News on Health and Nutrition from Belgium

Scientists from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) are setting up a task force to coordinate investigations to track down the source of any contaminated sprouted seeds in the European Union

La Autoridad Europea de Seguridad Alimentaria (EFSA) ha publicado un informe sobre niveles de acrilamida en alimentos. Este informe incluye una evaluación de la exposición donde se estima por un lado el consumo de acrilamida por los distintos grupos de...

Although consumers are spending a limited amount of their total and food expenditure on fresh fruit and vegetables, price is among the top purchase criteria. However, market observations show that fruit and vegetables are not expensive or becoming more...

The European Snacks Association (ESA) recommends a portion of 30g for savoury snacks and Nuts.This portion recommendation for savoury snacks was agreed in close cooperation with CIAA.In defining portions for snacks and for nuts, ESA aims to ensure that...

Het Europees Parlement heeft tegen een stoplichtsysteem gestemd. Een amendement van enkele fracties in het Parlement voor de invoering van zo'n systeem werd verworpen.   Volgens de voorstanders van het verkeerslichtensysteem kunnen consumenten aan de h...

Adding the hydrocolloid HPMC to a batter can reduce the uptake of oil during frying and enhance the ‘crunch’ on eating the crispy crust, says new data from Europe. Scientists from TI Food and Nutrition, Spain’s CSIC, and TNO Quality of Life examined th...

EFSA has published a summary of acrylamide levels in different types of food sampled in 2008. The report is based on over 3,400 results provided by 22 European Union Member States and Norway. The highest average levels of acrylamide were reported in t...

The European Snack Association (ESA) joins the EU pledge initiative.The EU Pledge is a commitment by leading food and beverage companies in Europe to change food and beverage advertising on TV, print and internet to children under the age of 12 in the ...

Onderzoekers van de vakgroep Voedselveiligheid en Voedselkwaliteit van de UGent hebben innovatieve technieken ontwikkeld om het acrylamidegehalte in frietjes te verminderen. Acrylamide is een vermoedelijk kankerverwekkende stof die in meerdere voedings...

Salt reduction initiatives are underway in all the EU member states under the EU framework, but public awareness raising and reformulation are patchy. The EU framework for national salt initiatives was adopted in 2008 by the High Level Group on Diet, P...

The 2009 Frost &Sullivan Global Weight Management Ingredients New Product Innovation Award is presented to Kemin Health. Kemin Health's Slendesta is the only appetite suppressant in the weight management ingredients market to be sourced from pota...

Between January 2008 and June 2009, Mintel (Global New Products Database) tracked a total of 88,364 new food and beverage product launches throughout Europe. The most frequent claims made on these are (in descending order):

Commission Recommendation 2007/331/EC on the monitoring of acrylamide levels in food of 3 May 2007 requires the Member States to perform annually in 2007, 2008 and 2009 the monitoring of acrylamide levels in certain foodstuffs. These data have to be t...

Snack makers on the alert for acrylamide formation in their baked products have a new tool at their disposal to rapidly analyse asparagine levels.   Thermo Fisher Scientific claims its automated photometric method is a "simple and effective&quo...

A deal on two pieces of EU legislation banning a number of highly toxic chemicals within pesticides and reducing pesticide use has been reached between MEPs and representatives of European Union member states.Under the first, according to the agreement...

At Health Ingredients Europe, the Dow Chemical Company introduced Satisfit, a new weight management ingredient this week, which it claims has been shown to block the absorption of saturated and trans-fats in pre-clinical trials.

Research by economists at the University of Warwick, Dartmouth College, and the University of Leuven, finds that people are powerfully but subconsciously influenced by the weight of those around them.