Along with the camel and the world’s highest tower, the humble date is one of the most enduring icons of the UAE, and soon it will be recognised for its importance to international agriculture.
‘The Food Information for Consumers Regulation (EU 1169/2011 – also known as ‘FIC’), which will start to be enforced in December this year, will have a big impact on all those involved in the supply and sale of food and drink products.
If government and industry are to overcome unfounded opposition to genetic modification (GM) technologies, they should clearly communicate the challenges facing sustainable food production, the Prime Minister’s scientific advisers have claimed.
Sugar consumption could feasibly be reduced by 10% a year over the coming three to four years – without using artificial sweeteners or any other replacement ingredients, claims Action on Sugar.
Detection of genetically modified (GM) material in internationally traded non-GM food and feed has spiked in the past few years, interrupting trade and adding to food losses, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
British Sugar has welcomed the WHO’s continued recommendation that added sugars should account for less than 10% of total calories – although it has said it is concerned about advice to reduce this to 5%.
The question of how to define and label nano-scale ingredients will return to the drawing board, after the European Parliament rejected the Commission’s proposed regulation on Wednesday.
Mars has committed to ending deforestation associated with its palm oil supply by the end of 2015, becoming the latest multinational to do so, alongside Unilever and Nestlé, among others.
Updated salt targets for packaged foodstuffs are too soft on meat and cheese, a leading expert claims, as the Department of Health (DH) posts foodservice targets for the first time.
World Health Organisation’s director of the department of Food Safety and Zoonoses, Dr Kazuaki Miyagishima, is helping to put food safety on the G8 agenda with a rapid alert system topping the list.
The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has dismissed a complaint that challenged claims that Yoplait's strained Greek-style Liberté yogurt is ‘naturally thick’.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has advised halving sugar intake advice from 10% of total calories to 5% of total calories in a new dietary guideline proposal.
Most of the world’s palm oil is set to be sustainably sourced, after Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) became the latest major supplier to commit to forest conservation last week, says Catapult, an organisation working to end deforestation-linked commodities...
MOVE FOLLOWS RECENT UAE STEP TO BAN SUPERSIZE SODAS
Saudi Arabia has banned energy drink advertising altogether and will limit their distribution and sale, while brands including Red Bull will now be forced to carry health warnings.
A proposal to allow member states to ban the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops for reasons other than environmental or health grounds would leave countries open to legal challenges, claims Greenpeace.
Restricting marketing to children and continuing to cut salt, fats and added sugar in processed foods are among initiatives put forward in a plan to tackle childhood obesity, agreed by EU member states in Greece last week.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is reviewing online food and drink marketing, especially to children, amid concerns about the rising incidence of obesity among young people.
The European Commission has said it will investigate the impact of the UK’s voluntary traffic light nutrition labelling scheme, after several EU member states led by the Italian delegation complained that it could harm EU trading.
Replacing vegetable oils with an esterified vegetable oil in infant formulas will not soften infant stools, and a choline form will not boost vision, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has found.
Denmark has banned the religious practice of slaughtering animals without stunning them first, angering religious groups but having little effect on the food industry, according to a trade group.
Small European food companies could be pushed out of the UK market if ‘hybrid’ traffic light labels are implemented, says UEAPME, the European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.
As the clock counts down to the EU’s mandatory food labelling rule changes – due to be enforced on December 13 2014 – we chart reaction to the legislation in quotes from people responsible for making sense of the new rules.
The European Parliament’s Greens Group has threatened to bring a motion of censure against the Commission if it goes ahead with authorisation of GM maize variety 1507 for cultivation, after just five of 28 member states voted in favour earlier this week.
A majority of EU member states voted against approving a genetically modified (GM) maize variety for cultivation in Europe at a Council of Ministers meeting on Tuesday – but the Commission may still approve the crop under EU rules.
HEINEKEN WANTS REVIEW OF RULING WITH 'SIGNIFICANT FLAWS'
The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) says two Heineken adverts for Kronenbourg 1664 beer featuring former Manchester United soccer star Eric Cantona are misleading.
Consumers in Scotland will receive far clearer information about the origins of their food, the Scottish government has pledged, after launching a new partnership yesterday (February 11) to deliver that promise.
Slow Food has urged the European Commission to take a more holistic view of food sustainability, saying that food waste must be seen as part of broader sustainability issues.
Fewer local authority inspections of food businesses are encouraging food fraud, warns the boss of the West Yorkshire Food Control Laboratory, after its tests recently revealed more than a third of food and drink products sampled were fake.
Trading Standards (TS) don’t have the resources to check for the potentially dangerous unapproved novel foods illegally on sale on the UK market, it has emerged.
MEPs have rejected a European Commission proposal for labelling meat according to where animals were reared and slaughtered – but not where they were born.
The German government will abstain from a vote on the cultivation of a variety of genetically modified (GM) maize next week, spokesperson Steffen Seibert said on Wednesday.
Canadian plant protein pioneer Burcon has received a notice of allowance from the US Patent and Trademark Office that a composition of matter patent application over its CLARISOY soy-based protein - which is licensed to ADM - will proceed to grant as...
A group of researchers has published a definition of ‘whole grain’ stemming from the HealthGrain EU project, in an effort to harmonise labelling and nutrition guidelines across Europe.
A shipment of Chobani Greek yogurt that was initially refused entry into Russia may still reach US athletes in Sochi before the Winter Olympics begin on Friday, says a leading Russian food safety official.
A national press advert from Warburtons – stating ‘No.1 Now London's biggest bakers’ – has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), after complaints from Premier Foods and Allied Bakeries.
Governments could slow a rapid rise in cancer rates by regulating alcohol and sugary drinks in the same way as tobacco use, claims a new report from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The European Commission has unveiled proposals to reverse declining fruit and milk consumption among young people, as part of its efforts to improve children’s health.
FoodDrinkEurope has published a report urging European institutions to develop a policy specifically tailored to the food industry – or risk losing out to non-EU manufacturers.
European public authorities will be able to preferentially choose Fair Trade products, after a majority of MEPs voted in favour of a new public procurement directive last week.
Influential lobby group the National Obesity Forum (NOF) has admitted exaggerating the severity of the UK’s national obesity crisis and relying on anecdotal evidence, rather than scientific research, in its State of the Nation’s Waistline report published...
Cadbury’s Israeli distributor Carmit Candy Industries has accused the Strauss Group of employing a war-like strategy to block Cadbury’s entry into Israel, while Strauss says Carmit only has itself to blame for Cadbury’s failings.
The European Commission has agreed new rules to curb speculation in food commodities, in order to avoid a repeat of the global food price spikes seen in 2008.
Ritter Sport has been granted an injunction preventing a German consumer group from claiming the chocolate firm is deceiving consumers with misleading natural flavor claims.
