By Han De Groot, executive director at UTZ Certified and Liza Murphy, senior relationships manager at UTZ certified.
Traceability is here to stay – and it is industry’s responsibility to put efficient and reliable traceability systems in place to provide real information for consumers.
By Winnie Byanyima, executive director, Oxfam International
Food and drink companies can have a big influence over sustainability and ethical issues in their supply chains - and have the power to change them rapidly. One year on from Oxfam's first Behind the Brands sustainability scorecard, nine of the ten...
Dr Patrick Moore – Greenpeace founding member and GM defector – represents a fear that lurks in the heart of all ideologists: Am I on the right side of the fence? Am I the goodie or the baddie?
Before we take out our crystal balls in January and look ahead to 2014, let’s take a moment to ask, how accurate was our forecast for the past year? FoodNavigator takes a look back on its predictions for 2013.
A new sector-specific engineering degree at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK aims to tackle the current skills gap in food engineering, with the first students starting next year.In this guest article, director of employment and skills at the Food...
Increasing intakes of soy and other plant-based foods and supplements can reduce environmental burdens – but does the political will exist to do it? Not really, says the chair of the 10-year-old European Natural Soyfood Manufacturers Association (ENSA).
Writing up an article on Kellogg’s World Food Day initiative yesterday, that age old question seemed to buzz through: is there really such a thing as a selfless good deed? And what about, dare we ask, on a corporate level?
In this guest article, Lauren LaFronz at Triple Point Technology looks at the role that mobile technologies can play in the fast-moving and increasingly volatile agri-food sector.
Thousands of nutritionists gathered in Granada, Spain, last week for the 20th International Congress of Nutrition. It was a huge event with eight simultaneous streams of seminars over a full week.
Palm oil production is a major cause of deforestation, loss of habitat and – let’s not forget – dismal working conditions for people in growing areas, mainly in Southeast Asia. But Europe needs palm oil and palm oil producers need European consumers to...
The ageing population remains under-served in terms of functional food and drink products, says Euromonitor's Diana Cowland, despite 'elderlies' living longer and healthier than ever before.
The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) recent backing of folate’s (vitamin B9) ability to reduce the risk of spinal birth defects is a good thing for infant health and the vitamin industry – but is it actually a prohibited disease claim in disguise?...
I think everybody agrees that in vitro production of meat could have big potential in solving world hunger. But the technology will not be to everybody's tastes ... and until the technical challenges of flavour are addressed I imagine it will be...
There’s a marketing experiment going on in the yoghurt aisle. Two yoghurt brands recently have positioned themselves as ‘yoghurt for men’. Is ordinary yoghurt really so girly?
Insects are being touted as one answer to an upcoming global protein gap – in Europe, there’s just the niggling ‘disgust factor’ to get over. But why scuttle before we can walk? Let’s talk options.
Last week, the UK introduced a voluntary front-of-pack nutrition labelling system combining GDAs with traffic light colours. The European food industry is up in arms – but it has no good reason to be.
It’s boom time for makers of natural ingredients, from colours to flavours to hydrocolloids…or is it? Despite widespread demand for all things natural, some ‘natural’ ingredients still aren’t acceptable to consumers – so when does ‘clean label’ need to...
Now that the dust has settled on the health claims submission process we should all be very clear on the rules of engagement. Well kind of, says Nigel Baldwin, chief consultant in Intertek’s European office.
It doesn’t matter if you have the best intentions in the world if your customers think your intentions are rotten - and more and more often, consumers are saying they view Big Food in the same way as Big Tobacco.
"They are scientists performing a very difficult task, as instructed by EU law makers."
Last week NutraIngredients was one of 10 organisations invited to observe the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) health claims panel in action for a day at its Parma, Italy, base.
Whether you are ‘pro’ or ‘anti’ genetic engineering has become a divisive political issue, but remember that we are talking about technology; it shouldn’t be an ideology.
Can we feed nine billion people by 2050? Only if we embrace the principles of open innovation, says Jeff Bellairs, senior director of the General Mills Worldwide Innovation Network (G-WIN), in this exclusive article for Foodnavigator-USA.com and FoodNavigator.com.
By Hannah Arnold, nutrition and scientific affairs executive, IGD
Many food companies are promoting smaller portions and reducing the size of existing products as part of a plan to reduce overall calorie intake – but is this the most effective approach?
Acrylamide is a recognised carcinogen that we’ve known is in our food at dangerous levels for a decade. Today, the food industry has tools to mitigate it, but uptake is slow.Industry, beware. This is how scandals are made.
The much debated launch of a consistent ‘front-of-pack’ nutrition label is currently the talk of the food manufacturing and retail industry, writes Ian Pickett, joint founder of specialist recruitment agency Drayton Partners.
Europe’s new health claim laws are the strictest in the world, with only the most strongly backed nutrient-health associations permitted on-product and whole sectors enraged about stripped comms tools. But immunity claims have fared better than most,...
A French study on the effects of Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) maize in rats has said little about the safety or otherwise of GM crops – but it has said plenty about how the media can be used to push an agenda.
Western breakfast brands don’t often work in China. They need manipulating to appeal to very different tastes, packaging and format preferences and, of course, another language.
Dealing with problems that may arise in the formulation of food and beverage products is vital for manufacturers. In the second part of his look at troubleshooting, Leatherhead Food Research’s Dr Wayne Morley applies his top tips to real case studies.
As foods become ever more complex, the need to be able to efficiently troubleshoot problems becomes even more critical. In this guest article, Wayne Morley, PhD, head of food innovation at Leatherhead Food Research, outlines his top 10 tips for efficient...
Yesterday a large scale scientific review revealed that organic produce may not be more nutritious than ‘conventionally’ produced goods. But since that isn’t the main reason people buy them, does it really even matter?
‘Fat tax’ is a neat thought, but like all simplistic ideas it falls down at the execution, as the progress of the policy in Denmark shows – it simply doesn’t work in practice.
Sourcing cocoa from certified farms can minimise incidence of child labour, but if that’s enough, why else should chocolate manufacturers commit to third-party certification?
Barely a week goes by without another food company being challenged in court over its use of the word ‘natural’ – and it’s just a matter of time before the claim loses its front-and-center on-pack appeal.
Vitafoods celebrates its 15th birthday next week. It’ll be my 11th consecutive May visit to Geneva for the jamboree and promises to be one of the most intriguing chapters with the (partial and belated) resolution of years of ambiguity regarding health...
Anyone who has spent any appreciable amount of time working in the food industry realises that the issue of ‘junk food’ marketing to children is a hydra that rears two heads for every one cut off.
Five years ago the European Union nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR) became law. Around the bloc, hopeful EU healthy foods and supplements stakeholders submitted more than 44,000 health claim applications.
Can you make it taste better?" is a question I've been asked time and time again, usually by people who don't actually know what they want and who don't understand the word 'taste' at all – let alone the journey you need...
The European Food Safety Authority last week delivered the fifth batch of article 13, general function health claim opinions bringing the total issued to 2723. There are just 35 to go – to be published next month in a final mini-batch that will conclude...
The United States lists sodium on nutrition labels while salt is more common in the European Union. Salt and sodium are not the same, and a standardized term would only cause confusion.
‘I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter!’ When it comes to transparency you can’t get much clearer than Unilever’s famous exclamation-turned-margarine-brand. But new labelling rules to prevent one food masquerading as another should distinguish between intent...
All is not well down on the novel foods farm. If food innovation in Europe is to thrive anew, MEPs and the Council need to get past the recriminations over the failed talks and remove the troublesome question of cloned foods from the negotiating table.
Today is Pancake Day. It is also International Women’s Day. An important date, then, not just for food lovers in countries where Mardi Gras is a big deal, but a day to consider the role – and the potential – of women involved in food provision all over...
The food industry has a responsibility to label allergenic ingredients as big and bold as they can – but also not to over-egg the slimmest of slim possibilities that a trace amount of an allergen may have slipped into a product.
When Tunisian street vegetable vendor Mohamed Bouazizi chose to end his life in fiery suicide, no one could have foreseen the firestorm his death would unleash across the Arab world. But, two months later, as the Arab Revolt shows no sign of fading, the...
