Comment & opinion – Page 4
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Comment & OpinionWhat Not to Eat: Professor Tim Spector serves up bland diet advice
Professor Tim Spector had some harsh words to say about Joe Wicks’ Channel 4 programme. Could he do any better?
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Comment & OpinionFood prices will rise in 2026 – and suppliers need them to
The 2026 pricing round will filter into retail prices across late January and February, taking inflation back up to 5%, says David Sables, CEO of Sentinel Management Consultants
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Comment & OpinionWhy plant-based should’ve been Brentford’s match winner
When businesses frame meat-for-meat swaps as major climate victories, it risks misleading fans and undermining genuine progress, says Luke Byrne, innovation and sustainability director at This
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Comment & OpinionHow can the health agenda drive good growth for food & drink?
With 11% of UK adults open to trying weight-loss injections, we’re looking at a potential market of over six million people, says Hannah Daley, IGD’s head of health and sustainable diets
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Comment & OpinionTargeting food deserts could help solve the junk food feedback loop
It’s never been a secret that children in the most deprived neighbourhoods are twice as likely to be obese as those in the wealthiest ones
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Comment & OpinionM&S’s 2026 health push suggests clean‑label lessons have been learned
The M&S ‘Only…’ range attracted some criticism following its initial launch last spring, with some noting the number of ingredients claimed did not always align with the legal back-of-pack declaration
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Comment & OpinionThe nitrate cancer debate is an opportunity to reset
The existence of the nitrate debate points to a broader issue: our food system has become overly reliant on engineering solutions and artificial interventions, says Tom Horvath Neumann, founder of Properoni
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Comment & OpinionRetailers have no need to fear new tobacco laws
The brilliance of the ‘smoke-free generation’ policy lies in how gradual it is – the change is seismic but the transition is slow, says Hazel Cheeseman, CEO at Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
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Analysis & FeaturesThe Grocer’s unofficial guide to the new HFSS marketing rules
It’s a watershed moment for HFSS food and drink advertising, with new rules now in place to restrict the marketing of key foodstuffs. But what do they mean in practice? And how will retailers and manufacturers approach the restrictions? Here’s everything you ever needed to know but didn’t dare to ask.
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Comment & OpinionToday’s junk food ad ban is a controversial start to 2026
Influential nudge body Nesta has warned the government its new legislation has been gutted to such an extent that it will allow companies to continue promoting unhealthy products
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Comment & OpinionWhy the UK government is ending the era of junk food ads
The UK is at a turning point in the fight against childhood obesity, says minister for health Ashley Dalton
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Comment & OpinionThe tricky second album: how to make a great fmcg follow-up
The internet is full of advice on how to launch a brand but much less is said about what happens next, says Alex Stewart, creative partner at Derek&Eric
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Comment & OpinionWhy the HFSS ad ban could be a sales blessing in disguise
New research reveals the enforced switch to brand storytelling will help brands more than double ROI, says Circana’s Milan Jotangia
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Comment & OpinionThe Grocer’s 2025 in review: deck the halls and dig in
From soaring cocoa prices to seismic retail shifts, we’ve delivered over 7,000 stories, deep-dive analysis and celebrated the leaders shaping the future of food and drink
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Analysis & FeaturesThe best of the blogs 2025: Joe Wicks, M&S mushrooms and TikTok Shop
We’ve dug into the detail of why Unilever ditched its CEO, launched a scathing attack on animal welfare in the meat supply chain, and asked if Joe Wicks’ UPF-laden ‘Killer Bar’ really was nothing more than a load of shit…
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Comment & OpinionBrands should see HFSS policy as a golden opportunity
The rulings, in all their many guises, represent an opportunity to innovate, change behaviours, and create new ways of communicating with consumers, say Rupert Pick, co-founder & global MD, and Louise Forster-Smith, innovation director, at Hot Pickle
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Comment & OpinionWhy retail media is the real Rudolph of Christmas marketing
Once misunderstood by marketers, retail media has earned its stripes as a cultural, creative, and technological force, says Nick Ashley, client development director at Tesco Media and Insight Platform
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Comment & OpinionFeatures editor’s picks 2025: robots, chicken shops and pay gaps
With 2025 drawing to a close – and the weekend almost upon us – we thought this would be a prime opportunity to remind our readers of some of the very best features of the year
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Comment & OpinionCan Minette Batters’ farming review push Defra into action?
Just as MPs were packing up for the festive period, Defra published Batters’ much anticipated Farming Profitability Review – something that had been sat on Emma Reynolds’ desk since October
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Comment & OpinionEPR increase is a very unwelcome Christmas present
With many companies still reeling from the first set of invoices, the last thing they wanted to hear was that the tab will be substantially higher next time around