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What to do when safety studies smell a rat
29-Sep-2008 - Using animals, and specifically rats, to build the science behind ingredients is vital, but dismissing conflicting studies just because a rat is not a human is not acceptable.
Consumers fear the packaging - a BPA alternative is needed now
22-Sep-2008 - “I have a bad feeling about this.” Luke Skywalker’s warning in the movie blockbuster Star Wars could equally be applied to consumers’ concerns about Bisphenol A (BPA).
Hurricane wake-up call for business and boy scouts
08-Sep-2008 - Louisiana was holding its breath when Hurricane Gustav made landfall last week. It promised to be the mother of all storms as it roared towards the Gulf Coast but fortunately the region, along with the food industry it supports, was spared.
Why food is the new oil
11-Aug-2008 - “Food is a weapon – don’t waste it.” This message, which featured on a Second World War poster issued by the US Office of War Information in 1943, is a lesson from history we would do well to heed.
Can we believe the Danisco – Apax rumours?
28-Jul-2008 - Rumour, according to the Romans, is a feathered beast with a myriad eyes and tongues. Last week she went bristling through the Danish business pages, spreading the news that Danisco could be bought by a private equity firm.
Budweiser to be Belgian? Big deal
21-Jul-2008 - The news that all-American brewer Anheuser-Busch is to be sold to Belgium’s InBev for $52bn has made sports bar patrons across the US weep into their Budweisers. But the idea that an American firm must remain American for all time runs counter to the world of global commerce.
Diet better than statins in kids' cholesterol control
15-Jul-2008 - The prescribing of statins for eight years-olds is tantamount to saying that food and diet have failed, and that children are incapable of changing their eating habits and lifestyle.
A half measure of alcohol reforms
07-Jul-2008 - Knife crime, obesity and skiffle music. Out of all the evils currently threatening the welfare of Western teenagers, recent US headlines finger the main culprit as the caffeinated alcoholic beverage.
The food industry after Lisbon
30-Jun-2008 - In the face of another rejection of a European Union treaty, the bloc's food industry has one glaring path ahead: business as normal.
GM: Breaking the stalemate
23-Jun-2008 - Food industry voices are joining those of politicians in the GM debate, hailing the controversial technology as the answer to the food supply crisis. But the hearts and minds of consumers must still be won.
The value of hyperactive curiosity
16-Jun-2008 - For a little yellow flower, it's ignited a huge debate. Believe the headlines and St John's wort won't help hyperactive kids, but last week's study asks more questions than it answers. It's time to put funding disclosures in the dock.
Food crisis: Time to stop the squabbling
09-Jun-2008 - Bickering gets you nowhere. It's a lesson to be learned early in life, but which seems easily forgotten when it comes to tough political issues like measures to curb the food crisis.
Yesterday's food complacency proves hard to swallow
02-Jun-2008 - For too long, the developed world has taken food for granted. For years, ample food stocks, a well-supplied export trade and rapidly rising agricultural productivity have confined food fears, in the west at least, to history and the memories of older generations.
The GSK weight loss wake-up call
26-May-2008 - GlaxoSmithKline's petition to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban dietary supplements from making weight loss claims, has opened a cupboard and only the deluded would deny the presence of one or two skeletons rattling around in there.
Innovation: the fast before the feast
12-May-2008 - Last week's Vitafoods trade show highlighted a drop in ingredient innovation with many companies placing the blame at the door of Europe's evolving health claims legislation.
Adjusting to Mars' centre stage ambitions
05-May-2008 - While in the Hollywood stratosphere, it seems that you are not anyone these days unless you're a duo, in the glamorous world of food manufacture, the team-up route to success may not be quite as simple.
No quick fix to the food price crisis
28-Apr-2008 - The food crisis is neither new nor sudden. The several underlying causes have been independently, steadily gathering speed and have collided in a perfect storm not seen for generations. It is going to take a coordinated, long-term effort to untangle them.
The dangers of selective science
21-Apr-2008 - Antioxidants are back under the microscope for all the wrong reasons. But the use of meta-analyses to pool data is controversial, and scientists need to keep perspective before publishing conclusions.
HFCS and the battle for natural
07-Apr-2008 - It is hard for food companies not to get drawn into the temptation of using attractive label claims that may be shrouded by a veil of doubt. But the real risk comes when the 'if you don't know, don't ask' question is finally answered.
Temporary workers and corporate responsibility
31-Mar-2008 - As ever more food companies find themselves in the position of having employed migrants who were mistreated by illegal labour providers, it may be time for firms to start taking more responsibility for the temporary workers many of them rely on.
Calm crucial for energy products
25-Mar-2008 - Energy drinks are a runaway success but extreme marketing and product formulation has the potential to cast a shadow over the multi-billion dollar global industry.
Allergen-free: time for clarity
17-Mar-2008 - Claiming 'free from' is not a light statement to make. Lives depend on it. As scientific progress questions the validity of such claims, it is time to establish exact guidelines and communicate these to people for whom ingredients are a matter of life and death.
Warning signs: reconsidering shock tactics
10-Mar-2008 - Here's a possible new marketing angle for food and beverage manufacturers: "Food can kill".
The great food price smash-and-grab
03-Mar-2008 - While the world's media is bemoaning rising food prices, the French government is sniffing around the food industry for signs of gleeful profiteering. If it is right, the long-term losses of the nouveau cher will be far greater than the handful of centimes gained.
Supplements - do we ask too much?
25-Feb-2008 - Taking a range of supplements from vitamin A to zinc is becoming part of everyday life. But as the latest study is published questioning their efficacy, people could be left wondering do they work?
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