Food Job Blog

There's good news for everyone this week as the EU changes the law on the sale of mis-shapen fruit and vegetables.

The change comes into effect on Wednesday and will open the door to cheaper fruit and vegetables that taste just as good as those that are perfectly formed.

The good news for consumers is that stores claim the shift will allow them to sell value packs of wonky fruit and vegetables for as little as 50p each.

The move will also cut down on food wastage. Currently as much as 20per cent of farm produce is thrown away or fed to farm livestock because it doesn't match the size and shape rules drawn up by the EU.

Restrictions are being swept away on 26 of the original 36 products covered by the EU directive. The rules will remain in place for another ten types of produce; apples, citrus fruit, kiwi fruit, lettuces, peaches and nectarines, pears, strawberries, sweet peppers, table grapes and tomatoes. However, the commission said farmers will be also allowed to sell wonky versions of these providing they are sold with a label stating 'products intended for processing'.

The Food and Farming Minister Jim Fitzpatrick said: "The new marketing regulations will help supermarkets and greengrocers label their fruit and vegetables correctly, and will provide more choice for people who aren't bothered by what shape their five a day comes in."

Not before time! For generations, Britons enjoyed the quirks of fruit and veg. Odd looking carrots and potatoes even earned their own comedy slot on popular TV programmes like That's Life. I'm sure we'll all look forward to seeing them back on the shelves!

Will you be rushing out to buy curly cucumbers and knobbly carrots or do you like your fresh produce to look perfectly formed?

It's that time of year again when the summer sunshine entices thousands of tennis fans to enjoy the feast of entertainment served up at Wimbledon. There's no Rafael Nadal this year but you can be sure that the traditional strawberries and cream will be a hit with the spectators.

Waitrose have taken our love for tradition and embraced the flavour of the season to come up with the Berry Banger, a limited edition sausage that allows hungry tennis fans to combine two summer food favourites: strawberries and cream and barbecued meat.

Anna Lloyd, Waitrose sausage buyer, comments: "Brits love tennis and strawberries and cream have become accepted as an integral part of the festivities. Our limited-edition sausages always create a bit of theatre at the counter and never fail to put a smile on customers' faces. We hope they'll be a big hit this summer."

Will you be cheering on Andy Murray on a full stomach of Berry Bangers and mash? Creative ideas are always good for the food industry. We'd love to hear what unusual flavourings you'd like to see in your bangers?

Last week was National Sandwich Week, but what do you know about the history of one of Britain's favourite foods?

Evidence of people eating bread first appears in 7500 BCE, during the Stone Age. People have been eating sandwiches in one form or another since they began eating bread. So the history of sandwiches could be said to stretch back nearly 10,000 years.

Serving delicate finger food between two slices of bread was a culinary practice among upper class ancient Greeks and other Mediterranean peoples (this "upper-crust" tradition carries over into modern English high tea).

The first recorded sandwich was eaten in the 1st century BCE by Hillel the Elder. The famous rabbi ate a mixture of sweet and bitter foods between two pieces of matzoh bread, as a symbol of Jewish slavery. The practice is now a Passover custom, known as the Hillel Sandwich.

However, food historians generally attribute the creation of the sandwich, as we know it today, to John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. This Englishman was said to have been fond of gambling. As the story goes, in 1762, during a 24 hour gambling streak he instructed a cook to prepare his food in such a way that it would not interfere with his game. The cook presented him with sliced meat between two pieces of toast. Perfect! This meal required no utensils and could be eaten with one hand, leaving the other free to continue the game.

Approximately 2 billion sandwiches are purchased in the UK each year with the commercial market being worth approximately £3.5 billion - that's huge - bigger than the UK pizza market which is only worth c £1 billion. Around another 2.67 billion sandwiches are eaten by way of lunchboxes which contain sandwiches and it's thought that 6.24 billion sandwiches are made within the home taking the total amount of sandwiches made to 10.96 billion per year - that's almost 200 sandwiches per person each year.

Sandwiches are so popular that they even have their own awards ceremony - The Sammies - The British Sandwich Industry Awards. From sandwich bars to new sandwich concepts, the search is intensive and involves a wide panel of judges working for months across the UK with the aim of finding the very best. The aim of these awards is to encourage everyone in the industry to do things even better and to reward those who are doing the most to lead the way.

The true beauty of the sandwich has to be its versatility. They can be made from an enormous range of filings and they're quick and easy to make. Do you enjoy the traditional cheese and pickle or BLT or have you created your own special sandwich recipe? We'd love to know...

Eating curry can help beat the stress of the recession thanks to the release of pleasure-inducing endorphins, new research claims.

Chicken or beef madras is most likely to bring stress relief, according to the research by takeaway food website www.Just-Eat.co.uk. Vindaloo, Thai red curry, pasanda and jalfrezi were the next most effective.

Researchers found spicy curries had similar stress-busting properties to exercise, with the inclusion of red chilli peppers thought to be key to their impact.

Although Chinese food has replaced Indian as the top choice for takeaways, Indian cuisine has long been a favourite in the UK and recent research from Mintel shows sales of Indian food products surpassed Chinese food sales by £189m in the last year alone - suggesting Britons favour cooking Indian food at home. They are also turning their backs on ready meals in order to cook their own healthier versions.

Not only do red chilli peppers help relieve stress, they are a good source of vitamins A and C, have been shown to lower cholesterol levels and reduce the spread of prostrate cancer.

The press is continually highlighting food and drink that has adverse affects on our health so it comes as a welcome respite to find something that is good for us. And their use does not need to be confined solely to curries. Red chilli peppers can be used to spice up a multitude of dishes.

Do you regularly include red chillis in your diet and if so have you discovered their stress-busting properties?

The Sunday Times published the 2009 UK 'rich list' last weekend. As you would expect many people have seen their fortunes dwindle over the past year due to the global recession. But there are a few food industry winners.

Sir Ken Morrison and family have leapt 36 places up the list to position no. 16, increasing their wealth by 11% to £1,610m.

Lord Sainsbury and his family haven't fared so well however. Whilst they increased their ranking from 56= last year to 37= their wealth has decreased by £200m to a mere £1,100m.

Food recycling can also be a profitable business. Another winner in this year's list is Anthony de Mulder and his family. Doncaster-based Prosper de Mulder is a waste food recycling specialist, collecting and processing more than 1m tonnes each year. The family has seen an increase of £45m up to £130m over the past year.

The world rankings paint a very rosy picture for Karl and Theo Albrecht, the German entrepreneurs who founded the discount supermarket chain Aldi. They increased their wealth by £2.9bn to £27.9bn and come into at no. 2 behind the Walton family who created Walmart and who enjoyed a whopping £13.9bn rise in riches over the past year giving them a family fortune of £52.3bn.

The top 2 families in the world rankings are heavily committed to the discount market. Should the rest of the food industry sit up and take note? We'd love to hear your views...

Made with Tony's Secret Formula, they're Gr-r-reat! Not only are Kellogg's Frosties super crunchy and great tasting, they are packed with carbohydrates - a great fuel for your body, and one serving provides half your daily needs (RDA) of three B-vitamins, which help convert food into the energy you need. A Gr-r-reat-tasting breakfast cereal!

That's the description on the Kellogg's website for one of the children's favourite breakfast foods. But what it doesn't tell us is that the popular cereal is laden with sugar.

The latest report, Going Against the Grain, from consumer group Which?, tells us that many brands perceived to be healthy, including Kellogg's All Bran, Bran Flakes and Special K have high levels of sugar. Morrisons Choco Crackles cereal tops the sweet mountain with more sugar to a serving than a Cadbury Flake, followed closely by Kellogg's Coco Pops Moons and Stars, Frosties and Ricicles, which were more than a third - 37% - pure sugar, according to the Which? report.

In fact only eight of the products surveyed qualified for a Food Standards Agency healthy "green light" for low levels of sugar, with 31 out the 100 cereals examined containing more than four teaspoons of sugar to a recommended serving. Only one of the 28 cereals specifically marketed at children, Kellogg's Rice Krispies, was found not to be high in sugar, but it was high in salt. Nestle Shredded Wheat was the only cereal to show a green lights in all categories.

Sue Davies, chief policy adviser at Which?, said: "Some cereals deserve their healthy image, but most simply don't. It's especially shocking that almost all those targeted at children are less healthy."

Cereal manufacturers need "to wake up to the fact that people want to eat healthily and provide them with the means to do so by reducing sugar and salt levels and making labelling clearer", she added. "With over £1bn spent every year, it's time they rose to the occasion."

The Change4Life campaign was launched in January to tackle soaring rates of obesity by promoting healthy eating and exercise. Official statistics from the National Child Measurement programme suggest that 22 per cent of children are overweight or obese by the time they start school, while nearly a third (31 per cent) fall into these categories at age 10 or 11.

But changing kids eating habits overnight poses a potential problem for parents. Anyone with young children will know that a major problem is trying to get them to eat the right foods. How many times have you heard child screaming 'I don't want that, I want ....? And how many times have you given in for the sake of a little peace and quiet?

Are you one of those who has tried and failed to introduce a beneficial eating plan to your children? Or have you been successful in implementing a healthy diet and exercise regime? We'd love to hear your experiences...

Speaking in advance of this week's Budget announcement, Melanie Leech, Director General of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), said:

"Food security is at the top of the agenda nationally and globally. This must be the year that the Chancellor recognises the strategic importance of the food and drink manufacturing industry - the UK's largest manufacturing sector, giving a clear signal of confidence to investors and potential industry entrants alike."

She goes on to say; "We also need financial incentives to encourage businesses to invest in key capital improvements earlier than they will otherwise be able to in the current economic climate. And to invest in the skills of the future, including continued efforts to tackle the shortage of food scientists, engineers and technologists and flexibilities in the Train to Gain Programme to support an industry on which the country's future food security and prosperity depends."

The food and drink manufacturing industry is the single largest manufacturing sector in the UK, with a turnover of £72.6bn and a gross value added of £21.6bn, accounting for 14% of the total manufacturing sector. The industry employs some 440,000 people representing 14% of the manufacturing workforce in the UK.

Alistair Darling has a difficult task on his hands. Food prices are rising due to the weak pound and a recent report told us that a fifth of older people are cutting back on food to save money, with a quarter skipping meals altogether.

So what measures do you think he should he implement to aid the UK food industry? Here's your chance to play Chancellor for the day and share your ideas with us...

Following from this recent post about a major recruitment project in Saudi Arabia, Stephen Jones, MD of FMCL, talks about the roles on FoodJobTV, also embedded here:

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UK supermarket chain Tesco plans to open 30 bank branches in its stores by the end of 2009 as it looks to cash in on consumer mistrust of traditional banks and extend its presence in financial services. The company announced in March that the amount of money deposited in its savings accounts had nearly doubled over the past six months, with more accounts opened in December 2008 than in the whole of 2007.

The move by the retailing giant comes as public anger spills over about the hundreds of million of pounds paid out in bonuses to bankers this year despite several of the biggest banks, including Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland, being saved from collapse by taxpayer-funded bailouts.

Tesco - which bought out the Royal Bank of Scotland to take complete control of Tesco Personal Finance in December - has been running a trial of the concept branch in Glasgow since 2006. The first new branches will open next month in Blackpool, Coventry and Bristol.

Each branch will offer credit cards, savings accounts and insurance via its Tesco Personal Finance (TPF) brand. Late last year they announced that they could be offering mortgages later this year and they hope to be able to offer standard current account products within the next 18 months. Customers will also be able to gain Clubcard loyalty points through using the bank.

Andy Higginson, chief executive of Tesco Retailing Services, says the supermarket bank will be "old-fashioned and conservative".

Resurrecting old-fashioned banking has to be good news for consumers. Banks used to specialise in building up personal relationships with their customers. Now when you phone your 'local branch' your query tends to be channeled to a call centre in India where you are simply an account number.

Will Tesco Bank become a direct competitor to the likes of HSBC and Barclays? Only time will tell. Are you one of the growing number of people dissatisfied with the performance and service of the high street banks? What would encourage you to do your banking along with the weekly shop?

Today is April Fools Day and we thought it would be fun to remind you of just a few of the stories that have taken in the unsuspecting public in previous years.

In 1957 the BBC enthralled viewers with a spoof documentary broadcast about spaghetti crops in Switzerland. The hoax Panorama programme, narrated by distinguished broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, featured a family from Ticino in Switzerland carrying out their annual spaghetti harvest. After the programme, the BBC received hundreds of calls from viewers wanting to buy spaghetti bushes.

In 1998 Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Today announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a "Left-Handed Whopper" specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty, etc.), but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers. The following day Burger King issued a follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the new sandwich. Simultaneously, according to the press release, "many others requested their own 'right handed' version."

2006 saw The Daily Express telling us that biscuits were being mixed into tarmac to help make roads safer. "Scientists yesterday revealed that broken biscuits are in fact the perfect material to help resurface roads... Years of experimental research revealed that crushed-up ginger nuts are the best biscuit for a road's sub-base, as they are more porous and allow water to drain away."

BMW ran an ad in the Guardian in 2004 to unveil its new Satellite Hypersensitive Electromagnetic Foodration (SHEF) Technology, which would allow drivers to cook their dinners from their car as they drove home from work. All the dials for the home oven were built into the dashboard of the car and communicated wirelessly with the actual oven at home. Drivers could monitor the progress of their meal via a built-in oven-cam. The ad directed readers to a website that featured images of a roasted chicken and a sleek sedan, and offered recipes such as "chicken a la M42."

What's your favourite food related April Fools story? We'd love to hear...