30-Apr-2013 - News that Tesco has reported the biggest profits fall in its history is just the latest sign that all is not well in the world of planet retail. Britain's biggest retailer is also ditching plans to develop a number of big stores across the country.
30-Apr-2013 - An article on government spending in The Times on April 24 cited eye-watering examples of overspending involving billions of taxpayers' money over the years on purchasing goods and services.
30-Apr-2013 - Britain has some bright young bakers, according to Ben White, sales director at Marshfield Bakery
02-Apr-2013 - Just as the Department of Health is lining up its new pledges on saturated fat, a study in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) has generated headlines such as 'swapping the butter for margarine may be bad for your health'.
02-Apr-2013 - Anyone hoping that the December deadline for compliance with the EU's 222 permitted health claims that are available to food and supplement companies would lead to a brief period of respite around the issue will have been sorely disappointed.
02-Apr-2013 - You only have to look at the number of money-making ideas for food and drink products that make it on to BBC TV's Dragons' Den to recognise that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Britain.
02-Apr-2013 - As the deadline for compliance with the EU Food Information Regulation (FIR) draws closer, the industry is beginning to work out what the requirements mean in practice and how consistency of interpretation can be achieved.
04-Mar-2013 - Not since the year 2001 - post BSE and at the height of the foot and mouth crisis - has Britain's food supply chain been so beleaguered and its reputation in such tatters. Because of the horsemeat scandal, which dominated TV and radio leads and the front pages of the national press throughout January and into February, the damage to the sector is incalculable.
04-Mar-2013 - Only when the European Commission's (EC's) Q&A on the EU Food Information Regulation was published was it revealed that the EC had ruled out the use of the term 'guideline daily amounts' (GDAs). The term 'reference intake' (RI) must be used instead.
06-Feb-2013 - In November 2012, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) announced the start of a review of the impact of the EU on the UK or, in eurospeak, a 'review of the balance of competences' - a somewhat opaque term to which the voter in the street is unlikely to relate, even if they are aware of the initiative. The FCO described the review in more user-friendly terms as an 'audit of what the EU does and how it affects the UK'.
04-Feb-2013 - Since December the increasing clamour among the chattering classes for greater regulation of the food industry to curb the obesity epidemic has become more shrill.
02-Jan-2013 - In 2013 food labelling will again be a major preoccupation. But country of origin labelling (COOL) will not play a part. Anyone who thought they might have understood the implications will have a rude awakening if they see the European Commission (EC) list of questions for stakeholder consultation and data collection for a: 'Study on the application of rules on voluntary labelling of foods and on the mandatory indication of country of origin or place of provenance of meat used as an ingredient'.
02-Jan-2013 - Will 2013 prove to be the pivotal year in which the UK's future as part of the EU tips against continued membership? Are we inexorably moving towards a referendum on staying in? And what would be the implications for our food and drink industry if we were to come out?
04-Dec-2012 - In recent weeks, the discussions have all been about food labelling in general and traffic lights in particular. Deja vu pervades.
04-Dec-2012 - The news last month that Vion is to sell its UK food businesses, covering 38 sites and employing 13,000 people is a sure sign that the UK's meat supply chain is in crisis.
31-Oct-2012 - No news is good news. Unless you're a journalist. That was the conclusion of a conversation I had with a leading lawyer when discussing the European Union's (EU) list of 2,500 approved flavourings for the food and drink industry.
31-Oct-2012 - Trust is very much in the news at the moment - or should I say lack of it. People don't trust politicians. They don't trust business either.
15-Oct-2012 - Cadbury has recently been successful in extending the trademark protection for its purple colour, despite spirited resistance by Nestlé, writes Christopher Pett, consultant at Dehns Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys. But what are the implications of the decision?
04-Oct-2012 - Reading that Tim Smith had joined Tesco as technical director sent me on a trip down memory lane. I returned to the late '80s, early '90s when I was at the British Retail Consortium and he then Tesco technical director was chairman of our technical committee. Back then we had the start of the genetically modified (GM) food saga, the durability date-marking legislation was introduced and the food safety crisis reached a crescendo.
02-Oct-2012 - Are riots across the developing world similar to those prompted by soaring food prices in 2007/8 set to return to our TV screens?
14-Sep-2012 - Some food exporters who thought Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on August 22 would open doors for exports will be sorely disappointed. That is because the Russians have announced that they will continue to require compliance with over- zealous hygiene rules seemingly designed to make it as hard as possible for hopeful exporters to that country.
04-Sep-2012 - Salt reduction will remain a priority for the Public Health Responsibility Deal (PHRD), according to Dr Susan Jebb, chair of the PHRD's Food Network. And yet there are still no signs of tougher salt reduction targets in processed foods beyond those originally set by the Food Standards Agency for this year
04-Sep-2012 - In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes, said the American inventor and statesman Benjamin Franklin. The words still resonate. But in Franklin's 18th Century world, death tended to come early - often quite brutally.
04-Sep-2012 - Sir
31-Jul-2012 - Sir,Genetic modification (GM) has never been off the radar and it remains a highly sensitive consumer issue across mainland Europe.
Food Manufacture food safety conference:‘What have we learnt from recent crises?’
West Midlands / Conference