In this podcast, Hallvard Muri, CEO and president of krill giant Aker Biomarine talks about the company’s heritage in fishing, evolving markets in the US, Europe and Asia, and why sustainability is driven by a company ethic that has fishing, “in our DNA”.
Three years late and seeking further extensions, nutrient profiles remain the missing link in the European Union’s new health claim regime. Frustrated stakeholders say the time to decide is nigh.
Last week, Monika Kosinska, the secretary general of the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), engaged industry in a debate about the worthiness and effectiveness of taxes on unhealthier foods to spur reformulation and healthier eating.
Dispatches from the 6th Nutrition & Lifestyle conference in Brussels
A 6-year project tackling obesity and other diet and physical activity-related health issues across the European Union has spawned 300 individual positive actions by government, commercial and other actors – and is not set to wind up until next year.
Dispatches from the 6th Nutrition & Lifestyle conference in Brussels
Industry has become accustomed to feeling annoyed and hamstrung by the European Union nutrition and health claims regulation, but UK consumer watchdog Which? told a conference today that the rules should be even more closely enforced to help baffled consumers.
By Nathan Gray at Nutraformulate in Birmingham, England
The UK Institute of Food Research (IFR) has launched a new special expertise cluster for industry members wishing to focus on structuring food for health.
British MEP Julie Girling is proposing a ‘middle way’ to the European health claims furore. She wants her fellow European Parliamentarians to back the existing work of EFSA and the European Commission, after which the EP’s newly won power to carry out...
Irish MEP Marian Harkin has become one of the most vocal European parliamentary opponents of the interpretation and application of the EU nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR), and she was not appeased by EC and EFSA statements at a specially...
Mark Neville, head of lifestyle ingredients at Volac, told BeverageDaily.com that the UK market for whey protein was hitting “critical mass”, since everyone knew someone who used such ingredients, with word spreading as to their benefits.
Ten years ago the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) was established to fight rampant malnutrition in the developing world via micronutrient fortification programmes. But for a long time, it struggled to effect change in the face of logistical,...
Dispatches from Feeding the World conference in Geneva
How to tackle obesity and hunger remains a two-pronged challenge for the agri-food industry, but increasing crop yield is not the answer - instead the focus should be on boosting the nutritional value of crops, claims a sustainable food systems activist.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) should discount probiotic studies that have passed peer-review and been published in even the most prestigious nutrition science journals, because the peer-review process itself “is overrated”, says a leading...
Mapping the microbiome and the increasing sophistication of gene sequencing and analysis have in just a few years completely changed the research landscape for microbiota, and looks set to answer many to-date unresolved ‘mechanism of action’ questions.
Taura Natural Ingredients, which was launching is URC Inclusions range at FIE in Paris last week, is aiming to enter both the US and Asian confectionery, snack, breakfast cereal and bakery markets with fruit and vegetable pieces produced by rapid concentration.
Today the European Commission meets to decide whether or not to send the controversial European Union health claims register to the European Parliament – now is no time to abort the process says European ingredients giant, Beneo.
Changes to dietary patterns could help to slash the risk of type 2 diabetes by around 50 percent, according to the winner of this year’s Alpro Foundation award.
Intra-regional finesse is a necessity not a luxury when it comes to doing business in the many markets of the Asia-Pacific, as leading suppliers Chr Hansen and Danisco relayed at the recent Vitafoods Asia trade show in Hong Kong.
A growing middle class with rising disposable income is fuelling a rapid increase in demand for dairy ingredients in China and Southeast Asia, and North American dairy cooperative Agropur is finding opportunities in some specific market sectors.
Campaigns against vitamin D deficiency have gained prominence in the western world but the dietary issue is just as relevant in Asia, according to supplier DSM, even if sunlight hours are greater than most regions.
As Vitafoods Asia closes its doors on a successful three-day debut edition in Hong Kong today, event director Chris Lee shares impressions of the show with Shane Starling, and ponders refinements to the event in 2012.
Spanish supplier Genosa brought its olive extracts to Vitafoods Asia in Hong Kong this week where it found a recent EFSA-approved health claim resonated well beyond European shores.
Industry needs to be more careful in monitoring that they are using the right botanical ingredients, and not substitutes or adulterants, in foods and nutritional supplements, says Professor Monique Simmonds.
As demand for natural foods grows, industry has begun to look to exotic plants as a source of alternative, natural, ingredients. But how can we identify and source the right botanical compounds.
Vitafoods Asia trade expo will open its doors for the first time in Hong Kong to an expectant region in coming days – a culmination of more than two years work by the organisers of the show that has its foundation in Europe.
Asia Pacific markets are ripe for functional foods development as a response to the increasing prevalence of western diets, says Katrina Diamonon, consumer analyst at market researcher, Datamonitor.
Earlier this year, an international team of scientists identified three distinct varieties of gut microflora. NutraIngredients caught up with the lead researcher of the project to find out more about the research and its possible implications.
As the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) delivers hundreds of batch five general function health claim rejections to an ever-frustrated academic and commercial community, EFSA health claims panelist Ambroise Martin, PhD, tells NutraIngredients why...
Information about the human genome is providing new insights into the way vitamin E – a nutrient that has very much ridden the scientific roller coaster in recent years in the face of questioning meta reviews – functions in the body.
General Mills is throwing more and more resources behind an ‘intellectual outsourcing’ project that has significantly reduced its product fail rate. But gaining the trust of start-ups has not been easy, says Kamel Chida, associate director of its Worldwide...
Metagenomic developments are providing new insights into the here-to-now largely mysterious mechanisms of behaviour displayed by gut microbiota – just the kind of data required by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to win claims.
In advance of the presentation of the southern edition of the DSM Science and Technology Awards yesterday, DSM senior VP in nutritional science and nutrition and health advocacy, Dr Manfred Eggersdorfer, explained how it is that nutrition science is entering...
Probiotics are best used for their potentially beneficial effects on gut health, but they may also help to boost immune functions – an effect that could benefit sports stars in the future, according to a leading sports scientist.
There was a lot of discussion about the convergence of food and pharma at this week’s NutrEvent and NutriConference in Lille, France, but a €1bn+ Nestlé commitment does not a category make.
Hans-Christian Ambjerg, president of DSM Food Specialties, goes head to head with FoodNavigator.com on commodity prices, emerging markets and acquisition strategy.
The use of low and no calorie sweeteners in the food industry is rising rapidly. However one product area that has always relied on the use of sweeteners is in the formulation of sports drinks, says Professor John Brewer.
A lot of talk has focussed on how non-sporty consumers are driving the market, but what about the potential for industry by targeting elite athletes? First, industry must understand the unique demands of top level performance, says Jeni Pearce from the...
The supplements and functional foods industry is set to do “business as usual” at next month’s Vitafoods trade show, according to the event director, after an uncontrollable period in the wake of health claims.
Three deaths from nitrite tainted milk in China show that the country still has some way to go to clean up its dairy industry. One of the authors of a new study1 on the 2008 China melamine milk scandal explains what has gone wrong and what reforms are...
There is huge potential in producing food ingredients from traditional and natural sources. These ingredients may deliver health benefit or offer functions in processed foods, removing the need artificial chemicals, says Dr Martin Wickham, of Leatherhead...
Claims consultant and European food regulation specialist, Patrick Coppens, from the Brussels-based consultancy European Advisory Services, says new data could win lutein players a positive health claim opinion.
It is well known that free lutein has greater bioavailability than its esterified cousins. Here professor Edward Norkus, PhD, from the Montefiore Medical Center, New York City explains just why that is the case for the eye health nutrient.
Naturex will expand again in 2011 with several “€5-20m” targets, 1.5 years after completing the €110m integration of Spanish supplier Natraceutical that made the French botanical extracts supplier the biggest in the world.
The Probiotics European Scientific League (PESL) is a new group that seeks to improve quality among probiotic supplements by increasing testing and certifying products that pass via a League logo.
DSM Nutritional Products' vice president, Nutrition Improvement Program Oswaldo da Costa e Silva explains that the initiative is an integral part of the company's sustainabiltiy vision. Providing products for malnourished people around the world...
Major food companies are paying more attention to the social impacts of their products, and that means developing new ways of meauring the impacts of sustainability programmes on people, says DSM’s director of sustainability.
Fonterra has opened up new European headquarters in Amsterdam. Koert Liekelema, general manager for Europe, explains how the move will help the New Zealand dairy grow its value-added ingredients business.
