You can try your best to avoid it, but when it comes to measuring carbon footprint, almost everything we do these days, either as a business or individuals, is likely to have a negative impact on the environment.
This month saw the final stage in the introduction of a Europe-wide system for registering and protecting geographical names for foodstuffs and drinks. Owen Warnock. food law partner at Eversheds, explains why we will see PDO/PDI labels on more foods...
On a summer’s day in 1906 Theodore Roosevelt pushed through new food safety regulation. The Food and Drugs Act passed that day over 100 years ago was the last time the US food safety system was modernized.
As yet another TV show concludes that supplements are unnecessary, is the ignorance of the mainstream media few putting the health of the many at risk? Isn’t it time to change the record?
What does health taste like? As a kid, I was encouraged to hold my nose and swallow down broad beans and cod-liver oil. If they tasted bad, it was only ‘cos they were good for me.
The ongoing slide of global capitalism is decimating industries, but the food supplements industry is not one of them as fraught consumers turn to its potential low-cost, anti-medical, wellness promise.
Ben & Jerry’s campaign to ensure produce from clones is detectable in the food chain shows that bundling biotech in with conventional produce remains unacceptable – but lessons from GM do not seem to have been learned.
Short of an earth-bound deity walking amongst us and miraculously multiplying our fish stocks, industry must invest more in alternative sources of omega-3 to meet nutritional needs.
Sugar could be shedding its bad boy image to take a surprise spot on the public’s list of trusted ingredients, as manufacturers look to appeal to more savvy consumers.
Clutched to the president’s chest like a medal of nationalisation, Cargill Venezuela cannot be sitting very comfortably this week as it awaits the fate of its rice plant.
Owen Warnock, partner and food law expert at international law firm Eversheds, checks the fine print on calls for legislation in the UK regarding country of origin meat labelling.
Consumer concerns about a synthetic growth hormone used in milk production have prompted two leading food producers in the United States – General Mills and Dannon – to reformulate their dairy product lines. It is a decision that will have immediate implications...
The GM debate at times seems much like the Hokey Cokey (or Pokey, if you’re US-based). There’s been a lot of putting in, some putting out, and quite a lot of shaking things all about, but as of yet, there hasn’t really been a turnaround and definitely...
Last week’s withdrawal of a high-profile functional food in France is disappointing for the company concerned and maybe for the healthy/functional foods industry, but you may be led to think differently if you happen to be a reader of the UK broadsheet,...
E. coli in ground beef, melamine in infant formula, and salmonella in peanut butter - what is next? Isn’t it about time the slices of the US food safety pie were taken back from the multiple federal agencies involved and surveillance placed under one...
Everyone from government to grocers seems to have their own idea of how best to inform consumers about foods’ nutritional content, but a labeling free-for-all has resulted in a clamor of nutrition labels which are actually getting in the way of comprehension.
Who likes pesticides? Misunderstood by consumers and misrepresented by pressure groups, pesticides are a soft target for legislators. The latest blow to that soft target could have hard consequences for the European food industry and for developing countries.
There are fears that in the economic crisis consumers will put on “recession pounds” by eating unhealthily. Rightly or wrongly, food manufacturers may suffer the blame but “unhealthy” and “recession proof” do not necessarily go hand-in-hand.
One of the most fiercely debated and amended pieces of European Union food law history is playing out before our eyes, and its effects are beginning to be felt.
“Four legs good, two legs bad.” When the pigs take over the land in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, they have no hesitation; any creature with four legs is beyond reproach and any human is bad, mad and dangerous to know.
There was something magical about the recent news that the caloric value of both gum arabic and erythritol have been officially lowered, but whether it turns out to be a sleight of hand or a real change remains to be seen.
The long shadow cast by obesity over public health means that encouraging healthier eating should be high on the agenda of every food firm, come financial rain or shine.
This year’s Beijing Olympic Games may have been good for China’s public image but the smooth running of the event was built on multiple state-prompted sacrifices and the food ingredients industry was one of the lambs that copped it in the neck for ‘the...
At the time of writing, the US is poised to go to the polls. The next two days are going to be hugely exciting. And when it’s all over, after the victor gets some well-earned rest… he’ll rub his sleepy eyes and ask: ‘What’s for breakfast?'.
The course of true love never did run smooth. The same could be said of stevia’s road to regulatory approval as a food ingredient. One final concerted effort is needed to ensure approval of this hot ingredient.
Question: When is a crisis not a crisis? Answer: When it’s a food crisis. Compare the two responses to failures in the food system and financial markets.
Before reading this you’re probably going to need a coffee, in fact why not have a few? After all who’s to say when enough is enough in our hunt for a caffeine kick.
Organic has an image problem. As some consumers fear they are, quite literally, priced out of the farmers market, it’s time to stir up more debate about organic as a set of principals, not as a status symbol.
As the contamination of Chinese milk sends ripples through the global food industry, Eversheds lawyers Richard Matthews and Elizabeth Hyde lay out the due diligence procedures that food companies must go through when sourcing from outside the EU.
The European Food Safety Authority recently turned in its first health claim verdicts, rejecting eight of nine. European food regulations expert Lorène Courrège explains why EFSA’s tough health claim approach may stifle product innovation.
Using animals, and specifically rats, to build the science behind ingredients is vital, but dismissing conflicting studies just because a rat is not a human is not acceptable.
“I have a bad feeling about this.” Luke Skywalker’s warning in the movie blockbuster Star Wars could equally be applied to consumers’ concerns about Bisphenol A (BPA).
Louisiana was holding its breath when Hurricane Gustav made landfall last week. It promised to be the mother of all storms as it roared towards the Gulf Coast but fortunately the region, along with the food industry it supports, was spared.
Europe’s health claim assessment process kicked off with the rejection of almost 90 per cent of the first bunch. But industry must accept its shortcomings if credibility is to be the winner.
“Food is a weapon – don’t waste it.” This message, which featured on a Second World War poster issued by the US Office of War Information in 1943, is a lesson from history we would do well to heed.
Have you ever scavenged through a supermarket bin looking for your next meal? It’s a strange question to put to business readers – and most would shrink at the thought. But that’s just how the ‘freegans’ decide what’s for dinner.
Rumour, according to the Romans, is a feathered beast with a myriad eyes and tongues. Last week she went bristling through the Danish business pages, spreading the news that Danisco could be bought by a private equity firm.
FSA guidance on terms like 'fresh', 'natural' and 'pure' helps protect responsible businesses against unscrupulous competition. But labelling that does not meet guidance in full would still be legal if it does not mislead...
The news that all-American brewer Anheuser-Busch is to be sold to Belgium’s InBev for $52bn has made sports bar patrons across the US weep into their Budweisers. But the idea that an American firm must remain American for all time runs counter to the...
The prescribing of statins for eight years-olds is tantamount to
saying that food and diet have failed, and that children are
incapable of changing their eating habits and lifestyle.
Knife crime, obesity and skiffle music. Out of all the evils
currently threatening the welfare of Western teenagers, recent US
headlines finger the main culprit as the caffeinated alcoholic
beverage.
Food industry voices are joining those of politicians in the GM debate, hailing the controversial technology as the answer to the food supply crisis. But the hearts and minds of consumers must still be won.
For a little yellow flower, it's ignited a huge debate. Believe the
headlines and St John's wort won't help hyperactive kids, but last
week's study asks more questions than it answers. It's time to put
funding...
Bickering gets you nowhere. It's a lesson to be learned early in
life, but which seems easily forgotten when it comes to tough
political issues like measures to curb the food crisis.
