Food Industry Additive

Attack on Ready Meals...again

It's going to be another round of reassuring family and friends, explaining to them that it's alot of hype and hysteria. It was announced over the weekend that Jamie Oliver the UK celebrity chef's next project is to rid the consumers kitchen of ready meals.

"After taking on school dinners and intensively-reared chicken and battery eggs, Oliver will attempt to change the way the country eats at home in his new four-part Channel 4 series."  link

I really hope that it doesn't take the easy option and blame the food industry for putting 'additives' in (which help keep things safe for example) when it's essentially a personal choice that people make. Personally, I like Jamie and have cooked his recipes many times (without a failure - I wish I could say that about all recipe books) and the work he does in raising awareness of sensible eating and how simple and cheap cooking can be is great. It's the same old story as with everything in life - too much is not good for you - so come on Jamie - push that balance is the key and whatever you do, don't hit the food industry too hard.

.....I'm justing dreaming Marks & Spencer extend their reach to the midwest in the future as I am partial to the occasional ping myself!

(See here for a separate article on this same subject from 2005).
 

Trade Shows...what future?

After attending alot of shows as both exhibitor and attendee in Europe and North America I wonder with the ever increasing march of technology will they last?

It's been said that companies were virtually handcuffed into maintaining a presence at annual shows and when some didn't exhibit then whispers of 'Are they struggling?', 'It's a mistake not being here' were heard.

It was the major route to meet customers in the past with a chance to overlap geographical boundaries and access new markets - with the internet becoming the primary source for information globally, alot of money has been spent creating awareness and accessibility.

Many sites have appeared to try and connect suppliers with manufacturers through directories (usually limited to product lines and contact details), B2B trading (E auctions etc) and search engines such as The Food Cybrary (Obvious plug but why not! ) that gives the user free access to 'behind firewall' information from food suppliers as well as the ability to connect directly to suppliers

How do you think the exhibitions will look and work in 5 or 10 years?  Will we still get the  large  booths from the major players and will it still give the same value as it has in the past? - Post your comments below and I'll put together a future post with your views.