Tag: Food

Many EU consumers believe that their food, cleaning and beauty products contain chemicals, and are most likely to check food products for chemicals before buying, according to a new Eurobarometer survey.

Europe will not disintegrate and will remain a great power in 2030, but the key question is whether the EU will punch its collective weight in the future, says a recent US intelligence report which draws three possible scenarios for the Union – decline, collapse or renaissance.

Droughts, poor land use and water access have all contributed to recent volatility in food prices and regional food emergencies. To address such insecurity in food supplies, good water management and governance – as well as reliable early warning systems – are needed, says Jens Berggren, who heads World Water Week that begins on 26 August in Stockholm.

Environmental organisations that fear the European Parliament and national governments are weakening agricultural reforms have found unwavering support from the EU's farm chief Dacian Cioloş.

The European Food Safety Authority, seeking to deflect criticism over the independence of its work, yesterday (5 March) announced moves to clarify disclosure rules and guidelines on who can serve as scientific experts.

Germany could cover Lake Constance with the clear film applied each year to seal in freshness on food packaging. But what is good for flavour is not necessarily good for the environment.

Supermarkets and food companies are improving how they source palm oil, a key ingredient in half of all packaged foods – but not fast enough to prevent further environmental damage, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Bulgaria's Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov said yesterday (20 April) that his country would officially ask the European Commission to ascertain if multinational companies sell 'lower quality' food products in new EU members, compared to those sold in Western Europe. Dnevnik, EurActiv's partner in Bulgaria, reports.

After the radioactive cloud eminating from Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant reached Europe last week, French authorities have detected radioactive iodine-131 in rainwater and milk.

Surging European grain prices following a scorching heat wave in recent weeks are likely to raise flour prices, and farmers are facing higher bills for animal feed, industry executives and analysts said on Friday (23 July).

The European Parliament's environment committee has voted not to authorise the entry of any food derived from cloned animals onto EU markets, putting MEPs on a collision course with the European Commission and the EU's Council of Ministers.

The European Commission yesterday (28 October) launched an inquiry into the food supply chain for unfair contractual practices imposed on small farmers by major retail chains and other buyers, in a drive to curb future food price increases and ensure farmers get a fair share of the price of end products.

As preparations for the world summit on food security next month speed up, Bill Gates, the billionaire founder of software giant Microsoft, is urging governments, donors, researchers, farmer groups and environmentalists to overcome "ideological" divisions about technological solutions to increase agricultural productivity in Africa.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), alarmed at the way governments and private corporations are buying farmland in developing countries, plans to present international guidelines to protect local people and farmers from what some have dubbed "neo-colonialism". 

Guidelines for climate-friendly food choices developed by the Swedish authorities recommend citizens to reduce their meat and rice consumption as a way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The first of their kind, the guidelines are now being sent out for reactions and inspiration from other EU countries.

An EU sustainable food chain roundtable launched yesterday (6 May) is seeking to develop a methodology for assessing the environmental footprint of individual foods and drinks by 2011. 

Amid increasing global demand for food, new technologies to increase land fertility are part of the solution to make arable land more productive, Franz Fischler, a former EU agriculture commissioner, argued in an interview with EurActiv.

Last year's hike in food prices was no speculation-induced "false alarm", argued Paul Krugman, winner of the Nobel prize for economics, at a Brussels forum on the future of agriculture yesterday (17 March). The world is wrong to forget the food crisis, he further warned. 

Uncertainties in detecting and measuring levels of nanomaterials could make risk assessment of some nano products extremely difficult, according to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

Stakeholders called on the European Commission to provide "adequate support" for organic food and farming research at the launch of a new technology platform, TP Organics, on 2 December.

Amid opposition from farmers' organisations, the EU executive has decided to abolish marketing standards on fruits and vegetables, allowing consumers to buy curvy cucumbers and other 'wrong' fruits and vegetables as of 1 July 2009.

The current crisis in the global food system, caused by dramatic price rises, provides an opportunity to assure long-term food security and avoid problems in future, argue three essays in the annual report of the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Ahead of a meeting of EU agriculture ministers to discuss the future of the bloc's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), EPP-ED group chairman Joseph Daul outlined the stakes and fresh challenges facing the EU in an interview with EurActiv France.

Scientists and experts from around the world have warned that global food wastage must be halved by 2025 to meet the challenges of feeding the rapidly-growing population and preserving global water supplies.