Food 'n' Drink – Food and Drink news |

Last week it was found that meat from a handful of cloned cows was sold on the market and ended up being consumed by several British families.  It was added later that milk from the animals may also have ended up on supermarket shelves.

The news caused headlines to cry out that ‘supercalves’ were now being used within the diary industry.  It was claimed later that hundreds of cloned cows were found in farms throughout the UK.  The headlines claimed that meat from the cloned animals would soon fill up the meat shelves at grocers.

Although one might expect the FSA to lash out with a sense of calm, it instead announced that any items from a cloned animal should be thought of as a novelty item and thus would need to be approved by the FSA before it was sold and that they simply had not given permission.

However, the EU responded by saying that approval for the goods was not needed and that milk could be sold from the animals without any need to tell the authorities.

With this interpretation in mind, the milk and meat from cows could be all over the place without people being aware of the fact.

Grahame Bulfield, the past director of Roslin Institute where the first sheep was cloned, stated that the FSA is simply making itself look ridiculous because it cannot actually prove that cloned meat or diary is being used in any way or is in fact different than any other type of meat that may be consumed.  He added that since there is not any evidence, it must be the same.

According to the British Retail Consortium, a group that represents about 80% of Britain’s retailers, the cost of food has gone up and the cost of non-food has gone down.

Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC, said that the rise in food costs was due mainly to global factors including the record heat wave in Russia that damaged much of the wheat crop, driving wheat to its highest cost in 22 months.

Other climate-related problems around the world, i.e. the draught in Australia and floods in Canada, India and Pakistan contributed to the increase, as both livestock feed and many fruit crops suffered from either too much or not enough water.

The drop in cost of non-food goods such as clothing, flooring and furniture was the greatest in 18 months, according to the same report.  This decrease resulted from retailers offering major discounts, so it is not really a reflection of the overall economic situation.

Policy makers at Bank of England are divided as to the degree of risk to the economy of inflation and budget cuts.

It is expected that they will vote to keep temporary stimulus measures in place at present.  Economists also predict that the planned increase in the VAT as of January 2011 will cause a significant rise in the rate of inflation.

Isabella Beeton is easily known as one of the most important contributors to British cooking as her books were a popular wedding present and most women ended up with her recipe books on their shelves.

However, it seems the Australians are now starting to appreciate her cooking as there has been a surge in the amount of Aussies looking for original copies of her Every Day Cookery and Housekeeping Book as well as her Book of Household Management.

Although Beeton passed on in 1865, her legacy has continued to impact people via reprints and according to Antique dealer reports many of her books have landed overseas via eBay Australia and independent sellers.  In fact, the prices for her cookbooks are much higher in Australia versus the UK.

It is hard to figure out exactly what Australians find so fascinating about Beeton compared to UK readers, but it is not so hard to comprehend why people want to read her novels given her recipes are divine.

For example, in her book about Household Management, she wrote about nutritional qualities and food chemistry stating the need to stop boiling stock long before Heston was even alive and writing about the same matters.

In 1984 her books were reprinted in both paperback and hardcover so today there are still many copies still floating around for those that want their own piece of cultural history.

Cairnsmhor Crushed Black Pepper Crackers

Cairnsmhor products, a range of hand baked biscuits, oatcakes and crackers, has won seven gold awards at the prestigious Great Taste Awards. These included four 2-star gold awards and three 1-star gold awards for products including their Haggis Flavour Oatcakes, Lemon Shorties and Wholegrain Mustard Crackers.

The Great Taste Awards are considered the most important food award scheme in the UK. Rigorous and completely independent, Great Taste is to speciality food and drink what Michelin is to fine dining. In total more than six thousand food and drink products were blind-tasted, tested and discussed during two months of intense judging by 350 judges, comprising food writers, chefs, deli and farm shop owners, food producers and buyers. To achieve a two star gold award up to 20 judges must agree that a product is ‘faultless’.

Cairnsmhor is a luxury food range that takes classic products and gives them an indulgent injection of flavour. With a Scottish feel but broad appeal, all Cairnsmhor products are hand baked in Scotland, using Scotland’s finest ingredients.

The gold award winning products received the following comments by the judges:

Crushed Black Pepper Crackers

Add some good brie on a hot summers’ day – yum! The pepper is inviting rather than overpowering. Good texture. Good fresh pepper aroma and flavour. Characterful.

Parmesan & Pepper Oatcakes

The size and texture and thickness is great. The pepper does come through well and is pleasant. With a little more tweaking of flavours this could warrant 3 stars.

Wholegrain Mustard Crackers (New)

This is a lovely product. The flavour of mustard is good and subtle, but you can definitely taste it. The flavour wouldn’t interrupt the (added) cheese though. It has a great texture as well – baked very well and a good crunch. This is an excellent product. Good crisp texture. Mild mustard flavour.

Haggis Flavour Oatcakes

Lovely flavour, which does capture the savoury flavour of haggis. Good texture with the oatmeal as well. An excellent product in the way that it captures the flavour of haggis.

Traditional Scottish Oatcakes

Good oaty texture strong flavour. Good balance sweet/savoury. You can taste full flavour of oats rather than sugar or salt as is often the case with oatcakes. Good flavour including salt; worthy of a gold.

Lemon Shorties

Lovely product. A great texture, not too short but just the right level of crunch. The lemon flavour is great, not overpowering but definitely evident.

Raspberry Shortcake

The product looks great and is innovative. The raspberry flavour is good.

Cairnsmhor is available in delis and independent retailers across the UK or direct from www.thistleproducts.co.uk .

Almost half of all UK consumers have been attempting to save money on food and drink over the past six months according to a report published by the Oxford Research Agency (TORA).

The report found that only US consumers were more cost conscious although 39% of UK consumers did not change their spending habits.  This means that only 16% actually spend more on drink and food.

In other areas of the world, there are more people spending than saving which shows the uneven nature of confidence in the economy including Germany, China, and Brazil.

The figures that make up the report from the TORA were reached by subtracting the amount of people that saved money on their food and drink purchases versus the percentage of people that spent more.  Positive results show that spenders are the majority while negative results show that savers are the majority.

As part of the report, TORA interviewed 1534 people from the USA, UK, China, Brazil, Germany, and France before it compiled the final product.

Further evidence that proves UK consumers are cost conscious about their purchases is that 64% of those in the survey reported that they take their lunch from home to work, with 11% going out to eat, 14% purchasing food to eat at the office, and 11% skipping lunch together.

Also revealing was the fact that one in three people in the UK eat their evening meal in front of the television with their family with one in five within the United States reporting the same thing.  This is drastically different in areas such as China where 75% of families eat together at the table.

Birds Eye has launched a new sustainability plan that reaches across its company called ‘Forever Food.’

The plan was created to last from 2010 to 2015 and aims to create a Birds Eye’s assurance that their consumers will have access to food sources forever.

The plan, Forever Food, was developed with the aid of many suppliers and organizations including the WWF, the Food and Drink Federation, the Marine Stewardship Council, and the Princes Countryside Fund.

The plan outlines manufacturing sites and raw materials in addition to third party suppliers with an aim of increasing awareness of better choices for nutrition and healthy living.

Some of the commitments by the company include reducing CO2 emissions by 30% in 2020, reducing water consumption during manufacturing by 20%, and by 2015 sending zero waste to landfill sites.

Chief executive of Birds Eye Iglo Group, Martin Glenn, stated that as a business the group has always claimed to do what is best for the business, the world, and the consumers.  She continued to say that by getting suppliers, employees, industry colleagues, and consumers involved in the new sustainability plan the company hopes that everyone will embark on the challenge together.

The new programme was described as a welcome expansion by CEO of WWF-UK, David Nussbaum, who continued to explain that the organization has worked with Birds Eye over the past ten years and support its goal to become a leading driver of new initiatives towards sustainability.

Birds Eye has been working towards sustainability in the industry for over forty years with moves such as launching the International Fish meal and Fish Oil responsible sourcing standard and forming the Forum for Sustainable Farming among many other contributions.

Ministers have been charged with giving in to the junk food manufacturers by bending out of any strategies that would impose tougher controls on the amount of fat, sugar, and salt content in snacks instead settling to simply lend financial support to healthy eating campaigns.

Yesterday health specialists warned that any proposal to enforce regulation on confectionary makers and drinks in return for money was the same as bribery.

Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, revealed new plans that would include the companies giving cash for the Change4Life campaign run by the Government in which a serious of advertisements are being launched to encourage the public to keep healthy by eating healthy.

In return, Lansley promised that firms will not have to worry about too much regulation.  Despite this fact, food industry companies have not yet offered much money for the campaign which has caused critics of the move to warn that junk food manufacturers are getting off the hook without actually being forced to offer something in return.

Doctors have already responded negatively responded to Lansley’s plans stating that the campaign will do little to help a problem that is quickly rising in intensity which can be seen in people’s health.  Lansley also called the healthy school meal movement by Jamie Oliver  a bomb which stirred up a bit of controversy.