Date Submitted: Oct 7, 2009 - 6:41:07 AM
Summary: You may have read this week about the jailing of the director of an organic food company for fraudulent trading. The so-called “Organic, Natural and Ethical” company called Onefood, was also known as Swaddles Organic. Neil Stansfield bought non-organic pork pies and salmon from sources including Tesco and Waitrose, removed the packaging and re-packaged the products as organic and premium, selling them to retailers including Fortnum & Mason, making considerable margin in the process. In total, over a few years, this unscrupulous trader had netted over £500,000 in profits.

Date Submitted: Oct 7, 2009 - 6:37:52 AM
Summary: Another flagship food hall has gone into liquidation this week – Farmer’s City Market in Richmond. This is concerning for the industry as I know there are other embryonic plans in the industry based on its perceived success. This latest set-back follows the failure of Food Inc in Bayswater at the beginning of the year and the well-documented struggles of Wholefoods Market in Kensington who continue to announce large losses.

Date Submitted: Sep 25, 2009 - 9:13:07 AM
Summary: Perfumes and aftershaves are a vital part of the majority of the population’s beauty and grooming regime nowadays. Many people never bother to consider how the perfumes that they purchase are made however, nor where the fragrances used originate from.

Date Submitted: Sep 10, 2009 - 8:39:46 AM
Summary: I have just come back from two weeks travelling round South Africa. Slightly work related as I visited one supplier’s factory in Johannesburg and spent a fantastic evening with another in Cape Town.

Date Submitted: Sep 10, 2009 - 6:04:08 AM
Summary: With organic food fortnight coming up, organic food is back in the news as I mentioned briefly in my post at the beginning of August. I notice some more coverage on this in the September Speciality Food Magazine.

Date Submitted: Aug 12, 2009 - 10:40:50 AM
Summary: The headline story on BBC 5 Live on the way to work this Monday morning was: “Government Minister tells people to stop wasting food and ignore best before dates”. Later on in the piece the BBC correspondent showed her ignorance by not knowing the difference between ‘best before’ and ‘use by’ dates.

Date Submitted: Aug 12, 2009 - 10:38:03 AM
Summary: I spent some of the weekend working on our new customer rewards scheme. More of that later, but first an extraordinary experience of customers not getting rewarded on the CrossCountry train service from Exeter to Birmingham New Street on Friday morning. I got on the train at Cheltenham on my way to the second day of the Ashes Test at Edgbaston.

Date Submitted: Aug 11, 2009 - 2:47:08 PM
Summary: Various researchers have concluded Passionflower has complex chemistry and activity on the central nervous system with an overall mild tranquillising and sedative effect for anxiety and insomnia.

Date Submitted: Aug 11, 2009 - 9:35:36 AM
Summary: For centuries herbal medicine has provided effective treatment and reliable protection from urinary tract infections or cystitis.

Date Submitted: Jul 31, 2009 - 4:14:19 AM
Summary: I have just come back from a weekend away with a friend of mine riding our motorbikes around the mountains and valleys of Mid Wales.