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The reach of lobbying

05-Dec-2005 - The oft-said adage that there are two things people don't want to see being made - sausage and legislation - falls apart at the doors of the EU's parliament.

Death by food support

28-Nov-2005 - If the EU keeps hiding its agriculture sector behind huge pay cheques instead of devoting more time to food research funding, the bloc's whimpering and wailing will only get worse.

Time for Japan to act on agriculture

21-Nov-2005 - Strong rhetoric at last weekend's Apec summit on the abolition of agricultural subsidies could not drown out the scraping sound of Japanese heels.

14-Nov-2005 - After all the increased safety procedures put in place over the past decade, one might have been lulled into thinking that poisonings and deaths from food contamination would be rarer than before. While it is true that the new regulatory requirements and better processing techniques have helped, the continuing breakdowns in food safety are still worrying.

No avoiding sustainable sourcing

07-Nov-2005 - Food companies do not yet face the ethical sourcing equation of the clothing industry, where brands from Nike to Marks & Spencer cannot afford a single claim of sweat-shop production. But the moment is fast approaching for food, too, when exploitative sourcing will be the public relations kiss of death.

Putting a premium on substance over style

24-Oct-2005 - Food producers are flogging the term 'premium' for all it's worth, threatening to flood a market that relies on exclusivity for its success with well-packaged tat.

A hungry world needs a fit FAO

10-Oct-2005 - The crusade to end world hunger has been a bitter failure. But with the world set to sweep away a crooked food trading system, there is a chance to get it right - if only we could revive the FAO from dormancy.

Junk Food Babes

03-Oct-2005 - If education is meant to deliver knowledge and wise choices, why are we doing so little to educate our children about food?

McDonald's: facing fat

26-Sep-2005 - There is nothing so redolent of a corporate mid-life crisis as the strategic equivalent of a new car, new girl and new image, set firmly on the shoulders of the same old idea. McDonald's, it seems, is firmly in the throes of a mid-life crisis.

Food law: friend or foe?

19-Sep-2005 - The food industry is in danger of harming itself with its recent lobbying against the further harmonisation and deepening of EU food regulation.

Private equity hot on food

05-Sep-2005 - Cash, cash, cash. Castigated as simple asset-strippers out to make a quick buck, the entrance of private equity onto the food industry stage has participants chattering in the wings.

Water wastage syndrome

29-Aug-2005 - 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.

Waiting for the super-nutrition revolution

22-Aug-2005 - 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.

In food makers we trust?

16-Aug-2005 - 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 means being seen as a force for good.

The business of food safety

25-Jul-2005 - 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 studies immediately.

A strategy for beating China

18-Jul-2005 - 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.

Let food be thy medicine

11-Jul-2005 - 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 decades, the problems borne of food abuse are emerging as more than a glitch. They amount to a profound loss of direction in our understanding of both food and medicine.

Food intolerance: a scientific void

04-Jul-2005 - 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.

Claims, claims, claims

27-Jun-2005 - As lawyers circle the food and drink industry like a fatted calf, the first lesson for those preparing for defence is that it is not so much what you sell that matters, as how you sell it.

The Age of Consent for RFID

20-Jun-2005 - The image of secret radio chips planted inside the home from larder to bathroom, transmitting data freely to Corporation Inc, is enough to curl the toes of more than anti-capitalism activists.

Highway to health

13-Jun-2005 - Parked on the hot coals of public opinion, the food industry can lose no time in proving how healthy its products are.

Who is afraid of GMOs?

06-Jun-2005 - It is a perversion of the 21st century that while affluent societies continue the quest to slice the fat from their increasingly obese populations, five million children die from hunger each year, and more than 850m people go chronically hungry.

Whining about wine

30-May-2005 - France is a fading power in the world of wine. And will continue to be, until it turns its face towards a globe where consumers buy what they know.

Time for a fair trade

23-May-2005 - The UK government must introduce a compulsory new supermarket code ofconduct if it is to make up for past mistakes and save the food industryfrom a spiral into anti-competitive practices.