Big Food needs to care more; start-ups can’t feed a planet housing 9bn people in 2050; and genuine disruptive technologies are spawning and spinning faster than flapping butterfly wings…So, er, stay calm and keep making (hopefully healthy) food.
As MEPs prepare to discuss proposed amendments to TTIP’s investor principle in Riga next week, the European Commission says that most of the controversy springs from ‘common misconceptions’.
The TTIP trade agreement pitches European legislative sovereignty against the workings of “free trade liars,” says the director of NGO Foodwatch Thilo Bode.
By producing stevia through fermentation and solvent-based extraction the industry risks losing its most promising natural sweetener - but this may create a new market for new niche stevia products, say analysts.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) may ask firms for more data on GM crop safety in applications for reauthorisation required after ten years, which experts say could lead to confusion and unnecessary paperwork for both company and assessor.
EU member states have voted to allow national governments to ban or restrict cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops even when approved at EU level, meaning the new rules will be written into law.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has been told to revise its conflict of interest rules, after the European Ombudsman received complaints that GM working group members failed to provide full details of their indirect financial relationships with...
Food security is vital to the food industry in both developing and developed countries, but what does ‘food security’ really mean, how do we measure it, and can we really solve the problems facing us?
Products containing genetically modified ingredients will still be required to be labelled as such in the future, despite fears that protection standards could suffer because of new trade agreements.
The European Parliament has voted to allow national bans on GM crops, but this could actually encourage more GM varieties to be cultivated in Europe, claims UK organic advocacy group The Soil Association.
The European Union needs to update the way it regulates biotechnology as advances are made in plant breeding – or risk disrupting trade in commodity crops, according to Professor Huw Jones of Rothamsted Research.
A new competitor has arrived on the plant-based omega-3s scene with the announcement of FDA no-objection GRAS status for Ahiflower oil, an ingredient from Technology Crops International. The oil offers a balance of omega-3, -6 and -9, according to the...
New technologies are vital to the future growth of the food and nutrition industry, but their future success depends on much more than the science behind them.
The European Parliament and member states have agreed rules to allow member states to ban or restrict the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops, even when they are approved at EU level.
Current European restrictions on genetically modified (GM) crops could hold back crop innovation needed to ensure food security, claims a UK government-funded research body.
The position of head of the directorate general for health and consumers (DG SANCO) will likely pass to Czech environmental politician Ladislav Miko following the resignation of Paola Testori Coggi, according to the European Commission.
The impact of ‘sin taxes’ on competitiveness and consumption habits, food prices, and sustainability were the key points on the agenda for the European Commission’s High Level Forum for a Better Functioning Food Supply Chain.
The European Food Safety Authority is willing and able to cope with the extra workload of novel food assessment that could come under its control, an official said at a European Parliament workshop.
The Council of the European Union has published the negotiating directives for EU-US trade talks (TTIP) after months of criticism from NGOs and campaigners over an alleged lack of transparency.
Proposals to create a separate process for novel food approval from countries outside of the EU will not see the market flooded with unsafe foods, a European Commission official told a concerned audience at a European Parliament workshop.
The European Commissioner-elect for health and food safety has said he intends to review rules on GM crop cultivation and broker compromise on animal cloning, among other top-priority topics.
The proposed EU-US trade deal could see the European market opened up to US imports of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), despite the Commission's public assurances to the contrary, claims Friends of the Earth.
Dispatches from Euro Fed Lipid Congress, Montpellier
Rothamsted Research has achieved omega-3 levels comparable to fish oil in its first GM camelina harvest, something which has been surprisingly well received by the public, its senior researcher says.
Legislation on the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops must be made “watertight” to avoid GM-opposing member states being taken to court, the European Parliament has urged in a European Council debate this week.
Recent advances that allow the precise editing of genomes have raised the possibility that fruit and other crops might be genetically improved without the need to introduce foreign genes, according to researchers.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has said French documentation supporting the country's attempt to ban Monsanto's MON810 genetically modified maize in Europe contains no new information or scientific basis to support such a ban.
Health-related buzzwords such as “heart healthy”, “organic” and “all natural” can lead consumers to rate unhealthy foods as healthy, according to a study of college students at the University of Houston (UH).
It's hot, it's sweaty, and it's the place to be if you're interested in what's next in the weird and wonderful world of food ingredients. Check out our first gallery of highlights from the 2014 IFT annual meeting & expo in...
Over-regulation in EU farming is threatening crop production, meaning the UK is falling behind overseas pesticide-using competitors, agricultural bodies warn.
"Environment Council has just broken the deadlock on the GMO cultivation proposal": Commission
The European Commission’s Environmental Council has “broken the deadlock” on GM crop cultivation proposals with a political agreement around how member states can restrict or ban such crop production on their soil.
Some of world’s top food science and technology professionals will come together later this month at IFT. If you’re more ‘science focused’ than trends guru, check out our guide to the top science and technology sessions this year.
Health and other consumer benefits may help make transgenic or genetically engineered (GE) food more acceptable to consumers, but the food industry needs to be more transparent to win back trust, says the immediate past president of IFT.
Rising incomes in developing countries puts an 84% drop in global malnutrition by 2050 in sight – but it won’t happen unless agricultural productivity continues to increase and climate change is factored in, say researchers.
A new law being discussed in Brussels this week could give biotech companies “unprecedented power” over decisions to ban genetically modified (GM) crops in Europe, according to Friends of the Earth (FoE).
French researchers have expressed 'serious concern' at a recent decision by a court to clear 54 activists who destroyed 70 experimental genetically modified (GM) grapevines in 2010.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has delivered a positive scientific opinion on Monsanto’s MON 87769 soybean crop, which has been genetically modified to contain stearidonic acid.
Economic interests have been given precedence over public health
The decision to retract research linking the consumption of herbicide and genetically modified crops to cancer in rats was based on 'double standards' and pressure from the GM food industry, claims the man behind the study.
Industry-sponsored academic research leads to innovative patents and licenses, and may not skew science towards inventions that are less accessible and less useful to others, according to a new analysis.
From the benefits of gluten-free to those of Mediterranean and Palaeolithic diets, many claims that one dietary strategy are better than another for health and weight loss are simply 'unjustified' and 'sometimes utter nonsense', according...
The UK government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has granted permission for field trials of genetically modified (GM) camelina plants that accumulate omega-3s in their seeds.
The European Union’s central science agency must become more transparent to meet rapid technological change in food and agriculture, its likely next chief told the European Parliament this week. And conflicts of interest were not an issue.
Detection of genetically modified (GM) material in internationally traded non-GM food and feed has spiked in the past few years, interrupting trade and adding to food losses, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
