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.
Britain is failing to recruit enough world-class scientists because
the country's education system is not up to the job, the UK's
Confederation of British Industry has warned.
Some children's cheese brands contain more salt per 100g than the
Atlantic Ocean, says a UK campaigns group study, piling more
pressure on manufacturers to slash the salt.
China's biggest domestic cheese producer, Bright Dairy, has
invested in a new production line for sliced cheese to increase its
profits from this growing, niche market.
Cadbury Schweppes has come under renewed criticism following a
regulatory finding that it did not adhere to EU safety measures at
its Herefordshire plant, where salmonella was discovered earlier
this year.
Two meetings, one in Barcelona on emerging processing technologies,
the other in London on food contamination, will focus on hot trends
in an industry looking to cut costs, innovate and increase the
safety of their products.
The UK advertising regulator Ofcom is under pressure to reconsider
its rejection of a 9pm watershed ban on junk food advertising,
according to a UK newspaper.
A government-funded agency is helping small food firms develop
their business by providing them with access to patented processing
techniques donated by some of the industry's giants.
Transforming a method originally developed to decontaminate
spacecraft could be new means of destroying pathogens in processing
plants, according to scientists.
Meat processors will be required to put in place new federal
procedures and labelling rules relating to potential allergens the
next time they review their food safety systems, as required
annually under the law.
Newly published salt reduction targets have been cautiously
welcomed by the UK food industry as being 'more realistic than the
2005 proposals', though health campaigners are furious.
National Starch Food Innovation has introduced a range of natural,
grain-based ingredients, which it claims maintain the positive
attributes of traditional flours while expanding and improving the
ways they can be used in packaged...
Law firm Eversheds tells FoodNavigator why Europe's food
industry needs a voice in the ongoing debate over labelling, and
outlines some of the battlegrounds to come.
European food and drink makers are to have access to açai berry, a
potent fruit originating from Brazil, as exotic ingredients become
increasingly popular with consumers.
Designated food "clusters" in the EU will receive a boost in
funding to help the bloc's researchers develop innovative foods and
processing techniques.
With the ushering in of new hygiene laws at the start of this year,
food companies are now under tougher regulatory scrutiny to ensure
they do not send out poisonous products from their plants.
A dangerous strain of E-coli is feared to have contaminated
camembert cheese sold by more than a 100 British retailers,
including supermarket chain Waitrose, said the country's food
watchdog late Monday.
A EU food safety committee is meeting in Brussels today to discuss
the contamination of milk and other products with a chemical used
by Tetra Pak in its packaging process.
From gleaming stainless steel valves to industrial scale kettles,
the guts of Winn-Dixie's failed food business are displayed on the
Internet as equipment from two of the company's plants are put up
for auction.
DSM Food Specialties' extended range of yeast extract-based
reaction flavours is designed to tap demand for healthier
ingredients and add value to products.
A gel analyser can help food companies and laboratories measure the
texture of butter and cheese products, sauces, doughs and baked
goods, vegetables, meat products, candies, yogurts and puddings.
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,...
If anyone doubted that the US probiotics market's star is rising,
kefir-maker Lifeway Foods' latest results, positive in spite of
milk price vagarities, should be enough to convince them.
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...
A new rapid testing method for Salmonella in food has received
approval from an international certification body, giving
processors a quicker way of ensuring the safety of their products.
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...
Sweden-based Avure's latest high pressure processing system for the
food industry is one of the biggest innovations in food technology
this year, according to market analyst Frost & Sullivan.
The lack of food science recruits in the UK is unsustainable if the
country wants to remain a centre for innovation and avoid becoming
the food industry's global admin office, says the head of Britain's
most prestigious...
While debates on ingredient labelling and on Parmesan cheese are
among the main issues at this week's meeting of the Codex
Alimentarius, other items on the agenda include codes of practice
for handling quick frozen foods, cadmium...
Irish dairy and food group Dairygold flags up high-margin
value-added food products, pouring €15.6 million into a new R&D
centre that will double its food scientists.
International labelling standards on the percentage of ingredients
in a food and beverage products are on the table again at an
upcoming Codex meeting, reports Lindsey Partos.
Ireland's public investment in R&D is beginning to pay off,
with the launch of such products as a new form of bio-cheese and a
low-fat snack food. The government has identified health and
nutrition food development as a major...
Members of the European Parliament are today debating and voting on
proposals for two new controversial pieces of proposed legislation
that will affect food processors - one toput restrictions on the
health claims they make about...
Hydrocolloid industry sees competition step up a gear as US
ingredients firm Cargill, for the first time, buys into the pectin
market through the acquisition of Citrico, reports Lindsey
Partos.