The European Commission 
UPDATE: NETHERLANDS: Vion planning Weyl restart
26 August 2010
Dutch meat giant Vion said it is looking at developing plans to re-start the Weyl business it acquired last month.
NETHERLANDS: Vion gets green light for Weyl buy
25 August 2010
Dutch meat giant Vion has received approval from the European Commission for its acquisition of Weyl.
SPAIN: EC approves Lactalis' acquisition of Ebro Puleva dairy interests
24 August 2010
The European Commission has approved the acquisition of Spanish food group, Ebro Puleva's dairy business to France's Lactalis.
In the spotlight: The debate over cloned meat in the UK
5 August 2010
The idea of science playing too obvious a role in food tends to leave a bitter taste in most European consumers' mouths.
Editor's choice: the highlights on just-food this week
23 July 2010
The potential sale of UK biscuit and snack maker United Biscuits captured the industry's attention this week. Ocado's IPO finally got away, but not without a great deal of controversy, once again highlighting the difficulties online grocery retailers face trying to build a profitable business model. The future of the Foods Standards Agency was sealed, and as expected, it lost its remit over nutrition and labelling.
Analysis: Does consumer scepticism cloud the GM debate?
21 July 2010
The recent proposals by the European Commission regarding national jurisdiction over the cultivation of genetically-modified food have been criticised by both advocates and opponents of GM which, Ben Cooper writes, only serves to underline the intractability of the issue.
Editor's choice: the highlights on just-food this week
16 July 2010
The future of the Food Standards Agency, the UK food watchdog, dominated the headlines in the early part of the week and again brought to the fore the UK coalition's emerging policy on food and health. The interplay between food and regulation was also brought into sharp relief with the latest proposals from the EU on GM food. Some light relief, however, came with the high-spirited AGMs held by UK retailers Sainsbury's and Marks and Spencer.
EU: MEPs attack proposed GM food reforms
14 July 2010
The European Commission's proposals to give EU member states effective control over whether GM food should be grown in their countries have come under fire in the European Parliament.
EU: Brussels gives EU states right to ban GM crops
13 July 2010
The European Commission today (13 July) formally proposed giving EU member states the right to ban or allow the cultivation of GM food on their territory
EU: Brussels prepares GM reform initiative
12 July 2010
The European Commission will tomorrow (13 July) unveil long-awaited reforms to the EU's market approval process for producing GM foodstuffs.
EU: Parliament takes conservative stance on CAP reform
8 July 2010
The European Parliament has staked out a conservative political position in the oncoming debate over reforms to the EU's Common Agricultural Policy.
ROMANIA: Kraft Foods to sell Cadbury’s Kandia-Excelent
7 July 2010
Kraft Foods has signed an agreement to sell Cadbury’s Kandia-Excelent chocolate, soft cake and sugar confectionery business in Romania to Oryxa Capita for an undisclosed sum.
The just-food management briefing - private label
7 July 2010
The economic downturn has led consumers to turn to private label for greater value. Own label has been a significant sector in Europe for decades but US consumers are now looking to store brands more regularly - and emerging markets are starting to catch on, too.
UPDATE: EU funding will “boost” organic sector - Sustain
2 July 2010
UK organic advocacy group Sustain said the European Commission’s approval of 19 publicity programmes for the promotion of healthy foods will be a major boost to the organic sector.
EU: Brussels food promotion goes green
1 July 2010
The latest major food product promotion programme financed by the EU is focusing heavily on healthy foodstuffs – with organic, fruit and vegetable products getting the lion's share.
BULGARIA/ROMANIA: Lidl-Tengelmann deal set for local anti-trust probe
30 June 2010
The European Commission has referred the antitrust review of Lidl's plans to acquire Tengelmann's Plus discount operations in Bulgaria and Romania to local competition authorities.
US: Kraft Foods to sell Wedel business to Lotte
28 June 2010
Kraft Foods has signed an agreement to sell Cadbury's E. Wedel-branded confectionery operations in Poland to Lotte Group for an undisclosed sum.
Best bits: EU shines spotlight on labelling and on dairy sector
21 June 2010
The issue of nutrition labelling reared its head last week after the EU's politicians voted for the food on sale in the region to carry guideline daily amounts and not traffic lights.
EU: Parliament to vote on front-of-pack labelling
16 June 2010
European politicians will today (16 June) vote on the type of nutrition labels food manufacturers and retailers throughout the EU can place on food packaging.
EU: Give dairy farmers more power, EU report urges
15 June 2010
The European Commission has released a long-awaited report from an expert panel on fixing Europe’s troubled dairy sector.
EU: Brussels mulling GM liberalisation
5 May 2010
European Commission officials are considering giving member states a free hand to decide whether GM crops can grow on their territory.
EU: Commission launches CAP reform assessment
12 April 2010
The European Commission today (12 April) formally launched a major review of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) with a call for ideas on making food consumers more aware of the industry's impact.
EU: EU tightens rules on children's marketing
31 March 2010
The EU Council of Ministers has ruled that dairy manufacturers cannot use labels that claim that their products strengthen children’s teeth.
EU: Europe’s agriculture chief backs abolition of dairy quotas
26 March 2010
The new EU Agriculture Commissioner gave the first clear indication today (26 March) that he supports scrapping restrictive EU dairy production quotas in 2015.
EU: Brussels threatens legal action over labelling failings
18 March 2010
The European Commission is threatening legal action against Portugal and Cyprus for failing to ensure food packaging carries nutritional information.
EU: MEPs vote against mandatory traffic-light labels
17 March 2010
European politicians have voted against imposing traffic-light nutrition labels on foodstuffs sold across the EU.
US: Industry rejects omega-3 lawsuit
4 March 2010
Fish oil suppliers have rejected concerns over the safety of omega-3 supplements after a lawsuit was filed against manufacturers and retailers in California.
EU: New Commission mulls compromise on GM
3 March 2010
The new European Commission leadership is preparing a compromise on cultivating GM foodstuffs in the EU that might end Brussels’ long political stand-off with anti-GM member states.
NETHERLANDS: Unilever welcomes EFSA weight management claim
1 March 2010
Unilever has welcomed a study by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that supports evidence of a link between meal replacements for weight control and lower body weight.
Sustainability Watch – Pascal Gréverath, CIAA
26 February 2010
As chairman of the CIAA’s Environment Committee, Pascal Gréverath is at the centre of the European food industry’s sustainability effort. He spoke with Ben Cooper about the newly-created European Food Sustainable Consumption and Production Round Table and what he sees as the main priorities for the CIAA’s sustainability brief.
Related research
Global Cheese Analogue Market 2009
The debate over analog cheese has increased in 2009, particularly in Germany where a combination of dairy and bakery associations has received considerable attention in local media and has even been raised at the European Commission level, with German MEPs lobbying for even further stringent controls on the labelling of these products.
Global market review of online grocery retailing – forecasts to 2014
Online and internet shopping represents one of the fast growing sectors within the global food and grocery market at present, especially across the more developed parts of the world. With household internet access continuing to increase, the customer base for online grocery shopping is widening, while other technological innovations such as the advent of smart phones is further benefiting the market.
Frozen Processed Food in Russia
The Russian government continues to support local meat and poultry producers by imposing import quotas and high customs duties. It also regularly renews the list of companies from different countries, whose meat, poultry or fish are forbidden for import because they contain harmful components. These limitations are criticised as groundless by the Office of the United States Trade Representative and the European Commission. However, despite all the restrictions, the share of imports in total...
