Inaccurate home testing and self-diagnosis is leading to unnecessarily restrictive diets and malnutrition, says a report claiming to make sense of allergies.
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will affect every European food company – for better or worse – according to a trade law expert at DWF LLP.
The Swedish National Food Agency (NFA) has begun an investigation into levels of nutrients and potentially undesirable substances present in common foods on the Swedish market.
The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) has urged the European commissioner for health and food safety to practice caution when making ‘adjustments’ to health claim and botanical rules.
The European Commission is calling its Better Regulation initiative 'radical and different' - but consumer groups say power is being handed over to big businesses and that consumers will suffer from weakened food policy.
MEPs adopted a resolution on calorie content of alcoholic drinks yesterday, a move welcomed by industry and stakeholders across Europe who hope it will spur the Commission into legislating.
A Spanish consumer rights group has launched a naming and shaming Twitter campaign after it found one third of consumers surveyed has bought the wrong product due to confusing food labels.
Wackaging – using cute and quirky language on a product’s packaging – seems to be everywhere. But with consumers becoming increasingly cynical, should manufacturers stop trying to be cool?
Front-of-pack labelling can be useful but health policy-makers are naïve if they think that this alone will result in healthier food choices, say researchers - environment, motivation and psychology must be actively influenced too.
Global and EU regulation aims to stop companies using indigenous bio knowledge and material to make profits without filtering any of the benefits back.
The European Commission will consider action on industrially produced trans fats in foods following a high-level debate, said a spokesperson at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
Nuts in spices scandal shows no signs of slowing down
Calorie content labelling should be made mandatory for alcoholic beverages in the EU as soon as possible, say public health Members of European Parliament (MEPs).
Fresh-cut fruit and veg are sold as an instant vitamin boost. But chlorine disinfection, refrigeration and up to three weeks on the shelf mean their vitamin content is often low – so is there any point in buying them?
Trans-fat bans, and limiting the availability of sugary and fatty foods are the best ways to battle obesity, while nutrition information fails to deliver benefits, says a new review of anti-obesity policies.
Roythornes law firm has quizzed members of the Fresh Produce Consortium, The Food and Drink Forum, the British Frozen Food Federation, the Artisan Food Trail and Tastes of Anglia about meeting Food Information Regulations (FIR) requirements.
Online grocery shoppers tend to prefer navigating to product pages rather than searching for specific products, according to a study funded by the European Research Council.
The World Health Organisation has said that companies need to reduce the marketing of sugar-rich products if consumers are to slash their intake to 10% of daily calories.
Traffic light nutrition labels may help consumers exercise more self-control over high calorie foods, according to a new study published in the journal Obesity.
The onus should not be on consumers to choose healthy foods but on companies to help reduce consumption, says Food Policy professor at City University London, Tim Lang.
Academics have welcomed the WHO’s recommendation to slash added sugar intake to 5-10% of calories – but the food industry has said it is misleading and based on weak evidence.
Attempting to tackle the obesity crisis through ‘negatively-focused’ tactics is ineffective, and may in fact worsen the situation, according to various researchers.
Consumer watchdog Que Choisir has urged the French government to adopt colour-coded front-of-pack nutrition labelling as “an antidote to food marketing” following a study backing its efficacy.
It would be extremely difficult for consumers to devise a 600 calorie diet providing 100% of vitamin and mineral RDAs themselves, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said in its rejection of a complaint against LighterLife Fast.
An EU-wide revamp of on-pack nutrition information is a missed opportunity to make front of pack labelling compulsory, says the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC).
Alexandra Nikolakopoulou has been announced as the new head of the European Commission’s DG SANTE unit for nutrition, food composition and information, stepping into the shoes of Basil Mathioudakis.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have voted by majority to create legislation that could see country of origin labelling used for all meat used in processed foods.
Pulse flours could provide a plant-based protein boost for baked goods, snacks and pasta – tapping into growing demand for non-animal-derived protein, says Ingredion.
Sweden’s National Food Association (NFA) has made changes to its Keyhole healthy eating label in light of new nutrition guidelines, meaning less salt, more wholemeal and a broader range of products that can bear the logo.
The number of children aged over two years diagnosed with coeliac disease in the UK has nearly tripled in the last two decades, but those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are still half as likely to be diagnosed, according to research.
Efforts to shift food choices toward healthier options often fail because there is a perceived conflict between health and taste, according to a new study.
We need a strong portfolio of voluntary and mandatory measures to tackle the huge burden of diet-related diseases, according to the chair of the UK Responsibility Deal food network.
The World Health Organisation has outlined potential strategies to reduce premature deaths from non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including junk food taxes and cutting salt intakes.
“This signals a new dawn for weight loss products.”
EFSA’s full low-calorie diet regime report – published this week – can help “tackle the societal challenge of obesity”, the EU’s specialist food trade group has said.
400mg of caffeine a day from all sources is not a safety concern, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has said in a long-awaited caffeine risk assessment.
If elected, a UK Labour government will introduce limits on the levels of fat, salt and sugar that manufacturers are allowed to include in food marketed towards children.
EFSA has very specifically refined what a low-calorie diet replacement regime should contain including a minimum of 600 calories and 30 g of carbohydrates per day. One observer said the opinion was more important than a health claim win for certain nutrients.
Better defined thresholds at which common allergens trigger reactions in a majority of allergic consumers could improve ‘may contain’ labelling, according to researchers from the University of Manchester.
Sugar low: “The use of such a health claim would convey a conflicting and confusing message..."
Five glucose health claims approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) back in 2012 have been officially banned by the European Commission due to concerns over what they would say to consumers about sugar consumption.
