Peanut, egg and soy are more common food known to trigger an allergic reaction, a problem affecting around 8% of children in the EU. Intuitively, you might not list apples as causing allergic reactions.

Suzanne Dickson is a Professor of physiology and neuroendocrinology at the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, based at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg ,  Sweden.

Designing environment-friendly compostable food packaging is the challenge that Daniel Ribera, the coordinator of the EC-funded Ecopack , tells youris.com about.

We are what we eat. However, little is known on how a specific dietary regime can impact the life of the elderly . Now, researchers from an EU funded project called NU-AGE are investigating the effects of the Mediterranean diet on older people.

Potatoes, oranges, onions and shellfish; all are packaged in flexible and sometimes colourful nets. These are mainly made of polyethylene, the most common plastic. The problem is its biodegradability is low.

If you can't kill them, trap them. Such is the fate that scientists are reserving to pathogenic bacteria, such as the infamous E. coli .

These were introduced in the wake of the mad cow disease scandal in the 90s'. Now, horse meat sold as beef in minced meat products and ready-made meals has revealed that traceability can only do so much for consumer reassurance.

youris.com talks to Clare Hall, social science researcher at the Scottish Agricultural College in Edinburgh, UK, about the best ways to effectively inform the public about food safety in relation to pathogens responsible for foodborne diseases.

Marek Zadernowski is a consultant, specialist in quality management and safety in a food sector, based in Olsztyn, Poland. He is a member of Polish Association of Food Technologists and a fellow of the  UK Royal Society of Public Health .

It all started when the  Irish Food Standard Authority  realised, mid-January, that some of the burgers sold in the country (and in the UK) contained about 29% of equine DNA, upon testing.

A French veterinary surgeon and former researcher at the Toulouse National Veterinary School , Philippe Baralon is the founder of Phylum , a consultancy specialised in food safety working for the food industry.

Ragnar Löfstedt is an expert on risk management at King’s College London , UK, and the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Risk Research . He spoke to youris.

Mona Elena Popa, is Professor of industrial biotechnology at the  University of Agronomical Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest  in Romania. She talks to youris.

Alex Richardson, is a senior research fellow at the Centre for Evidence-Based Intervention , at the University of Oxford, UK, and the co-founder of the UK charity Food and Behaviour Research.

Several hundred thousands of Europeans are affected by food borne diseases every year . Only a shift in perception of how food safety should be achieved could help avoid these illnesses.

Increasingly, many of the plastic products we use every day are no longer based on petroleum raw material . Instead, they are made from biomass such as starch, sugar, corn and other sources that also happen to be food products.

Sea bass or sea bream, by far the most consumed fish species around the Mediterranean area, increasingly originate from aquaculture.

Brian Wynne, professor of science studies at  Lancaster University , tells youris.com about his long time interest in  public risk perceptions  and how this relates to public attitudes to  genetically modified organisms  (GMOs).

Pork factories now rely on a new kit to examine suspect meat . The technique was developed in an EU funded project called Biotracer . It relies on maths algorithms to pinpoint the most likely origin of harmful bacteria on meat , such as salmonella.

Seaweeds are a traditional accompaniment to many Asian dishes. They have also become increasingly popular across the world as an exotic delicacy.