Europeans live longer thanks to environmental policies

SUCCESSFUL ENVIRONMENTAL policies have resulted in reduced exposure to harmful environmental contaminants in air, water and food. As a result, Europeans are generally enjoying longer and healthier lives.

However, some contaminants are still a problem, and several new health risks are emerging, for example, from new chemicals, new products and changing lifestyle patterns.

The findings come in a new report, entitled “Environment and human health”, published by the European Environment Agency and ...

Hospitality unites to create over 30,000 jobs for young people by 2015

THE BRITISH HOSPITALITY ASSOCIATION (BHA) will announce that the UK’s hospitality and tourism industries will create over 30,000 new job opportunities for young people by 2015. The BHA will inform Mark Hoban MP, Minister of State for Employment of the pledge as it hosts its annual Summit at the InterContinental London Park Lane on Tuesday 11 June, 2013.

The job opportunities are 14,832 permanent roles, 11,103 apprenticeships, and 5,157 paid university ...

Environmental sustainability can help poverty

TAXES, INCENTIVES, regulations, subsidies, trade and public procurement need to be realigned to favour sustainable consumption and production patterns if the world wants to end poverty.

That’s according to the UN High Level Panel charged with setting the new direction for global development. Its latest set of recommendations, the 26-member panel, which included UK prime minister David Cameron and Unilever CEO Paul Polman, mark a clear break from the practice of ...

New nutrition course at River Cottage

COACHES AND athletes from the UK Olympic diving team have joined forces with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage to launch a new course.

Held at the restaurant’s chef school, Essential Eating is a one-day, City & Guilds-accredited course focusing on how to source and cook nutritious, performance-boosting foods in a sustainable, seasonal way. The emphasis is on using local, seasonal ingredients to create dishes that are high-energy, low-fat and low-salt, said River ...

Overfishing in decline

THE LATEST figures on fish stocks in EU waters indicate that efforts to phase out overfishing are paying off, said the European Commission.

In a consultation document, the Commission reported on the state of European fish stocks. The data shows that 39% of assessed fish stocks in EU waters of the Northeast Atlantic are now overfished, down from 47% last year and 95% in 2005.

Maria Damanaki, EU commissioner for maritime affairs ...

Carbon food fight

A NEW report suggests the UK is importing vast amounts of high-carbon products, including food.

Do you want the good news or the bad news? The good news is that carbon emissions from UK production have fallen by 20% in the past two decades (that’s probably where politicians hoped the Committee on Climate Change’s latest report ended). The bad is that these reductions have been more than offset by the emissions the country has ...

My viewpoint: Foodservice companies have a lot to answer for

WHEN IT comes to ethics, consumers have lots of questions and foodservice companies have a lot to answer for, says Dan Crossley.

“Does it really matter if people leave their ethics behind when they eat out? I think it does. Eating out is one of the trends most profoundly affecting the food system. In the UK people spend almost as much on eating out as on eating at home.

And yet it’s ...

Can caterers hit the jackpot with reverse vending?

MACHINES WHICH reward people for recycling are an expensive punt but a trial at Glasgow Caledonian University could show whether they pay off.

Students drink a lot of coffee. At Glasgow Caledonian University, the 17,000 students get through about 6,000 cups every day – 40% of them in disposable cups. About 1,500 plastic bottles and 500 aluminium cans also pile up in bins around campus and in the five catering outlets. Frank McCabe, ...

The Political Print: Thatcher and NGO’s

WHEN YOU associate Margaret Thatcher with food the first thought that springs to mind is probably milk. Yet the Iron Lady’s legacy to the industry is far greater than denying kids a free glass of the white stuff.

Supporters would, with some justification, argue that the food system we now have – characterised by bountiful supplies of cheap, convenient, value-added food from all four corners of the globe – stems from her strident ...

Under the microscope

MINISTERS AND food safety officials are trying to work out how to reassure a concerned public. Footprint reports from the first supply chain conference after the horse meat scandal.

Laws are like sausages, politicians often quip: it’s better not to see how they are made. Ditto burgers, it seems. But as the government and its agencies begin reviewing the horse meat scandal and – possibly – developing regulations to ensure it ...