My Viewpoint

Big is beautiful again
Huge diverse conglomerates fell out of fashion in the 90s, but the foodservice industry has put mergers back on the business agenda. By David Read. In the 1970s and 1980s (when I was in my formative business years) the world…
Foodservice lacking bark as Brexit bites
The sector risks being forgotten if it doesn’t get its act together and start lobbying hard, writes David Burrows. Managing Brexit will need the whole food industry – farmers, food manufacturers and retailers – to find a single voice with…
Greggs shows the way on animal welfare
The bakery chain has shot up the rankings in a high- profile assessment – and kept prices affordable. Others can learn from it, writes commercial director Malcolm Copland. As recent food safety scares have highlighted, a poor record on animal…
As the world faces an antibiotic resistance crisis, foodservice firms are under pressure to address overuse of the drugs by their suppliers, writes Emma Rose.
Until fairly recently, efforts to tackle the global antibiotic resistance crisis have focused on improving prescribing practices in human medicine. Pushy patients demanding drugs to treat colds and other ailments on which antibiotics have no effect, remiss GPs handing out…
Second chance for the slackers
The government is again asking businesses to take a voluntary approach to obesity. Will the Childhood Obesity Plan succeed where the Responsibility Deal failed? By Nick Hughes. The dog that has not barked properly in the whole obesity debate.” That…
The restaurant trade in a post‐Brexit world
Restaurateurs fear rising ingredient prices and problems with labour as immigration is curbed, writes Dev Biswal. My restaurants are my passion, but they are also my business. That’s why my immediate thought the morning after the referendum was: how will…
Egg commitments are challenging but realistic
Foodservice firms that have promised to go cage-free on eggs by 2025 need to start the remaining transition sharpish, says Jemima Jowell. This summer we’ve witnessed a seismic shift in attitudes towards caged eggs with a deluge of commitments by…
Food price and provenance in a post-Brexit world
The long-term picture is uncertain but in the short term food is only set to get dearer. Fans of ITV’s “The Only Way is Essex” will be familiar with its theme song “The Only Way is Up.” Even more challenging… For…
Foodservice companies too slow to push for cage-free eggs
UK retailers are eager to join a push for cage‐free eggs, but except for Sodexo, foodservice companies are too slow to follow suit. By Tracey Jones. For an organisation like ours, which has been campaigning for over 50 years to rid…
Time for a serious rethink of sustainability standards to tackle the urgent climate challenges the world is facing
For many years I have worked with some of the world’s largest conservation bodies, businesses and other civil society organisations to develop sustainability standards for a wide range of globally traded commodities. Many of these focus on specific sustainability challenges, such…