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Sectors

Healthy foods

With the global obesity epidemic a number one priority, ‘wellness’ or ‘functional’ foods are in the spotlight as a means of weight and disease reduction. It’s a sector undergoing immense regulatory change and, whether you’re working in the field of dietary control, fortification or supplements, you will benefit from regular consultations with Dr Foodman.

Bakkavör opens plant and starts restructuring talks

30-Apr-2012 - Own-label food manufacturer Bakkavör has opened a new facility at its Caledonian Produce site in Bo’ness, West Lothian and started financial restructuring talks with its lenders.

Top 10 US functional food trends favour natural

25-Apr-2012 - More US consumers want to source their vitamins and minerals from foods and drinks rather than supplements, according to the Chicago-based Institute of Food Technologists (IFT).

Food safety allergen thresholds by 2014: Unilever

24-Apr-2012 - Allergen thresholds that food manufacturers can use to ensure safe production within factories and for improved product labelling could become a reality within two years, a Uniliever expert has claimed.

Olympic obesity claims rejected by food manufacturers

16-Apr-2012 - Food manufacturers have rejected claims from the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) that advertising food at the Olympics will worsen the UK’s obesity crisis.

Food manufacturers back gangmasters review

10-Apr-2012 - A review of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA), which polices firms supplying temporary labour, has been welcomed by the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) as a way of cutting red tape for food manufacturers.

Food manufacturers ditch health claims for nutrition

05-Apr-2012 - Many food and drink manufacturers are set to abandon health claims approval under new EU legislation and go, instead, for nutrition claims, for which the approvals hurdle is much lower, according to experts.

News in brief

Sustainable palm oil is ‘serious business opportunity’

04-Apr-2012 - Food manufacturers should view the production of sustainable palm oil as a “serious business opportunity”, according to a recent study from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

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Raising hopes

01-Apr-2012 - Fears that European consumers could miss out on the potential health benefits offered by food science because of the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA's) rejection of almost two thousand submissions for health claims approval could prove to be yet another unfounded food industry scare story.

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Show and tell

01-Apr-2012 - Think back to what you were like at 15. Possibly you were sullen and uncommunicative at times, but most likely you were also full of energy and ideas. These latter traits are foremost among the characteristics of Vitafoods Europe 2012, which, now in its 15th year, returns to Geneva, Switzerland, in May.

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Grain train

01-Apr-2012 - Heart health ingredients based on oats and barley are set to become serious contenders in the growing fortified functional food market.

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Taste replaced

01-Apr-2012 - Finding the right fat, sugar or salt replacer is only part of the challenge when reformulating or developing new, 'healthier' foods. Arguably, balancing the flavour profile of the reduced fat, sugar or salt product is a far more difficult task, for reasons that Minerva Calatayud, Givaudan's product manager taste, summarises.

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Oil baron

01-Apr-2012 - Health conscious consumers must weigh up whether they get omega 3 (O-3) from fortified food or supplements. Martin Jamieson, president and chief executive of Ocean Nutrition Canada (ONC), which claims to be the world's largest O-3 ingredient supplier, heads a company specialising in both.

Rick Pendrous

Is this a match made in health claims hell?

01-Apr-2012 - Is marketing compatible with good food science? I ask this having recently attended two conferences on the new European Nutrition and Health Claims regulation at which the two appeared to be pulling in opposite directions.

Maintain texture and taste in reformulated food

01-Apr-2012 - Kerry Ingredients & Flavours has designed emulsification and texture systems to improve processing characteristics and enhance the appeal and sensory qualities of fat-reduced products from cakes to margarines, desserts and whipped toppings.

LycoRed launches Sante upgrade for soup apps

01-Apr-2012 - Food processors cutting monosodium glutamate (MSG) from powdered or canned soups can now access an improved version of natural enhancer Sante from Israel-based LycoRed.

Public health 'not duly recognised' under DoH

01-Apr-2012 - Public health and nutrition is not getting the recognition it deserves now that it falls under the auspices of the Department of Health (DoH), say a number of leading scientists.

Food manufacturers need DoH salt support

28-Mar-2012 - Food manufacturers’ willingness to reduce salt in their products is being tested by a lack of support from the Department of Health (DoH), according to a leading health expert.

Premier Foods joins manufacturers’ calorie pledge

26-Mar-2012 - Premier Foods, Unilever and Nestlé were among some of the UK’s biggest food and drink manufacturers to throw their weight behind the government’s new Responsibility Deal calorie reduction pledge.

The Budget for food manufacturers – in quotes

23-Mar-2012 - As pundits continue to pick through the fine print of Chancellor George Osborne’s Budget, we capture the implications for food and drink manufacturers in key quotes. There’s a a summary box too, listing the main points for food and drink firms.

Organic food market needs government backing

05-Mar-2012 - Government support for the organic food market in Britain is vital, according to the Soil Association, after the latest figures showed that a slump in the UK market had bucked the trend of soaring sales across Europe.

Salt-free sauce: the start of a new category?

05-Mar-2012 - Brighton-based firm Hampstead Farm aims to woo health-conscious consumers with a four-strong range of salt-free cooking sauces the firm's founder believes could establish a new sub-category within 'free-from' retail offerings.

Free-from food firms realise sector's potential

02-Mar-2012 - Free-from food manufacturers are increasingly waking up to the sector’s potential, according to Michelle Berriedale-Johnson, author of the Foods Matter website and founder of the Free-From Food Awards.

Europe blocks steps to healthy reformulation

27-Feb-2012 - Manufacturers have been thwarted in their efforts to improve the healthy nature of products by incremental reformulation by the European Parliament (EP).

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Less is more

27-Feb-2012 - "Dismay." "A blow for consumers and industry alike." "A bitter pill for food operators." Just a few industry responses to Members of the European Parliament's (MEP's) recent rejection of the revised nutrition claims list.

Public health role for food industry

13-Feb-2012 - The food industry must get much more closely involved in public health issues if we are to deal with the problems of obesity the nation faces, the co-chair of the government’s food Public Health Responsibility Deal (PHRD) Network has argued.