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The list below shows which magazine are still available and gives the main stories in each issue.
Available
issue numbers
60 61 62
63 64 65
66 67 68
69 70
71 72 73
74 75 76
77 78 79
80 81
Issue
60
- January/March 2003
Football
sells out to junk food brands - Top football clubs and national
football organisations like the FA are allowing their school-linked
health promotion activities to be compromised by fast food, confectionery
and soft drinks companies.
Cyclamate to go - only five years late - We exposed the high levels of this controversial sweetener in children's drinks, and it seems the EC is about to act.
Investing in obesity - A leading investment bank warns that companies which sell foods that encourage obesity could face loss of sales and legal suits.
Bread, crisps, beans and soup - as salty as ever - despite food industry claims to be reducing the salt in processed foods, our survey shows that little has changed in 25 years.
Government advisory committee says cut kid's salt - but it won't be an easy task.
Labelling and the law - food labels must show the actual amounts of key ingredients, but as our special report shows, socks are better labelled than sausages.
A CAP on nutritional
gains - the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has successfully increased
the production of meat and dairy foods, but has restricted fruit and
vegetable production.
Issue
61
- April/June 2003
Low benefit levels threaten babies' health - A new survey from
The Food Commission and the Maternity Alliance shows that most pregnant
teenagers are not eating an adequate diet during their pregnancy, with
many reporting that they cannot afford to do so.
'Five a day' logo gets a rough ride - The Department of Health's (DoH) long-awaited 'five a day' logo, meant to promote the consumption of fruit and vegetables, has been rejected by retailers. Many companies continue to put their own 'five a day' claims on products, despite the fact that most would not qualify under DoH nutritional criteria.
Lineker lets children down but Jamie's a star - the latest awards from The Parents Jury. Lots more info at www. parentsjury.org
Nestlé makes ridiculous salt claim - Cereal manufacturer Nestlé states in an advert for Shredded Wheat that 'You'd never add salt. Neither would we'. Fair enough - but a quick survey of their other cereals, most of which are aimed at children, shows that all the surveyed cereals contain high levels of added salt.
Is there no such thing as a 'bad food'? - Junk food manufacturers, retailers and advertisers frequently defend themselves with the claim that 'there's no such thing as a bad food, only a bad diet. We challenge this self-serving view, and reveal the contradictions in their arguments.
Going 'glocal' - Global food companies are now extending their markets by focusing on local niches, Corinna Hawkes reports.
Food for oil - The first known agricultural settlements were in Iraq, but now food must be bought in from abroad, traded for irreplacable oil under a so-called aid scheme.
Cadbury's targets school children by using sport to encourage chocolate consumption - The government's sports minister has endorsed a commercial scheme which promotes the consumption of fatty, sugary snacks, blindly ignoring the link between a good diet, good health and sporting achievement. We reveal the true financial costs and the astonishing amount of fat and sugar which children will be encouraged to eat if schools take part in Cadbury's latest marketing ploy.
Issue
62
- July/September 2003
BBC in row over Tweenies abuse - The BBC is cashing in with children's
characters The Tweenies, using them to sell a range of high fat, high
sugar and high salt foods. We ask why the BBC, which is supposed to
have a public-service ethic, is ignoring children's health in the pursuit
of profit.
Cadbury's fingers bitten - follow up to Cadbury's report in FM61.
Manufacturers market formula milk to mums - A survey by The Parents Jury has found that good intentions to breastfeed can be undermined by free formula milk samples in 'Bounty packs'.
Salt advice was diluted - new government salt advice for children has been watered down to 'achievable' rather than 'ideal' levels, because so much salt is added to children's food.
Is a landfill crisis putting BSE back on our plates? - Meat and bone meal (MBM) from older cattle is banned from human consumption and use in agriculture, but with landfill sites rapidly filling up is there a danger of MBM re-entering the food chain?
FSA proposals are a 'rogue's charter' for processed meats - It isn't just excess water added to chicken that needs tough laws, it's the whole of the processed food supply.
Broadcasting bad health - In a special four page report, the Food Commission examines why food marketing to children needs to be controlled.
Children's menus - the best and the worst - It's summertime, and families are setting off on day trips and holidays. But what sort of children's menus will they find on their travels? The Parents Jury awards the best, and the worst.
Food surveys say we are eating less than ever before - so is the rise in obesity a result of lack of exercise, or are the dietary surveys getting it wrong? Tim Lobstein investigates.
Issue 63 - October/December 2003
Chuck
snacks off the checkout - New Food Commission campaign to kick unhealthy
snacks and sweets off supermarket checkouts.
FSA takes steps to cut salt -
The Food Standards Agency has challenged the food industry to make significant
reductions in the salt added to food.
BBC back-tracks on fast food - The BBC says that it has 'no further
plans' to use children's characters such as The Teletubbies and Tweenies
to promote fast food.
Fatty sausages - premium sausages
are now fattier than ever, some are one third fat.
America requires trans-fat labelling
- but UK consumers are still denied this information.
Krispy
Kremes 'to nought' for health - America's latest export to the UK
contains up to a quarter of your day's maximum fat intake in a single
portion.
Nestlé Salt Awareness Campaign - Nestlé are running
a salt awareness campaign with the British Heart Foundation, but undermine
their own campaign with their high salt breakfast cereals.
Publishers target the tiniest tastebuds - educational books aimed
at toddlers have been hi-jacked by sugary foods such as M&Ms and
Cheerios. The heavily branded books incorporate sweets and sugared breakfast
cereals into simple reading and counting exercises.
Milk... or sweets? - Food manufacturers are using the perceived
goodness of milk to encourage sales of fatty, sugary sweets.
Are children getting less active? - The food industry argues
that children are getting fatter because they are not getting enough
exercise, not because of the food they eat. The Food Magazine examines
the evidence.
Issue
64
- January/March
2004
Soft drinks - or liquid candy
New Food Magazine research shows that a single drink of Ribena or Lucozade
will give you as much sugar as several packets of sweets.
Boots serves up flavoured water for newborns - Never one
to miss a marketing opportunity, Boots are now selling flavoured water
to babies from four weeks onwards, in direct contravention of expert
medical advice.
Dubious science - but who cares? Nestlé uses poor science
to convince mums that its cereals can 'help kids concentrate significantly
better'.
Milky Way pretends to be healthy - new sandwich spread sells
fat and sugar using 'calcium, magnesium and vitamins'.
Cause obesity? 'Not us' claim food companies - The Food Magazine
looks at what food companies have recently been telling the Health Select
Committee inquiry into obesity, and contrasts their words with their
actions.
Fight fat the fiscal way - Improving public health will take
action from all government departments, including health, education,
transport, environment, media and sport. The Food Magazine looks at
some of the economic measures that could help shape our diets.
Organochlorines
and obesity: Researchers are increasingly concerned that
environmental contaminants that affect hormone function in humans, including
the oestrogen-like activity shown by organochlorines such as DDT, may
be increasing our risk of excess body weight.
Food miles - the modern food system is making an increasing contribution
to global climate change, and it's not making things any better.
Toddler
top puts teeth at risk: How one tiny piece of plastic can pose
a serious threat to toddlers' teeth
New GM labels exclude meat and milk - hard-won tighter labelling
requirements for GM foods and animal feeds, scheduled for introduction
this April, will leave one glaring loophole: there will be no labelling
of meat, milk and eggs produced from animals fed with GM animal feed.
Mod warns of burger threat: Under the banner 'Who Dares Slims' the UK Ministry of Defence has announced plans to tackle the 'growing problems in society of obesity and over reliance on junk food and their impact on military personnel's health and fitness.'
Parent
Power works: BBC publishes nutrition policy... and Bob
the Builder is shamed into action.
Nestlé and Nutricia target vulnerable families: Food companies continue to promote inappropriate food to vulnerable babies from low-income families, ignoring an international code drawn up to protect infant health.
Olympic challence to Coca-Cola - Coca-Cola is the official sponsor of the Olympics, but athletes are banned from drinking it.
Market specialists highlight obesity as a profit opportunity: Obese people naturally have a larger skin area, and as international 'market information' company TNS points out, this could mean increased sales of skin care products, generating more profit.
Children's food as salty as ever: One year after the Food Standards Agency issued guidelines on maximum salt intake levels for children, we find that industry has done little to cut the high salt levels which are routinely added to children's foods.
How much does obesity cost? Obesity is not just a personal health issue. There is also an urgent economic case for government action to tackle obesity.
The price of meat: Meat consumption is increasing across the globe, but how much longer can the world sustain a love for eating meat? Not for much longer, according to the figures.
Burning calories the slow way: Sit down and talk on the phone for 30 min and you can burn off 4 Kcalories! Or let the dog out of the back door - that's another 2 Kcalories burnt off! Check out our suggestions for other slow (and fast) methods of burning off the calories.
GI explained: Glycaemic Index figures are increasingly being used to try and sell processed foods as healthy, but very few people understand what the Index means. The Food Magazine answers some of your questions.
What's the beef? In our pursuit of economic 'efficiency' in modern agriculture we have lost sight of the natural efficiency of old ways of farming. Stanley Challenger Graham laments our fall from wisdom.
CAP
reforms will short-change farmers: Vicki Hird explains why anomalies
in the latest Common Agricultural Policy reforms could force farmers
to destroy ancient orchards
Issue 66 - July/September 2004
Government subsidises snack promotion: British tax-payers are subsidising snack foods to the tune of millions of pounds through a government scheme to support food exports. The money is paid to Food for Britain, which is helping British junk foods establish themselves in overseas markets.
McDonalds
evicted from ward: Complaints from parents have forced a hospital
to ban McDonald's statff from visiting a children's ward and handing
out vouchers for burgers and fries.
Nestlé attempts to lure schools with 'fuel' for kids: Nestlé is rebranding school vending machines as 'Refuel:Pods' which the company claims will 'encourage pupils to have a balanced lifestyle'. Sounds good, until you look at the contents, 85% of which are high fat, high salt, high sugar junk foods.
Chicken - gone to fat: To kick off a series looking at modern farming the Food Magazine takes a look at chickens, and finds they have become fattier, have lost valuable nutrients and are no longer the supposed healthy alternative to red meat.
Children's meals flunk nutrition standards: Research finds that the children's meals served in restaurants, cafés and leisure centres are a nutritional nightmare.
Trust me, I'm a doctor: Apparent endorsements by the NHS and celebrity doctors such as Dr Hilary Jones are being used to re-enforce the questionable health claims made by advertisers.
Parents go hungry to feed their children: Food Commission research finds that almost half of all parents on a low income have gone without food so that another family member can eat.
Poor meal deals: The bargain meal deals offered by outlets such as Boots, Whistlestop, Shell, Texaco and on GNER trains are certainly convenient, filling and cheap - but are they as good as they seem?
Eat like a king? No thanks! The cheap ingredients which make up processed food don't cost very much, the principle costs being distribution and advertising. Manufacturers can thus make bigger profits from bigger portions - but do we really need king size chocolate bars that contain a quarter of an adult's daily energy requirements?
Traffic lights for Tesco: Tesco has promised a 'traffic light' labelling scheme to indicate the levels of fat, sugar and salt in its products. But shoppers may have to prepare for shelves full of red warnings, as we find that even Tesco's 'Healthy Living' range would score plenty of red lights.
Can
advertising promote healthy eating instead of junk foods? The food
industry spends millions on getting the likes of David Beckham, Miss
Dynamite and Justin Timberlake to endorse their products. Should a government
that is unwilling to regulate use advertising techniques to promote
health - and would it work?
Issue 67 - October/December 2004
Water fuels food miles: Sales of locally produced food have rocketed over the last decade, but a snap survey by The Food Commission finds that we're importing water from over 10,000 miles away, despite cheap, fresh, local water being available straight from the tap.
Self regulation illegal. The Office of Fair Trading has warned the food industry that a coordinated industry agreement to reduce salt in processed foods could be anti-competitive and limit consumer choice. If such voluntary agreements cannot work, perhaps it's time for statuatory standards?
Toddlers' teeth: no improvement. A government report on children's dental health shows that there has been no improvement in toddlers' teeth since 1993.
News
items
McDonald's sued over trans fat
Hovis confused over salt?
Heinz Meanz Spinz?
Pubs call for pint-sized portions
+ lots more . . .
Fish
- made of soya? (view PDF version)
Continuing
our series on the effects of modern farming on our dietary health we
look at fish, and ask whether the feed given to farmed fish reduces
their nutritional value.
School meals failing. New research in UK secondary schools has found that one third of catering managers had never heard of the government's compulsory nutritional standards for schools meals. Of those who had, 39% could not describe any of the standards, still less describe how they might be achieved.
Treat or trick? More than one in four UK adults are trying to lose weight and many of us are watching our fat and sugar consumption. With shoppers turning away from calories, food manufacturers are increasingly describing sugary, fatty foods as 'treats', encouraging us to indulge whilst remaining guilt free.
Regulators
say Frosties are not healthy (view PDF version)
Kellogg's has been told by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)
to withdraw advertising implying that Frosties cereal is healthy.
Do
we need plant sterols? (view PDF version)
Do healthy people need to eat foods with added plant sterols, like Flora
pro-activ or Benecol?
Should we let good food go to waste? How can we let tonnes of perfectly good food be thrown away whilst there are still millions of people in the UK who cannot afford to eat healthily, asks Alex Green from Fareshare.
A
new year's revolution?
Will the big food manufacturers really stop targeting children?
Organic
certifier faces nutrition challenge
Should the UK's biggest organic certification body, the Soil Association,
consider nutritional quality when it issues guidelines to its organic
food processors?
Twenty
years, and the fight rages on!
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the launch of the Food Commission
- then the London Food Commission - to 'meet the needs of consumers
and food workers'.
The
next twenty years - what will we face?
Looking to the future, what issues may confront us in the years to come?
Privatising
public health
The government's White Paper Choosing Health puts too much emphasis
on individual choice and not enough on public responsibility, argues
Sustain co-ordinator Jeanette Longfield.
Checkouts
still failing the junk test
A survey of supermarkets has found Morrisons to be the worst chain for
promoting junk food at the checkouts, knocking ASDA out of its long
held first place in our league table
Plants
lose their value (PDF document)
Continuing our look at the impact of modern farming on diet, we report
on the loss of nutrients in plant foods.
Scrambled
labels
Despite a tightening of the labelling rules last year, the labels on
egg boxes can still leave consumers befuddled. We went shopping and
found half-a-dozen, er... eggsamples.
When
will WHO make a move on Codex?
A leaked report puts the World Health Organization's strategic plans
on the spot.
Improving
food access for Londoners
The Food Commission is undertaking a major piece of work for the London
Development Agency, looking at how town planners and housing associations
could improve access to healthy, affordable food.
NHS
endorsement for Panda Pops?
Panda Pops have been told to stop marketing its children's drink products
as it they had been endorsed by the National Health Service.
Controlling the media
An apparently 'independent think tank' that questioned the extent of
obesity is funded by food manufacturers.
Insurance
and obesity risks
Insurance companies face a wide range of risks as the cost of obesity
related diseases soar.
Processed
meats are pumped up with water
The Food Magazine went looking for watery meat, and found the shelves
awash.
Old
cow back on plates
The government wants to end the rule banning cattle over 30 months old
from entering our food supply. Can we all meat again?
Voluntary
codes ignored
In the face of a food industry that is hugely resistent to statuatory
regulation the government favours voluntary codes. But do they work?
Irradiation
French activists target irradiation firms
Children
encouraged to advertise food to themselves (PDF)
Advertisers have responded to growing criticism of food advertising
by shifting into new marketing methods designed to encourage children
to advertise food to themselves
Advertising
Rulings from the Advertising Standards Authority
Allotment
power
Behind clanging gates, scattered remnants of fly tipping and the unkempt
banks of the Central Line, once vandalised allotments now provide a
vibrant community garden for refugees and asylum seekers.
Tesco profits but workers pay a high price
ActionAid calls for trade justice
Can
Omega-3 help prevent obesity?
Health claims linking omega-3 fatty acids to healthy hearts have been
approved. Could anti-obesity claims also be added?
Food
companies snare children in their webs
Makers of soft drinks, sweets and sugary cereals are designing websites
to catch the attention of children barely six or seven years old.
Independent
slammed for baby-milk ads
Campaigners fighting to protect infant health from baby-food marketing
have criticised The Independent newspaper for running advertisements
and advertorial from the baby-food company Milupa.
MPs petition for better food for children.
Food
industry dishes up desserts full of salt
A Food Magazine survey reveals high levels of salt where consumers
might least expect to find it - in desserts, cakes and biscuits.
How
low can they go?
After our exposé of added water in processed meat products (see
FM69) we dig a little deeper and find out what the law says about minimum
meat levels.
Legal,
decent, honest and true?
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) now has responsibility for
adjudicating on complaints for broadcast as well as print advertising.
Its latest rulings have far-reaching significance for food advertisers.
Fat
and malnourished?
Obese children may not be eating enough – at least in terms of
essential vitamins and minerals. Tim Lobstein reports
Nutrition
labels are designed to confuse
It’s more than 20 years since a senior government committee recommended
clear and simple nutrition labelling. We still don’t have it, and
the government is proposing yet another voluntary labelling initiative.
Will consumers ever get the information they need?
What
the doctor reads
The latest research from the medical journals
Issue 71- October/December 2005
The
high cost of cheap food
Everyday food products are implicated in the destruction of forests
and sea-life, with untold consequences for wildlife, millions of livelihoods
and our health. What can be done to reverse the destruction?
California
takes Burger King to court over acrylamide
The state of California is to prosecute nine major food companies –
including Burger King, KFC, Frito-Lay (Pepsico), Heinz, Kettles, Pringles
and McDonald's – for failing to warn consumers about the presence
of acrylamide in their products.
TV
guidance for child carers
The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for stronger guidelines
on physical activity for children in nurseries following fears that
television watching was being used by carers in place of interactive
play and physical activity.
Nutrition
advice gets hijacked
The American government has decided to rewrite the food pyramid, turning
straightforward health advice into little more than fudge. That's nothing
new, argues Kath Dalmeny – the food industry has been doing it
for years!
But
it couldn’t happen here, surely?
It's not just US dietary advice that is prone to being adapted according
to the politics and concerns of the day. We took a dip into our archive
to show readers some versions of the UK’s ‘Balance of good
health’ that have appeared over the years.
Milk
- with extra oestrogen?
Two-thirds of our milk supply comes from pregnant cows, but we don't
know what that means for our health.
Alco-milk
shakes?
Milk is for kids. Grown-ups drink alcohol. Yes?
The drinks industry got into some trouble when they stated selling alco-pops
with marketing messages designed to appeal to under-age drinkers.
Now we could see the same battle being fought again over alcoholic milk
drinks.
Nestlé’s
unfair trade
How the Nestlé executives must be laughing in their Swiss headquarters
as the world of ethical consumerism ties itself in knots. The highly
respected Fairtrade Foundation has a logo which it allows on products
supplied by farmers paid a half-decent wage. Nestlé has launched
a brand of coffee – Partners Blend – which, the company says,
conforms to the fair trade principles, and the Foundation has duly allowed
the logo onto the Partners Blend label.
Legal,
decent, honest and true?
The activities of the advertising industry raise many important questions
for nutrition and health. The Food Magazine reports on complaints
against food and drink companies considered by the Advertising Standards
Authority (ASA) in recent months.
Co-ops
promote cheaper, healthier food
Running a food co-operative can be one positive way for groups of people
to share the money-saving benefits of bulk purchasing, as Helen Sandwell
found when she visited the Lammas Green Food Co-operative in south London.
EC
butter scandal continues
Whilst consumers are urged to cut back on their consumption of saturated
fat, around half a million tonnes of cheap, subsidised butter and cream
are added to processed foods every year in the UK.
What
the doctor reads
The latest research from the medical journals
Chew
on this!
The Food Commission’s new website www.chewonthis.org.uk gives an
inside view on modern food production for both young teenagers and inquisitive
adults.
Cadbury
king-sizes by a different name
Despite having announced in 2004 that it would eliminate 'king size'
chocolate bars to do its bit to help cut the nation’s calorie consumption,
large-size Cadbury chocolate bars are back. And Cadbury's chocolate
finger biscuits (manufactured under licence by Burtons Biscuits) now
come in 'the biggest box ever!
Nutrition,
mental health and behaviour
The Food Magazine examines the research which suggests a healthy
diet can do more than lead to a healthy body.
Supermarkets
rated for health
There are twice as many supermarket price promotions for fatty and sugary
foods compared to healthier options of fruit and vegetables, according
to a new league table published by the National Consumer Council (NCC)
in November.
Waitrose
wins award for the welfare of pigs, poultry and fish
Waitrose has been named as Britain's most farm animal friendly supermarket
for the second time in succession in Compassion in World Farming's 'Compassionate
Supermarket of the Year' Awards.
Are
common additive cocktails toxic?
Research to be formally published this spring shows that combinations
of common food additives act synergistically and could have a greater
toxic effect in laboratory tests than the individual additives alone.
TV
ads to be hidden in programmes
Under new proposals from the EU the incidence of covert advertising,
known as 'product placement', is set to boom.
Obesity
hits over 30% of adults aged 60
Obesity rates are climbing for all adults, with those aged between 55
and 64 most at risk.
Meat
and dairy: where have the minerals gone? (PDF)
The mineral content of popular meats and milk products has fallen significantly.
Looking at 15 different meat items, research shows that the iron content
has fallen on average 47% since the 1930s, with some products showing
a fall as high as 80%. The iron content of milk had dropped by over
60% while for cream and eight different cheeses the iron loss was over
50%.
Terminator
is back
'Terminator' technology genetically modifies plants to produce only
sterile seeds. This forces farmers to buy new seed each season and allows
biotech companies' monopoly control over seeds. International negotiations
in Brazil in March will decide on the future of the technology.
Companies
promise miraculous hangover cures
Dietary supplements and energy drinks promise not only to cure your
hangover, but also to sober you up.
Flavourings
conjure up ‘Mediterranean Magic’
Why eat a healthy Mediterranean diet when you can pretend you're getting
all that goodness with the use of a some cheap, artificial flavourings?
And after your meal, how about a flavoured cigarette?
Asda
bows to campaign pressure over fish supplies
Supermarket Asda has promised to improve the sustainability of its fish
supplies after coming lowest in a list of supermarkets rated by Greenpeace
for their fisheries policies.
What
the doctor reads
The latest research from the medical journals
Government
suspends health lifeline
Publicly funded health activities are feeling the aftershock of the
NHS financial crisis. Over 300 health organisations have been waiting
since the beginning of January to find out if funding bids to the Department
of Health have been successful.
Unlabelled
GM soya discovered in a wide variety of foods
Foods made with soya mince or textured vegetable protein are more likely
than not to contain traces of genetically modified soya.
Disney
hesitates over junk-food ban
In May, the national press hinted that Disney might cease to associate
its popular children’s characters with junk food, after the entertainment
company ended its 10-year partnership with McDonald’s. A change
of heart? We fear not.
Confectioners join forces to avoid a red light
FSA
retreats from battle with salt sellers
The UK Food Standards Agency's long-awaited recommendations for reduced
salt consumption revealed a retreat from their previous proposals which
set tough limits on the sodium content of popular processed foods.
Sausages
and soap face ethical boycott
Committed Nestlé boycotters have been struggling in recent months
with the ethical conundrum of whether to continue buying cosmetics and
toiletries at the Body Shop, after it was bought out in March by L'Oréal,
of which Nestlé owns a significant share. Meanwhile, it is rumoured
that the vegetarian food company Tivall is set to purchase Linda McCartney
Foods. Nestlé owns 50.1% of Tivall. Could we soon see a boycott
of Linda McCartney sausages?
Climate
change: the risk of food poisoning
Among the many problems that climate change may bring to the British
Isles is a rise in the risk of food poisoning, especially during the
winter months. Tim Lobstein reports
Methyl
bromide passes its sell-by date
More than 5,000 farms and organisations joined forces with the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in April to reinvigorate the phase-out
of an agricultural fumigant that damages the ozone layer. Two UK supermarket
chains were specifically highlighted in the UNEP publicity for taking
a lead role – Marks & Spencer and the Co-op.
Aspartame:
the litmus test for the FSA and EFSA
Erik Millstone, Professor of Science Policy at the University of Sussex,
warns that recent research into the artificial sweetener aspartame is
being ignored by food regulators.
ASA
fails to defend fruit
Simply ticking off a few food companies isn’t nearly enough to
convince health campaigners that the Advertising Standards Association
is a champion of good nutrition, argues Kath Dalmeny.
Manipulated
desire
Marketeers have been using science to manipulate individuals' motivations,
desires and behaviour for over fifty years.
Stopping
the rot in nutrition science
Barrie Margetts, Editor-in-Chief of the scientific journal Public Health
Nutrition, examines the issue of commercially motivated and sometime
fraudulent nutrition research.
Ofcom
redefines a ‘child’, but what do the experts say?
Ofcom made the bizarre decision to suggest that junk food ads might
be regulated only for children under the age of nine. Why nine? It is
apparently an age randomly picked out of the air, and hardly an effective
basis for regulation.
Two
ways to tackle benzene
While American lawyers prepare to take soft drinks companies to court
over the presence of benzene in their products, the measures taken in
the UK tell a different story.
What
the doctor reads
The latest research from the medical journals
Issue 74 - July/September 2006
Cereals
steer clear of healthy labelling advice
New designs of cereal packs show how leading companies are combining
forces in a bid to counter government-recommended nutritional labelling.
Cadbury’s: no admission, no apology
Industry resorts to a tick for health
US
doctor sues KFC for trans fats
Colonel Sanders may lose his finger-lickin' appeal if a private lawsuit
in the US wins when it gets to court.
Artificial
sweeteners. The cure for obesity – or a causal factor?
Iincreasing numbers of research papers have thrown doubt on the assumption
that artificial sweeteners are an aid to weight loss. Some have shown
that if anything, these chemicals actually promote appetite.
Bob
the Builder ditches the salt
Tinned pasta may not be the healthiest food in the world - but at least
Crosse & Blackwell has made the effort to remove salt from a food
that many small children eat.
Is
healthy local food better than a Mediterranean diet?
For more than a decade the advantages of eating a 'Mediterranean' diet
have been widely promoted, but new research suggests that a healthy
version of a traditional, local diet in northern Europe may actually
be better for health.
Food
and farming in China
Emma Hockridge reports on food and farming in the world’s fastest
growing economy.
Legal,
decent, honest and true?
The activities of the advertising industry raise many important questions
for nutrition and health. Rachel Beebe reports on recent rulings by
the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
Ofcom
fudges junk food ad ban
In 2003 the broadcasting regulator Ofcom was asked to examine TV advertising
of unhealthy foods to children, to consult widely and come up with proposals
to protect children’s health. Jane Landon of the National Heart
Forum questions whether Ofcom is up to the job.
New
techniques for targeting children
As Ofcom dithers over the control of TV junk food advertising, the advertisers
are finding new ways to connect to children. Ian Tokelove reports.
Do
we need a daily dose of bacteria?
The market for 'one-a-day' probiotic and prebiotic products is huge,
but are they necessary?
Industry
divides over nutrition labelling
Will we end up with colour-coded food labels or, as the industry would
prefer, complex numerical signposting? Kath Dalmeny reports.
What
the doctor reads
The latest research from the medical journals
Issue 75 - Ocotber/December 2006
Is
advertising undermining breastfeeding?
A Food Commission survey found 364 adverts promoting the benefits of
bottle feeding in just ten parenting magazines in one week. Breast is
best, but commercial advertising seems to be undermining this message.
Trans fats: is the tide turning?
The New York City Board of Health is seeking to ban all but tiny quantities
of trans fats from being used in the city's 24,000 restaurants. Despite
a lack of action from the UK Government our own food manufacturers are
starting to clean up their act.
Five
a day the easy way?
The Department of Health says smoothies can only count as one of your
recommended daily five portions of fruit and veg – so why do Innocent
and PJ Smoothies claim otherwise? Meanwhile, Ultralife is marketing
a supplement called ‘Fruit & Veg: 5 a day the easy way!’
which is described as ‘nutrition in a drink – just add water!’
and Fruit2day is pulled from the market because of misleading marketing.
Call for beam trawl ban
Commercial fishermen kill or throw away one quarter of the fish they
catch – as well as seabirds, sea turtles, marine mammals and other
ocean life, according to a new campaign from Greenpeace.
Changing
climate for food choices
The impact of the food system on human-induced climate change is generally
calculated to be around 25 to 30% of the total effect, and yet the recent
Stern Report on climate change failed to emphasise food as one of the
main ways to deliver such change.
A
matter of social justice
Even conservative measures suggest that around ten million people are
living in poverty, including three million children. The Food Magazine
asks: what income do people need if they are to eat a healthy diet?
Pressure
grows to reduce salt in children's food
The first scientific review of the medical effects of reducing children's
salt intake has shown that this can significantly reduce children's
blood pressure.
US
obesity Chairman faces jail
The ex-head of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Chairman
of its authoritative Obesity Working Group, Lester Crawford, has admitted
owning shares in Pepsico and food company Sysco. He has pleaded guilty
to a Conflict of Interest charge and to making false statements to the
US Senate, and faces a possible two-year prison term.
GM
consultation ‘flawed’
Food
campaigners say UK Government proposals for the coexistence of genetically
modified (GM), conventional and organic crops would result in widespread
GM contamination, leaving UK consumers increasingly unable to tell if
their food is GM free or not.
Smart
appliances use energy intelligently
Could 'intelligent' domestic fridges play their part in tackling climate
change?
Saving
orchards the local way
“What is going on here looks picturesque but it's deadly serious.
I don't get out of bed at four in the morning every Saturday and Sunday
for nothing, I do it so we can make a living.” We take a look at
traditional apple production at Stocks Farm, in Constable Country.
‘Five
a day’ the salty way
Del Monte Premium Tomato Juice claims that it is ‘The healthy way
to 5-a-day’ but a single, salty 200ml serving contains more than
a quarter of an adult's maximum daily salt intake. (200ml juice contains
1.58g salt or 0.63g sodium). Manufacturers are required by law to give
some nutritional information if the label makes a nutritional claim,
as in this case – but there is no requirement to include salt levels.
We think there should be.
Appetite
for change
In 1996, the report Eating for Health: a Diet Action Plan for Scotland
set a framework for improving the diet of the Scottish people. Ten years
down the line, Bill Gray reports.
Advert
ban ‘best way to beat child obesity’
Advertising controls are likely to prove the single most cost-effective
means of cutting childhood obesity levels, according to work undertaken
by the State of Victoria, Australia.
Good
intentions with small steps
What is important to catering and food manufacturing companies owned
by people from London's multicultural communities? Zeenat Anjari finds
it is more than just turning a profit.
Still
a jungle...
In 1906, when monopolies controlled almost every sector of the US economy
from steel to sugar to coal to meat, Upton Sinclair published The Jungle
– a novel exposing the horrors of the stockyards of Chicago, the
centre of the US meat industry. 100 years later, Sheila Dillon explains
how little the meat industry has changed.
Getting
school meals right
Lynn Walsh reports on healthy eating initiatives in Welsh schools.
Healing
bodies and minds
Good nutrition should be an essential element in treatment for those
with drug and alcohol dependencies. Helen Sandwell reports.
Double
standards in food safety
Stephanie Williamson reports on agricultural safety in Senegal, where
struggling smallholders use hazardous pesticides on crops grown for
the local market, while nearby export crops are grown with all the money
and technology needed to ensure the produce meets UK safety standards.
The
latest research from the medical journals
Overweight men worry about being useless; UK: Diabetes numbers soar;
Cancer: American Cancer Society calls for diet action.
The
Olympics and the allotments
Organisers of London 2012 promise that the Olympic and Paralympic Games
will leave a lasting legacy for future generations. But legacies come
in all forms, as the eighty or so plot holders at Manor Gardens Allotments
in Stratford well know. The bulldozers are scheduled to roll over their
carefully tended patches sometime after they are evicted this April
to make way for footpaths and a giant TV screen for the 2012 Games.
Hackney
Council yields fruit
A section of Butterfield Green in Hackney, once a BMX bike track and
then derelict, has been turned into a community orchard. The joint project,
instigated by Shakespeare Neighborhood Residents Association and local
social enterprise Growing Communities, received Hackney Council backing
and now local people have come together to plant the trees.
More
than neeps and tatties
Scottish Executive backed schemes to promote fruit, vegetables and other
healthy foods in local shops are providing some heartening results.
Palm
oil producers fight back
As previously reported in The Food Magazine, the UK’s demand
for imported palm oil could threaten the survival of the orang-utan.
Their natural habitat, the lowland forests in Malaysia and Indonesia,
is rapidly being cleared for palm oil plantations. Faced with such criticism
and, wary that some food manufacturers are now starting to take corporate
responsibility seriously, the palm oil industry is launching a PR fightback.
Drinking
to climate change
Alcohol: a social pleasure for some… and a social headache for
others. But, while the papers are full of stories about teenage binge
drinkers, scant attention is paid to the fact that alcohol production
and consumption – as with many foods and drinks – carries
with it both environmental and health burdens.
Healthy schools and fair trade
School children all over the UK are running their own fair trade co-operatives
selling a range of food products. One, called Cocoafair, has ditched
their school's vending machines and set up healthy food projects, with
all profits going to an educational charity in Sri Lanka.
Does
TV encourage teenage drinking?
Popular soap shows are awash with alcohol, according to a survey published
in The Food Magazine. Alcohol featured in 18% of scenes shown during
Hollyoaks, in over 17% of scenes shown during Coronation Street and
in over 16% of scenes shown during EastEnders and Emmerdale. Home and
Away did better, with alcohol limited to just 6.7% of screen time.
The slice is right?
Bread is big business. On a typical day in the UK we spend over £7.4
million on nearly 12 million loaves of bread, 70% of which will be white.
But how much do we really know about our daily bread? Ian Tokelove reports.
Living bread
Jessica Mitchell goes in search of 'living bread' – the stuff made
from stoneground, wholemeal flour, water, yeast and salt – and
plenty of time.
Science
of life?
Dr Rafik Taibjee is a junior doctor training to be a GP. He is also
an inspector of medical schools for the General Medical Council. He
has taken sabattical leave in order to study Ayurvedic medicine in India.
GPs and dietary advice
A few readers have been in touch with The Food Magazine recently
to express concern about the dietary advice on offer at their local
GP surgeries.
A spoonful of sugar?
Medicines for babies and young children frequently contain a cocktail
of additives which are banned from foods and drinks designed to be consumed
by the under threes.
5
a day the seaweed way
Dr Duika Burges-Watson's recently designed ‘seaweed tour’
of Ireland hopes to remind us all that seaweeds and Westerners have
a long history as tablemates. She finds signs that old traditions are
being revitalised.
Moral panic over child obesity
Dr Wendy Wills, a Registered Public Health Nutritionist, thinks recent
guidelines for tackling obesity are letting down young people.
9pm watershed for junk ads?
Pressure is mounting on the government to introduce a 9pm watershed
for junk food adverts.
Advertising:
Legal, decent, honest and true?
Food and drink companies have been keeping the Advertising Standards
Authority (ASA) busy over the last few months, with several companies
pushing their advertising claims too far.
Voices
from the past
“I mean, tinned soup, I would never hae it
in the hoose unless it wis maybe Karen [daughter] comin’ in an’
I wis gaun away in a hurry…we were nae brought up like that, we
wis brought up to get a’ thing oot o’ the groun’ and
intae a pot…” This interview with a Scottish grandmother
was conducted in the 1970s for a health study called Mothers and Daughters
(Blaxter and Patterson, 1982). Her interview, along with 45 others,
is archived at the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) Qualidata-UK
Archive housed at the University of Essex. It is just one of around
two hundred collections containing a rich store of historical information
about food and meals.
Letters
Orange oil & juice concentrate
McDonalds bury GDA info
Eggs and extremists
Child
labour in cocoa industry
People around the world love chocolate, but behind some of the friendly
wrappers lies the exploitation of workers. Much of the world’s
cocoa is farmed in West Africa where thousands of children are forced
to work to produce the beans which are the main ingredient in chocolate.
Eat
less salt
The Food Commission is leading a pioneering project in south east London
which aims to improve the health of thousands of tenants and staff of
the Sydenham-based Hexagon Housing Association. The 'Healthy Hexagon,
Eat less salt' project will provide healthy eating advice to over 3,000
households, showing the residents and staff of Hexagon how to reduce
their salt consumption.
Through
the mincer
Two research surveys from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) have hit our
desks; one is on minced meat composition and labelling and the other
on ham. Among the surprising facts about mince is that the word 'lean'
is allowed to be used largely indiscriminately, appearing on products
with as little as 5% fat and up to 20%. Products described as 'ham'
can actually contain up to 30% water, as we reported in FM69; but only
just over half of people surveyed were able to calculate that ham which
was labelled as being 80% meat would have a maximum of 20% added water.
Junk
food advertising
Momentum is gathering behind the campaign to insist that the Government
properly protects children from junk food TV advertising through the
introduction of a 9pm watershed.
Findus & Beckham push supplements for kids
Food manufacturer Findus has linked with The David Beckham Academy to
promote yet another range of omega 3 supplements. The supplements have
yet to appear in the shops, but can be purchased from a website which
makes some highly misleading claims about the benefits of omega 3 oils.
What
does seasonal mean?
The Food Commission has become increasingly concerned about the apparent
abuse of the word ‘seasonal’ by many food manufacturers and
retailers.
Bottled water
Plastic water bottles account for a significant proportion of the estimated
half-a-million tonnes of plastic we throw away every year. Collection
of waste plastic is patchy at best – only about 17% of plastic
bottles produced are recycled in the UK – and there is still little
market for recycled plastic here.
In
support of sport
“We need more girls to come through so they can be sporting heroes
for a new generation of athletes.” Dame Kelly Holmes talks to Yvonne
Wake of The Food Magazine.
Not even in the running
Physical activity is essential for everybody's health. But does sports
coverage in the national newspapers promote equal participation for
both men and women? Jessica Mitchell reports.
Additives and 'unwanted effects'
In the last Food Magazine we revealed that many over-the-counter
children’s medicines contain additives which are banned from food
and drink for the under-threes. Here we reveal what the labels do (and
don't) tell us.
All abuzz about bees
Honey bees are a protected species, so what do you do when a swarm sets
up home in your house? Jessica Mitchell reports.
The honey bee was once one of the most familiar insects around. But, it is now in severe decline in the wild. Cally Matthews reports.
Overfished
and in need of protection
Many of the world's fish stocks are in crisis. We find out how consumers
can get the information they need to decide what to buy.
Fish eating habits die hard
The leading recipe magazines sell millions of copies and feature many
fish recipes. Could they be hastening the destruction of endangered
fish stocks?
Carbon labelling storm
Can carbon labels help steer consumers towards a climate-friendly diet,
or are we heading into a storm, every bit as messy as the furore over
nutrition labelling? Kath Dalmeny reports.
SOS:
save our seeds
Have you ever heard of, or tasted the Sub-Arctic Plenty tomato or Mrs.
Fortune’s Climbing French Bean or the Carlin Pea? The Heritage
Seed Library hopes to ensure that vegetable varieties such as these
do not become extinct.
Advertising
rulings
Cadbury ad meets a sticky end.
Saucy cooking claim for probiotics.
+ lots
more news, book reviews, what the doctor reads, your letters, backbites
and lots, lots more in every issue!
Issue 78 - July/September 2007
Is
ignorance bliss when eating out?
Should restaurants have to provide nutritional information on their
menus?
School
kids not put off by healthy lunches
Campaigners say that recent reports about the dramatic decline in consumption
of school meals have been overstated and give a misleading impression
of the true state of this provision.
Kids
against cocoa slavery
Chocolate manufacturers such as Nestlé, Mars and Cadbury are
not doing much to stop child slavery in the Ivory Coast, so school kids
in Tonbridge Wells are taking a stand.
EU slack on tackling obesity
The European Commission's talking shop on tackling obesity - properly
titled the 'Platform on Physical Activity, Diet and Health' - has decided
it will need at least two more years before it can judge whether it
has achieved anything useful.
Sweet
confusion at the breakfast table
Research published by The Food Standards Agency indicates that many
people remain confused about the high levels of sugar in breakfast cereals.
Superfoods
will need to justify claims
A new European Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation came into force
on 1st July, to help protect consumers from misleading claims. No food
will be able to claim it is a 'superfood' without scientific backing.
Other claims such as 'good for your heart' and 'helps lower cholesterol'
will also need to be based on good science. The claims will be verified
by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). However, EFSA has allowed
itself a further two years to evaluate the claims – so do not expect
to see an end to misleading ‘superfood’ claims just yet.
The
soft sell?
We do not expect ice creams and ice lollies to be healthy - after all,
they are basically a frozen, sugary treat, but what is really in them?
How
super is that store?
Vicki Hird, from the Real Food Team at Friends of the Earth, reports
on the fight to control supermarkets.
Farmers
finding new markets
Jessica Mitchell meets Somerset farming families who are wary of the
supermarket way of doing business.
Food
production must support health and the environment
Is the Common Agricultural Policy helping to make us fat and unhealthy?
Modi Mwatsuma reports.
US
farm policy - corn in everything
Jean Snedegar reports from West Virginia. "As I walk around the
supermarket, nearly every product I pass contains corn. In the meat
coolers it's corn-fed beef and corn-fed pork. Next to that is corn-fed
chicken and corn-fed turkey. Even some of the farmed fish is corn-fed.
In the dairy section too, milk, butter, yoghurt and cheese are from
corn-fed cows, and eggs from corn-fed chickens."
Edible
landscapes on housing estates
Food growing provides a sense of place - quite literally putting down
roots. There is nothing more fundamental than claiming a patch of ground
and planting a few vegetables. The Women's Environmental Network has
recently been working with housing associations, local councils and
tenants to set up projects that match up those with a desire to grow
food, with public institutions that actually control access to land
around the places tenants live.
Pineapple
bling
Courtney Van de Weyer reports on a business in Uganda linking land rights
and food production.
Quit
drugs, start cooking
Changing an individual's eating habits is not easy, and this can be
especially true for those who have much else on their plates. Substance
misusers are a group that have failed to be included in most mainstream
healthy eating projects, but a recent pilot project in Brighton aimed
to address that failure.
The
cost of calories
The Food Magazine went out shopping in a low-income area in inner
East London, to see how much food cost in terms of the calories you
can buy for your pennies.
Cadbury
Schweppes accused of misleading 'all natural' claims.
Cadbury Schweppes could face paying out six years worth of refunds if
a New Yorker succeeds with a court suit against the soft drink giant's
labelling practices. Hemant Mehta has filed an action accusing Cadbury
Schweppes of misleading customers with claims that certain products,
including its Snapple juice and tea drinks, were "all natural"
when they were not.
Advertising
rulings
Garlic butter without garlic, or butter
Sausages are ‘hard work’
85% of women found it beneficial?
Issue
79
-
October/December 2007
Enzymes:
the hidden extras in almost everything we eat: Enzymes are used
in almost all aspects of modern food production. They modify the raw
ingredients of the food we eat and the food itself. However, enzymes
go unmentioned in ingredients lists and food manufacturers remain curiously
shy about their use. The Food Magazine reports.
Action
on Additives: The new Action on Additives website is going from
strength to strength. We now have over 300 products listed - each of
which contains the suspect food additives shown to cause hyperactive
behaviour in susceptible children.
Many of these products are marketed directly at children, using characters such as Bart Simpson and Disney's Tigger. Check out the list at www.actiononadditives.com and let us know what other foods, drinks or medicines you have found, or comment on those we already have listed.
Crunch time for UK apples: The Food Magazine checks out the UK apple harvest and goes foraging for free fruit in Sheffield.
Let's make VAT a tax on junk: Should we tax unhealthy foods?
The decline of the fresh British spud: Consumption of fresh potatoes is plummeting as we switch to eating processed spuds in the form of frozen chips, crisps and ready-to-eat mash.
On the joys of shopkeeping: The Food Magazine meets the small shopkeepers threatened by the might of the big supermarkets.
Fitness machines versus vending machines: Do vending machines belong in our fitness centres? Many of the products on offer contain more calories than we could burn off with half an hour's exercise.
Invasion of the zombie seeds: First we had genetically modified Terminator seeds, designed to produce sterile plants so that farmers could not gather fresh seed for future harvests. Instead the farmers must purchase more seeds from the seed companies each year. Now we have genetically modified Zombie seeds, in which farmers must buy chemicals to bring sterile seeds back to life. The Food Magazine reports.
Climate chaos threatens food supply: Sheila Dillon, presenter of Radio 4's The Food Programme reports on the double whammy of population growth and climate change.
Truth, trust and tabloid TV: Tackling the bad diets and lack of exercise of overweight young people has emerged as one of the hot topics for TV factual entertainment programmes. The Food Magazine investigates.
Advertising rulings: Dairylea Lunchables, Special K Sustain, Innocent Smoothies, UK Tea Council, Five a Day? Cancer doesn't care.
New fruitier taste, what's the catch? Chivers Hartley, manufacturer of Hartley's jellies, have come up with a great way of making their jellies even fruitier - they have removed all the fruit.
Issue 80 - January / March 200
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