'Nowadays, a food crisis starts when the Food Babe is on line two'

'Pseudoscience-busting' blogger behind SciBabe talks food science for meme lovers

By Maggie Hennessy

11-Sep-2015 Last updated on 06-May-2024 at 18:13 GMT

In an era of shorter consumer attention spans and heightened suspicion about food science, the packaged food and beverage industry can take a page from the world of pop culture and bring food science down to earth with humor and proactive transparency.

Could humor be the secret weapon in the GMO debate?

06-May-2015

By Elaine Watson

Attacking biotech companies and spurning ‘artificial’ ingredients will usually generate some positive PR for your business, even if food scientists wearily point out that there are greater threats to our health - and the planet - than GMOs and dough...

Gen Mills ‘well down path’ of removing BHT from cereals; Kellogg ‘actively testing natural alternatives’

06-Feb-2015

By Elaine Watson

Food blogger Vani Hari (a,k.a. the ‘Food Babe’) claimed victory on Wednesday after Kellogg said it was “actively testing natural alternatives” to the antioxidant BHT in cereal packaging liners and General Mills said it was “already well down the path of...

Bad science, good politics? Why the GMO labeling lobby is winning the PR war...

21-Oct-2013

By Elaine Watson

Despite recent renewed efforts, the food industry does not appear to be winning hearts and minds when it comes to persuading the public of the merits of GM crops, or why mandatory labeling of ingredients derived from them would be a bad idea.