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30 June 2010 | By Jay Gouliard, Vice President Global Packaging, Unilever
Unilever is one of the leading suppliers of fast-moving consumer goods, with products on sale in over 170 countries. Our portfolio of foods, home and personal care brands is trusted by consumers the world over. On any given day, two billion people use our products. Unilever business and brands have…
30 June 2010 | By Jane Ince, Policy Advisor, Food Standards Agency
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) undertook research in 2009 on consumer use of country of origin labelling. The findings were published on 14 January 20101. The work reveals some interesting facts about how much this labelling is used in practice and about how, for meat and meat products in particular,…
22 February 2010 | By Holly Hughes, Charles Speirs & Sarah Chapman, Campden BRI
With consumers becoming more aware of what is in their diet, there is a growing interest in more ‘natural' and healthy foods free from additives. The UK food industry is under increased pressure to simplify ingredient lists and remove ‘artificial' additives from foods. The increasing popularity of the clean label…
10 September 2009 | By Gauri S. Mittal, Professor, School of Engineering, University of Guelph
The presence of foreign bodies (FBs) in processed foods is one of the major concerns of the food industry, and their detection and identification are important in quality assurance and safety. An FB is any undesirable piece of solid matter present in a food product. When foods are manufactured or…
20 February 2009 | By Hanne Larsen & Annette Veberg Dahl, Research Scientists, Nofima Mat AS
The consumers want to see the product they are purchasing. The shops use special lighting in order to sell more, at the same time as prolonging the opening hours. The price the consumer pays for the combination of increased light exposure and the desire to see food products is that…
20 February 2009 | By William D. van Dongen, Leon Coulier, Leo van Stee & Sander Koster, Analytical Research Department, TNO Quality of Life
Small organic molecules migrating from packaging or other food contact materials (FCM) may result in unwanted changes of the composition of the food. These molecules can be the ‘usual suspects', i.e. starting materials (non-reacted monomers) and additives but also by-products, reaction products, impurities, degradation products of additives and conjugation products,…
3 December 2008 | By The Association of European Producers of Steel for Packaging
Sustainability has risen swiftly up the world agenda in recent years. Consumers, governments and the industry recognise that we must look to reduce our global footprint in every area of our lives. As the world demands solutions for a sustainable future, the sustainability performance of steel for packaging can provide…
18 August 2008 | By Giuseppe Mensitieri, University of Naples Federico II and Giovanna Giuliana Buonocore, Institute for Composite and Biomedical Materials – National Research Council
In this contribution, the topic of Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) is reviewed by describing the actual status of this technology and its possible developments, which are mainly related to the combination of MAP with other preservation technologies. Among them, particular attention is devoted to active packaging with antimicrobial properties.
18 August 2008 | By Greg Jones, Senior Research Officer for the Preservation, Processing and Spoilage Group, Campden & Chorleywood Food Research Association
Foodborne botulism is a severe illness that is caused by the consumption of foods containing a neurotoxin produced by a bacterium called Clostridium botulinum. Very little of this toxin is required to cause illness; for example, in 2002, a 35 year old man put a piece of baked potato in…
28 February 2008 | By Pramod.V. Mahajan, Oliveira, F.A.R., Montanez, J.C., and Iqbal, T., Department of Process and Chemical Engineering, University College, Cork, Ireland
Ready-to-eat, fresh-cut consumer products are one of the few segments within the industry that has shown consistent growth within the last few years. Cutting however, increases senescence rate and the shelf life of the products can be very limited. Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), combined with a good cold chain can…
16 November 2007 | By Eric Marchioni, Univerité Louis Pasteur
Food irradiation is gaining interest in light of the increasing incidence of foodborne diseases in the last few decades. It efficiently reduces the populations of pathogens such as Salmonella, Listeria, Campylobacter, E. coli 0157:H7, and also of parasites and insects[1-2]. The process has been endorsed by the World Health Organization…
16 November 2007 | By Wolfgang Danzl and Gottfried Ziegleder, Fraunhofer IVV
Transparent plastic packaging is increasingly replacing traditional food packaging made of glass and metal. The advantages of transparent plastic packaging are; its low weight, low cost, design flexibility and the opportunity to present products in an attractive way. However, compared to traditional packaging made of glass, metal, aluminum-laminated films or…
4 September 2007 | By Jan Pedersen and Folmer D. Eriksen, National Institute of Food, Technical University of Denmark
One of the points in the discussion of genetically modified organisms (GMO) is the consumers’ right to choose between foods from GMO (GM-foods) and traditionally produced foods. This discussion has led to the EU regulation requiring labelling of GM food products made from GM plants. However, since it is difficult…
4 September 2007 | By Julian Stocker, H J Heinz Co. Ltd.
Canning has been a valuable form of food packaging and preservation ever since Napoleon offered a prize for the invention of a method of preserving food for military campaigns. In the UK there are 4 billion food cans sold each year and in the enlarged EU the figure is more…
23 May 2007 | By Dr. Raymond Oliver F.R. Eng., F.I.Chem.E, Director of Science and Innovation at Cenamps
‘Nano’ or small-scale technologies are an exciting area of science involving work at the nano scale; far smaller than micro-scale technology and impossible to view with the human eye. No-one yet knows the extent to which nanotechnology could transform our world, but it is generally acknowledged that the technology could…
