Food 'n' Drink – Food and Drink news |

The MEP’s are considering a move to stop profiling nutrients in food and drink, this has alarmed the consumer campaign group Which? who claim such a move would allow many unhealthy food manufacturers to claim that their items were in fact healthy.

To further stress their concern, the consumer group sent a jam doughnut out to every MEP and even one to the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in order to ask them to reconsider the removal of nutrient profiling.

The Safety Committee has already got behind the deletion of nutrient profiling, but in order to become effective it will also need to be supported by the EU governments and the full Parliament.

A spokesman for the UK Government said that Britain will endorse the move if it comes up.

Which? is not only concerned about nutrient profiling, but is also advocating that the legislation tightens up their view on unhealthy foods such as doughnuts and pork sausages so that they cannot make any claims to health under the new EU law.

Chief executive of Which?, Peter Vicary-Smith, stated that when unhealthy foods such as doughnuts are allowed to make claims of being a healthy food then it is time to revisit the topic.  Smith continued to say that removing nutrient profiling would be in essence like tossing a newborn into a vat of bath water and expecting it to swim.

Under the new FSA traffic light system, Which? claims that many foods that are high in sugar, salt, and fat would receive a high health rating despite their actual harm.

The European Commission had approved consumption of a few genetically modified (GM) crops that include a potato called Amflora and a various types of maize.

The crop approvals were made on Tuesday and were significant as they marked the end of a deadlock in which lawmakers in Brussels in refused to approve GM foods for a 13 year period.

The Amflora crops will be grown for use as an industrial starch and bred by BASF.  Although it is not likely to be produced within the UK, the Agricultural Biotechnology Council (ABC) declared that the decision was monumental as it ended the hiatus of EU approved GM crops.

Chairman of the ABC, Dr. Julian Little, stated that the council welcomes the approval after the last 13 years and hope that the decision made on Tuesday will signify a turning point in the way that the EU recognizes the benefits of GM technologies to the environment and to farmers.

Little added that if the UK is serious about allowing farmers to produce affordable and high quality food for its consumers than the country must be open minded about allowing farmers to choose efficient methods of crop production that include many scientific advances including GM.