via fermentation rather than stevia leaf extraction, is one step closer to market entry in Europe having received positive safety opinions in the EU and UK.

NPD Trend Tracker: From blank drinks cans to regenerative agriculture bread

29-Jan-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

In this week's NPD Trend Tracker, we have a range of bread made with regenerative agriculture-derived flour. We also have desserts, Valentine's Day doughnuts, a new range of fully loaded brownie tray bakes, and a new version of that classic...

‘A mutually beneficial opportunity’: Ingredion prepares to market Better Juice sugar reduction tech

17-Jan-2024 By Flora Southey

From Q2 2024, Ingredion will begin marketing Better Juice’s sugar reduction technology to its customer base. It’s a ‘win-win situation’ that leverages each company’s strengths, Better juice co-founder and co-CEO Gali Yarom tells FoodNavigator.

‘Bread rescuers’: How researchers aim to slice bread waste in half

16-Jan-2024 By Flora Southey

Bread waste – from bakeries through to consumers – is in the firing line under a new research project in Norway.

How ingredients suppliers manage global struggles: From disrupted supply chains to cost-of-living pressures

08-Jan-2024 By Flora Southey

As we leave behind a troublesome 2023, we reflect on some of the unforeseen challenges faced by ingredients companies. From supply chain disruptions to cost-of-living pressures, how have suppliers changed tact to meet manufacturers’ demands?

Africa needs to diversify crops to achieve nutrition security, study suggests

05-Jan-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Crop diversification is an important part of achieving nutrition security; the risks of reliance on a single crop are immense. Sub-Saharan Africa, suggests a new study in Nature Food, must diversify its crops to achieve food security by mid-century.

From ‘travelling through taste’ to cognitive health: The 2024 trends predicted to shake-up food and beverage

03-Jan-2024 By Flora Southey

What food and drink trends have been predicted for 2024? We catch up with ingredients suppliers ADM, Arla Foods Ingredients, and Prinova Europe to ask how they’re preparing for the year ahead.

Do consumers prefer sugar or non-nutritive sweeteners? It’s complicated

02-Jan-2024 By Flora Southey

Consumer confusion over how best to reduce sugar in one’s diet persists. Are they still looking for ‘zero added sugar’ in sweet drinks? Regulatory and ingredients experts weigh in.

Health and taste from fruit-based sweeteners

21-Dec-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Fruit has been used for sweetness in Europe since before we even knew about refined sugar. It’s still in widespread use as the basis for sweeteners.

EFSA tool predicts food risk for coeliac patients

19-Dec-2023 By Natasha Spencer-Joilliffe

Exposure to foods that are harmful to coeliac patients can be reduced using the new preDQ tool

NPD Trend Tracker: From LeBron James-backed tequila to Harry Kane crisps

18-Dec-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

As Christmas approaches, we have the launch of a Harry Kane-fronted crisp product, the UK listing of a LeBron James-backed tequila, and the release of plant based chicken nuggets to celebrate the release of Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget. We also have...

Crunch time? Danone in talks to sell biscuit biz Michel et Augustin to Ferrero ecosystem

07-Dec-2023 By Flora Southey

Seven years after first investing in Michel et Augustin, Danone is in ‘exclusive’ negotiations with potential buyer Ferrero-related company CTH Invest.

Bakery waste to be put to use as sustainable oils and fats in new partnership

29-Nov-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

How can bread waste products be put to good use? In a new partnership between UK-based Clean Food Group and Roberts Bakery, the former will use its fermentation technology to transform the waste products of the latter into oils and fats that can be used...

NPD Trend Tracker: From wholegrain spelt to Christmas dinner pie

27-Nov-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

In this week’s NPD Trend Tracker, we have a range of festive products, including a festive wrap, festive ice-cream flavours and a pie containing an entire Christmas dinner. We also have a new flavour from Tate & Lyle, a wholegrain spelt from Merchant...

Ultra-processed foods, but not bread or breakfast cereals, linked to multimorbidity: The Lancet

16-Nov-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

A recent study published in medical journal The Lancet has found that ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption is often linked to multimorbidity. However the study found no link between multimorbidity and consumption of UPFs including breakfast cereals,...

Is it time for the ‘outdated’ supermarket free from aisle to evolve?

27-Oct-2023 By Oliver Morrison

As free from brands spot long-term growth potential, a perpetual debate is reigniting: is it best for these products to be in separate or standard aisles?

‘This stuff is so abundant’: The benefits of using side streams in food production

17-Oct-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Using side streams in food production has a wide range of benefits. They can help cut down on the environmental impact of operations. They are neglected but often highly nutritious. Lastly, because of the breadth of food companies who have side streams,...

Identifying some foods as addictive could bring health benefits, scientists say

12-Oct-2023 By Oliver Morrison

An international team of researchers, writing in the British Medical Journal, have called for a global rethink of food choices.

‘Having a one-size-fits-all view on regenerative ag is very difficult to do’: In search of a definition of ‘regenerative agriculture’

05-Oct-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

How could a common, legal definition be reached, and what could such a term mean for regenerative agriculture as a whole?

‘More than mylk’: Alternatives to coffee, cocoa, salt and sugar on the table at Mylkcubator 3.0

27-Sep-2023 By Flora Southey

The Mylkcubator programme has largely focused on next-gen dairy innovation to date. But for the incubator’s third edition, dairy-major Pascual wants to expand its focus to alt coffee, cocoa, salt, sugar and more.

‘You've got to do it as an evolution rather than a revolution’: PepsiCo on adapting sustainability in field and factory

26-Sep-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

For a big company such as PepsiCo, sustainability is not only complex, but also a multi-layered process. Tackling sustainability across different geographies, in both factories and in agriculture, and across scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, requires a multi-pronged,...

EU-27 countries exceed biocapacity, driven in large part by the food system: study

22-Sep-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

The food system is a significant contributor to harming the natural world, often stretching its biocapacity beyond breaking point. Now, a recent study shows that the EU-27 countries have exceeded biocapacity within Europe, and the food system in partly...

Agrematch and ICL partnership will use AI to search for biostimulants to optimise agriculture

08-Sep-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

The abilities of AI are numerous, and one of its key abilities is discovery. In a new partnership between Israeli companies Agrematch and ICL, it will be used to discover new compounds and biostimulants for crop nutrition, compounds that can optimise...

Extreme diets for carbs and fats linked with higher risk of mortality

04-Sep-2023 By Oliver Morrison

In findings that suggest that people should pursue a balanced long-term diet rather than heavily restricting their carbohydrate or fat intake, researchers in Japan found that a low carbohydrate intake in men and a high carbohydrate intake in women are...

Maize and buckwheat: Innovations in crops could help mitigate world hunger

16-Aug-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

With the world’s population projected, according to the UN, to reach 9.8 billion by 2050, there will be many more mouths to feed. With this in mind, we need to improve crop yields, in order to supply the world with more food to eat.

NPD Trend Tracker: From Arabic honey to watermelon kombucha

24-Jul-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

This week, we have a range of products aiming for sustainable packaging: from wine and spirits, to coffee, to ketchup. We also have kombucha made from watermelons grown in Italy, honey from the UAE, and bread from Danish bakery Ole and Steen.

Sugar reduction special

Hail Stevia! The natural sweetener could be the perfect solution to ‘Sugarflation’ as well as a healthier option

19-Jul-2023 By Anthony Myers

In the past 12 months, global sugar prices have risen 41.9% and to describe this sharp inflation in sugar prices, analysts have coined a new term: ‘sugarflation’. The current market volatility has also had a knock-on effect for natural alternatives with...

Sugar reduction special

What ingredients are shaping the future of sugar reformulation?

19-Jul-2023 By Anthony Myers

With sugar consumption continuing to increase and public health concerns about rising obesity rates, the sugar reduction trend will become more significant, experts say.

Nestlé enzyme tech cuts sugars intrinsically present in malt, milk and fruit juice

18-Jul-2023 By Flora Southey

The enzymatic process reduces sugar without needing to add sweeteners or bulking agents to replace its volume.

High-intensity sweetener uncovered in truffles ‘potentially game-changing’ for sugar reduction

17-Jul-2023 By Flora Southey

MycoTechnology says it is ‘standing on the brink of a sweet revolution’ having discovered a sweet protein derived from honey truffle. “Proteins are widely recognised as the future of sweeteners,” says MycoTechnology CEO Alan Hahn.

WHO classes aspartame ‘possibly carcinogenic’ but safe to consume within daily intake guidelines

14-Jul-2023 By Flora Southey

The popular sweetener is ‘possibly carcinogenic’ according to the World Health Organization, who has also reaffirmed it is safe to consume within current permitted use levels.

‘How sweet is sweet?’ AI-powered algorithm digitises taste for food and beverage makers

11-Jul-2023 By Flora Southey

Israeli start-up MAMAY Technologies has developed an AI-powered algorithm capable of determining the ‘objective’ sweetness of a food or beverage product.