Retailer warns there may be ‘small stones’ in four products from its range and urges customers to return them for refund
Costa Coffee has recalled some of its range of sandwiches and wraps after it emerged that they could contain small stones.
The chain warned customers that four of its products could be affected, and that they could pose a choking hazard if they were eaten.
Continue reading...Terms like ‘steak’, ‘grill’ and ‘spare ribs’ must be expunged from plant-based products, says agriculture ministry, amid simmering dispute
The French government has said it is preparing a new decree against meaty terms like “steak”, “grill” and “spare ribs” being used to describe plant-based products.
Its latest decree is “an issue of transparency and honesty responding to the legitimate expectations of consumers and producers”, agriculture minister Marc Fesneau said in a statement on Monday.
Continue reading...Mayor Eric Adams pushes for ban but animal rights activists say Governor Kathy Hochul is ‘in the pocket’ of the industry
Ducks are back on New York’s political minds, close to four years after the city under former mayor Bill de Blasio signed a bill banning the sale and serving of foie gras in New York City, part of what he and his successor, Mayor Eric Adams, portrayed as an animal rights issue.
“The days of foie gras are gone and foie-gotten in New York City,” Adams tweeted in 2019 after the law was passed.
Continue reading...Viet Nguyen Dinh Tuan bought 311-litre bottle of 32-year-old Macallan single malt for £1.1m at auction
The previously anonymous buyer of the world’s largest bottle of whisky, which at 5ft 11in is taller than the average human, has been revealed as a Vietnamese businessman who already owns a spirits collection valued at more than £150m.
Viet Nguyen Dinh Tuan bought the 311-litre bottle filled with 32-year-old Macallan single malt for £1.1m at auction in Edinburgh last year.
Continue reading...Tourism body tries to nail down best recipe for a dish popular at home but often overshadowed abroad
Pad kaphrao has a strong claim to be Thailand’s most loved dish. The meal – holy basil fried with minced meat – is a quick and easy staple. It is a regular among street vendors whose woks fill the air with a distinctive, fiery aroma, and on the menus of high-end restaurants and in the ready-made sections of convenience stores.
But abroad it is overshadowed by the likes of pad thai and green curry – and when it does feature on menus, the ingredients tend to differ from those used in Thailand.
Continue reading...Large new study using UK Biobank data shows even a small reduction in salt intake can be beneficial
Cutting out salt from meals can slash your risk of heart problems and strokes by almost a fifth, the largest study of its kind suggests.
Research has documented how adding salt to food increases the likelihood of cardiovascular disease and premature death. Now experts have established just how big a difference you could make to your heart health – simply by reducing the number of meals to which you add salt or by ditching it altogether.
Continue reading...Fund aims to help struggling winemakers as they adjust to consumers’ changing habits
The French government has announced it is to set aside €200m to fund the destruction of surplus wine production in an attempt to support struggling producers and shore up prices.
Several major wine-producing regions in France, particularly the Bordeaux area, are struggling because of a cocktail of problems including changes in consumption habits, the cost of living crisis and the after-effects of Covid-19.
Continue reading...‘Just about perfect’ weather conditions mean berries are abundant – ideal for bank holiday weekend foraging
The sun shone at the right time but not too harshly, and the rain provided just about the perfect amount of watering. As a result, gardeners, foragers and fans of fruity puddings in many parts of the UK are relishing one of the most abundant, juiciest blackberry crops for years.
“It’s a really good year,” said John Myers, the head gardener at the National Trust’s Ham House in London. “Conditions have been just about perfect. We had a nice May and June when the temperatures were good. June was warm but not too hot, allowing the flowers to take up enough nutrients and the pollinators to do their thing. Then after June we had quite a lot of rain, which did the berries a world of good, plumping them up. In the last few weeks it’s been warm, meaning they’ve ripened really well.”
Continue reading...Chef announces closure of two-Michelin starred Mayfair institution, which originally opened in Chelsea in 1967
Michel Roux Jr has announced he is closing his renowned two-Michelin star London restaurant Le Gavroche.
The Mayfair institution will close its doors in January so the chef can step back from the daily stress of running one of the capital’s best-known restaurants.
Continue reading...Collaborative ‘series of bites’ to be served up as Noma looks to a future without its celebrated Copenhagen restaurant
Noma, the three-Michelin-star Danish restaurant that shocked foodies by announcing it would close at the end of 2024, is coming to London – for one day only – as it rolls out a series of spin-off ventures including its own seaweed farm on a remote fjord.
The Copenhagen restaurant, which charges 3,950 Danish kroner (£453) a person for a tasting menu of mostly foraged vegetables, will next month collaborate with a Mexican restaurant in Marylebone and a cocktail bar in Sea Containers House on the South Bank.
Continue reading...Counterfeits are the bane of the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium, which is now trialling tech in the rind
When is a cheese not what it seems? When it’s a fake parmesan.
Italy’s renowned parmigiano reggiano, favoured for finishing off bowls of pasta and rocket salads, is one of the most counterfeited cheeses in the world. Now its manufacturers have found a new way to hit back against the lookalikes: by adding microchips.
Continue reading...Payout for 2022 up from £5.6m a year before, as income bounces back after collapse of UK restaurant empire
Jamie Oliver and his wife, Jools, have paid themselves £6.8m in dividends, up from £5.6m a year before, after a bounceback in television and restaurant income.
The celebrity chef, whose UK restaurant empire collapsed in 2019 with the loss of 1,000 jobs, has 70 restaurants around the world run by franchise partners and has sold 2m books spun out from last year’s TV series Jamie’s One-Pan Wonders.
Continue reading...Which? research finds cheese, butter and bread are up by more than 30% in the past two years, hitting the poor hardest
The cost of some basic food items such as cheese, butter and bread has soared by more than 30% in the last two years, forcing poorer households to “make desperate choices between keeping up with their bill payments or putting food on the table,” campaigners have said.
Food price inflation has slowed in recent months, but costs remain much higher than they were two years ago, disproportionally affecting low-income households, according to research by consumer body Which? shared exclusively with the Guardian.
Continue reading...Firm says profitability suffered due to post-pandemic inflation and Ukraine war
Nomad Foods, the owner of Birds Eye, Findus and Goodfella’s pizzas, has seen a sharp rise in sales after it increased prices by 18%, amid political scrutiny over food pricing.
The business, which supplies the UK’s major supermarkets, said sales had risen by 8.6% in the three months to the end of June. The number of items sold dropped by 9.4%, but profits rose by 6.8% to €210m.
Continue reading...Number of people taken to hospital increased to 25,721 in 2022-23, from 12,361 two decades before
The number of people being admitted to hospital in England for life-threatening allergic reactions has more than doubled in the past 20 years, figures show, with an even higher rise in food-related cases.
There were 25,721 admissions to English hospitals for allergies and anaphylaxis in 2022-23, more than double the 12,361 two decades before, according to data obtained by the drugs regulator the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). For food-related anaphylaxis and other adverse reactions, the figures increased from 1,971 admissions in 2002-03 to 5,013 last year.
Continue reading...World heads into a potential third year of supply deficit as major growing regions inundated by flooding
In bad news for chocolate lovers, confectionery makers are increasing prices as cocoa beans trade at near decade highs with no respite on the horizon.
Food companies have been grappling with rising costs for the main chocolate ingredient, with cocoa prices up more than 25% in a year amid widespread flooding in some of the world’s main growing regions.
Continue reading...Attempt to curb domestic inflation behind country’s decision on non-basmati white rice
India has banned non-basmati white rice exports to curb domestic inflation, raising fears of further increases in global food prices just days after wheat and corn prices were sent climbing by Russia’s termination of a key grain deal.
The immediate ban, introduced after heavy rains hit domestic crops, follows the failure of a 20% duty on international exports introduced in September to curb foreign demand, which has soared after extreme climate conditions hit production in countries.
Continue reading...Costume consisting of a silver jumpsuit and a lifelike depiction of donair, a giant pita bread stuffed with meat, prompts questions
At some point over the last decade, the Canadian province of Alberta acquired a costume consisting of a silver jumpsuit and a lifelike depiction of a giant pita bread stuffed with meat.
Now, the provincial government has decided to part with the outfit in an online auction that has renewed a longstanding feud over the proper recipe for the beloved late-night snack.
Continue reading...Licensing for scallop dredging and trawling must comply with National Marine Plan after judicial review by Open Seas charity
The Scottish government should stop approving licences for fishing vessels using methods believed to cause harm to habitats, a charity working to protect marine life has urged, after a court declared a routine licensing decision to be unlawful.
Scotland’s highest court ruled that the Scottish government had failed to act in accordance with Scotland’s National Marine Plan (NMP) when varying fishing licences last December, after a judicial review by the conservation charity Open Seas. It is legally obliged to act in accordance with its environmental duties, as stated in the NMP, when making these decisions.
Continue reading...Consumers, farmers and even McDonald’s struggle in shortage blamed on irregular weather
Listening to the chatter at Delhi’s vegetable markets, only one question is on everyone’s lips: just how much will a tomato cost today?
Prices of tomatoes, a staple of Indian cooking, have soared by more than 400% in recent weeks as the country has been gripped by a nationwide shortage.
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