Foodservice News Analysis

Foodservice news analysis. Get the inside track on the key stories breaking in the foodservice sector, from Footprint’s expert researchers and editorial team.

FOOTPRINT TRENDS: a foodservice review for the new year

In the first of Footprint’s ‘Trends 2019’ series, Nick Hughes rounds up the year just gone and forecasts the key issues of 2019. Looking back on 2018 The biggest issue was … Plastic. From the day in December 2017 when the episode of “Blue Planet” aired showing the blight on our oceans caused by…

Campaigners welcomed some of the ambition within the strategy, but criticised the timeframes. Mary Creagh, chair of the House of Commons environmental audit committee, also accused the government of “kicking the waste can down the road yet again”. She said: “The plastic bottle deposit return scheme promised in 2018 won’t be ready until 2023. Textile…

Microbreweries are booming as EU beer production grows despite a drop in overall alcohol consumption, a new report finds. By David Burrows. What has been published? The Brewers of Europe’s latest statistics. Basically, it’s a state-of-the-sector review, highlighting how much beer was made and drunk in the EU in 2017. It showed that there’s been…

Obesity still rising, but better news on fruit and veg consumption

The Health Survey for England monitors trends in the nation’s health, and the latest figures show obesity is still rising. The prevalence of obesity has generally fluctuated between 23% and 27% between 2003 and 2016, but last year it was 29%. The survey showed that most adults surveyed (64% of 8,000) were overweight or obese…

Plastics package: polls apart and stirring trouble

UKHospitality seeks a delay on stirrers ban, recycling rates are on the up – and our inbox is swamped by surveys. By David Burrows. Here at the Package we have been considering a ban – a ban on consumer polls about plastic. Please do keep sending them – the “stats” give us a chuckle of…

Analysis: Mind the emissions gap – why now is the time to act

The latest UN report shows that climate action is lagging well behind what’s needed. Countries must get serious, say experts at the World Resources Institute. The UN’s annual Emissions Gap Report takes stock of where global greenhouse gas emissions are headed versus where they need to be if we are to avoid the worst effects…

Muddled food policy puts UK at bottom of the class

This year’s Food Sustainability Index ranks the UK among the laggards of Europe – and that’s before Brexit hits the industry. By Nick Hughes. Just as Brexit negotiations threaten to reach a harmonious conclusion (we can dream, can’t we?) news breaks that gives Britain’s EU neighbours fresh cause to cast disdainful gazes across the Channel.…

Foodservice managers are looking on the bright side of Brexit

With just four months to go until the UK-EU divorce, there was every chance that the latest UKHospitality report would be a grim read. But that’s not the case, says David Burrows. It’s hard to find good news these days. As one Guardian commentator noted recently: we now live in dark, depressing, God-awful times ……

Glass half full: green gourmets, Belgian brainwave and Iceland’s rainforest ruckus

Welcome to our new feature celebrating the good news stories from sustainable foodservice. By Nick Hughes. The past month has provided multiple reasons to feel pretty desperate about the state of the planet – from the IPCC report that set out in stark terms how little time we have left to avert catastrophic climate breakdown,…

People are perfectly designed to look the other way on climate change. But behavioural science can help. By Izzy Brennan. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned in October that we have just 12 years to keep global warming to a maximum of 1.5C and avert the most severe consequences of extreme weather, rising…