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Where does our food come from? Traceability is crucial to market success

Where does our food come from? Traceability is crucial to market success

By Han De Groot, executive director at UTZ Certified and Liza Murphy, senior relationships manager at UTZ certified.

Traceability is here to stay – and it is industry’s responsibility to put efficient and reliable traceability systems in place to provide real information for consumers.  

Photo Credit: Allow Golden Rice Now

What do the eco heretics mean for GM golden rice?

By Annie-Rose Harrison-Dunn

Dr Patrick Moore – Greenpeace founding member and GM defector – represents a fear that lurks in the heart of all ideologists: Am I on the right side of the fence? Am I the goodie or the baddie? 

Angela Coleshill, FDF director of employment and skills

What does the UK's first food engineering degree mean for industry?

By Angela Coleshill

A new sector-specific engineering degree at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK aims to tackle the current skills gap in food engineering, with the first students starting next year.In this guest article, director of employment and skills at the Food...

What is the true cost of reduced plant food consumption?

What is the true cost of reduced plant food consumption?

By Bernard Deryckere, chairman ENSA

Increasing intakes of soy and other plant-based foods and supplements can reduce environmental burdens – but does the political will exist to do it? Not really, says the chair of the 10-year-old European Natural Soyfood Manufacturers Association (ENSA).

Should a company's charity work be overshadowed by obvious PR gains?

Corporate altruism: Oxymoron or get-real solution?

By Annie-Rose Harrison-Dunn

Writing up an article on Kellogg’s World Food Day initiative yesterday, that age old question seemed to buzz through: is there really such a thing as a selfless good deed? And what about, dare we ask, on a corporate level?

Sustainably produced or not, palm oil production will continue to expand, particularly in emerging markets

Concerned about palm oil? Boycotting won’t change a thing

By Caroline SCOTT-THOMAS

Palm oil production is a major cause of deforestation, loss of habitat and – let’s not forget – dismal working conditions for people in growing areas, mainly in Southeast Asia. But Europe needs palm oil and palm oil producers need European consumers to...

Does EFSA’s folate-NTD opinion open door to disease claims?

Does EFSA’s folate-NTD opinion open door to disease claims?

By Bert Schwitters

The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) recent backing of folate’s (vitamin B9) ability to reduce the risk of spinal birth defects is a good thing for infant health and the vitamin industry – but is it actually a prohibited disease claim in disguise?...

Lab grown meat? Surely it's a matter of taste...

By Nathan Gray

I think everybody agrees that in vitro production of meat could have big potential in solving world hunger. But the technology will not be to everybody's tastes ... and until the technical challenges of flavour are addressed I imagine it will be...

Paint it black: Do coloured pots only appeal to women?

No boys allowed: What’s so girly about yoghurt?

By Caroline SCOTT-THOMAS

There’s a marketing experiment going on in the yoghurt aisle. Two yoghurt brands recently have positioned themselves as ‘yoghurt for men’. Is ordinary yoghurt really so girly?

STOP fussing over UK traffic light labelling

STOP fussing over UK traffic light labelling

By Caroline SCOTT-THOMAS

Last week, the UK introduced a voluntary front-of-pack nutrition labelling system combining GDAs with traffic light colours. The European food industry is up in arms – but it has no good reason to be.

Could the meaning of 'clean label' go beyond the idea of 'natural' with better consumer understanding?

Cleaner than clean: When natural is not enough

By Caroline SCOTT-THOMAS

It’s boom time for makers of natural ingredients, from colours to flavours to hydrocolloids…or is it? Despite widespread demand for all things natural, some ‘natural’ ingredients still aren’t acceptable to consumers – so when does ‘clean label’ need to...

EU health claims evolution: New submission behaviours

EU health claims evolution: A submission rethink

By Nigel Baldwin

Now that the dust has settled on the health claims submission process we should all be very clear on the rules of engagement. Well kind of, says Nigel Baldwin, chief consultant in Intertek’s European office.

What was that? Did someone say sorry?

The food industry should learn to say ‘oops’

By Caroline SCOTT-THOMAS

It doesn’t matter if you have the best intentions in the world if your customers think your intentions are rotten - and more and more often, consumers are saying they view Big Food in the same way as Big Tobacco. 

Can reduced portions reduce consumption? IGD reviews the evidence

Can reduced portions reduce consumption? IGD reviews the evidence

By Hannah Arnold, nutrition and scientific affairs executive, IGD

Many food companies are promoting smaller portions and reducing the size of existing products as part of a plan to reduce overall calorie intake – but is this the most effective approach?

Acrylamide: A scandal in the making

Acrylamide: A scandal in the making

By Caroline Scott-Thomas

Acrylamide is a recognised carcinogen that we’ve known is in our food at dangerous levels for a decade. Today, the food industry has tools to mitigate it, but uptake is slow.Industry, beware.  This is how scandals are made.

Will self regulation be enough to avoid a fat tax? Probably not, warns Drayton Partners

Will self-regulation be enough to beat the fat tax?

By Ian Pickett

The much debated launch of a consistent ‘front-of-pack’ nutrition label is currently the talk of the food manufacturing and retail industry, writes Ian Pickett, joint founder of specialist recruitment agency Drayton Partners.

Danone Actimel: Now reformulated with vitamins B and D in some countries, which are backed for immune claims, whereas probiotics are not (yet)

EU immunity health claims: Reformulate or reposition to win growth

By Diana Cowland

Europe’s new health claim laws are the strictest in the world, with only the most strongly backed nutrient-health associations permitted on-product and whole sectors enraged about stripped comms tools. But immunity claims have fared better than most,...

Does the nutritional value of organic produce really matter? So long as it's not worse ... I'd say no!

Organic nutrition: Does it really matter?

By Nathan Gray

Yesterday a large scale scientific review revealed that organic produce may not be more nutritious than ‘conventionally’ produced goods. But since that isn’t the main reason people buy them, does it really even matter?

‘Fat tax‘ – why is Denmark such a quitter?

‘Fat tax' – why is Denmark such a quitter?

By Rod Addy

‘Fat tax’ is a neat thought, but like all simplistic ideas it falls down at the execution, as the progress of the policy in Denmark shows – it simply doesn’t work in practice.

What kind of health claims will be made on the Vitafoods show floor this year?

Vitafoods: EU nutra space wriggles into new health claims clothes

By Shane Starling

Vitafoods celebrates its 15th birthday next week. It’ll be my 11th consecutive May visit to Geneva for the jamboree and promises to be one of the most intriguing chapters with the (partial and belated) resolution of years of ambiguity regarding health...

Desperate times: With EFSA rejecting clinical data en masse, Dr Glenn Gibson dons his magic, technicolour health claim dream labcoat in the hope of winning a claim. The NDA concludes causality has not been demonstrated between magic and dreamcoats

EU researchers revolted as EFSA clears health claims vault

By Shane Starling

The European Food Safety Authority last week delivered the fifth batch of article 13, general function health claim opinions bringing the total issued to 2723. There are just 35 to go – to be published next month in a final mini-batch that will conclude...

Sodium vs. salt: Let’s agree to disagree

Sodium vs. salt: Let’s agree to disagree

By Caroline Scott-Thomas

The United States lists sodium on nutrition labels while salt is more common in the European Union. Salt and sodium are not the same, and a standardized term would only cause confusion.

Ceci n'est pas un doughnut

Drawing a line between imitation food and innovation

By Jess Halliday

‘I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter!’ When it comes to transparency you can’t get much clearer than Unilever’s famous exclamation-turned-margarine-brand. But new labelling rules to prevent one food masquerading as another should distinguish between intent...

Novel foods progress may mean removing clones

By Jess Halliday

All is not well down on the novel foods farm. If food innovation in Europe is to thrive anew, MEPs and the Council need to get past the recriminations over the failed talks and remove the troublesome question of cloned foods from the negotiating table.

Forget pancakes. I'm flippin' well going for the CEO's job

Women. The most wasted resource in food production

By Jess Halliday

Today is Pancake Day. It is also International Women’s Day. An important date, then, not just for food lovers in countries where Mardi Gras is a big deal, but a day to consider the role – and the potential – of women involved in food provision all over...

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