Food labelling

Luxury food trend: How brands can benefit

08-Jul-2024 By Donna Eastlake

The luxury food trend is thriving. We find out why and discover what manufacturers can do to embrace it.

Does Eco-Score create a halo effect?

04-Jul-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Eco-Score aims to inform consumers about the environmental impact of a product. But can it positively influence their perceptions in other areas? In other words, does it create a halo effect?

Smart packaging that fights food waste

28-Jun-2024 By Donna Eastlake

Packaging that lowers food waste? It seems too good to be true but scientists say it’s possible, in fact, it already exists!

Convenience over cooking: The unstoppable food trend

26-Jun-2024 By Donna Eastlake

Why ready meals, takeaways and eating out, trump home cooking for consumers.

How brands are capitalising on gut health

20-Jun-2024 By Donna Eastlake

Gut health is proving to be hugely popular with consumers and enormously profitable for food and beverage manufacturers. In financial terms, it’s the gift that keeps on giving.

Why eco-labelling won’t save the planet

13-Jun-2024 By Flora Southey

Not even the innovators themselves are backing on-pack carbon footprint labelling to save the planet from rising global temperatures. Here's why.

How are ‘better for you’ and other health claims regulated?

12-Jun-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Despite widespread use, terms such as ‘better for you’ and ‘healthy’ can’t just be used outright. They must be used in the right context.

Do consumers believe ‘better-for-you’ marketing on snacks?

10-Jun-2024 By Donna Eastlake

The wellness industry is booming, with health and fitness trends becoming popular amongst consumers and profitable for brands. But do consumers trust the ‘better-for-you’ marketing printed on the products they buy?

The colour conundrum: Red or green packaging for plant-based meat?

03-Jun-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Colour plays a key role in how consumers see products. Should plant-based companies use red to evoke flavour, or green to evoke sustainability, with their offerings?

Nutri-Score for animal welfare? Food agency proposes A-E labelling

27-May-2024 By Flora Southey

A five-level classification labelling system for animal welfare is being proposed in France.

Are protein bars and powders damaging to gut health?

21-May-2024 By Donna Eastlake

High-protein products and gut health represent two of the biggest food trends of the last decade, but is one bad for the other?

Trust in food industry declining

20-May-2024 By Donna Eastlake

As consumers become increasingly engaged in understanding the contents of the foods they’re consuming, it appears that trust in the food industry is plummeting. But can that trust be restored?

How Fazer makes confectionery with upcycled ingredients

16-May-2024 By Flora Southey

Finnish food group Fazer is experimenting with side streams to make confectionery production more sustainable.

How brands communicate gut health benefits, creatively

15-May-2024 By Flora Southey

In Europe, food and drink makers tapping into the gut health trend find themselves hamstrung by health claims regulations. How can they communicate benefits, without breaking the law?

Will new ‘shrinkflation’ labelling in France truly boost transparency?

15-May-2024 By Flora Southey

France is preparing to enforce ‘shrinkflation’ signposting in retail, but critics are unconvinced the measure goes far enough.

A world first: How Albert Heijn shares climate footprints to the ingredient level

14-May-2024 By Flora Southey

The Dutch supermarket retailer has become the world’s first to share its products’ climate footprints – to the ingredient level – with consumers. Here’s how.

Which plant-based alternatives are healthier than animal products?

01-May-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Are plant-based meat and dairy substitutes healthier? Well, yes. And no. It depends. A new study investigates which substitutes do best, and worst, when pitted against animal products.

‘I’ve heard of ultra-processed food, but can’t explain it’: Demystifying UPF confusion

30-Apr-2024 By Flora Southey

What ‘ultra-processed food’ means to one consumer may not be what it means to another.

Nestlé’s top tip for communicating regen ag in dairy? ‘Show, don’t tell’

17-Apr-2024 By Flora Southey

Setting up regenerative agriculture practices is no mean feat, but communicating the benefits to consumers may be even tougher.

France suspends ban on ‘meaty’ names for plant-based alternatives

11-Apr-2024 By Flora Southey

Less than one month out, an upcoming ban on the use of ‘steak’, ‘sausage’ and ‘bacon’ terms for French plant-based meat products has been postponed.

Free from: Allergen contamination can never be ruled out 100%

09-Apr-2024 By Flora Southey

The free-from category caters to consumers with food allergies and intolerances, but contamination risk is always a possibility.

Why Portugal is officially adopting Nutri-Score

08-Apr-2024 By Flora Southey

Portugal has become the eighth country in Europe to officially adopt Nutri-Score.

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?

Shrinkflation: Are brands losing customers in this covert effort to cut costs?

18-Mar-2024 By Donna Eastlake

Brands have been quietly shrinking the size of some products for a while but consumers are getting wise to this moneysaving trick and voting with their wallets.

‘World’s first’ meat-free octopus tentacles mimic ‘intense colour and distinct suckers’

15-Mar-2024 By Flora Southey

You’ve heard of plant-based burgers, vegan nuggets, and perhaps even fish-free tuna. But whole cut meat-free octopus tentacles, with ‘distinct suckers’ to boot?

Consumers want better animal welfare, but are they willing to pay for it?

05-Mar-2024 By Flora Southey

Fresh research suggests consumers back legislation to improve farm animal welfare, but if reflected in product price, will they vote with their wallets?

Consumers urged to engage with food industry and fight for change

01-Mar-2024 By Donna Eastlake

Food systems and supply chains can be confusing for consumers, often leaving them with little understanding of exactly where their food comes from and its environmental impact. Enter the Inclusive Food movement…

Nestlé in hot water over Perrier and Vittel processing methods

01-Mar-2024 By Flora Southey

The largest bottled water company in the world is being accused of selling bottled tap water as mineral water and using illegal treatment methods to do so.

It’s official: France outlaws ‘steak’, ‘sausage’ and ‘bacon’ terms for plant-based meat

28-Feb-2024 By Flora Southey

France has outlined exactly which ‘meaty’ words are to be banned when describing, marketing and promoting plant-based products – and the list is extensive.

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...

Which front-of-pack nutritional label yields the healthiest results?

22-Feb-2024 By Flora Southey

Europe is not short of front-of-pack nutritional labels, with Nutri-Score, the Traffic Light scheme and Keyhole label dominating in different countries and regions. But with each label championing its own algorithm, do they yield different outcomes?

Can links be drawn between Nutri-Score and ultra-processed food?

19-Feb-2024 By Flora Southey

Are ultra-processed foods more likely to have low Nutri-Score ratings? And should the Nova classification system be incorporated into the Nutri-Score algorithm?

Infusing drinks with celebrity spirit: Marketing gold or reputational risk?

16-Feb-2024 By Flora Southey

Who wins and loses when celebrities back alcoholic drinks? We spill the tea on stardom in the beverage world.

Are we misusing the term ‘ultra-processed’? Uncoupling UPF from nutrition

14-Feb-2024 By Flora Southey

The term ‘ultra-processed’ is increasingly used to describe the ‘unhealthiness’ of a product, particularly in the context of plant-based meat. But how processed a food is reveals nothing about its nutritional impact, contends new research.

'Vegan' labels don't always mean free from animal products

02-Feb-2024 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Despite common public understanding that the word ‘vegan’ means free from animal products, there is no legally binding definition for the term in the UK and EU. This means that products labelled ‘vegan’ can contain trace amounts of eggs or dairy. Furthermore,...

How will food additives’ reputation fare in 2024?

15-Jan-2024 By Natasha Spencer-Joilliffe

Off the back of shifting political landscapes, evolving biotech-led categories and regulatory changes in 2023, we look at how these influence food additives in 2024 and what further changes we can expect to see.

Processed plant-based meat: Clearer communication on the horizon, predict experts

09-Jan-2024 By Natasha Spencer-Joilliffe

European producers in 2024 will focus on informing consumers about processed and ultra-processed foods and drinks, potentially lowering content in formulations to encourage plant-based meat or dairy alternatives uptake.

Are new IGD guidelines on eco-labelling misleading? Organisations raise concerns about potential to cause ' unintended environmental outcomes'

15-Dec-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Food and farming organisations including CLEAR and its member organisations, Sustainable Food Trust and Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), have raised concerns regarding newly released eco-labelling guidelines from the IGD, which have recently been delivered...

Labelling landscape at risk of further turbulence in 2024

14-Dec-2023 By Natasha Spencer-Joilliffe

Following uncertainty and disruption in 2023, potential political shifts in 2024 may spell further food labelling frustrations and challenges in the UK.

Biggest threat to additives development? Quality data, says food industry

13-Dec-2023 By Natasha Spencer-Joilliffe

As the World Health Organization (WHO) publishes its latest information on additives, the food industry details how insufficient quality data is the biggest threat to their growth and management.

Climate labels at COP28 expected to influence food purchase behaviour

28-Nov-2023 By Flora Southey

Climate impact labels are being applied to 2,500 food items across five Carrefour stores in Dubai, including at Expo City, in time for the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference.

‘Until recently, LCAs have been costly and labour-intensive’: DSM-Firmenich brings environmental footprints to meat, milk and egg products

20-Nov-2023 By Flora Southey

DSM-Firmenich and Sustained are collaborating to capture animal protein life cycle assessment impacts at the farm level, making it easier for food makers to assess and communicate the environmental footprint of their products.

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?

‘Consumers are confused by all the different symbols and logos on the market’: Calls for internationally agreed standards for environmental sustainability labelling after large survey

26-Oct-2023 By Oliver Morrison

There is widespread public support for a universal eco-label to be introduced for food products, with more than two-thirds of consumers across Europe saying they would use such a tool to help them make more sustainable choices, according to a new pan-European...

‘We want happy pigs’… welfare and health outweigh climate concerns for consumers

25-Oct-2023 By Oliver Morrison

Focusing solely on climate improvements in pork production is not what consumers care most about when buying pork, two studies reveal.

Why manufacturers shouldn’t overlook the visual element when aiming to enhance the inclusivity of their products

18-Oct-2023 By Oliver Morrison

Pringles has just announced that new technology will be added to cans to make them more accessible to blind and partially sighted people. Other brands are being encouraged to follow suit.

‘It’s imperative to recognise that not all CBD is created the same’: CBD players digest potential ‘dagger-blow to the UK industry’

12-Oct-2023 By Oliver Morrison

In a move that has potentially far-reaching implications for the CBD industry in the UK, the Food Standards Agency has issued new precautionary advice, recommending healthy adults should limit their consumption of CBD from food to 10mg per day, down from...

‘Synthetic vs natural’: Start-up targets fortification category disruption with organic plant-derived nutrients

06-Oct-2023 By Oliver Morrison

UK-based BIOVIT is poised to launch plant-derived nutrient blends targeting fortified food and meal-replacement markets. Its vitamins and minerals, extracted from leaves, flowers, roots and fungi extracts, guarantees nutrient content, it claims, to boost...

Most of it comes from our homes… so what role, if any, can food manufacturers play in helping to minimise food waste?

05-Oct-2023 By Oliver Morrison

Thanks to collaboration, education and labelling innovation, brand influence can pass over the threshold to help shift consumer behaviour, Danone tells FoodNavigator’s Climate Smart Food summit.