If you've ever placed a minty breath-freshening strip in your mouth, you've encountered edible film. But where you may not have consumed it so consciously is with your peanuts, or on your grab-and-go fruit portion. In fact the development of whey- or sugar-based edible films has a very promising future in the food manufacturing industry. And so far they look set to do anything from prolonging shelf-life to preventing soggy pie-crust.

First it did it with Actimel, then it did it with Activia, and now it's doing it again with Essensis. By going where others fear to tread and launching beauty yoghurt Essensis into several European countries, including France, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Belgium and Malta, intrepid dairy giant Danone is single-handedly creating a new dairy sub-category.

Marks & Spencer's chief executive Stuart Rose was recently seen giving up his Bentley and driving an environmentally friendly hydrogen-powered BMW to work in an effort to be consistent with the retailer's Plan A green credentials.

For far too long, products containing alcohol have been restricted to mince pies, brandy butter and Christmas pud - do you see the pattern here? But some developers are eager to advance alcoholic foods beyond their stodgy stereotypes and prove to customers that their products can be consumed throughout the year.

Be honest. Did you tuck into a wholesome bowl of cereal after you got up this morning? If you work for a company that makes breakfast cereals, your answer could be particularly ironic.

Low carb is dead. Long live satiety! That is the message coming out loud and clear from recent research into what consumers want from new product development (NPD) targeted at the healthy living sections of our supermarket shelves.

With many consumers desperate to maintain or rejuvenate their appearance, it is hardly surprising that the cosmeceuticals market is under the spotlight. Be it lotions and potions, popping pills or eating the latest beauty food, there is no denying that this is a profitable, all be it niche, market.

A recent study confirms that the low glyacemic carbohydrate Palatinose, manufactured by Palatinit, promotes utilisation of body fat as an energy source and improves metabolic fat oxidation in comparison to other carbohydrates.

A range of baked goods made using Ulrick & Short's clean label fat replacer Delyte were praised by consumers at a blind tasting session held by the Regional Food Group for Yorkshire & Humber.

A new one-to-one bakery fat replacement system developed by Cargill's texturising solutions business can reduce the fat content of a range of baked goods by 10-50%.

Bakers looking to serve people on a low glycaemic index (GI) diet may be interested in BakeMark UK's new bread base mix.

• How did you get into NPD for manufactured food? **