Category Archives: Food

Food price fears after Europe’s heatwave destroys estimated €2bn of crops

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Record June temperatures expected to cut grain harvest by 9m tonnes to its lowest level since 2018

The heatwave that swept across Europe in June is estimated to have cost the continent’s grain farmers €2bn (£1.7bn) in lost revenue and destroyed 9m tonnes of crops, sparking concern about the impact on the price of food.

Coceral, the European cereals and oilseeds trade association, made the estimate for the harvest of crops such as wheat, barley, maize and oats following the heatwave.

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Michelin-starred restaurant owner in South Korea faces jail over ant dessert

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Prosecutors seek a one-year sentence and heavy fine after chef garnished dish with insects not approved for consumption

Prosecutors in South Korea have asked a court to sentence the owner of a Michelin-starred restaurant to one year in prison for serving a dessert topped with ants, an insect not approved for consumption under local food safety law.

The request, made on Monday, also sought a 20m won (£10,108) fine for the company that runs the restaurant, Yonhap news agency reported.

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​World largest meat company faces legal challenge over green credentials of $6bn global expansion

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Greenpeace petitions Dutch courts to order JBS to disclose how its aims are compatible with responsibilities to climate and human rights

The world’s biggest meat company, JBS, faces a landmark legal challenge to disclose how its $6bn (£4.5bn) global expansion plan is compatible with responsibilities to the climate, nature and human rights.

Courts in the Netherlands, where JBS is headquartered, will assess the petition filed by Greenpeace for information on whether the company is compliant with Dutch laws on “duty of care” as well as its own publicly stated commitments.

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Derision at US chain Chipotle’s plan to sell its Mexican food in Mexico

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One social media user described the opening of its first outlet in Monterrey as ‘like the dog teaching a duck to fly’

A US chain’s plan to sell its version of Mexican food to Mexicans with a first branch south of the border has prompted bemusement, skepticism and anger among local people.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, known for its customisable burritos, tacos and bowls, has more than 4,000 locations worldwide and announced on Tuesday that it was expanding into Mexico in what it described as a significant milestone.

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Britons give classic round tomato the red card as coloured and vine varieties score

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Premium cherry-on-the-vine are poised to take top spot in Britain’s £1bn-a-year tomato market

For a long time the classic round, red tomato has dominated British salads and sandwiches, but its supremacy is coming under threat as sales of rainbow colours and the upmarket rival “cherry on the vine” take off.

“Non-red tomatoes” sales are up 21% this year, a growth rate that far exceeds the overall market, according to Paul Faulkner, of Evesham Vale Growers.

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DNA from 2,000-year-old grape seeds points to origins of modern winemaking

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Researchers also discover that the ancient vines of Chianti, famed for its red wines, produced white fruit

DNA extracted from 2,000-year-old grape seeds found in ancient wells in Tuscany has enabled scientists to map the most extensive genetic history of grapevines recovered from a single site, revealing that vineyards of the Roman era formed part of the empire’s sophisticated agricultural network that might have influenced the development of modern winemaking.

The research led by scientists at the University of York also found that white grapes once dominated the site in Chianti, an area of Tuscany famous for its red Sangiovese wines.

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‘Immediate national priority’: ministers accused of complacency over UK food supply

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Cold storage and logistics body warns food supplies at risk from fuel shortages, cyber attacks and extreme weather

Ministers have been accused of being complacent about the risks to vital supplies of food into the UK amid concerns over fuel shortages, cyber attacks and extreme weather.

The trade body for cold storage and logistics has urged the government to make potential disruption to the UK’s food system an “immediate national priority”.

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Scientists make sourdough bread using yeast found in 5,000-year-old mummy

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Team now plans to see if they can use yeast strains harvested from Ötzi the Iceman to brew beer too

Scientists have baked a sourdough loaf of bread using yeast strains harvested from a 5,000-year-old mummy and now plan to see if they can use them to brew beer too.

The yeast came from Ötzi the Iceman, a famous corpse remarkably preserved by being frozen in Alpine ice near the Italy-Austria border until he was discovered in 1991. Ötzi has been the subject of intense study since he was found and has shed much light on pre-historic European people and their way of life.

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White Castle adds veggie burger to menu as plant-based eating grows

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Ohio-based slider chain introduces Southwest Veggie Slider permanently after customer feedback for meatless option

Vegetarians have a new reason to celebrate: White Castle has added a permanent meat-free option to its menu.

On Monday, the Columbus, Ohio-based slider chain announced the launch of the Southwest Veggie Slider, featuring a crispy brown rice crust and a smoky chipotle- and barbecue-inspired veggie patty made with sweet potatoes, black beans, corn, red bell peppers, onions and carrots.

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Storied New York food co-op votes to boycott Israeli products after contentious campaign

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The Park Slope Food Coop boycott vote follows tensions and rifts among members and larger community

Members of a storied food co-operative in Brooklyn have voted to boycott about a dozen products from Israel and Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine – capping years of contentious debate over a conflict half a world away that has threatened to rip apart a landmark institution for liberal New Yorkers.

The Park Slope Food Coop vote, which took place Tuesday night during a three-hour virtual meeting attended by about 7,000 of the co-operative’s 17,000 members, follows months of dueling campaigning that one local rabbi opposed to the boycott described as a “proxy war”. The boycott is supposed to impact some brands of tahini, peppers and persimmons as well as other products. Sixty-seven percent of participants voted in favor of the boycott.

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Reeves’s tax cut on children’s meals a political ‘soundbite’, say restaurateurs

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Chancellor’s measure to help families save money during summer holidays ‘won’t make any difference’

Cutting tax on children’s meals is a political “soundbite” that will make little difference to families or businesses, restaurateurs have said.

This week, Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, announced a temporary reduction in VAT on the children’s menu in restaurants from 20% to 5% between June and September, in order to help families with the cost of living crisis and offer a boost to the hospitality sector.

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Carlo Petrini, Slow Food movement founder, dies aged 76

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Italy’s president leads tributes to campaigner who spent four decades promoting sustainability and local cuisine

Carlo Petrini, the journalist who founded the Slow Food movement in protest against the arrival of the first McDonald’s in Italy, has died aged 76.

Petrini, who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in recent years, died in his home town of Bra in northern Italy’s Piedmont region. He had led Slow Food, which since 1986 has campaigned against fast-food culture by promoting sustainability and local cuisine, as president until 2022.

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‘We feel let down’: sustainable chefs in UK mourn end of Michelin green star

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Guide retires award for eco-friendly practices – and says restaurants will no longer be able to advertise they have it

With rare bluefin tuna and red meat often on their menus, Michelin-starred restaurants have not always prioritised sustainability.

In an effort to consider the climate crisis, in 2020 Michelin began awarding green stars to chefs who cooked eco-friendly ingredients and reduced waste. But now the body has abruptly retired the prize and said chefs will no longer be able to advertise that they have it.

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Three more people sick in California amid ‘unprecedented outbreak’ due to toxic mushrooms

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Since November, state has seen 47 cases of people accidentally ingesting poisonous wild mushrooms

Health authorities in California’s Napa county reported that three people had been hospitalized after consuming poisonous wild mushrooms as the state continues to grapple with an “​​unprecedented outbreak” of toxic mushroom illnesses.

Since November 2025, California has seen 47 cases of people accidentally foraging and eating poisonous wild mushrooms, including death caps, which can resemble edible species, and western destroying angel mus​​hrooms. Four people have died and several have required liver transplants.

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Typical English roast dinner potentially ‘drenched’ in 102 pesticides, says report

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Greenpeace finds cocktail of pesticides including seven banned in EU may have been used on seven categories of vegetables and soft fruit

It is a beautiful early summer Sunday afternoon and you have stopped for a pub lunch. A waiter sets down a roast served with carrots, peas, parsnips, potatoes and onion gravy, and then for pudding, strawberries and cream. It feels like the perfect rustic meal to accompany a day in the country.

However, a report by Greenpeace, published on Thursday, has found that the ingredients of the traditional Sunday roast have potentially been treated with a cocktail of more than 100 pesticides. Data from the Fera pesticide usage survey for 2024, showed 102 – including seven banned in the EU – were used on seven vegetable and soft fruit categories.

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Milka maker milked shoppers over size of chocolate bars, German court rules

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Brand owner Mondelēz was accused of reducing weight of Alpine Milk bar from 100g to 90g without significantly altering the packaging

Many chocolate lovers consider shrinkflation a serious crime – and they have been vindicated after a German court ruled that the makers of Milka cheated consumers by cutting the bar’s size, while keeping the wrapper the same.

The three-week case in a regional court was brought by Hamburg’s consumer protection office. It accused the chocolate brand’s US owner Mondelēz of deceiving shoppers by cutting the weight of Milka’s classic Alpine Milk bar from 100g to 90g without significantly altering the distinctive purple packaging.

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Iran war oil shortage forces Japan snack giant to use black-and-white packaging

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Calbee to switch its brightly coloured packaging to black and white because war has disrupted supply of certain raw materials used in ink

Japan’s biggest snack maker has been forced to use black-and-white packaging for some flagship products because of ink ingredient shortages caused by the strait of Hormuz blockade.

Calbee, whose potato chip brands in particular are known for brightly coloured bag designs, said 14 of its products would switch to monochrome branding by the end of May.

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Supermarket foods claiming to be ‘natural’ or ‘sustainable’ mostly just using marketing terms, researchers find

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Survey of 27,000 Australian supermarket items found some products boasting environmental benefits had significantly higher emissions than unlabelled counterparts

Foods in supermarkets boasting environmental terms such as “natural” or “sustainable” are mostly just using marketing speak, rather than verified claims, Australian researchers have found.

More than 27,000 packaged foods sold at Coles, Woolworths, Aldi, IGA and Harris Farm supermarkets in Sydney were assessed by researchers from the George Institute for Global Health.

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Norwegian fish farms polluting fjords with waste likened to ‘raw sewage of millions of people’

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Exclusive: ‘Fish sludge’ in coastal waters now has nutrient levels equivalent to those in untreated effluent of country the size of Australia, report finds

Norwegian fish farms are filling fjords and other coastal waters with nutrient pollution equivalent to the raw sewage of tens of millions of people each year, a report has found.

Norway is the largest farmed salmon producer in the world, and nutrients in fish feed are excreted directly into coastal waters. Analysis from the Sunstone Institute found that Norwegian aquaculture released 75,000 tonnes of nitrogen, 13,000 tonnes of phosphorus and 360,000 tonnes of organic carbon in 2025.

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Why did Michelin snub St Paul in its guide to the best restaurants in the Great Lakes region?

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Critics warn smaller and immigrant-run restaurants risk being overlooked as city-funded deal shapes dining map

When Michelin announced that it was expanding its world-renowned restaurant guide into the Great Lakes region of the United States, including Minneapolis, one prominent city was left off the map – Saint Paul, the state capital.

Despite being just 11 miles apart, the second half of Minnesota’s “Twin Cities” was absent from the highly anticipated announcement. The omission has raised concerns among food critics and locals that Saint Paul – and, more widely, smaller local restaurants in Minneapolis and elsewhere – could be left behind.

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