All weekly comments

Alleviation of hunger should top CSR agenda

17-Nov-2009 - Climate change dominates the CSR agenda but new USDA figures on food insecurity are a sharp reminder that alleviating poverty and hunger should always be the top priority.

Life in a European health claims wasteland

09-Nov-2009 - Ka-CHING! Hear that? No it’s not the sound of overflowing cash registers as consumers throw endless wads of euros at scientifically-backed, healthy foods in greater numbers than ever before.

Clinical trials are EFSA’s fool’s gold

02-Nov-2009 - There’s gold to be found in them health claims mountains, but prospectors from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) must be happy with the little chunks that add up to a lot, and stop searching for nuggets the size of your fist.

Tackling E.coli – legislation or self-regulation?

26-Oct-2009 - Everybody wants food to be safe - but the recent slugging match over how best to protect US consumers from E.coli-tainted meat highlights whether legislation or self-regulation is the answer to mending the country's flawed safety system.

Branded Corn Flakes are great for branding

19-Oct-2009 - Will we all be waking up bleary-eyed to bowls of tattooed Corn Flakes any time soon? Probably not, but by suggesting that we could, Kellogg’s has hit on a winning marketing ploy.

Soda tax: A lot of froth over freedom

12-Oct-2009 - Is taxing soda really an evil plan to curb your individual freedom? Conspiracy theories aside, perhaps it’s simply a sensible scheme to tackle obesity when personal choice has failed.

Bad day at the EU health claims office

05-Oct-2009 - October 1 was not a good day for many in the functional foods and food supplements business in the European Union as the meaning of life under a highly restrictive health claims regime came more into focus.

The benefits of a probiotic witch hunt

28-Sep-2009 - Get your pitchforks ready! There are evil-doers out there! We’ve been conned: Probiotics don’t work. Dannon’s settling out of court, EFSA’s rejecting health claims, and the media is starting a witch hunt.

How Mugabe’s milk could sour Nestle's image

28-Sep-2009 - Nestle is being slammed for sourcing milk from a Mugabe-owned farm in Zimbabwe. In a world where both business and information are globalised, any big business practices deemed unacceptable – wherever they take place – are liable to unleash a furious consumer reaction.

Are health claims curbing freedom of speech?

21-Sep-2009 - The US FDA is being sued over its health claims regime – actions that are unlikely to succeed according to most pundits – but they raise serious questions about healthy food messaging and free speech that are being felt globally.

Bisphenol A: Hearts versus minds

14-Sep-2009 - Forget GMO and nanotechnology - the biggest food safety issue of our times is bisphenol A (BPA).

Acrylamide: The consumer health scare that isn’t

08-Sep-2009 - Consumers love to get their teeth into a good health scare. So how is it that acrylamide has slipped under the radar?

Sugar and strife – not so nice if the price is not right

01-Sep-2009 - Sugar politics means high prices are a bitter pill for US and Indian sweet food and beverage makers; while the European industry is sitting pretty on the back of the recent sugar reforms.

Folic acid: Old women and children first!

24-Aug-2009 - Look at the globe and you’d be hard pressed to find two countries further apart than Ireland and New Zealand. But they stand side-by-side on the folic acid fortification issue – it is not needed.

Free farmers to farm and bank UK food security

17-Aug-2009 - How best should Britain plan to secure reliable supplies of reasonably-priced food? Should the nation put its trust in home production or food imports from the world market?

FDA’s Commissioner Hamburg: Beefing up US food safety

10-Aug-2009 - It looks like the FDA has finally got some muscle. Never mind new legislation – if anything can prevent America acquiring a weedy reputation for food safety, it’s the might of Dr Margaret Hamburg.

Downsize me! FSA right to push for smaller snacks

04-Aug-2009 - Chocolate bar makers should embrace the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) proposals on snack portions and adapt their supersizing skills to downsizing.

Imagining a world where we eat less meat

27-Jul-2009 - Cutting back meat consumption is the new darling cause of pop stars. But if necessary environmental and health goals are to be achieved, the whole supply chain needs to be strumming along in tune.

Mainstream press ‘exposed’ for health claim sensationalism

20-Jul-2009 - Not again! As if industry is not struggling enough with the severity of the European Food Safety Authority’s nutrition and health claims rulings so far, the situation has not been helped by the kind of articles that appeared in the UK press today and yesterday.

Safety is no accident in food factories

13-Jul-2009 - Industrial accidents are not funny. Does anyone need a reminder? Apparently yes; judging by how some headline writers and bloggers made light of the plight of Vincent Smith who died last week after falling into a vat of liquid chocolate at a New Jersey processing plant.

Defining nano: Size does matter

07-Jul-2009 - The Atlantic Ocean separates continents; it also separates schools of thought on the definition of nanotechnology. In order to educate manufacturers and consumers on nanotechnology a definition is critical.

Confusion reigns in cosmeceutical name game

29-Jun-2009 - The term cosmeceutical has always been controversial, but the blurring boundaries between the worlds of nutrition and cosmetics are highlighting divisions that neither industry can ignore.

IFT '09: In defence of trade shows

15-Jun-2009 - As the dust settles on another IFT the absence of several big players has left some questioning the relevance of trade shows in the 21st Century.

A big day for European health claims

08-Jun-2009 - Next Monday, June 15, is a big day for the European healthy foods and food supplements industries. Let’s call it Big Monday. Or J15.

Economic depression a stimulus for fresh business

02-Jun-2009 - The economic recession is biting across the globe, and bleeding casualties litter all industries, but now is not the time to cower. Those willing to spend may provoke a stimulation of their business that could set them up for years, if not decades, to come.

Breaking News on Food & Beverage Development - Europe US edition

News Headlines

On your radar

All news articles

Product news

Product Innovations

Related Sites

All news articles

On your radar

News Headlines

All news articles > All weekly comments

Sign up for your free newsletter

Stay updated on the latest breaking news from your industry

Upcoming Live Webinars

On-Demand Webinars, Videos, Audio

Technical & Research papers

Products, Brochures, Web links

Weekly / Daily Free Newsletter

Other Newsletters

Related sites

All Decision News Media Sites