100 posts
Tackling food waste and losses in the EU
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Up to 50% of food gets wasted in EU households, supermarkets, restaurants and along the food supply chain each year, while 79 million EU citizens live beneath the poverty line and 16 million depend on food aid from charitable institutions. The public...
Public affairs, sushi and dreams of England
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A little known fact about me is that for one dark summer I worked six nights a week over a ten week period making sushi for one of the UK’s leading supermarket chains. Yes, you’ve guessed it. I grew up in England’s sushi capital; Worksop, North...
Policy Brief: Food Waste
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Tackling food loss and waste could make a significant contribution to combating hunger and increasing farm incomes where it is needed most. One-third of all food produced for human consumption worldwide is lost or wasted. That translates into 1.3 bil...
Kicking the car industry out of the driving seat
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Imagine a band of brigands so depraved, it steals food from the poor and gives it to the better-off. Imagine that the band has been condemned by all kinds of "respectable" organisations but waits for several years before making any amends. The Euro...
Increasing food production in the poorest countries to reel in prices
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According to recent updates by Reuters, EU Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs has said that building strategic agricultural stocks to curb market volatility, as proposed by France, would not be the most effective way to tame food prices.
Maintaining the flavour
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The European Commission adopted today two new regulations (No 872/2012 and No 873/2012) concerning the use of flavouring substances in the EU. Various flavouring substances are added to food to improve or alter the taste, odour and other attributes o...
Genetically Modified Organism (GMO)
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According to the Directive 2001/18/EC genetically modified organism (GMO) “means an organism, with the exception of human beings, in which the genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural re...
Back-and-forth discussion on Food Security
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Just weeks before the European Development Days 2012 is set to take place, Debating Europe raises awareness over food security. The platform, which aims to provoke as much back-and-forth discussion as possible between the readers and experts, asks:
EU court case says EU bloc already approved GMOs
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Last week, in a ruling from the European Court of Justice, it was determined that genetically modified crops cannot be subject to individual nation’s authorization because the European bloc already approved their use and marketing.
How can we ensure global food security?
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Ultimately, what matters most is “bread and butter” politics. It’s easy to obsess about the current state of Europe’s economy, but there’s no shortage of other challenges facing the world right now; issues like energy s...
Guest blogger: Monique Clark on the Italian-American “Gravy” vs. the American “Sauce”!
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At my invitation on one of my former posts (August 12) for guest bloggers who want to share an aspect …Continue reading »...
Kroes seeks cure for constipation over Twitter
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When your ducts are outdated, the increase in content can create blockages. The solution? More fibre, natch. Europe's commissioner for telecoms stuff passed that message on this week over that there twitter, giving momentum to an "I WANT FIBRE" cam...
New regulations on food labelling coming up: further protection for traditional and regional products
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European Parliament has accepted new regulations for food labelling. The regulations aim to better protect and give clearer information, particularly on the issues of traditionally manufactured and regionally manufactured products. The regulations...
The role of water accounts in water resources management
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Water accounting is the ultimate step in the implementation of water resources management system. It goes further that modeling which is aimed at understanding better the problems and the interactions. As for as business bookkeeping, water accounts h...
Ministers to discuss possible measures to tackle water scarcity
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This week Cyprus hosts the Informal Agriculture meeting. Ministers will especially discuss on water scarcity and land abandonment, both linked to adverse climate conditions. As the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy is ongoing, the attent...
Sharp price increases for food products can be avoided
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Following sharp price increases for some food products such as maize, wheat and soybeana, fears are mounting of a repeat of the 2007-2008 world food crisis. In light of some uneasiness, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of...
Deeming food waste a major issue
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Following some intensive discussion in Germany about discarding food, Ulrich Koester, examines the methodology of identification of food loss and the magnitude of estimated quantities and values. The post, published at the website ‘CAP reform’, q...
Bart: A Belgian Lightweight
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A prominent Belgian politician spills the beans on how he lost 60 kilograms.
Vers une révision des systèmes de qualité des produits agricoles
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Le recours à des dénominations de qualité permet aux agriculteurs de valoriser l’excellence ou l’authenticité de leurs productions. La politi-que européenne qui promeut la qualité des produits agricoles et alimentaires de par leurs...
Discarding food vs. starving people – Inefficient and immoral? - by Ulrich Koester
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Food waste is now a hotly discussed issue, but recent studies greatly overstate the size of the problem and the extent to which reducing food waste would help the world's hungry.
No grain, no pain
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A couple of charts from Barclays economists showing the relative contribution of food to headline and core CPI:The economists make the point that a rise in food prices brought...
Nutrition and food security, Olympics’ icing on the cake
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Number of Views :159While millions were following the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, I want to draw their attention to the hundreds of millions of children who are unable to get through the day without food to eat. That was precisely t...
EU Ministers authorise the singing of the Food Assistance Convention
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During the course of the last Council meeting on Foreign Affairs, ministers authorised the signing on behalf of the EU of the food assistance convention, as the latter would help to achieve the humanitarian aid objectives referred to in article 214...
Eurobarometer food security survey - by Alan Matthews
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What are we to make of the findings in the latest Eurobarometer survey of EU public opinion on Europeans’ attitudes to their own food security?
Food commodity prices may remain on a higher plateau
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According to a recent OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook, while international agricultural commodity markets appear to have entered calmer conditions after record highs last year, food commodity prices are anticipated to remain on a higher plateau ov...
European Tea
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Tea is a drink that brings people together and that is deeply ingrained in our cultures. In Europe this is no different, and European tea plays an important part in the social lives of many European countries. Tea first came to Europe in 1610 from th...
EU organic logo from July 2012
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The two-year transition period for the organic food sector to comply with new EU labelling rules is reaching its end. As from 1 July 2012, the EU organic logo will be obligatory on all pre-packaged organic food products produced in EU Member State...
MS encounter difficulties in ensuring the traceability of organic products
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According to the latest report by European Court of Auditors, a number of competent authorities in the Member States do not sufficiently fulfill their supervisory role over control bodies. As a result certain control bodies fail to satisfy a num...
Guest Talk at Harvard Law School: A European Perspective on the Past, Present, and Future of Food Regulation
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My talk will be hosted by the Harvard Food Law Society & The Student Association for Law and Mind Sciences (SALMS) on March 23th, 2012...
MEPs call for urgent and coordinated measures to halve food wastage in the EU
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MEPs in Strasbourg have this week called for urgent and coordinated EU-wide measures to halve food waste by 2025 and to improve access to food for needy EU citizens in a resolution adopted on Thursday. It is estimated that almost 50% of edible and he...
Brussels Briefing: Food price volatility
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The next Brussels Development Briefing will take place on the 30 November 2011 and will be organised in partnership with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), the European...
No EU permit for South African dairy products
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In a statement published in allAfrica.com, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) corrected a media statement issued on 16 September 2011, in which exporters were invited to apply for a permit to export the following agricult...
EU grants available for Caribbean food exporters
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The Caribbean Export Development Agency is offering European Union-funded aid of up to $3.6 million per applicant for food exporters who need help improving food-safety standards. The money is sourced from the 10th European Development Fund (EDF)...
The last one left standing
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Last week East Malling Research kindly invited me to give the annual Amos Memorial Lecture at the research station. My theme was 'Food: Safe, Sustainable, Sufficient?' They videoed the lecture so I will post a link if it becomes available, not that...
Our video guest: Dominique Ristori, Joint Research Centre
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Dominique Ristori is the general director of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. In our interview, he speaks about the food security conference organised by the JRC and about the value of research and science in food security.
The European Parliament strengthens the right to food
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The European Parliament this week passed a report by German MEP Gabriele Zimmer on global food security in which it gave strong backing to the implementation of the right to food in the EU and in the world. The Parliament thus calls for “urgent...
Somalia ranked as world’s most food insecure country
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A new study assessing the availability and stability of food supplies in 196 countries has rated the food security of Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as the lowest in the world, while countries in the drought stricken Horn of Af...
Ce n’est pas la faute de l’UE (cette fois)
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La presse Française (au moins) s’enflamme contre l’Union Européenne qui veut, parait-il, affamer nos pauvres. Rétablissons la vérité : il s’agit au départ d’une institution en particulier, la Cour de Justice Européenne,...
Love food. Hate waste.
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"Best before", "use by", "sell by" and "display until"... these are the most common labels that a consumer might find on food products that he purchases in a supermarket. Sometimes a product will have more than...
How do you go about buying your fish?
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We need to act now to protect marine life, as due to overfishing, there are fewer and fewer fish in the sea and the situation is getting serious. Together, we can help to make sure there will be more fish in the sea. Watch EC video clip on the is...
THE AUSTRIAN EXPERIENCE IN RESTRUCTURING THE FOOD SAFETY SYSTEM, THE ITALIAN REALITY AND THE COMPANIES' POINT OF VIEW
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Quartiere Fieristico ModenaFiere, Viale Virgilio, 70/90 - Modena in the framework of the SICURA fair A representative of the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) will discuss the reorganization of the food safety system in Austria and wi...
GMO honey banned in Europe
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“Bitter honey for the GMO lobby,” quips the Tageszeitung on its front page following the ban brought down by the European Court of Justice on honey containing traces – even minute ones – of genetically modified organisms. “The ruling is...
Lamy: Trade is vital for food security
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Should agriculture be treated like shirts, shoes and tyres and fall under the same trade regime, asks Pascal Lamy?
Waste not! Food is precious
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Europeans throw away nearly 20% of the foodstuffs they buy. EuroparlTV looks at ways to prevent waste in the food chain. Watch the video.
Danish Marmite ban – not Pia Kjærsgaard’s next populist plan to keep foreigners away
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Today’s Guardian has the story that Denmark is to ban Marmite. As the FT’s Stanley Pignal quipped on Twitter, is this the next step (after new customs controls, despite Schengen) from Denmark’s populist Dansk Folkeparti to keep fore...
Eight-foot scone to be baked to promote Devon Cream Tea bid for EU protected status
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To the outsider, it will appear a rather trivial issue, but for those in the Westcountry it is an issue of surprising importance and the subject of a long-standing rivalry: should the cream go on top of the strawberry jam or underneath it in your tra...
The Food Issue
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The amount of food that goes to waste each year is staggering, with disposal numbers of 1.3 billion tons each year according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Our “buy one get one for free” lifestyle in Western countries al...
EU urged to 'do more' to tackle rising food prices
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Parliament's plenary has been told the EU can become a "world leader" in tackling rising food prices. According to a recent report by the World Bank, food prices are at dangerous levels and have pushed 44 million more people into poverty since J...
EU draft: States can ban GM crops for public order
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European Union governments could ban the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops to maintain public order in the face of popular opposition to the technology, the bloc's executive said in a draft document. Bans could also be justified on...
Non-tariff measures affecting agro-food trade between the EU and Africa
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CTA would like to point you to a report on the IPTS workshop "Non Tariff Measures (NTMs) affecting agro-food trade between the EU and Africa" held in September 2010 in Seville. The workshop brought together experts from research, policy making and bu...
World food prices reach new historic peak
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World food prices surged to a new historic peak in January, for the seventh consecutive month, according to the updated FAO Food Price Index, a commodity basket that regularly tracks monthly changes in global food prices. The Index averaged 231 point...
Webstreamed now: Debate on Geopolitics of Food at the European Commission with speakers from UN, WTO
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The Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), DG DEVCO of the European Commission, the ACP Secretariat, CONCORD and other partners invite you to follow a debate on new challenges in the global food system and global policy respon...
Dioxin contamination in Germany: MEPs call for stricter controls, penalties
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The EU is considering stricter food security rules following the recent dioxin scandal in Germany. The cancer-causing compound was found in eggs and poultry, some of which were exported to other EU countries. MEPs debated the issue with European Comm...
Global farming food and future report out
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An important report led by the Governnment's Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir John Beddington, setting out the challenges facing farming and food supply on a global basis is now available: Farming Future You can hear a Radio 4 discussion on the topi...
The U.S.-EU Beef Over Chicken
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A dispute over chicken-cleaning rules is too much for the Transatlantic Economic Council to handle.
Food giants dictate how we live and diet
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Junk food is an elixir of capitalism and its terrible twin, war. “The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist,” Thomas Friedman, The New York Times columnist and unofficial White House stenographer, once wrote. “McDonald...
Food safety: Commission seeks ways to improve BTSF
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Since 2006, the EU has trained 23,000 professionals worldwide to improve food safety through its Better Training for Safer Food initiative (BTSF). Now, the European Commission is seeking to further improve this initiative. It is launching a dialogue...
EU pressed to act on combating world malnutrition
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Former EU commissioner Mario Monti has called for urgent action to combat the rising death toll caused by malnutrition. Addressing a conference in parliament on Tuesday, the Italian said one billion people in the world were undernourished and some 36...
