The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged €689m to help tackle malnutrition as the European Commission announced €23.5m for a new nutrition initiative and €3.5bn by 2020.
Start-ups have faced tough times along with the rest of the European food industry in recent years as a tight economy and ever tighter regulations have bitten deep.
Outsourcing. It's no secret it can bring big financial and logistical gains. But in an age when traceability and accountability carry increasing value, are we now seeing a shift towards a new concept of insourcing?
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) needs a role change but that won’t come with its transparency initiative but legalisation changes, says industry.
Southeast Asia is heading for massive economic change with its ten-nation ASEAN single market and this could have ripple effects for the EU too, says expert.
Black market crack downs, neighbourhood kudos and moving goal posts - Croatia's supplement industry has seen big changes since it became a member of the European Union in July 2013.
According to Euromonitor International, fortified or functional food and drink sales jumped by 25% between 2008 and 2013 to reach $267.6bn (€249bn). But what does this industry term really mean to consumers anyway and what are the motivators behind such...
The percentage of food and drink launches carrying digestive health claims has fallen from 2.4% in 2009 to 2.2% in 2014 in the EU, says Innova Market Insights.
US site Bodybuilding.com has opened its first UK distribution centre to better cater to its customer base in Europe - part of a community that includes 25 million unique visitors to its websites each month.
Technology Crops plans to launch an omega-3 buglossoides oil supplement by the end of the year as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) lifts a year-long block on its already-approved novel food application.
Turbulent dairy markets hit profit margins at Glanbia Ingredients Ireland (GII) in the past year, although sales continued to grow and the development of a major milk processing venture remained on track.
A European Commission report due in July this year should bring legal clarity to the current regulation obscurity that surrounds the sports nutrition market, according to a paper by the European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA).
Technology that helps consumers tailor what they eat to their specific health requirements – so-called ‘personalised nutrition’ – will take off over the next five years, the head of intelligence and economics at the Future Foundation think tank has predicted.
Pricing and sector market challenges, currency fluctuations and some stiff economic headwinds have contributed to 2014 full-year EBITDA profits sliding 7% for the world’s biggest nutrient player, DSM.
The launch of oral caffeine strip Reon sees cigarette-making giant Imperial Tobacco diversifying its market attentions and targeting on-the-go urban professionals.
Spanish firm Biosearch Life targets ‘unexplored’ applications with its patent application for probiotic strains it says could help control hypercholesterolemia.
The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) safety assessment on caffeine is not necessarily a green light for high caffeine consumption or for long-stalled health claims, according to industry commentators.
US probiotic market growth has been bolstered by big media investment, something yet to be seen in the EU, according to the Swedish firm Probi which just secured its largest transatlantic order to date.
Data from an upcoming UK Department of Health (DoH) report is likely to reveal the true extent of folate deficiency, according to nutrition multinational DSM.
Indonesia plans to process half of its seaweed domestically by 2020, meaning the carrageenan supply chain could see massive geographic diversions in the future.
Lack of a recommendation from a doctor, taste and price are all top deterrences for European consumers reluctant to take omega-3 – but sustainability is not a key concern, according to the results of a seven-country survey from the Global Organization...
Cosmetics manufacturer L’Oreal and food giant Nestle have announced they will end the activity of their joint venture Innéov during the course of the first quarter 2015.
BASF has sold its Norwegian, “natural fish oils, medium-concentrated omega-3s, and customised bottled fish oil” plant to Pennsylvania firm Marine Ingredients for an undisclosed sum as the German ingredients and chemicals giant switches its focus to high-end...
Faced with mounting difficulties in their drug businesses, many pharmaceutical manufacturers are looking at getting into functional foods and beverages, notes food marketing expert, Julian Mellentin in this guest article.
“This is a good move for Raisio. They are the correct parent of this niche brand.”
“J&J should have sold it 10 years ago,” is one analyst’s appraisal of Finnish agro-food giant Raisio’s buy-back of the licensing rights to its cholesterol lowering, plant stanol-based Benecol brand today, referring to US market difficulties for the...
Year-on-year Q3 EBITDA profits dipped 9.2% to €5.73m at Spanish cocoa and chocolate and specialist Natra as ongoing cocoa price hikes hit even as quarter revenues rose 5.2% to €89.93m.
Q3 net profits dropped about 20% at DSM with the Dutch-Swiss ingredients giant citing vitamin E market issues and, “challenges in some human nutrition end-markets” as key contributing factors.
Herbalife asks Mirror to take down 'baseless' article
A "previous serious illness" was responsible for the death of a Mexican woman - not Herbalife weight loss shakes - say local doctors following accusations in the Mexican and UK press of lead contamination.
The Commission was wrong to separate the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), nutrient profiles are unconvincing and the threat of botanical court action is unsurprising, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP)...
Sports nutrition products should not be allowed to sponsor sporting events, say two researchers from the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living in Australia.
Omega Ingredients (OI) has doubled the size of its manufacturing facility and secured 16 new jobs by pumping £300,000 into its UK operations, ceo and founder Steve Pearce has said.
The new European Commission’s ‘better regulation’ mission must keep consumer welfare in mind and not translate to a “one-sided reduction” for businesses, the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) has warned.
Lithuanian politician Vytenis Andriukaitis will be the next commissioner for health and food safety, according to an official announcement today which saw several structure changes to the cabinet.
Danish firm ZPD has won EU food approval for its chondroitin sulfate – a process that has been riddled by misapprehension and prejudice, the company says.
German natural ingredients behemoth Döhler is lining up what it is calling an, “extraordinary extract portfolio” of South African ingredients after forming a joint venture with local supplier Afriplex.
By analysing the long-lasting commitments and acquisition activity of major companies Dr Matthew Jones at CPL Business Consultants uses the Red Queen theory to develop an understanding of their corporate mind-set and appetite for acquisitions and partnerships...
The world’s biggest food manufacturing group Nestlé has posted a better-than-expected rise in a key sales figure for the first half of the year despite currency impacts causing a 10% fall in net profits.
Danone shares rose today as rumours strengthened the French dairy giant would sell its medical and paediatric nutrition business (Nutricia), but is the firm streamlining its activities around its core foods businesses or just shifting infant-medical...
"The principle is to replace costly substance by less costly substance at the expense of the consumer": CAFIA
The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority (CAFIA) says it, “repeatedly reveals serious forms of adulteration of food supplements” despite efforts through its Food Pillory system.
Neptune Technologies and Bioressources absorbed a steep loss in the first quarter of its fiscal year as the company nears the end of its recovery from an explosion and fire that destroyed its lone production plant. Net loss for the quarter was $5.3 million,...
IAHS: “VAT on health food supplements would be a tax on health.”
Proposals to push VAT (value-added tax) on some health food supplements and teas to the maximum upper bracket of 23% will discriminate against healthful products, according to The Irish Association of Health Stores (IAHS).
Fourteen years after Unilever spent $2.3bn (€1.7bn) to buy Slim-Fast, it has sold up for an undisclosed sum to a private equity player. Analyst and author Julian Mellentin tracks the decline of a mega-brand and considers what he sees as a category in...
The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) insistence on keeping well within its scientific box is both a source of frustration and comfort for onlookers.