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27-Feb-2006 - The dust is settling on the WHI trial. First came the news that low-fat diets didn't reduce the risk of breast or colorectal cancer or cardiovascular disease, then came news that vitamin D and calcium supplements don't protect against fractures.

The cost of bad research

13-Feb-2006 - The science has spoken. Low-fat diets don't work: Forget the carrots and broccoli sprouts, I can now have my cake and eat it, and put extra cream on top.

Marketing the risky way

06-Feb-2006 - Nationality is a dangerous brand.

Time to ditch the FFQ

30-Jan-2006 - Little wonder consumers are confused about which foods are good for them, and which bad, when scientists use methods with almost no chance of meaningful results.

Food miles leave a bitter taste

23-Jan-2006 - The organic food movement has been hijacked by supermarkets intent on being seen to be green, but their disrespect of food miles shows they are anything but.

Some news is good news

16-Jan-2006 - I am beginning to feel like a freak among journalists. Good or bad, my reporting is the product of hours of questions, fact-hunting and often-times editorial debate. Yet, despite this rigour, every day we receive emails from people asking, or even instructing, us to publish their press release on our sites.

The shimmer of patent valuation

12-Dec-2005 - Complex webs of assumptions are spinning a lie about the real value of today's companies, lulling directors and shareholders alike into a false sense of value creation.

Death by food support

28-Nov-2005 - If the EU keeps hiding its agriculture sector behind huge pay cheques instead of devoting more time to food research funding, the bloc's whimpering and wailing will only get worse.

Time for Japan to act on agriculture

21-Nov-2005 - Strong rhetoric at last weekend's Apec summit on the abolition of agricultural subsidies could not drown out the scraping sound of Japanese heels.

Food safety for all

14-Nov-2005 - After all the increased safety procedures put in place over the past decade, one might have been lulled into thinking that poisonings and deaths from food contamination would be rarer than before. While it is true that the new regulatory requirements and better processing techniques have helped, the continuing breakdowns in food safety are still worrying.

No avoiding sustainable sourcing

07-Nov-2005 - Food companies do not yet face the ethical sourcing equation of the clothing industry, where brands from Nike to Marks & Spencer cannot afford a single claim of sweat-shop production. But the moment is fast approaching for food, too, when exploitative sourcing will be the public relations kiss of death.

Putting a premium on substance over style

24-Oct-2005 - Food producers are flogging the term 'premium' for all it's worth, threatening to flood a market that relies on exclusivity for its success with well-packaged tat.

Junk Food Babes

03-Oct-2005 - If education is meant to deliver knowledge and wise choices, why are we doing so little to educate our children about food?

McDonald's: facing fat

26-Sep-2005 - There is nothing so redolent of a corporate mid-life crisis as the strategic equivalent of a new car, new girl and new image, set firmly on the shoulders of the same old idea. McDonald's, it seems, is firmly in the throes of a mid-life crisis.

The science behind food

12-Sep-2005 - The words clinical trial or scientifically proven on a label carry huge cachet. But behind the claims of scientific evidence, consumers expect a base level of rigour in ensuring thatfood or personal care products actually deliver the benefits they claim.

Private equity hot on food

05-Sep-2005 - Cash, cash, cash. Castigated as simple asset-strippers out to make a quick buck, the entrance of private equity onto the food industry stage has participants chattering in the wings.

Waiting for the super-nutrition revolution

22-Aug-2005 - Henry Ford's famous aphorism that if he had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses, provides food makers with a lesson they must learn.

In food makers we trust?

16-Aug-2005 - In among the hollers about obesity and the concerns over nutrition, food companies now need to work hard to ensure they clinch public trust, as a matter of insurance. This means more than compliance on traceability and labeling. This means being seen as a force for good.

The business of food safety

25-Jul-2005 - One cannot envy the chief executive faced with a scientific study that casts doubt over the efficacy or safety of his core product. But avoiding a sales slump, media vilification and even charges of fraud means squaring up to such studies immediately.

A strategy for beating China

18-Jul-2005 - As Chinese producers move in on western markets, the first response by many established players is to protect and defend their previous market positions. It's a doomed strategy.

Let food be thy medicine

11-Jul-2005 - A society that views food as taste-bud entertainment rather than a basic of well-being was always bound to run into health problems. But with obesity now afflicting 300m people, and diabetes set to reach similar numbers within two decades, the problems borne of food abuse are emerging as more than a glitch. They amount to a profound loss of direction in our understanding of both food and medicine.

Claims, claims, claims

27-Jun-2005 - As lawyers circle the food and drink industry like a fatted calf, the first lesson for those preparing for defence is that it is not so much what you sell that matters, as how you sell it.

Highway to health

13-Jun-2005 - Parked on the hot coals of public opinion, the food industry can lose no time in proving how healthy its products are.

Who is afraid of GMO's?

07-Jun-2005 - It is a perversion of the 21st century that while affluent societies continue the quest to slice the fat from their increasingly obese populations, five million children die from hunger each year, and more than 850m people go chronically hungry.