Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Heatwaves can have a significant impact on food consumption, pushing consumers to embrace some foods and shun others. Winners from heatwaves include bottled water and hydration beverages, ice cream, and even iced beverages. Losers, on the other hand, include confectionery, hot meals, bakery, and other dairy products.

The US and Iran have agreed on a peace deal. What could this mean for food and beverage? Food prices are unlikely to fall straight away, due to long-term contracts taking a long time to filter through the supply chain. However, for some classes of commodities, such as palm and soybean oils (which are used for biofuels), prices could fall more quickly. The prices for plastics used for food packaging may fall more quickly than food as well.

Mergers and acquisitions will often face significant scrutiny from competition law in the EU. If these companies harm competition, for example gaining significant market share without competitive constraints, the European Commission will often ask for concessions to mitigate this. Competition law is always changing, and the Commission are now taking a more long-term, ecosystem-wide approach to scrutiny.

With the rise in the popularity of fibre, especially due to trends such as fibremaxxing, what is the risk of consuming too much of it? Bloating, excess wind, abdominal discomfort and changes in bowel habit can be the result of too much fibre. Fibre overconsumption can even affect how people absorb certain nutrients, such as zinc, iron, and calcium.

Why is Ingredion acquiring Tate & Lyle? The two companies are compatible, with Tate & Lyle's focus on mouthfeel and fibre complementing Ingredion's speciality texturisers and plant-based offerings. For Ingredion, the deal bolsters its strategy on texture; for Tate & Lyle, it gives access to greater scale.

Major food commodities like corn, cocoa, palm oil, wheat, rice, soybeans and sugar have varying levels of vulnerability to climate change. Some, like cocoa, are extremely vulnerable; others, like soybeans, are more resilient. The food sector must work hard to ensure that the worst impacts of rising temperatures and irregular weather patterns are mitigated.

Research suggests that GLP-1 users prefer sugar to artificial sweeteners, as they are increasingly attracted to more 'natural' food that feels 'worthwhile' with their smaller appetites. There is little research around whether changing taste perception on the drugs works differently for sweetness from sugar and artificial sweeteners. However, artificial sweeteners tend to have a bitter off-taste that sugar doesn't, which may, some research suggests, be heightened on GLP-1s as well.

The EU has relaxed its rules on gene-editing. Now, only some gene-edited crops are regulated by the stringent GMO directive. Those that are not are, with a few caveats, more or less regulated like conventional crops, according to Mewburn Ellis's Ben Tolley. This could provide opportunities for CRISPR, since crops using the innovative gene-editing technique were before this regulated under the EU's GMO regulation.

In Europe, the EUDR, the EU's anti-deforestation regulation, fast approaches. Now, the UK has announced its own rules. While the details of the rules have yet to be solidified, it will cover coffee, cocoa, palm oil, soy and rubber, and will apply in Great Britain (the UK excluding Northern Ireland, where the EUDR will apply).

It is ten years since Brexit - since the UK left the EU. How has food and beverage been affected? Brexit has caused divergence in regulation, impacted food prices and the availability of labour, and made EU/UK trade more complex. But at the same time, much has remained the same.