Food manufacturers are struggling to tackle deforestation because of failures by governments both at home and overseas, according to candid interviews with a number of high-profile firms.
EU member states yesterday voted against the introduction and renewal of GM grains in Europe but failed to reach a binding majority, leaving the president of the Commission Jean-Claude Juncker to make the final decision.
Food products sold under the same label continually show inconsistent standards of quality, particularly in Eastern Europe, prompting calls for a new regulatory body in the EU.
The EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council will discuss the issue of dual quality foods next week as Slovakia and Hungary push for EU legislation to prevent manufacturers selling poorer quality products in Eastern countries of the single market bloc.
Public officials and researchers will debate today at the European Parliament in Brussels, following a damning report on the damage and cost of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in Europe, of which poor diet remains the main culprit.
Europe's food safety and health politicians have voted in favour to further restrict marketing unhealthy food to children on TV and video platforms in a committee vote.
EU auditors said the European Commission’s efforts to tackle food waste have lacked effort, coordination, been fragmented and intermittent - and without even a real definition of food waste, in a report released yesterday.
The European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA) is lobbying for two different solutions to the EU caffeine claim hold up, one of which could see use of the claims limited to sports supplements only.
An independent think tank, IPES, has been set up to advise the EU and work towards creating a common food policy that would create a sustainable, healthy and profitable food system – a ‘plan B’ to the failures of the current framework.
The year ahead will present UK food companies with a range of major legal challenges over and above the fallout from Brexit, according to leading food industry lawyer Peter Cusick.
Anheuser-Busch InBev has agreed to sell its entire indirect shareholding in Distell Group Limited to South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation Ltd, a state-owned pension fund.
Global ingredient producer ADM is pushing harder into the European starch and sweetener market, announcing the acquisition of major production facilities in Turkey and Bulgaria on Monday in the wake of changing EU sugar laws.
Anheuser-Busch InBev has agreed to sell the former SABMiller businesses in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania to Asahi for €7.3bn ($7.75bn).
Counterfeiting is predicted to increase 3% per year worldwide leading to a rise in the anti-counterfeiting market over the next five years with CAGRs ranging from 12.8% to 16%, says PMMI (Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies).
A coalition of European health organisations is campaigning for later watershed times and restricted product placement for adverts and television marketing unhealthy food and alcohol.
The European sports nutrition industry is calling for a ‘protein spiking’ loophole to be closed, but if there is any Brussels movement it is likely to be slow and this lapse threatens to knock the nutrition staple from the top step of the sports nutrition...
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has said limitations in the design and conduct of two studies on BPA means they cannot be used to draw any conclusions for human health.
Juice manufacturers that use gelatine as a processing aid without declaring it on-pack may not be breaking EU law but are deceiving consumers, says campaign group Foodwatch.
Japan’s Asahi Group Holdings is set to bid $4.87bn for SABMiller’s Eastern European beer operations in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania, according to reports.
In Europe, 86% of today’s consumers want to see ingredients and nutrition information provided for alcoholic beverages: an increase from two years ago.
AB InBev: ‘All required shareholder approvals for the Combination have been obtained’
Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company saw volumes grow by 3.5% in its developing markets over the first half of 2016; but a volume decline of 2.8% in its established markets segment.
The European Commission has contacted the Union of Vinicultural Cooperatives of Samos (UVC, EOSS) in Greece over concerns about a compulsory cooperative membership, which prevents individual wine growers from producing and marketing wine independently.
Industry has lamented yesterday’s European Parliament plenary vote to block four caffeine claims, which otherwise seemed set to pass into EU law books after years of delay.
The European Commission has started the first phase of its investigation into the need for nutrient profiles, with a report expected in spring 2017. Yet with the caffeine claim fiasco ongoing, it’s never been clearer how necessary the profiles are.
The European Commission has opened an investigation to assess whether AB InBev has abused its ‘dominant position on the Belgian beer market’ by hindering imports of its beer from neighboring countries, in breach of EU antitrust rules.
The European Commission has started the first phase of its investigation into the need for nutrient profiles, which it hopes will settle the issue once and for all.
As Britons prepare to vote tomorrow on whether the UK should leave the European Union, industry players are making last minute pleas to either stay or leave.
Special Edition: Antioxidants, polyphenols & carotenoids
The EU has offered up big money for a project to get high value polyphenol compounds from brewing industry waste. Yet the leader of the project says a business culture shift is also needed to take the practice mainstream.
The European Parliament’s Environment and Public Health Committee (ENVI) has adopted a last-minute motion that could see four controversial caffeine claims vetoed in a move the energy drink sector warns could result in yet more years of "legal uncertainty”.
A European Parliament motion to veto the Commission’s approval of four caffeine health claims could prove the final stumbling block on their long road to EU law books.
Germany has formally adopted a proposal for a legally binding definition of vegan and vegetarian food - but will it spur the Commission into finally drawing up an EU-wide definition or will it be another barrier to trade for EU manufacturers?
Rising alcohol sales in Scotland has strengthened the case for introducing minimum unit pricing, according to Scotland’s public health minister Aileen Campbell.
Multinational food firms are manufacturing poorer quality, unhealthier (but sometimes more expensive) versions of their trademarked brands for the Eastern Europe market, says the Czech Republic, which wants to see EU legislation to protect consumers....
The European Commission has approved AB InBev’s acquisition of SABMiller; conditional on AB In Bev ‘selling practically the entire SABMiller beer business in Europe’.
Ocean Spray Cranberries' novel food application for a cranberry extract powder has been passed onto the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) following member state intake concerns.
Anheuser-Busch InBev has offered to sell SABMiller’s central and eastern European assets, as it seeks the European Commission’s approval of its acquisition of SABMiller.
The big winners of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal will be the corporate food giants and US factory farms with European producers set to lose the most, according to Friends of the Earth. "Entire sectors are at risk...
The UK’s Prime Minister says that jobs and investment in the wine and spirits industry could be at risk if the UK leaves the EU. Meanwhile, the Wine and Spirits Trade Association has announced that 90% of its members want to stay in the EU.