CREMe Newsletter
Food, Nutrition and Chemical Safety
June 2007 - Vol 2, Issue 6
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Greetings,

In this month's issue we discuss the changing trends in the food industry. In particular we discuss how food companies are adopting Open Innovation as a key part of their strategy and its implications for research on food intakes, nutrition and safety.

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There are major new drivers impacting how consumers make choices about the foods they will spend money on. The food industry is responding to these drivers by developing new and innovative products. This has led to the development and marketing of more sophisticated food products from functional foods to nutraceuticals.

From the earliest food supply drivers such as survival and satisfaction of hunger, the food industry has evolved through phases, where the development of foods is driven by higher level consumer desires such as indulgence, conscience and more recently impact on health.

Whereas yesterday's food market was driven by taste and safety, today's consumer is driven by taste, safety, health and well being.

This is an important shift which has pitched food companies into the Health and Wellbeing market. This is a competitive space occupied by agriculture companies, consumer product companies, biotech companies and pharmaceutical companies. It is a growing and fast moving market where the lines between food and medicine are becoming blurred.


Open Innovation

Open Innovation is the term that refers to the current thinking that companies cannot afford to rely entirely on their own research, but should instead buy or license processes or inventions from other companies. In addition, internal inventions not being used in a firm's business should be taken outside the company.

Food companies are turning to open innovation to access the novel technologies, expertise and intellectual property they need from organisations around the world. Firms embracing Open Innovation use external as well as internal ideas in their research and development. They also use internal and external paths to market to capitalise on their opportunities. These companies are developing teams of people dedicated to connecting with organisations outside their own company to discuss innovative technologies and opportunities.

So what are the implications of this shift in focus, from traditional in-house R&D to open collaborative methods, for food research, nutrition and safety?
Does anybody have any information on health impacts that pesticide spraying can have in residential areas, for humans (especially the elderly), pets and wildlife? I would be particularly interested in weed killers with the active ingredient glyphosate.

Answer:

Not as easy as I thought trying to find info related to your question but here are a few possibilities. You would need to see if there is any info related to your specific question. I did find some reports related to exposure in children. See:
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/ using the advanced search feature you get 13 hits for: glyphosate and health and http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ using the search feature you get 117 hits for: glyphosate and health

Also found the following on Integrated Pest Management for Schools. Glyposate is mentioned in Chapter 18. Appendix G provides Pesticide Information Resources: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/ipm/schoolipm/index.html

Read Original Thread in CRN

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CREMe promotes health and safety by enabling industry, regulators and researchers to understand consumer intakes and exposures. If you have any questions or queries on our articles or if you would like us to discuss a particular topic, please contact us. This and all previous newsletters are available at: the CREMe Newsletter site.

Yours Sincerely,
Cronan McNamara
CREMe Software Ltd.

phone: +353 1 896 8451