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the rapporteur’s report on the food information proposal has elicited a positive initial reaction from industry, but some sticking points still remain. german mep renate sommer’s report for the european parliament’s environment, public health and food safety (envi) committee was published in english last week. of the 143 amendments, the majority were clarifications and wording changes.

“four legs good, two legs bad.” when the pigs take over the land in george orwell’s animal farm , they have no hesitation; any creature with four legs is beyond reproach and any human is bad, mad and dangerous to know. a similar dogma plagues the way the west thinks about how agriculture should - or more commonly in western europe at least should not - be supported.

more investment in science and technology, good policy, and cooperation with other industries are crucial to securing sufficient food supply for all in the next 15 years, a panel of experts has concluded. at the future of food seminar in brussels last week, international experts from business, government, science and society turned their attention to current problems facing world food supply, and factors that could affect it in the future.

food allergies could be a thing of the past, if new europe-wide project achieves its goals of developing treatments for a condition that affects around 10 million eu citizens. the food allergy specific immunotherapy (fast) project will use modified variants of proteins that cause an allergic response, but the variants will be hypoallergenic and therefore safer. the proteins will be purified making them more effective and making it easier to control the dose, say the researchers.

the uk’s department for environment, food and rural affairs (defra) has released new figures that show support for local food producers by buyers for the health service, ministry of defence and prisons. the nhs supply chain now sources 70 per cent of its food from the uk, according to the data set, compared to 58.3 per cent a year ago. the ministry of defence, meanwhile, has stepped up local uk sourcing from 43 per cent in 2007 to 59 per cent this year.

the prince of wales will today award six uk schools judge to have the ‘best food culture’ at the inaugural food for life partnership awards. the food for life partnership is led by the soil association, and has seen considerable interest in membership from schools since celebrity chef jamie oliver launched his school meals campaign in 2005. jeanette orrey, food for life partnership school meals advisor and the school cook who inspired oliver’s campaign, said: “we campaigned for better school dinners, but it’s not just about school meals anymore, it’s also about practical food education like learning to cook, growing food and visiting farms to learn where food actually comes from.

purecircle has made two new appointments to bolster its management team, in advance of an anticipated boom for stevia-derived sweeteners. the malaysian company, which is listed on the london stock exchange has appointed dorn wenninger as corporate vice-president: supply chain. wenniger, who has worked for chiquita and driscoll’s, and has experience in south america, africa and far east where purecircle operates its supply chain.

the international federation of organic agriculture movements (ifoam) has developed a dedicated area of its website containing practical information on growing organic produce. the growing organic pages, at www.ifoam.org/growingorganic , present practical information for the organic sector as a whole – and are drawn from information and tools from the organic community across the globe.

the top claims used on beverages over the past four years reveal a distinct shift in focus towards drinks with no additives or preservatives, according to statistics provided by mintel this morning. mintel’s global new products database (gnpd), which tracks all new product launches, found that ‘no additives/preservatives’ has been the top claim made on new drinks launched in europe for two consecutive years.

the ceo of us firm natur research ingredients, loren miles, is to promote the benefits of its cweet natural intense sweetener to the european market as it awaits regulatory approval. miles will address r&d staff and management from food, beverage, sweetener and ingredient companies in food valley, wageningen, netherlands on december 16. cweet, made from brazzein, the fruit of pentadiplandra brazzeana baillon, is said to be 1,000 times sweeter than sucrose on a weight-basis with a taste profile similar to sucrose.