This article suggests that increases in food prices are leading to people buying less food. According to the article food prices rose by 1% between June and July this year, the biggest increase in recent months. With other household bills also rising and salary increases failing to keep up, it seems many people are simply having to buy less food. I have certainly noticed my shopping bill going up despite the fact that I only buy basic items. I have been purchasing cheaper cuts of meat to try and cut costs. I am also more concerned about food waste and try to make sure that everything is used even if it means making it into cat food. I have also been splitting food, particularly meat down into smaller portions and growing more fruit and vegetables to supplement our diet. All of these things mean that the food budget does stretch but it doesn’t get away from the fact that I am paying a lot more each month for our basic household shop.

If this article is to be believed pubs are now making more money from food than from drink. It seems customers are increasingly turning away from traditional local pubs in favour of gastropubs. Rising beer prices and more sophisticated pub menus appear to be behind the change. The average landlord now relies on food for 52% of their turnover. The figures come from the trade newspaper The Publican and make sobering reading for the traditional local pub which is increasingly under threat.

Twix have recently launched a lighter version of their chocolate bar. The new bar which is called Twix Fino has lost its crunchy biscuit base instead containing a wafer. As a result it contains  48 less calories having only 94 compared to 142 calories in a standard bar. It is aimed mainly at women who want to enjoy chocolate but might be worried about the calorie content. It seems to be part of a growing trend with Galaxy and Mars also selling lighter alternatives.

According to this article people are increasingly moving away from the humble biscuit onto more premium alternatives. It seems the rich tea, custard cream and digestive biscuit don’t quite hit the spot anymore when it comes to choosing a biscuit. Figures from market research company Nielsen have shown that people are instead buying more indulgent biscuits such as cookies and extra thick shortbreads. Sales of basic biscuits have fallen by 4.5% of the last year whilst sales of gourmet biscuits have increased by 20% in the same period. It is previously popular biscuits such as nice, jammie dodgers and custard creams that appear to be suffering as people demand better quality more premium biscuits.

I am not a great fan of beans but was interested to see that Heinz are now selling its beans in a jar. Whilst the jar will not be replacing the traditional can the new plastic container is something of a departure from the can we expect to see. The 1kg jar contains the equivalent of two and half tins and has been introduced mainly for practical reasons. It is resealable so that people who only want to use half the pack can easily store the rest in the fridge.

Kellogg’s have announced they will cut the salt content of it’s cereals by 15%. The move comes as a response to campaigning by health groups. It will mean that by this time next year it will remove 15% of sugar in all of its Coco Pops cereals reducing the sugar content to one and a half teaspoons a serving. The sugar will also be replaced with starch from grains and glucose syrup and no artificial sweeteners will be used.

If you are on diet and find it hard to count calories when you eat out, then one restaurant chain has the answer. The Real Greek has become one of the first restaurant chains to start adding the calorie count to their menus. Whilst not everyone may want to know the amount of calories their food contains the move has so far proved popular with their customers and many of their low calorie options are proving to be more popular. Even bottles and glasses of wine have the calorie content listed.

A Burger King advert has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority because it shows the burger as bigger than the real thing. The Advertising Standards Authority came to the conclusion after buying three burgers and finding that their thickness and overall height was much less than that shown in the TV advert. It has since ruled that the advert should not appear again in its current form.

A Tesco advertisement which gives the impression that their bread is baked fresh on the premises has been banned for misleading customers. The advertisement uses the headline “Fresh Bread. Baked from scratch in our in store bakery”. The problem is that in reality most Tesco stores only reheat loaves that have been prepared and part cooked on another site rather than cooked from scratch as suggested. In fact the supermarket only bakes its loaves from scratch in 504 of its 1,792 outlets. Tesco have said that the advert does contain small print which make it clear the loaves are baked from scratch in a limited number of stores only. However, Advertising Standards Agency have ruled that it can no longer be used.

This is interesting it’s a new variety of apple that has been dubbed by this article as the tom-apple. The apple is unusual because it is red all the way through even after it has been cooked. It has been produced by a grower over a 20 year period by using cross pollination techniques involving a number of parent trees. The apple is said to be extremely tasty and apparently it contains more antioxidants than the average apple. It would certainly make a colourful additional to a fruit salad.

According to this article Wetherspoon are to move into the coffee market with a plan to sell cappuccinos and lattes for as little as 49p a cup. The pub chain which currently has more than 700 outlets outlets will start opening from as early as 7am. It will offer breakfast including porridge and yogurt as well as well as tea and coffee. Wetherspoon will offer coffee from the Lavazza range at a price which is likely to undercut many of their rivals such as Starbucks.

If you feel you have been getting less strawberries than usual for the same money then you may be right. According to this article many of the supermarkets have shrunk the size of strawberry punnets whilst keeping the price the same. Last year Asda sold a 454g box of strawberries for £1.98. This year they are charging the same price for a 400g box. Sainsbury’s did sell a 400g box for £3.99 last year. This is no longer available and has now been replaced by a 300g box for the same price. Tesco have also introduced a smaller box but the article does not mention whether their prices have also changed. The retailers excuse is that the larger punnets were too big and led to strawberries getting crushed.

According to this article Waitrose will soon be stocking a range of food created by chef Heston Blumenthal. For those who are not familiar with the chef he is famous for some rather unique creations such as snail porridge and bacon and egg ice cream, as well as being involved in trying to turn around the misfortunes of the Little Chef brand. The dishes in the Waitrose range are more familiar classics rather than food with the wow factor. They will include beef and ale pie, spinach and mushroom pie and chicken ham and leak pie although it’s not clear whether they will some twists in the recipes. Either way it could be something to look out for next time you are in Waitrose.

NICE the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence has called on the government to cut the amount of fat and salt in food, something which they say could save 40,000 lives a year. Under the guidance NICE say that ministers should consider introducing legislation if manufacturers are not forthcoming in cutting saturated fat and salt in food. According to the article there are around five million people living with the effects of cardiovascular disease in Britain with around 150,000 deaths a year. NICE has calculated that 40,000 deaths a year could be prevented if all trans fats were eliminated from prepared foods. They have also called for the advertising of unhealthy foods to children to be banned until after 9pm and action to be taken to introduce a more transparent food labelling system.

If this article is to be believed then Waitrose are currently offering more price cuts than the other major supermarkets. This is surprisingly particularly as they tend to have a reputation for being rather expensive. The results come from a survey which was carried out by the online consumer website Supermarket Own Brand Guide. It seems Waitrose have cut more prices in the past year than any of its mainstream rivals particularly when it comes to discounts on their own brand products. Although Waitrose matches Tesco and Asda on most basket items it seems the cheapest place to shop is still Aldi. The survey showed that Waitrose reduced prices on 16 of the 27 items in a typical basket on own brand goods and increased the prices on 8. Tesco cut the price of 14 products from the same basket and increased the prices on 11 and Sainsbury's reduced the prices of 8. I’m guessing, however, that when you take into account the prices of other items not seen as typical basket items the prices are still higher, it would be interesting to see a broader comparison.

This is a new product which will soon on sale in Waitrose. Called lasting leaf it is a bag of lettuce that will stay fresh for up to 7 days before opening and has a 48 hour life once opened. The salad is blanched by passing the leaves through hot water before dousing them in chilled water which increases the life of the leaves whilst preserving the flavour.

If this article is to be believed then there could be a shortage of Jersey Royal potatoes this year. The problem is down to the dry conditions the area has been experiencing following the worst drought on the Channel Islands in 34 years. It is expected the first yield of potatoes will be down as much as 50% as well as being two weeks late due to a recent sharp frost. With no rain predicted over the next few weeks it looks like we might paying a little more for our potatoes in the coming months. Although I have recently planted a bumper crop in garden so fingers crossed I see some results.

An attempt by the EU to ban misshapen fruit and vegetables has failed because it would mean too much food is wasted. A group of Euro MPs were trying to bring in uniform standardisation parameters which would have meant oddly shaped fruit and vegetables could not go on sale in the supermarkets. The proposal was defeated in the European Parliament because around a fifth of produce would end up being wasted as it would not conform to the guidelines. I’m not entirely sure why people would want to try and force through such a silly motion. At a time when food prices are so high I really don’t mind whether my vegetables are a little on the wonky side.

According to this article prices of fruit and vegetables are soaring due to record rainfall in Spain. It seems that we import a large amount of our produce from Spain and so are likely to be paying higher prices in the supermarket. According to the article oranges are 25% more expensive than they were a year ago, avocados are 17% more expensive and cherry tomatoes are up 10%. The problem is down to the recent heavy rainfall in the Spanish growing region of Andalucia which has wiped out large areas of crops and hit exports. Prices are likely to remain high until British crops come into season later in the year.

McDonald’s will soon be offering a new work experience based qualification equivalent to a GCSE. Under the scheme the company will work with the exam board Edexcel to develop a BTec certificate to recognise the skills gained. The BTec course will be open to teenagers and will require them to complete a 10 day placement in a restaurant as well as completing work at school. The course is fully accredited and is equivalent to one GCSE at grade B or C. The placement adds up to a 80 hour study requirement and covers issues such as team working and communication skills. The qualification is designed to help prepare young people for the work place, helping to build their confidence and give them the edge when looking for employment.

Weightwatchers have recently signed a deal which will see them promoting McDonalds meals. Under the deal a range of healthy meals will include the Weightwatchers logo. Meals that are included in the range are Chicken McNuggets, the Filet-O-Fish and the Sweet Chilli Seared Chicken wrap. The deal is part of an attempt to cultivate a healthier image for McDonald’s and show that they do have a number of healthy meals available.

According to this article less people appear to be eating marmalade. It seems younger generations have lost their taste for marmalade with around 80% of sales being to shoppers over the age of 45. Overall sales were down 3% last year. The rise of eating on the move has been blamed for the decline as it appears less people take the time to sit down to toast for breakfast. Production has also been hit by price rises in ingredients such as fresh fruit and sugar. Personally I do buy marmalade but find I use it more in recipes rather than eating it on toast.

According to this article scientists have created a tomato that can stay fresh for up to six weeks. The tomato which is the result of genetic engineering will stay fresh for around 45 days, three times longer than a normal tomato. Researchers believe the process could also be applied to other fruits including bananas and mangos. It has been created by researcher in India who have managed to stop the production of ripening enzymes in the fruit. The increased firmness stops the fruit going soft for longer. The one problem may be that no one has yet tested the tomato for taste. It would also need to undergo extensive safety testing before it would be allowed to go on sale. I’m not convinced myself, I find fruit and vegetables at their best when they are fresh and am a little dubious at something that can be kept so long.

According to this article Kellogg’s will change the recipes of their brands of cereals in order to cut the salt content. The Move comes after a health watchdog criticised the salt content in brands such as Corn Flakes and rice Krispies. The salt content in these brands will be cut by 30%. The new recipe Rice Krispies are already on sale and the new recipe Corn Flakes are expected to be available in March.

If this article is correct we could soon expect to pay a little more for a carton of orange juice. According to the article cold weather and disease have hit the citrus groves in Florida which produce much of the world’s orange juice. This has already led to the price of concentrated juice doubling in the past year. As yet this has not affected the prices we pay in the supermarket because stores usually fix their prices a long time in advance, however, we should expect prices to rise by between 10 and 30 per cent when contracts are renegotiated.

According to this article some British sausages are made up of as much as a third fat and only 32 per cent meat. The rest of the sausage is usually made up of ground wheat rusk which is used as a bulking agent to cut costs and improve the texture of the sausage. A study has been carried out on 36 brands of sausages including the country’s biggest sellers to find out exactly what goes into them. Researchers for the journal Meat Science looked at the packaging for information on meat fat and salt content. On average the sausages contained 62 per cent meat but four of the sausages that were looked at had less than 50 per cent and the worst one had less than a third pork. The study did not identify the different brands but did reveal that the two sausages with the lowest meat content were Asda Smart Price with 34% pork and Sainsbury’s Chipolatas with 32% pork.

Kit Kat has recently achieved Fairtrade certification for its four finger Kit Kats. They are now able to display the blue and green logo of the Fairtrade Foundation on their wrappers. The logo is likely to start appearing on Kit Kats from January. The certification will later also be extended to include the smaller bars.

According to this article nearly half of cheddar sold in Tesco is actually imported despite the pack implying that it is British. The packaging may say that the cheddar is packaged in Britain but it means just that. It is actually made elsewhere and imported. Nearly half of it is made in Latvia, Ireland and New Zealand and is simply packed in Britain. Whilst this might not seem like a big deal, people have different reasons for buying British and in this case it seems they are led to believe a product is British when it clearly isn’t. Personally I prefer to buy British produce where possible because I would rather support British farmers especially during the recession when times are tough. I also believe that the less distance my food has to travel the fresher it is likely is to be and of course the impact on the environment is less. I will certainly be checking the labels much more closely and will steer clear of anything marked “packed in Britain” in favour of “made in Britain” in the future. 

According to this article it is possible to cook Christmas dinner for eight people for just £2.78 a head. The Good Housekeeping Institute priced 11 ingredients mainly from Lidl and Morrisons and some from Tesco and Sainsbury’s. It found that it is possible to buy a turkey from Lidl and Morrisons for just £9.99. Lidl also came out best for some of the trimmings such as sprouts, carrots and parsnips whereas Tesco had the best value Christmas pudding at just £1. If the article is correct it appears that you can find a bargain if you shop around.

It seems the recession is good news for the restaurant chain Taybarns which runs all you can eat restaurants. The chain offers a choice of food including fish and chips, carvery, pizza, pasta and Mexican all for a fixed price. Customers pay £5.99 during the day or £7.99 in the evening and can take a plate and help themselves to whatever they fancy as many times as want. The business model appears to working, whilst other restaurants are closing at a rate of a 100 a month Tayburns has seen a 3% increase in sales in the last six months and serves around 10,000 people a a week in their most popular branches. They are planning to open 30 new branches to take advantage in the growing popularity. I can see how the restaurant might appeal to cash strapped families who are struggling with the bills. It is certainly interesting to see that even during a recession it is possible to capitalise on certain markets.

It seems that business is booming at McDonald’s despite the recession. According to this article many McDonald’s drive through outlets are struggling to cope with increasing demand as the recession fuels a boom in fast food sales and a move towards more expensive meals. In order to deal with the increase in business the company will be installing an extra lane to many of its drive through restaurants. This will enable two drivers to order their food at the same time thus increasing capacity. The two lane system will be trialled at outlets in Telford, Shropshire, Kent and Edinburgh, and if successful will later be rolled out across the country.

According to this article Marks and Spencer are now selling more British cheeses than they are French cheeses. They are now selling two British cheeses for every French one with sales of British cheese increasing by 30%. The figures were considerably different five years ago with French cheese being much more popular. It appears the rise in popularity may be down to the fact that during the recession consumers are more inclined to buy British to support British businesses and farmers. However, British cheeses such as cheddar and stilton are also becoming more popular abroad with Neal’s Yard Dairy now exporting about 35 tons of cheese every year to France.

According to this article 65% of supermarket chickens contains a bug called campylobacter. The bacteria causes around 55,000 people a year to fall ill every year and causes symptoms such as diarrhoea, cramping and stomach pain which usually last for about a week. People with weakened immune symptoms can be at risk of the bacteria spreading to the bloodstream and causing a life threatening infection. The illness can however, be prevented by properly cooking food. Surprisingly Free range and organic chicken are actually more likely to carry the bug than battery birds.

According to this article the Jaffa Cake could be changing shape. For the first time is also available in an oblong shape rather than the traditional round one. The makers claim that the new shape is better because of its edge to edge filling. The new shape is on sale alongside the round ones so its up to you which you prefer. Personally I can’t bring myself to eat Jaffa Cakes after an incident when I ate too many and was very sick.

If this article is to believed then jellyfish could soon be appearing on the menu at some restaurants. Carme Ruscalleda wants to add them to menu of her restaurant Sant Pol del Mar. Jellyfish are eaten in Japan and China but most Europeans seem reluctant to try it. It is, however, meant to have many health benefits such as improving the cardio vascular system and balancing blood pressure. Before she is allowed to serve the jellyfish she must first prove that the local variety is safe to eat. It seems she has eaten jellyfish many times with no ill effects and compares it to fresh squid. Would you fancy eating jellyfish?

Waitrose has come to the rescue of the Duchy Originals brand which has been struggling during the recession. The brand which was founded by Prince Charles in 1990 to promote organic food and farming has seen a slump in profits during the last two years. It is thought that customers have been put off buying the brand due its high prices. Waitrose is the biggest stockist of the brand and have now struck a new licensing agreement which will give them the exclusive right to make and distribute the product across its 214 branches. Waitrose will also sell the products wholesale but will only allow independent stores and restaurants to stock them. They also have plans to extend the range from 200 to 500 products.

If this article is to be believed eating junk food does not only cause you to gain weight, it can also make you less intelligent. Research was carried out at Oxford University on a group of rats. The rats were fed a high fat diet over ten days. It was found that the rodents short term memory was damaged and that they were less mentally alert. The high fat diet also decreased the rats ability to exercise in turn making them more likely to gain weight.

It appears its all change for the Oxo cube as the traditional cube gets a new shape. Rather than being a simple cube it will now have grooves cut into it making it into a X shape. The reason for the change is that the new shape is supposed to be easier to crumble than the traditional cube alternative.

According to this article a report has concluded that organic food is no better for you. The report which was commissioned by the Food Standards Agency found that organic food contained no more nutritional value than factory farmed meat or fruit and vegetables grown using chemical fertilisers. I think the report might be missing the point. I don’t necessarily buy organic produce because I think its better for me but I do like to know that what I am eating has been farmed in a responsible way and I do like to know where my food comes from. I don’t necessarily purchase organic produce but I am aware that organic farming has stricter animal welfare rules and that it bans artificial chemical fertilisers so am more likely to choose it if the price is not a consideration.

According to this article chocolate bars could be made smaller in a bid to try and fight obesity. The food standards agency wants the average chocolate bar to be reduced by a fifth to reduce the calorie intake and is trying to get chocolate makers to make voluntary changes to the size of their snacks. By 2012 the watchdog wants all confectionary to weigh no more than 50g. Manufacturers are also being asked to sell bite size bars as single items instead as part of a multipack. Under the plans fizzy drinks would also be sold in smaller containers. I’m guessing the pack size will go down and the price will not, meaning you get less for your money.

Coca Cola are trialling a new drink that contains fizzy milk. Called Vio it comes in several flavours including cherry, lime and lemon and costs £1.50. It is made from skimmed milk mixed with sparkling water and is flavoured with fruit and cane sugar. The drinks have gone on sale in New York but there are currently no plans to launch it in Europe.

If you don’t have the time to boil an egg then you can now buy them ready boiled at the supermarket. The eggs are produced by The Happy Egg Company. They are peeled boiled and peeled by machine before being packed and have a shelf life of nine to ten days. The eggs will be on sale at Waitrose, Asda, One Stop and Ocado at 89p for a pack of two or £1.49 for four. The Happy Egg Company is marketing the eggs as an ideal snack for picnics and a tasty snack that can be prepared in minutes. Personally I would rather just boil them myself.

According to this article some supermarket salads contain more fat and calories than you would find in a Big Mac and fries. The consumer group Which? looked at a number of salads on sale in supermarkets. It founds that a Smedleys Atlantic prawn marie rose salad from Morrisons contained 855 calories and 66.3g of fat. A Sainsbury’s tomato and basil chicken salad also had a high fat content with 27.7g of fat and 595 calories. In comparison a Big Mac and medium fries contains 820 calories and 40g of fat. The reason for the high fat content of most of the salads was the fact that they contained a large amount of mayonnaise, creamy sauces or pasta all of which are high in fat.

According to this article Waitrose shoppers are increasingly choosing the supermarkets budget range as they try to save money. Their essential range of products are packaged in simple white boxes and packets are similar to the basics range of products produced by Sainsbury’s. Sales of the range are up 11 per cent compared to a year ago and the supermarket expects to sell £600 million of essential products over the next 12 months. Sainsbury’s have also recently published figures that suggest shoppers are choosing the budget range of products. What do you think? Are you cutting back?

One lady got a shock when she opened a jar of tikka masala sauce from her local Asda and found that it contained something extra. Along with the curry sauce she found a dead mouse which it seems had fallen into the jar before it was sealed. The jar of sauce has since been sent away for analysis in order to establish where it came from.

This is interesting, its an idea that is being tried by Sainsbury's to make their stores greener. Under the scheme the checkout would be powered by energy which is created by the shoppers. Kinetic road plates will be installed at a new branch in Gloucester. The plates will generate energy when customers drive over them when entering and leaving the car park. The device will then convert enough energy to power the tills inside the store reducing the amount of energy taken from the National Grid. The devices are already being tried at distribution warehouses but this will be the first time they will be used at a supermarket. If the scheme is successful in Gloucester it could soon be put into place at more stores across the country.

This is interesting, its what has been dubbed the anti stab knife. The knife is designed so that it works as normal in the kitchen but it has a rounded tip which makes it harder to stab someone. The rounded edge will snag on clothing or skin and should make it almost impossible to use it to stab someone to death as well as cutting down the risk of accidental injuries. It has been invented by industrial designer John Cornock and is likely to cost between £40 and £50 when it goes on sale. 

One man got an added extra with his loaf of bread when he found a dead mouse embedded in the bottom of the loaf. He had purchased the loaf from a supermarket in Ballymoney and found the mouse when he unwrapped the bread. The company who made the loaf have since been fined £1,000 for putting unsafe goods on the market.

Pret a Manger has taken the decision to switch to a sustainable type of tuna after the founder watched a documentary about intensive fishing methods. They will start using skipjack tuna later this year which is more common than the yellowfin and bluefin tuna that they currently use. As well as being more common skipjack tuna is caught using smaller fishing boats using a pole and line approach rather than an intensive fishing method which often leads to other sea creatures being caught in the nets. Although the pole and line technique is more labour intensive and therefore most expensive Pret have promised that the increased cost will not be passed onto the customer. Waitrose and Marks & Spencer have also stopped selling bluefin tuna, swordfish and skate and Tesco does not sell bluefin tuna.

If like many other people you are thinking of getting an allotment to grow your own vegetables, it appears you might be in for a long wait. According to this article in some areas the waiting lists for an allotment are so long that you might have to wait up to 40 years before you get one. In Camden for example there are 883 people waiting for an allotment and in Islington, Burnley, Fylde, Wirrel and Kingston upon Hull waiting list are all longer than 10 years. Although every council has to provide 20 allotments per every 1,000 residents it seems demand is simply to high. Whether its the effects of recession or simply a renewed interest is not clear but it appears growing your own is the thing to do.

This article claims that some chocolate bars have shrunk whilst the prices remain the same. Apparently the size of Mars and Snickers bars have shrunk by more than 7 per cent as the company tries to reduce costs. The chocolate bars which previously weighed 62.5g now weigh just 58g. The change happened in the second half of last year and the smaller version are now on sale in the shops. The price of the smaller bar remains the same at 37p for a Mars bar and 41p for a Snickers, so it appears customers are getting a little less for their money. Mars at first claimed the move was to help tackle the nation’s obesity problem but later admitted that it was as a result of rising costs.

Stinking Bishop has been voted Britain’s smelliest cheese. The cheese which is made by Charles Martell and Son in Gloucestershire has been described as smelling like a rugby club changing room. It was voted as the winner at the Britain’s Smelliest Cheese Championships beating Driftwood by Whitelake Cheeses which came second and St Oswald by Gorsehill Abbey which took third place. I haven't tried Stinking Bishop but I might have to get some to see what its like. Watch this space for the review.

This article is interesting it suggests that eating soup can help you lose weight. Apparently if you were to eat a meal of chicken of vegetables with a glass of water you would only feel full for a couple of hours but if you have the same meal blending the water with the food to make soup it fills you up for much longer. According to the article this is down to the fact that after you have eaten a meal the pyloric sphincter in your stomach holds back food so that digestive juices can work. Water passed through the sphincter to your intestines and therefore does not fill you up. However, when the water is mixed with food the mixture stays in the stomach making you feel fuller for longer. I quite like soup but I also like bread to dip in it which I think adds any extra calories that you might save by not snacking.

According to this article The budget hotel chain Travelodge is launching a 99p cream tea. For your 99p you can expect to receive a collection of teas, an extra large scone, a pot of Cornish clotted cream and a choice of strawberry of raspberry jam. Not bad at all for under a pound.

This strange looking fruit is a Kumato. It’s basically a new variety of tomato which originates from the wild tomato. Unlike normal tomatoes it can be eaten even when it is still green. Apparently when still green it has a mild taste and is good for slicing. As it ripens to a dark brown it is sweeter and slightly spicy and is good in salads. When it finally develops a dark red colour it becomes much sweeter than the conventional tomato. The kumato will go on sale at 50 Marks and Spencer stores from next Monday priced at £2.49 per pack.

According to this article ministers have backed plans to give restaurant workers fair pay. Under new rules restaurant workers could face jail or a £5,000 fine from October if they use tips to make up staff wages. Currently some restaurants pay workers a low wage but use staff tips to make the wage up to the legal minimum. In some cases waiters are being paid as little at £3 an hour by employers and have to rely upon tips to make up the rest of their salary. It is estimated that around 60,000 staff could see their salaries increase after the new rules come into force.

According to this article a new type of tomato has been produced that won’t make your sandwiches go soggy. It has been produced by Tesco who claim it is the world’s first non leaking tomato. The tomatoes have been grown in Holland under a seed breeding programme that began in 1986. Unlike normal tomatoes which lose 8 per of their weight when sliced the non leaking variety loses less than one per cent of moisture meaning less juice ends up seeping into the bread of the sandwich. At 99p for four they are not cheap but if you are sick of eating soggy sandwiches then this might be the answer.

In a rather bizarre attempt to sell more pollack Sainsbury’s have renamed it Colin. Apparently people do not want to ask for pollack when they are shopping and many find the name rather ugly. Colin is what the French call the fish once it has been cooked. It is hoped that the name change will make British shoppers choose pollack as an alternative to cod or haddock. Personally I love pollack and often find that it is nicer than cod. It also has the advantage of being slightly cheaper.

Discount supermarket Lidl are offering a £5 lobster to attract customers over the Easter period. The lobsters are pre-cooked and frozen and weigh three quarters of a pound. As well as £5 lobsters the supermarket is also offering a whole 5lb duck for £5.99 and a 1.5lb salmon for £4.49. The promotions are part of an Easter offer which starts on the 30th of March. When the supermarket ran a similar promotion last year it attracted a huge amount of attention from middle class customers who flocked to store to take advantage of the limited offer. It certainly looks like a good deal but unfortunately I don’t have a Lidl that’s local.

According to this article this monstrosity is the world’s biggest burger. The tasty looking snack, if you can call it a snack contains 4,800 calories which is twice the daily recommended limit for a man. It also contains 300 grams of fat, 744 milligrams of cholesterol and 10,000 milligrams of salt. The burger has been created by caterers at an West Michigan Whitecaps’s ball park. It contains five beef patties, five slices of cheese, sour cream, a cup of chilli salsa and corn chips. It costs $20 and if you manage to finish it in one sitting you get a free t-shirt, in an extra large size, I’m guessing.

This is an interesting idea, its a pizza vending machine. The machine called Let’s Pizza has been invented by Claudio Torghele and has recently been launched in Italy. It can make a pizza from scratch in just three minutes whipping the flour into dough, squashing in into a disc and adding the topping before cooking it and serving it in a cardboard box. The machine includes clear plastic windows so that customers can watch the ingredients being mixed and cooked. It costs 3.50 Euros, approx £3.30 for a pizza which is about half what you would expect to pay in a restaurant. The inventor hopes that in the current difficult economic times his three minute pizzas will grab a share of the takeaway market. However, traditional Italian pizza makers are far from impressed with the head of the Association of Italian Pizzerias saying "Pizza that comes out of an automatic machine has nothing to do with Italian pizza."

Supermarket chain Morrisons appears to be doing rather well despite the credit crunch and has announced plans for 40 new supermarkets. Most of the new supermarkets are likely to be in South where they hope to lure customers away from more expensive rivals. The chain has recently announced a £43million increase in profits, a rise of around 7%. The new stores are part of a strategy to have a store just 15 minutes drive away for most of the population.

If you are too busy to crack an egg then you might interested in this product. Called Egg in a Instant it contains liquid egg. The product is 100% pasteurised British Lion eggs and contains about ten whole eggs per half litre. It can be stored for up to 21 days unopened and needs to be used within three days once you open it. It’s an interesting idea but personally I think I will just stick to using regular eggs.

It appears that one company at least is yet to feel the effects of the recession. Whilst many other businesses are struggling business is booming at Domino's Pizza. Profits for the last 12 months were up 25% to £23 million with like for like sales rising by 10%. There were also 52 new store openings last year. The company appears to benefiting not only from the fact that people are choosing to eat in rather than go out but also from the recent bad weather which has kept many people at home.

MCDonald's will become the UK's leading apprenticeship provider within two years offering a total of 10,000 places. The company will offer an on the job qualification which will be equivalent to achieving five A to C grades at GCSE. The qualification will not only teach people how to cook burgers but will also concentrate on developing young people's maths and English ability. A trial which started at 80 restaurants will be extended across all of the UK's 1,200 restaurants with six thousand places being available this year. The courses will also be monitored by Ofsted inspectors.

This article suggests that almost an eighth of the customers who order cod and chips from the chip shop actually end up eating haddock without realising it. Whilst haddock is equally tasty the one big difference is the price with cod costing around £16.17 per kg and haddock £11.63 per kg. An investigation conducted by the Food Standards Agency found that haddock was substituted in place of cod at around 12 per cent of chip shops, 10 per cent of pubs and 9 per cent of restaurants and that it was more common when cod prices were high. Whilst most people would find it hard to tell the difference between the two fish especially once they have been breaded or battered it seems wrong deliberately mislead customers, if you pay for cod then you should get cod.

This article suggests that supermarkets are hiking up prices at a time when their costs are actually going down. According to the article although supermarkets claim to be cutting prices for their customers, they have actually imposed price increases on staple foods. The increase in costs could add as much as £1,100 a year to a family's grocery bills. The big four stores, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons have all been criticised for fattening up their profits at a time when they could be passing the savings onto hard pressed customers.

Marks and Spencer will cut the price of many of its products in a bid to take on discount grocery and fashion stores. The price cutting drive has been announced at a time when their half year profits have fallen by 34%. M&S chairman Sir Stuart Rose said that the store group was planning to reduce costs to match the publics desire for cheaper goods. The group have also been running promotions such as their "dine in for £10" and weekend promotions which appear to be tempting customers back to their stores.

Tesco will expand its discount range to try and entice budget conscious customers. Increasingly customers have been moving towards discount stores like Aldi, Netto and Lidl to try and cut costs as the credit crunch hits. Tesco has already discounted hundreds of everyday groceries but will cut the cost of hundreds more in the next few weeks. They claim that customers are already choosing less well known discount brands instead of costlier versions of products such as tomato ketchup, beef burgers, washing up liquid and lettuce. Personally I have been choosing more supermarket own brands as prices keep creeping up.

Production of White Rabbit candy products has resumed after the China milk scare. The vanilla flavoured sweets which are exported across the world were withdrawn during the Chinese milk scare after fears that they contained melamine. Chinese officials have accused milk suppliers of adding the chemical to batches of milk to artificially boost its protein content. Four babies have dies and more than 54,000 children fell sick as a result. China's state council made an announcement yesterday that they will overhaul the dairy industry and punish companies that have put profit above safety. The manufacturer of White Rabbit candy will now undergo government quality testing as checks are carried out on milk products in China. The company have not yet said when the product will be back on sale.

Sales are up at Domino's Pizza as more customers choose to eat in. Sales across 535 UK Domino outlets in the UK and Ireland rose by 17.8% to £83.3m in the last 13 weeks. Over the past 39 weeks sales have increased by 18.9% to £253.5m. During the last recession in the 1990's Dominos eventually saw its sales flatten out but this time the company appears to be showing reliance leading analysts to increase their profit forecasts for the company.

A Cornish cheese has beaten more than 100 cheeses from around the UK to win a prestigious award. Sue Proudfoot makes Cornish Crumbly, a cheese which is handmade in small batches at her farm near Bude. The chief judge at the British Cheese Awards in Cardiff described it as having "a mildly acidic yet fresh taste with a delightful zing on the finish". Mrs Proudfoot also makes three other cheeses at her dairy.

A leading expert has said that everyone should have at least one meat free a week to help save the planet. He says that meat farming produces enormous amounts of greenhouse gases and that if every ate vegetables just once a week it would be more beneficial than other measures such as cutting car journeys.

This article suggests that customers are losing out as some supermarket brands are reducing the pack size but are still charging the same price. Effectively this tactic means customers are paying more for their goods without realising it. Many brands are reluctant to put up prices but instead appear to using this rather underhand method to protect their profits. Some examples include Pampers which have reduced the amount of nappies in some packs whilst keeping the price the same. Dairylea, Pringles, Strongbow and Rolo has all also cut pack sizes without cutting prices.

A Government advisor has said that fatty foods should carry health warnings. Professor David Hunter has said that the NHS could become unaffordable within decades because of the cost of treating conditions linked to obesity. He said that ministers should force manufacturers put warnings on food which contain high amounts of fat, sugar or salt. He also said that warning labels could help to phase unhealthy foods and eventually lead to their withdrawal from the supermarket shelf. Its an interesting idea but personally if I saw a warning on a big chocolate cake, I would still buy the cake. I know it might not be very good for me but I will be off to the gym to work it off after I have eaten it.

According to this article food prices have risen by 9.5% in the last year. The increase is the highest for 15 years and is despite the fact that the main supermarkets claim they have been making cuts. The figure for fresh food is up by 10.8% for the last year according to the British Retail Consortium. The increasing cost of food, fuel, gas and electricity is currently outpacing salary rises and means that many families are having to cut back just to afford the essentials.

This article suggests that garlic could lower blood pressure as effectively as drugs. It is based on a study in which scientists monitored patients who were given a daily dose of powered garlic. They found that there were significant blood pressure falls among the patients and that those who had the greatest drop had the higher blood pressure readings to begin with. In some cases the effects were similar to those achieved by common anti blood pressure drugs such as beta blockers and ACE inhibitors.

A Cornish creamery has become the first cheese maker to become supreme champion for two years in a row at The Nantwich International Cheese Show. The Davidstow Creamery has been making cheese for more than 50 years using a traditional Cornish recipe and milk produced in Devon and Cornwall. The Nantwich International Cheese Show has over 2,700 entries from 30 countries. Despite this Davidstow won the supreme champion, Champion UK, Reserve Champion UK and a further seven trophies and cups. This cheese sounds really good, I must get some.

The pub group Mitchells & Butlers has acquired 44 restaurants from Whitbread in return for 21 hotel sites. The group whose brands include Harvester and All Bar One currently owns around 2,000 pubs nationwide. The outlets it is gaining currently operate under the Brewers Fayre and Beefeater brands. In exchange Whitbread will get some of its Express by Holiday Inn hotels.

This article suggests that some fast food meal contain a whole days' intake of fat or salt. The National Consumer Council criticised the country's seven biggest fast food chains for not making it clear to customers what is in its food. It is calling for restaurants to print nutritional information on menus. The report was particularly critical of Pizza Express which shows no information of the levels of fat, sugar and salt that is in its dishes. Meals from KFC and McDonalds were also revealed to have high levels of ingredients linked to obesity and heart disease. A KFC Tower Burger meal contained nearly a days intake of salt whilst a McDonalds quarter pounder meal had 90% of the the recommended daily calorie intake for a woman. Personally I don't find this is surprisingly. We all know fast food is bad for us and many people only eat it every now and again. The problem comes if you eat food like this everyday.

The Co-Operative Group has become the country's fifth largest food retailer after agreeing a £1.6billion takeover of Somerfield. The takeover will mean that the Co-op will acquire 3,000 outlets across the country and an eight per cent market share.

This article suggests that supermarket price cuts have helped to stem the increase in grocery bills. Although the increase is still running at 17.8% it has fallen from 19.8% and this has been attributed to special offers and reductions on a number of products including broccoli and sausages. Supermarkets have been slashing prices on some products in an effort to become the cheapest store at a time where customers appear to be becoming more price aware.

Sainsbury's has started putting electronic tags on chickens in its Eastbourne store. They have introduced the measures after an increasing amount of people have been stealing chickens. Previously tags were only used on high value goods such as alcohol but with the increasingly high costs of meat it appears that chicken is now much sought after. Anyone who tries to steal a chicken from the Eastbourne store will now set off an alarm.

Some of the leading supermarkets have announced cut price promotions as customers start to move to discount stores to save money. Stores like Aldi and Lidl have seen strong growth as they sell items such as bread and eggs for as little as 50p. In response Tesco has said it will cut the cost of 3,000 items on Monday with some items being cut by as much as 50%. Sainsbury's has also responded with temporary price cuts on summer items such as strawberries.

Sales of frozen food have risen by 4.2% in the past year. The rise has been put down to the fact that food costs have soared leading shoppers to look for cheaper alternatives. After five years of little growth, the frozen food sector appears to be enjoying a growth spurt with fish products seeing an 11% increase in sales and frozen vegetables a 5.5% increase.

This article suggests that supermarkets are profiteering from the huge rise in the price of eggs by taking the greatest share of the 47.4% increase in prices. Although supermarkets claim to be protecting shoppers from the rising prices of food, they have taken the bulk of the profits made from the rise in egg prices. Eggs have gone up by 47.4% or 83p since last May but farmers have seen only 12p of this which is barely above the cost of production. In contrast the supermarkets and packers get 71p of the rise.

Not surprisingly it has been found that cows that eat outdoors produce healthier milk. A study showed that milk from cows that graze outside on grass and clover contains more antioxidants and vitamins than milk from conventional dairy farmers. Its not rocket science cows are meant to eat grass.

This article suggests that some brands of vegetarian sausages and burgers contain more salt than the meat equivalent. Researchers found that some vegetarian burgers contain six times more salt than a meat burger with others containing as much salt as five packets of crisps. Fry's Vegetarian Traditional Sausage contained 2.8g of salt, more than four times the pork equivalent meaning that just two sausages would provide the recommended daily intake for an adult. Other leading brands also fared quite badly in the test.

Waitrose has been experiencing a pasta shortage after it ran out of suppliers of its own brand dried pasta at the start of April. The problem was caused by a row between the supermarket group and its supplier in Italy over quality issues. Waitrose customers have for the last few weeks only been able to buy other branded pasta from the store, most of which costs more than the own brand alternative. The supermarket chain has now said that the issue has been resolved and that the shelves would be fully stocked within two weeks.

Waitrose have recalled organic eggs from one of its suppliers after fears they could be contaminated. It is thought that the chickens had eaten lead shot. The affected eggs are Blacktail Columbian organic eggs with the code OUK20137 stamped on them. Other organic eggs from Waitrose are not affected. Customers who have purchased the eggs are advised to return them for a refund.

Well, maybe not world domination but lots more coffee shops. Whitbread plans to double the number of Costa coffee shops and increase the number of Premier Inn rooms by 50%. The company announced the plans after it unveiled better than expected profits. There are currently 992 Costa coffee outlets worldwide but Whitbread will increase this to 2,000 in the next five years with half of the new shops being in Britain.

The Food Standards Agency has called for a ban on six artificial colours because they cause mood swings. Tartrazine (E102), quinoline yellow (E104), sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), ponceau 4R (E124) and allura read (E129) have been linked to hyperactivity in a study carried out by Southampton University. The researchers estimated that 30% of hyperactivity disorder would be prevented if compaies removed these colours from their products. The colours are found in products such as Sherbet Lemons, Minstrels, M&Ms, Cadbury’s Crème Egg, Haribo Jelly Beans and Irn Bru.

It appears that free range eggs are becoming more popular as sales have overtaken those from battery farms for the first time. The British Egg Information Service said that 51% of eggs brought last month were free range whilst 41% came from caged hens; the remainder came from a mixture of barn and organic farms. Some supermarkets such as Waitrose and Marks and Spencer now sell only free range eggs.

The Italian government has recalled buffalo mozzarella that has been linked to a dioxin contamination. The affected cheese comes from 25 producers in the Campania region near Naples. They have traced the farms at the source of the contamination and have destroyed their milk as a precaution.

Japan has banned imports of mozzarella over the recent toxin scare. Carcinogenic dioxins have been discovered at several farms in Campania and there are fears that the herds of water buffalo could be ingesting poisons from illegally dumped rubbish. Japan has impounded all mozzarella from Italy. This follows similar action from South Korea which banned the cheese after 29 toxic samples were found.

The high street pub chain which owns the Slug and Lettuce and Litten Tree chain has gone into administration after failing to find a buyer. The group currently has 90 loss making bars within the 330 site group. 239 of the pubs and restaurants were immediately brought from the administrators but 90 sites will remain under their control.

Eight buffalo herds in the Naples area have been quarantined on the suspicion that their milk could be contaminated. The animals have been grazing on land where toxic industrial waste has been dumped illegally by criminals. The milk produced by the buffalo herds is now being tested for dangerous levels of dioxin. Although only a fraction of the herds in the region have been affected sales of Neapolitan mozzarella have declined by nearly 50% following the scare. The Government says consumers would need to eat large quantities of mozzarella over a period of several months for their health to be affected.

Tate and Lyle sugar is to be Fairtrade accredited. This will make it the largest UK firm to carry the Fairtrade label. Granulated white cane sugar will be the first Fairtrade product but Tate and Lyle expect the whole range to follow by the end of 2009.

Thousands of salmon products have been recalled from eight different supermarket chains because they may have been contaminated with diesel. The alert affects 50 types of Scottish salmon products including steaks, pies and fillets. The problem has been traced to the seafood company Marine Harvest which supplies fish to Morrisons and Young’s Seafood Ltd. The fish is thought to have been contaminated by diesel from a vehicle during transportation to a processing plant. The problem was detected when some customers complained of an unpleasant white spirit like taste. The alert does not affect organic salmon.

I read this article which makes the claim that diet drinks could actually make you put on weight. Researchers in the USA have found that artificial sweeteners such as those contained in diet drinks make it harder for people to regulate their intake of food and can lead to over eating. The findings come after a study was carried out on some rats. Rats given a low calories yogurt gained more weight and body fat that those given a surgery version. The researchers say that the study could help to explain why obesity levels and the use of artificial have both increased.

A mushroom farm that has been operating for 50 years is due to close because of rising costs and increased competition from abroad. The farm in Godalming Surrey is one of only two left in the South East. When it closes 80 people will lose their jobs.

The blue Smartie was dropped by Nestle about three years due to concerns about artificial ingredients. At the time Nestle were able to reformulate the other coloured Smarties to get rid of the artificial ingredients and colours. However, they could find no way of recreating the distinctive blue Smartie. It appeared that Smarties have now found the answer and can create the blue sweet using a colouring from seaweed.

You will soon be able to buy milk in plastic bags instead of the more common plastic bottle. Waitrose will abolish plastic milk bottles to help reduce landfill and also save the energy that is used in their manufacture. The new bags are made of biodegradable plastic so can be recycled. Currently over two third of milk is sold in plastic bottles, with Britons consuming 180 million pints of milk a week.

A Government funded survey has found that one in four battery chickens has difficulty walking. The study showed that by the time they were 40 days old 27.6% of broiler chickens showed “poor locomotion” with 3.3% almost unable to walk. There are currently around 20 billion broiler chickens reared in conditions that researchers say are biased towards economic means of production rather than the welfare of the chicken.

I read this article that suggests some coffee sold by high street chain can contain a third of the recommended daily calorie intake. The article highlights coffee such as Starbucks large white chocolate mocha which contains 628 calories. In comparison a medium mocha with whipped cream from Caffe Nero contains 326 calories and a medium mocha flake from Costa Coffee contains 297 calories. Whilst this may seem a lot, all of these coffee brands contain whole milk, chocolate and cream so personally I would expect them to have a high calorie content.

I was looking around at some Valentines Day gifts and came across a nice website that not only offers valentine day flower delivery but also has an extensive range of gifts. They sell gourmet food gifts and cookies as well as wine and cheese gifts. Whereas women are usually easy to by for on Valentines Day, I mean what woman doesn’t like flowers, it is nice to see a website that offers a bit more choice. I often look at valentines gifts for my husband and find I am restricted to chocolates but he would love one of these gourmet cookie baskets or perhaps a luxury cheese selection.

Despite it being well publicised that McDonalds food is unhealthy sales are up in Britain. They are now selling more burgers than at any time since they arrived in Britain 34 years ago. Last month there were an amazing 88 million visits to McDonalds. This figure is up nearly 10 million on the previous year.  Although the McDonald’s menu has changed to include healthier options such as smoothies and wraps the most popular choices are still the traditional products such as burgers, fries and ice creams.

Several of the UK’s supermarkets have announced they will phase out the sale of battery eggs. The decision has come because of consumer concerns over the impact of cheap food on animal welfare. Sainsbury, Morrisons and the Co-op will phase out the sale of eggs from battery hens. Marks and Spencer and Waitrose have already stopped selling eggs from battery hens. Sainsbury expect to end the sale of eggs from battery hens by next year. The Co-op has similar plans and Morrisons will phase them out by 2010. Tesco are reducing the shelf space for eggs from caged hens but have not yet announced a ban.

Despite often being unhealthy ready meals are still very popular. In fact sales of ready meals have trebled in the past decade. Sales of Chinese, Indian and Thai meals have risen within the past five years with fast food sales growing by 73% between 1995 and 2005. Despite this more than 60% of people surveyed still cook at least one meal a day from scratch.

Waitrose has been criticised by human rights activists for selling fish from Zimbabwe. They say it is wrong to fly in food from a country that is on the brink of starvation. Waitrose say that the fish is sourced from a fair trade supplier which is majority owned by native Zimbabweans and which pays its worker substantially more than the minimum wage. Campaigners are planning protests at all Waitrose outlets which currently stock tilapia fillets, the fish at the centre of the debate.

I read this article the other day that suggests the chicken you buy from the supermarket could actually be months old. It suggests that a lot of poultry sold in supermarkets is actually imported from places like Brazil and Thailand and can often be weeks or even months old. The article also suggests that meat in products like ready meals could have been thawed and frozen several times. I find this particularly worrying as I tend to buy meat and then freeze it to use later in the month thinking it is fresh. I am starting to wonder if I am putting my health at risk through relying on the supermarkets to provide me with food that is fresh. The Food and Farming Minister is now backing a campaign to clarify the labelling rules so that customers do not buy a product made from thawed meat that they think is fresh.

If you like cranberry sauce with your turkey you might find you have to pay more this year. That is because the price of cranberries has gone up as a result of a poor harvest and rising demand. Although there is not likely to be shortage of cranberry products prices are now likely to much more.

In a recent report carried out by Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) Asda came bottom for animal welfare. The supermarkets were scored out of five based on a range of categories from transport and slaughter of animals to fish farming. Marks and Spencer won the compassionate supermarket award for 2007 with Waitrose coming second.

I read this article about some really expensive turkeys. The turkeys have been fed on the finest organically produced cereals and roam free in maize fields. The birds are raised to 25 weeks instead of the usual 10-12 weeks so that they have extra fat which apparently helps to tenderise the meat. They are also slaughtered humanely and hand plucked. All of this contributes to the £100 price tag.

This is an interesting concept but so simple it make me wonder why all pizza places don’t already do it. Papa John’s restaurants in the US have started taking pizza orders by text. You first have to register online to create an account; you can then set up several favourite orders that you can text in, anytime you are feeling a bit peckish. I wonder whether this will take off in the UK.

In a new idea the next Jersey Royal potato crop could be washed in rainwater collected on the island. A Bartlett and Sons have applied for permission to water a treatment plant to collect rainwater from the plants roof which they would then use to wash the potatoes. The soil from the potatoes would then go back onto the land. They claim that rainwater will give the potatoes an even better taste and say that by washing and packing the potatoes on the island they will be much fresher when they reach the plate of the consumer.

The price of bread has hit an all time high with experts warning that the era of cheap food could be coming to an end. Bad weather such as the flooding in August has contributed to the rises. The average bread price is now £1.12 per loaf.

I brought some Pollack today for the first time and was surprised at how tasty it was. I made a light batter and put it in the deep fat fryer for around 10 minutes. It turned out really well with a light crispy batter and perfectly cooked fish. The taste is similar to cod but I noticed the fish had less bones. I will definitely be buying this on a regular basis.

There could be a shortage of turkeys this Christmas. The shortage has been caused by threatened strike action at turkey produces by Bernard Matthews which is due to start on the 24th of November. Turkeys are also likely to be more expensive this year with rising food costs pushing up prices meaning turkeys are now 20% more expensive to rear. This is likely to add around £5 to the cost of the average Christmas lunch.

A chocolate sundae served by a New York restaurant has been declared the world’s most expensive dessert with a price tag of £12,500. The dessert is infused with edible 23 carat gold and served in a gold lined goblet with a box of Knipschildt chocolate which retail at £1,300. It also includes an 18 carat gold and diamond bracelet on the goblets base which you can take home. I would think so at that price.

I read this article about a new Stilton milkshake. The milk shake is made of blue cheese mixed with other flavours including peanut butter or ginger cake. It is made by milk shake specialist Moo Juce who experimented with several flavours before deciding on Stilton. I’m not sure I will be trying it.

I read this article the other day about a new chocolate that is meant to be good for you. The chocolate is called Choxi and is made by Prestat, the chocolatiers to the Queen. It is packed full of antioxidants and contains more per pound than 5lbs of apples. The chocolate is available in dark and milk varieties and mint and orange flavours. At only £1.99 a bar I will certainly be trying it.

Its bad news for pizza lovers as pizza costs are set to rise. The cost is due to the rising cost of mozzarella which has soared by 50% this year. It is likely to add around 50p to the cost of a standard £10 pizza. The rising cost is not just limited to mozzarella but also affects other cheese including cheddar.

Asda and Makro have issued a recall of lamb because of fears it might contain traces of drugs. The affected meat was distributed by Welsh County Foods based in Anglesey. The affected meat could cause sickness if eaten.

McDonald’s are going to introduce high speed wireless internet access to most of its 1,200 UK restaurants by the end of the year. Customers will be able to use their laptops, mobile phones or games consoles within the fast food outlets. There are likely to be no restrictions on how long you can use the service for.

John Lewis is branching out into the grocery business with the opening of a food hall in the basement of their Oxford Street store. It is designed to cater for local workers and shoppers and is part of the stores £64m makeover. John Lewis has linked with Waitrose to launch the new department, which if successful could also be extended to other locations around the country. The store targets the increasing market for premium food and will have an in-store bakery with 40 different types of bread, over 109 lines of fish on its fish counter and 115 cheeses half of which are British. And if you fancy a bottle of champagne you will have more than 80 to choose from. It sounds great.

Campbell’s condensed soup, famous for its red and white label is to be rebranded. It will now be called Batchelors condensed soup and will carry the slogan “Formerly Campbell’s. Same great taste.” The soup has to be rebranded due to the fact that the brand name expires in 2008. When Premier foods brought the Campbell Soup Company, they did not purchase the brand as well. The recipe of the soup will remain unchanged. The Campbell Soup Company will still produce Campbell’s Condensed Soup but are not allowed to sell the brand in the UK for another five years.

Tesco have been selling New Zealand lamb packaged as British Lamb. One customer brought a product labelled as British slow cooked lamb shanks only to find when she opened the packet that the small print described them as tender lamb shanks of marinated New Zealand lamb. New Zealand lamb is around half the price of British lamb, so it seems this is a cost cutting exercise by Tesco. Tesco said the meal was described as British to indicate the type of cuisine rather than the origins of the ingredients. This seems a rather poor excuse for misleading packaging.

You might find the price of your Christmas dinner will be more like year after turkey farmers have announced they will need to increase their prices. The move comes because there has been a huge increase in costs recently, with the price of poultry feed going up from £181 a tonne to £240 a tonne. This increase is likely to put around 10 to 20% extra on the cost of your Christmas turkey.

A McDonalds customer in the West Midlands had an unpleasant surprise on finding a bolt in their sausage and egg McMuffin. The bolt had apparently come away from a kitchen grill and ended up in the food. McDonalds pleaded guilty to producing food that did not meet the required standards and were ordered to pay £3, 578 in costs.

If you are trying to eat healthier food but feel you need a bit of help you might want to try mysupermarket.co.uk In addition to their price comparison service they have now launched a service that allows you see nutritional information about your shop including the calories and fat and salt content. It then asks you if you want to switch any of the foods that are high in calories for a lower calorie alternative. They claim that using the service could knock around 4,000 calories off a families consumption.

Mars has issued a recall of some of its products after small pieces of rubber were found in them. The affected sweets include milk chocolate Maltesers with best before dates between 16 December 2007 and 6 January 2008 and revels in bags pouches and pots with dates between 16 December 2007 and 13 January 2008. Customers are being asked to return the packs for a full refund. Packs should be returned to: Maltesers Consumer Care, Unit 1, Hudson Road, Melton Mowbray LE13 1BS.

It’s always good to get a recommendation when looking for a restaurant or an evening out. I was looking for a good london restaurant the other day and cam across this site called TrustedPlaces. There users share their opinions on places they have been to and let you know what they thought of them. You can search by area or even by the sort of restaurant you require and see reviews from real people before you go, which is really useful.

Businesses selling takeaway meals may soon have to include a traffic light health label on their menus. The scheme which is being backed by the government would show how much salt and fat a product contained. For example a chicken tikka masala which has a high salt and fat content might have a red logo, whilst something healthier would have a green one. The system will be piloted in Liverpool with plans to introduce it elsewhere if it is successful.

The custard cream has been voted Britain's favourite biscuit in a recent poll. Nine out of ten people named it as their favourite. Secons place was the bourbon, with the cookie and ginger biscuit coming much further down the list. Personally I have never liked custard creams, what are people thinking?

A recent survey suggests that customers are being misled about the salt content is food. The problem is with ready meals and other processed foods. Manufacturers of some products have been deliberately understating the portion sizes on food labels. This gives the impression that they have a lower salt content. One example given was a packet of chicken nuggets, where the salt content given for a portion weighing 15g, which is the equivalent of just one nugget.

A report suggests that eating food prepared with virgin olive oil can be good for the heart. The oil is rich in phenols which can help to prevent harmful blood clots in people who have high cholesterol. The researchers carried out a study where they monitored the VII antigen factor in people who had been fed a diet contained olive oil. They concluded that the olive oil does have real benefits for the heart.

Its bad news for all chocolate lovers, you could soon be paying a lot more for your chocolate fix. One of the largest chocolate makers has warned that prices will soon rise. Lindt and Sprungli have said the rise is due to the increased cost of materials including milk, cocoa and cocoa butter. Cadbury has also warned they will need to raise the prices of their products.

Waitrose has issued a recall of some of their smoked salmon products because they contain high levels of listeria. The products affected are Waitrose Smokes Salmon Parcels and Waitrose Poached Salmon Terrines dated up to the 28th August. It was found during routine testing that the levels of listeria in the products were above the permitted levels. It is thought the problem is isolated to a few hundred products. Customers have been advised to return them for a refund.

MyWeigh sell weighing scales including pocket scales, shipping scales and bathroom scales. They have scales that handle weights from a fraction of a gram right up to hundreds of pounds. I found the site because I was looking for some new parcel scales. Their digital postal scales weigh things up to 75lbs and also weigh in pounds, ounces, kilograms and grams. The scales have a detachable face so that you can weigh even large boxes and still read the screen. You can even meet the face on a wall for easy access. All their scales come with a lifetime warranty in the US.

A tearoom in Brighton has taken a firm line on biscuit dunkers. The Tea Cosy has started throwing customers out if they are silly enough to dunk their biscuits in their cup. Resting elbows on the table, clinking your spoon on the side of the cup and using a mobile phone are also likely to get you thrown out.

It’s interesting that wrapping something in a different wrapper can make it more appealing and can even make you think it tastes better. Researchers have found that children find food wrapped in McDonald’s packaging than an identical snack wrapped in another wrapper. The study was carried out to try and gauge the power that advertising has on children. In the study which was carried out in the US children were given two identical samples of food, one in McDonalds packaging and one in a plain wrapper. Despite the snacks being identical the ones wrapped in the McDonalds packaging were found to be the tastiest by six times as many children as found the plain snacks most tasty. This study certainly shows the power of advertising.

Potato growers in Scotland have brought in a helicopter in an effect to control the potato blight. The helicopter will spray the crop in an effort to halt the blight which is threatening the crop. The farmers are currently facing the worst case of potato blight for around 40 years.

The price of a pint of milk is set to rise by 3p because of shortages. The shortages have been caused by the recent floods in the UK. Cattle have been affected because farmers have been forced to keep them indoors. This reduces the milk yield because it means the cows have to be fed on silage rather than on grass. Supermarkets are likely to pass the cost onto the consumer.

New research has indicated that a daily pint of beer or a large glass of wine could raise your risk of developing bowel cancer by 10%. The study was based on data collected from 480,000 people. The risk is further increased for those who both smoke and drink.

You might think that you are picking the healthy alternative when choosing a salad for lunch but this article suggests otherwise. Some salads and pre-packed pasta meals could actually contain as much salt as a hamburger and chips. A noodle salad was found to have a shocking 4.4g of salt, that’s 73% of the recommended daily intake for an adult. The problem is that a lot of salads contain salty ingredients such as bacon, ham and cheese. In addition to this salt is often added to products when it is not really needed. If you were to buy a chicken Caesar salad in McDonalds, you would actually be consuming more salt than if you went for a Big Mac and fries. The ten worst salty salads are shown below. The information was taken from the Times Online website.

Ten worst offenders
4.4g 73%
EAT Thai noodle
3.7g 62%
Tesco tuna and sweetcorn pasta snack
3.5g 58%
EAT smoked mackerel superfood
McDonald’s crispy chicken Caesar salad with low-fat Caesar dressing
3.3g 55%
McDonald’s grilled chicken Caesar salad with low-fat Caesar dressing
3g 50%
EAT spicy chicken noodles
Morrisons chicken and bacon pasta Morrisons tuna pasta
Somerfield cheese and tomato pasta snack
Somerfield chicken and bacon pasta snack

You can find a wealth of information in old cookbooks. If nothing else they are really interesting to see how trends have changed between what used to popular and what we eat now. The OldCookbooks.com Blog talks about old cookbooks they have come across and what is unique about each one. One that I actually have at home, although I can’t recall where I got it from is the Country Fair Cookbook which was published in 1975 and contains interesting information on cooking to win a country fair ribbon. I also have another interesting book with old English recipes such as pig trotters, I'm not sure how popular that would be today.

The recent floods here in the UK are likely to have an effect on food prices. The prices of milk, vegetables and other food stuffs are set to soar as farmers struggle to cope with the floods which have ruined many crops. The pea harvest this year has been hit badly with more than two fifths of the crop being completely wiped out, that’s about 61 million bags of peas. Among other crops that are badly affected are potatoes which have seen the worst cases of potato blight for around 40 years.

A lady in West London has been scarred for life by an exploding vegetable kiev. She had prepared the kiev according to the manufacturers instructions. When she sat down to eat it, it exploded covering her in boiling liquid. Asda have said it is a isolated incident

The rain here in the UK is bad news for so many people who have already had their homes damaged by floods or find they are without drinking water. There are however, always some companies that benefit from adverse weather. Domino’s pizza have seen a 35% rise in profits which is more than they managed even during the world cup. I can see why, with weather like this I don’t want to go out either, and find rather than eat out, it’s easier to order in.

A red dye used in burgers and sausages could be banned after it was found it can cause cancer. The dye called Red 2G is used mainly by small producers and butchers and is currently only allowed to be used in foods in very small amounts. However, the recent studies carried out on rats and mice have shown it does have a potential cancer risk, so it could now be banned completely.

The European Commission is looking to relax rules that currently stop farmers feeding animals on the carcasses of other animals. This practice was stopped seven years ago because of the links with BSE and the fact that it was widely spread by feeding the remains of infected cows to other cattle. Apparently the commission is going to investigate the safety of feeding pig meal to chickens and vice versa. The reason they want to reintroduce the practice is to save money, it is cheaper to feed farm animals on the remains of other animals rather than on expensive vegetable protein. Sainsbury's and Asda have already said they will not sell livestock fed on animal by-products. I know where I will be doing my meat shopping if the ban is lifted.

Tesco has started selling a bottle of wine that costs £100 per bottle making it the most expensive supermarket wine on sale. Made by Penfolds the wine is being sold in certain stores where there is demand for something more expensive that the usual supermarket wine. I would love to try it but its a little out of my price range.

I came across a strange fruit the other day that I hadn’t tried before. The main reason I tried it was because it was only 49p on a promotion in Tesco and being curious I picked one up. Called a pomelo it looks and smells a bit like a large grapefruit. The instructions suggest slicing the top off of the fruit and then removing the outside peel. However it’s more effective to simply slice the fruit in half and cut it into segments. Once you have done this you can remove the white pith from the outside of the fruit and the hard parts from between the segments. The fruit itself tastes a bit like a grapefruit only sweeter and has more of the texture of an orange. After trying it I found out that the grapefruit is actually a hybrid of the pomelo and the orange, hence why the pomelo retains characteristics of each. If you want to try something interesting then give a go.

I saw this article on The Independents website about packaging on food. The article suggests that consumers are annoyed about the amount of packaging used by supermarkets and that if the supermarkets were to cut down on packaging it would increase customer loyalty and satisfaction. Personally I find excess packaging really irritating. Everything you buy in the supermarket seems to include plastic wrapping and as there is no way of recycling this, it all goes straight in the bin. We remove from our waste all the items to be recycled and all the waste that can be composted. The remaining waste is made up almost entirely of plastic packaging from the Supermarket.

I learnt today from an article on The Guardian that Tesco are going to invest in a scheme designed to help small dairy farmers. I have long been aware that the large supermarkets try to drive down prices as much as possible and whilst this is good for consumers it inevitably means that the small farmer struggles to stay in business when faced with this sort of pressure. I buy my milk direct from the dairy because they help to subsidise and support farmers. I also buy my fruit and vegetables from a local box scheme, not only to cut down on packaging but also because it offers farmers a fairer deal.

The scheme that Tesco is proposing will give direct supply contracts to 850 farmers meaning that the middle man is cut out and their profit is increased by 4p a litre, although the consumer will still pay the same for their litre of milk. In addition to this Tesco intend to launch a scheme called local choice where customers will have the choice to buy milk from smaller local farmer. On this scheme the customer will pay more for their milk, around 8p a litre extra but farmers will receive 23.5p on every litre of milk compared to the current 18p. The article states that currently farmers make a loss of around 20 a litre, so whilst these measures seem small they could go a long way towards helping smaller farmers.

It will be interesting to see firstly whether customers prefer to pay slightly more for locally produced milk and secondly whether the other large supermarkets follow suit. If successful perhaps supermarkets will start to source more goods locally. Personally I would rather eat a piece a fruit knowing it had been picked yesterday on a local farm, than one that had been shipped hundreds of miles and kept artificially fresh. One thing I have noticed since buying my vegetables from a box scheme is that they taste much better. Another thing is they don’t keep for weeks and weeks in the fridge. A lettuce from a supermarket will still be edible 3 or sometimes 4 weeks after you buy it, but this can’t be normal. If you grew it in your garden you would need to eat it within 3 or 4 days and then it would start to decay. It makes me wonder what the supermarkets add to fruit and vegetable to give them such an unnatural prolonged shelf life.

As a wine lover I found this article interesting. It lists the top 10 most expensive bottles of wine ever sold and includes a slideshow with information about each of the wines. Much as I love wine I can’t imagine why someone would pay over $100,000 for a bottle.

I found an interesting article about what goes into a McDonalds Chicken Nugget. Apparently it contains 56% corn as well as another 38 different ingredients one of which is obviously chicken but disturbingly it also contains TBHQ which is an antioxidant derived from petroleum.