Food safety
NUTRA NEWS: Alethea impact on cocoa crops
Plant Impact’s Alethea anti-stress chemistry is achieving remarkable results in independent field trials managed by CABI Bioscience. Alethea is a new technology geared to solving the problems of abiotic (climatic) stress. Alethea enhances the crop’s ability to mop-up damaging reactive oxygen species and ammonia (accumulated during abiotic stress), without degrading the cell walls. Stronger health […]
NUTRA NEWS: Plant-based Omega 3
Nutritionists agree that Omega-3 essential fatty acids are needed in diet because our bodies can’t make it. The popular source is fish oil, but concerns raised about toxins contaminating the fish and sustainability of fish stocks have led to a desperate race for an alternative plant-based product that has both docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic […]
Beer boost to ailing crisps market
Beer flavoured crisps are being launched on the bar market by snack company Kettle Foods. The UK Kettle Chips maker has added new Mature Cheddar and Adnams’ Broadside Beer variety to its range of premium crisps. The beer flavouring, provided by English brewers Adnams, has been introduced to target the luxury end of the crisp […]
Tate & Lyle invests £4.5m in research
Tate & Lyle has announced that it will contribute £4.5 million over a five-year period to King’s College London to set up a new centre for research into the link between nutrition and health. Collaboration between the company and the university dates back to the 1970s when research by scientists from King’s College London and […]
Functional drinks driving yoghurt boom
Sales of yoghurt in the UK are set to increase by 40% over the next five years and smash the £2bn barrier by 2011 with surging functional yoghurt drinks driving sales. Market analyst Mintel says that the sector has already grown by a whopping 432% since 2001, and that 60% of consumers cite health as […]
Allergen law extends to molluscs and lupins
The European Commission has passed new legislation to extend food labelling requirements to include molluscs and lupins. This requirement will come into force in autumn 2006, with the industry expected to comply by autumn 2008. Since November last year, it has been a legal requirement to indicate the presence of 12 specified allergens and their […]
Sun Valley introduces peanut-free nut factory
Sun Valley, processor of nuts and savoury snacks, is introducing a completely peanut-free nut factory in response to the increasing number of reported peanut allergies. Sun Valley, processor of nuts and savoury snacks, is introducing a completely peanut-free nut factory in response to the increasing number of allergies. The company’s second, separate factory will handle […]
Fresh bacon facility arises out of fire
A six-month construction project has culminated in one of the most sophisticated bacon-processing plants in Europe. Built to replace a factory destroyed by a fire in 2004, the official opening ceremony of Direct Table Food’s new £20 million factory in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk was performed by Justin King, chief executive of Sainsbury’s. “The design […]
Targeting contaminated eggs
The European Commission is planning to set new targets to reduce salmonella in laying hens in member states. The move follows the publication of an EU study, which shows high levels of infection in flocks in a number of countries. UK animal health and welfare minister, Ben Bradshaw, welcomed the preliminary report from the European […]
Caffeine content leads to concerns
The makers of the Red Bull energy drink have been forced to reformulate the beverage for the Turkish market to meet the country’s ban on high caffeine energy drinks. The makers of the Red Bull energy drink have been forced to reformulate the beverage for the Turkish market to meet the country’s ban on high […]
Defra update on GM crops
Defra has proposed measures to ensure that growing of genetically modified crops in England will not disadvantage other farmers. The plans include enforcing strict separation of distances between genetically modified and conventional crops. Under EU rules, no GM crops will be grown in the UK unless scientific evidence shows they are safe for human health […]
California Tree Fruit branches out in Europe
The Garden, a London-based marketing agency, has been appointed by the California Tree Fruit Agreement (CTFA) to generate greater interest in its members’ fruit – firstly in trade circles, before targeting consumers. California’s peach, plum and nectarine business is currently booming, with over one and a half billion pounds of the fruit produced in California […]
Simple labelling prompts food switch
Labelling food products with clear, simple nutritional information produced ‘quite extraordinary’ changes in consumers’ buying habits in just eight weeks, according to a report on a major European conference. Speaking at the Annual Obesity Europe Conference in Brussels recently, Tesco’s European affairs manager Ian Hutchins claimed that consumers switched in a matter of weeks to […]
Beer loses out to wine
Overall consumption of alcoholic drinks among the senior population is forecast to drop 42% to one billion litres by 2010 as consumers are switching from beer to spirits and wine. Overall consumption of beer is forecast to halve by 2010 in favour of the preference for stronger drinks. Pure alcohol is set to rise by […]