Masterfoods' U-turn over its plan to reformulate its famous
confectionery brands using animal-derived whey sets a precedent
that will prevent any other food manufacturer from flying in the
face of the global trend towards the...
Marketing strategies - two words that incorporate everything from
pseudo scientific research to shock value advertising campaigns.
But shouldn't honesty be the best policy?
News that a variety of GM corn produced signs of liver and kidney
toxicity in rats should be a wake-up call for better testing and
more transparency from biotechs, if GMOs are to be accepted by
increasingly sceptical consumers.
Here we go again. Yet another technology in its infancy is likely
to be introduced into the food supply, while industry remains
cautious and consumers divided.
Here we go again. Industry-sponsored studies into the nutritional
benefits of food and drink products are biased. Don't believe
anything that has an industry sponsor.
The battle of wills between the UK food watchdog and industry
heavyweights over nutrition labelling threatens to destabilise the
balance of power between industry and government.
There's no way but out for heart-damaging trans fatty acids, and
procrastinators in the food industry will achieve nothing by
delaying reformulation other than lagging behind in the game as the
rest of the world waves goodbye.
The relationship between child and crisp has long been a sacred one
but instead of exploiting this dynamic to shovel unhealthy food
into young mouths isn't it about time healthier companies exploited
it to push junk food without...
When the idea of fortifying staple foods with vital nutrients is
raised, the battlecry goes up from industry groups and advocates of
consumer choice: "Why should we bear the costs?" "Educate, and
let people make their...
Until consumers lose the attitude that they deserve and have a
right to goods from all over the world, our food systems and the
environment are at peril.
In the food and nutrition world, science is king. So when journals
do not force scientists to fully disclose financial support and
potential conflicts of interest, they are not helping anyone.
The world needs an independent trade watchdog to properly regulate
the international food supply chain if we as a society are to truly
create a more sustainable and ethical food market.
If the Chinese government gives in to mounting international
pressure to revalue its currency, it could spell the end of cheap
exports, a move that many anticipate would have a knock-on effect
on raw materials costs for the food industry....
The demonisation of spinach following last week's E.coli outbreak
could give salad-dodgers the excuse they have been looking for to
skimp on their recommended five to nine portions of fruit and veg a
day. Without communication...
In today's competitive food industry, healthy products mean healthy
sales but the scramble to keep up with the obesity backlash can
have dangerous repercussions.
Food can polarise opinion more than most issues, but can we please
have some balance and debate, rather than mudslinging and crop
burning to get to the truth?
As food manufacturers inch closer to the holy grail of low-calorie,
trans-fat free flavor-fantastic products one has to ask how we
veered so far from the common sense of fresh home-cooked meals.
Food scientists are becoming a rare species in Britain, and things
won't change unless schools and food firms start telling young
people there is more to food than a supermarket depot.
Laying the blame for a fatter world at the feet of the food
industry has become a convenient mistake, and until this is
recognized there is little chance of controlling the growing
obesity epidemic.
The short sighted failure of greedy WTO trading partners to achieve
any sort of meaningful agreement on global agricultural tariffs is
bad for Europe's food industry.
Functional foods are generally defined as products imbued with
additional nutrients with health-promoting properties. But the
industry needs to be wary of foods that present no actual health
benefit from piggy-backing on the popularity...
The Internet is offering a wealth of information to more and more
people, but also an avenue for irresponsible businesses to exploit
consumer health concerns.
The rise of organic food is a knee-jerk reaction to consumer health
fears, and threatens to unhelpfully steer us away from improving
the quality of food generally.
Chocolate has a nice feeling to it - tasty, fun, luxurious and
slightly sinful. This is comfort food, accessible to all and
epitomised in the recent film, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Beer, bakery, confectionery, sweet drinks, pizzas, snacks galore,
and even dog food. The list of products with World Cup tie-ins is
dominated by junk food, while healthy food makers seem content to
pass up the marketing opportunities...
The relationship between journalist 'hack' and scientist 'lab-rat'
must be developed if science is to get a fair deal in the press,
and for consumers to be presented balanced and accurate science
coverage.
I am beginning to feel like a freak among journalists. Good or bad,
my reporting is the product of hours of questions, fact-hunting and
often-times editorial debate. Yet, despite this rigour, every day
we receive emails from people...
Complex webs of assumptions are spinning a lie about the real value
of today's companies, lulling directors and shareholders alike into
a false sense of value creation.
The oft-said adage that there are two things people don't want to
see being made - sausage and legislation - falls apart at the doors
of the EU's parliament.
If the EU keeps hiding its agriculture sector behind huge pay
cheques instead of devoting more time to food research funding, the
bloc's whimpering and wailing will only get worse.
After all the increased safety procedures put in place over the
past decade, one might have been lulled into thinking that
poisonings and deaths from food contamination would be rarer than
before. While it is true that the new regulatory...
Food companies do not yet face the ethical sourcing equation of the
clothing industry, where brands from Nike to Marks & Spencer
cannot afford a single claim of sweat-shop production. But the
moment is fast approaching for food,...
The crusade to end world hunger has been a bitter failure. But with
the world set to sweep away a crooked food trading system, there is
a chance to get it right - if only we could revive the FAO from
dormancy.
There is nothing so redolent of a corporate mid-life crisis as the
strategic equivalent of a new car, new girl and new image, set
firmly on the shoulders of the same old idea. McDonald's, it seems,
is firmly in the throes of...
The words clinical trial or scientifically proven on a label carry huge cachet. But behind the claims of scientific evidence, consumers expect a base level of rigour in ensuring thatfood or personal care products actually deliver the benefits they claim.
Cash, cash, cash. Castigated as simple asset-strippers out to make
a quick buck, the entrance of private equity onto the food industry
stage has participants chattering in the wings.
Praise where praise is due. And it is certainly due for one
small-time drinks firm in southern Britain, which is spear-heading
answers to global water shortages that threaten to wreak havoc on
food producers everywhere.
Henry Ford's famous aphorism that if he had asked people what they
wanted, they would have said faster horses, provides food makers
with a lesson they must learn.
In among the hollers about obesity and the concerns over nutrition,
food companies now need to work hard to ensure they clinch public
trust, as a matter of insurance. This means more than compliance on
traceability and labeling. This...
Water, we save. Energy, we conserve. But food, it seems, we can
waste, junk and bin and no-one cares. Except one crusader, whose
20-year project has proven what should have been obvious in the
first place: our attitude to food is...
Whether it is a pork pie from Melton Mowbray or olive oil from
Nimes, every Tom, Denis and Haemon seems to believe their local
food deserves the EU's protection from big, bad corporations.
A society that views food as taste-bud entertainment rather than a
basic of well-being was always bound to run into health problems.
But with obesity now afflicting 300m people, and diabetes set to
reach similar numbers within two...
It is time to draw on science to establish once and for all whether
food intolerance is just a source of succour for hypochondriacs, or
whether it is genuinely a modern scourge.
