Praise where praise is due. And it is certainly due for one
small-time drinks firm in southern Britain, which is spear-heading
answers to global water shortages that threaten to wreak havoc on
food producers everywhere.
As prices for hazelnuts, two-thirds of which are sourced from
Turkey, slowly start to recover following global shortages,
pistachio production also shows signs of improvement following last
year's frosts.
Agricultural exports are forecast at $63.5 billion for 2006, up
$1.5 billion from the revised 2005 estimate, says new report from
US department of agriculture.
Leading cereal maker Kellogg on Monday launched a new initiative in
the US to promote its fibre-rich cereal products. It aims to raise
awareness of the importance of dietary fibre in order to encourage
Americans to increase their...
Henry Ford's famous aphorism that if he had asked people what they
wanted, they would have said faster horses, provides food makers
with a lesson they must learn.
US sales of wholegrain cookies have skyrocketed 1,364 per cent in
the past year, marking them as the nation's fastest growing
wholegrain bakery product, according to market researcher AC
Nielsen.
Ten mega trends stretching from age to individualism will determine
the success and shape of any new products to hit the market in the
near future, claims market analysts Datamonitor.
A new, simplified wheat classification system designed to help the
UK compete directly with other global wheat suppliers is bringing
in results, with a breakthrough agreement that could see
substantial quantities of UK grain shipped...
Another shuffling of the deck in the competitive UK supermarket
sector was announced today, as Morrisons plans to sells nine more
former Safeway stores to rival Sainsbury's.
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...
Men with early stage prostate cancer who make intensive changes to
their lifestyle and diet- including consumption of wholegrains- may
stop the disease's progress.
The mandatory fortification of flour and grain products with folic
acid in the US appears to be bringing in results, according to the
largest study of B vitamin levels in the population carried out to
date.
A group of international scientists has sequenced the complete rice
genome, something that could be used to improve the quality and
size of crops. The discovery may also be developed to apply to
wheat and barley.
Better-tasting and convenient performance foods are attracting
growing numbers of Europeans, many of whom are not sports
professionals, reveals a new report.
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...
Women planning to have a baby should increase their folate intake
if they want their child to reach optimal weight, finds new
research that links the vitamin for the first time to birth weight.
A high-fat diet may lead to over-consumption of tasty snacks, say
researchers involved in a rat study. They believe that regular
eating habits could affect sensitivity to a hormone that tells us
when to stop eating.
Whether it is a pork pie from Melton Mowbray or olive oil from
Nimes, every Tom, Denis and Haemon seems to believe their local
food deserves the EU's protection from big, bad corporations.
Novis seeks a bright, driven food scientist for a reporter's post
in southern France. The main mission is to deepen coverage of
scientific breakthroughs in food techniques and nutritional
understanding on flagship websites, FoodNavigator.com...
Cocoa compounds can be extracted and marketed as functional food
ingredients, or even synthesised for use in pharmaceuticals, said
confectionery giant Mars this week, reports Dominique
Patton.
One cannot envy the chief executive faced with a scientific study
that casts doubt over the efficacy or safety of his core product.
But avoiding a sales slump, media vilification and even charges of
fraud means squaring up to such...
ADM's promotion of two innovative ingredients at the IFT conference
this week illustrates how health awareness and regulatory concerns
have shot up the industry's priority list, writes Anthony
Fletcher.
A Europe-wide educational programme aimed at improving the
technical and managerial skills of bakery staff is due to be
introduced at a time when the European baking industry is facing an
imminent shortage of qualified personnel,...
New study that highlights a rise in sesame allergies reminds food
makers of the importance of tough European labelling rules on
allergen ingredients enforced later this year,reports Lindsey
Partos.
A campaign designed to combat the glycaemic index momentum is being
launched in the US by the Grain Foods Foundation and public
relations firm Mullen, reports Lorraine Heller.
The first wrangling over EU sugar reform proposals by agriculture
ministers saw protests and a passionate debate in Brussels
yesterday, but the opposition looks increasingly isolated,
reports Chris Mercer.
Irritable bowel syndrome consumers are significantly more likely to
have elevated food-specific serum IgG4 antibodies to wheat, beef,
pork and lamb than healthy volunteers, researchers report.
The success of the GI diet in the UK has triggered soaring demand
for oats, pushing the country's leading oatcake maker to add new
production capacity, writes Lorraine Heller.
Cargill's pioneering Life Stage approach to developing and
marketing ingredients shows how the industry can better tune into
consumer demand, writes Anthony Fletcher from New Orleans.
As Chinese producers move in on western markets, the first response
by many established players is to protect and defend their previous
market positions. It's a doomed strategy.
While cereal production in the EU will be 10 per cent below last
year's record harvests, food processors will not have to look to
imports to make up their requirements.
A society that views food as taste-bud entertainment rather than a
basic of well-being was always bound to run into health problems.
But with obesity now afflicting 300m people, and diabetes set to
reach similar numbers within two...
A new laboratory designed to improve the quality of barley and oats
could have major implications for makers of breakfast cereals,
beverages and bakery goods.
The area sown to wheat and barley over the last season in the UK
has decreased, said the HGCA last week, yet there is no apparent
cause for concern as good yields may still produce a strong crop,
reports Lorraine Heller.
While food scientists are keen to promote the gluten-free benefits
of sorghum in food formulations, African scientists are set to
design a genetically engineered 'super sorghum' packed with
vitamins and minerals
It is time to draw on science to establish once and for all whether
food intolerance is just a source of succour for hypochondriacs, or
whether it is genuinely a modern scourge.
Wholemeal bread contains more pesticide residues than any other
bread type, according to research published yesterday by the UK's
Pesticides Residues Committee (PRC), yet the levels are not
considered dangerous to human health,...
Number four flavour house Symrise builds a tool that brings new
opportunities in product development for food technologists through
a stronger understanding of the complex nature of foodstuffs,
writes Lindsey Partos.
Tighter supplies will lead to rises in prices for maize and coffee,
while the cost for rice, wheat, milk, oilcrops and milk will remain
stable or fall, according to the latest forecasts from the UN's
Food and Agriculture Organisation...
Diets high in saturated and trans fats could be a major risk factor
in the development of type 2 diabetes, say Canadian researchers,
reports Lindsey Partos.
Lax health and safety measures left UK supermarket giant Tesco with
a legal bill of £50,000 (€75,000) on Monday, after a member of
staff lost the top of a finger in a bakery machine.
Ongoing divisions over GM ingredients once again evident in Europe
as EU ministers throw out an attempt by the Commission to overturn
bans on growing legal GM crops currently in place in a handful of
member states, reports Lindsey...
The high-protein, low-carb approach to weight loss has been
underpinned by new research from Australia showing that it can
provide overweight women with greater nutritional and metabolic
benefits than a high-carbohydrate diet, reports...
Adding fuel to the already heated debate on GM foods and
ingredients, the UN's World Health Organisation claims genetically
modified foods can contribute to enhancing human health and
development.
