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The HVP recall: Damage control déjà vu

15-Mar-2010 - Not again! It emerged last week that Basic Food Flavors, the company behind the ongoing HVP recall, knew its products were tainted with salmonella but carried on shipping them anyway. Déjà vu anyone?

EFSA’s antioxidant rejections could be blessing in disguise

08-Mar-2010 - Timber! The latest axe blow from EFSA has fallen, and this time it has taken one of the biggest trees in the nutrition forest: Antioxidants. But let’s not mourn the loss of the tree; let’s look forward to the new opportunities a clear view of the sky can give.

What's the colour of money? Bonuses should be green

01-Mar-2010 - Never before has the dangling of golden carrots in the boardroom been so closely scrutinised. DSM and others’ decisions to ensure those carrots have green shoots of sustainability attached to them is a wise and forward thinking move.

Banning energy drinks is a doomed shot in the dark

22-Feb-2010 - Energy shot drinks have come under fire from German authorities which are employing an old-school prohibition logic that history has repeatedly dunce-hatted.

Do drink makers have stomach for anti-obesity fight?

15-Feb-2010 - Bravo! The beverage industry has responded enthusiastically to Mrs. Obama’s campaign to tackle childhood obesity - but there’d better be more than froth behind that sparkling rhetoric.

US military may enlist Omega-3s to boost performance but why wait?

08-Feb-2010 - “An army marches on its stomach.” This advice, from French military adventurer Napoleon, seems to have impressed the US military which is considering fortifying troops’ rations with omega-3 fatty acids. What is it waiting for?

No bitter battle over salt science

01-Feb-2010 - Excess salt can cause hypertension, heart disease, death. That’s the scientific consensus behind public health campaigns to reduce consumption of sodium chloride in the diet. But not everyone reads the science as conclusive, and when it comes to minerals that are essential to human life, the voice of caution must not be drowned out.

Cheesed off – jingoism takes the spoils in the Cadbury battle

25-Jan-2010 - Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated, quipped Mark Twain. Predictions of the demise of Cadbury following the approval of Kraft’s offer are premature and are flawed by knee-jerk anti-Americanism.

Why Haiti must stay on the CSR agenda

18-Jan-2010 - 50,000 and counting. We'll probably never know exactly how many perished in the 7.0 earthquake that brought Haiti, quite literally, crashing down last Tuesday, 12th January 2010, just before 5pm. But for those who survived and who make it through the hard days, weeks and months ahead, getting enough to eat will be a long term challenge.

Cold snap could last longer for food sector

11-Jan-2010 - “More snow on the way.” So say the weathermen, and Europe is stocking up and hunkering down for a long, cold winter. But while the fluffy flakes will halt, at least come Spring, for the food sector the chill could be felt throughout 2010.

Time to speed sustainable palm oil supply

21-Dec-2009 - Global food giants have vowed to source all their palm oil sustainably by 2015 – but consumer pressure could grease the wheels for more rapid change.

Bisphenol A becomes test of leadership for FDA

14-Dec-2009 - Each day the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) dithers in delivering its verdict on the safety of bisphenol A (BPA), its authority is diminished and its credibility wanes.

Counting the human cost of recession

07-Dec-2009 - Return to profitability. It’s a phrase that businesses have been yearning for, but as more of them are starting to use it, it’s time to ask: At what cost?

Krill conflict could threaten omega-3 potential

30-Nov-2009 - The krill category and the science backing it are still emerging, but there are many who believe krill extracts have the potential to 'go big' in the healthy foods arena. Very big.

Food prices face a welcome perfect storm

23-Nov-2009 - There’s a perfect storm building for food prices. You don’t have to scan the horizon to see the signs; the clouds are developing all around us - at a faster rate than anyone expected.

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.

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