A paradigm shift is needed to force delicate women’s health issues like vaginal infections and discharge out into the open, says industry microbiologist.
Our teams of journalists were out in force at Food Ingredients Europe (FiE) last week. We’ve picked out some of our highlights from over one thousand exhibitors, a packed conference programme and talks on industry insights.
New technology like crowdsourcing and artificial intelligence computers is the future of risk assessment, the head of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has said.
Since taking the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) throne last summer, Dr Bernhard Url has become something of a pin-up boy for the so-called new ‘open EFSA’. But how far exactly is this new executive director willing to take his vision of transparency?
The town of Nelson will welcome New Zealand's first omega-3 fish oil processing plant in December. Campbell Berry-Kilgour, sales director of Seadragon, who hopes the facility will fill a definite gap in the market, talks about the industry and market...
The potential of probiotics to benefit maternal and infant morbidity and mortality is being shown in on-the-ground projects in Africa and elsewhere, according to lifelong researcher, maternal and infant morbidity and mortality, professor Gregor Reid.
Self-styled 'germvangelist' and microbiologist Jason Tetro says the probiotic industry is obsessed with technicalities and needs to venture back in time to access the innate, holistic power of probiotics.
Alternative proteins are a “hot area” of interest and products such as sandwich spreads made with meal worms could be a thing of the future, according to one food trend expert.
By Shane Starling from Food Ingredients-Asia in Jakarta
Irish dairy and ingredients group Kerry sees a lot of potential in an Indonesian market where sophisticated nutritionals are gaining ground with a young demographic. It is upping investment in a country with south east Asia’s largest population (250m).
By RJ Whitehead and Shane Starling from FI-Asia in Jakarta, Indonesia
Indonesia's food industry will continue to grow in importance as its population of around 300 million gains wealth, according to some voices in the halls of the Jakarta International Expo at Food Ingredients-Asia last week. But it may have some way...
By Shane Starling at FI-Asia in Jakarta, Indonesia
From tea yoghurt to coffee fruit energy, portable water enhancement to Milo’s brand expansions, Mintel shared category-busting innovation at Food Ingredients-Asia in Jakarta, Indonesia, this week.
By RJ Whitehead & Shane Starling from HI-Japan in Tokyo
Japan has always led the world in functional food experimentation even if the results of most of that have remained within the confines of the 127.3m-strong nation with the world's oldest average lifespan - 84.6 years.
Weekend fitness fanatics are driving the demand for more mainstream food and drink products, such as milk, fortified with sports nutrition ingredients.
Science should look beyond LDL cholesterol and saturated fat, which have dominated cardiovascular research until now, towards other contributing factors and a food-group approach to guidelines, according to one researcher.
Dispatches from Euro Fed Lipid Congress, Montpellier
Omega-3 supplements are key to boosting intakes, a UK researcher says, and marine omega-3 fatty acids are more beneficial than their plant-based counterparts.
Dispatches from Euro Fed Lipid Congress, Montpellier.
Saturated fatty acids shouldn’t be avoided as they don't cause cardiovascular disease - but 'excess' is the important word, says a human nutrition expert.
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.
DISPATCHES FROM INTERNATIONAL WHEY CONFERENCE 2014
Beverage brand development guru James Tonkin has warned wannabe entrepreneurs that going up against established brands such as Red Bull and Coca-Cola without some kind of ‘silo vertical’ protection is fruitless.
DISPATCHES FROM INTERNATIONAL WHEY CONFERENCE 2014
It's "business as usual" at Minnesota-based cheese and whey ingredients manufacturer Davisco Foods following its recent takeover by Canadian dairy cooperative Agropur.
All diets have similar effects and people should concentrate less on choosing a specific one and more on how to last longer following it, Canadian research has suggested.
Planet Coconut expands product range and opens factory in Kent
Start-up company Planet Coconut has seen an increase in demand for its CO YO brand, an alternative to dairy using coconut, and has opened a factory in Kent.
Caffeine does not have a diuretic effect on regular coffee drinkers and is safe to use, says sports nutrition researcher and consultant in elite sport.
Already one of the most widely-used stimulants in sport, recent research suggests there may be greater scope for caffeine to be used in a wider range of sports as well as during exercise, says sports nutrition researcher and consultant in elite sport.
THE BEVERAGEDAILY BASEMENT TAPES: CHRIS HANNAWAY, OVERLY SPORTS DRINK
Young entrepreneur Chris Hannaway and childhood friend Will Hammersley launched frozen yogurt brand Arctic Farm into Sainsbury’s at the tender age of 19. Now they’re back with sports drink Overly. This is Chris’s story…
Exotic and functional fruits and vegetables like cashew nut fruit, chu chu and their extracts are set for an easier passage into European Union markets if mooted simplifications to EU Novel Foods laws come to fruition, according to a UK-based expert.
Dispatches from the IPA World Congress in Athens, Greece
Evidence is building that links the gut microbiome and brain function and ‘psychobiotics’ are at the heart of that, says a leading Irish researcher working in the field for more than five years.
For the most part, confectioners have continued to innovate in known areas like flavor, product size and packaging rather than innovating for health, says Euromonitor International.
From the 2014 International PlantLIBRA Conference in Vienna, Austria
As the EU’s ambitious €6m PlantLIBRA project to further botancials science drew to a close this week at a congress in Vienna, we asked the European Commission about the project’s relative merits – and whether a ‘mark 2’ was on the cards.
The passing of European legislation on the use of omega-3 rich chia oil will open up the use of trendy chia in dairy products, Ingredia Nutritional believes.
Rontis has urged potential distributors not to focus entirely on the claim that its Neomil 1 product is the "best choice" infant formula for babies born by caesarean section.
Nick Henson is the Reading-based associate director at the International Food Network (IFN), a key player in the EU’s new multi-million euro, multi-partner Metabolic Syndrome-battling project, PATHWAY-27, that has health claim victories trained in its...
Functional confectionery has made only small gains since approval of Barry Callebaut’s cocoa flavanol health claim but opportunities exist for premiumized chocolate products, says a Euromonitor analyst.
High-protein bread will be a functional niche of the future if manufacturers can play up the satiety angle and get the taste right, says a health and wellness expert.
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...
INNOBEV GLOBAL SOFT DRINKS CONGRESS: FINAL THOUGHTS
Israeli firm Algatechnologies will work towards gaining approval for its astaxanthin as a novel food and beverage ingredient in Europe, but first it must meet existing demands and cut prices, it said.
While the whey protein market has evolved from a "bodybuilding-only market" there are still myths associated with its past that the industry must "debunk," says Volac.
Food manufacturers, retailers and other food industry players are failing to connect with consumers who are tuning out of mainstream messaging and infesting their own comms channels, says angel investor, business mentor and philanthropist, Mike Greene.
“I get personal because they [EFSA] get personal to me"
Veteran probiotic researcher professor Gregor Reid is not a happy man. It’s time the probiotic community fought back against those forces that have for too long denied a perfectly valid body of nutrition science in the form of commercial claims. It’s...
Putting a male-oriented sports nutrition product into a petite, pink package is a lazy way to meet female needs, says a leading UK firm which is going about things a little differently.
James Collins, bespoke nutritionist at Arsenal Football Club and with other elite athletes, says food supplements and sports nutrition products are highly important to top athletes - so important their use is now near-on ubiquitous.
Synergy's close working relationship with its parent company, Irish whey protein manufacturer Carbery, has enabled it to become an "expert” in developing flavor profiles ideal for sports nutrition products, the company's commercial director...
Irish biotech start-up AnaBio Technologies is in advanced negotiations with major infant formula makers interested in its encapsulation technologies that can blend probiotics and minerals into heat treated products at cost-effective prices.
Specialty ingredients distributor IMCD says that working with a distributor, rather than individual suppliers, allows food companies to tap into application-driven expertise - beyond their own R&D capabilities.
