One of the most common questions we get asked is the difference between ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates on foods. “Don’t they mean the same thing?” you ask. If you are confused you are not alone.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge, UK have investigated if there is any evidence to support the claimed link between food addiction and obesity.

Community Food Initiatives are projects that improve the availability, affordability and accessibility of healthy, safe food for low income groups at a local level.

The increasing concern about future global food security and climate change has been the drive behind the renewed interest in the concept of a healthy and environmentally sustainable diet.

Avoiding chocolate and all the Easter goodies is going to be challenging over the next week. So how do we avoid putting on extra weight?

Whether you are a student, or just like me are living on your own, you can learn to shop for and cook tasty, healthy and inexpensive meals.

To paraphrase a quote by comedian Bob Hope, if you watch a sport it's fun, if you play a sport, it's recreation, if you work at a sport, it's golf.

Results from recent research support the positive role of parents and the family setting in motivating children’s daily intake of fruits and vegetables (F&V).

It’s hard to stick to a healthy diet on the road. Road trips, whether for business or pleasure, often include the kinds of food you would never dream of eating at home.

Here is a big question - will food rationing be part of future solutions to the obesity crisis?

New research shows that eating meals as a family improves children's eating habits - even if it only happens once or twice a week.

 ..you’ll follow a crow for that some day!

Rising food prices and shrinking incomes are driving up consumption of fatty foods, reducing the amount of fruit and vegetables we buy, particularly for people on the lowest incomes.

Nowadays more and more food labels have nutrition and health information that gives us useful knowledge about the food we buy.

This week safefood will bring our ‘Germ Scene Investigation’ stand to the Ploughing Championships from the 25th – 27th September.

New research sheds light on how parents can positively influence the foods their young children like.

Eating a standard chocolate bar every week could lower a man’s risk of having a stroke in later life by 17%.

Oops… picture the mess… cracked eggs miss the bowl, flour on the floor, sticky fingers BUT plenty of laughing can be heard. It’s Kids in the Kitchen! 

Do you remember your first day at school? I won’t tell you what year it was, but there was a lot of polyester around and most lunches involved salami sandwiches and Blue Riband bars.

My better half was not too impressed when I informed him that his preference, a quarter pounder with cheese and bacon meal, also contributed to over half his GDA for calories, total and saturated fat and salt.

Headlines in todays news have stated that 'todays’ eggs are better for us than those from the 1980s'. New research funded by the Department of Health (UK) has found that today’s eggs have 70% more vitamin D and double the amount of selenium than those from 30 years ago.

New research from France has found that the ideal amount of fish to eat in a week for adults is 181-213g/week (equal to 2 portions) of oily fish and 26-72g/week (equal to one portion) of lean fish, molluscs and crustaceans.

Last month the Dept. Health issued new dietary guidelines for the Republic of Ireland for adults and children over 5 years old. While the pyramid format remains the same, these new guidelines put a greater emphasis on portion sizes and reducing ‘treat foods’. Dr. Aileen McGloin has the low down.

Researchers from Denmark and the European Food Information Council (EUFIC) have looked at the socio-demographic and attitudinal determinants of nutrition knowledge of food shoppers from six European countries.

The European Commission has published a new regulation on nutrition labelling which applies to all EU countries.

You heard it here first! Nutritionists are human too. Unlike certain TV nutritionists we don’t get up at five am to puree mung beans and like all you normal folks out there, we like things like chocolate and ice-cream...

Thanks to Aileen for her great blog post last week and lots of your comments in reply; we appreciate hearing from you and keep them coming. Like leftovers? To be honest, I've never really considered leftovers as the basis of a recipe, at least ...

Here's some food for thought over the weekend. Sorry, I meant "Thought for Food". Thought For Food is a brand new initiative that hopes to generate new ideas to tackle the world’s food issues. 60 students from 12 of Europe’s leading universities...

Since about 1.00-ish yesterday, my eldest son is one of those "boys of summer". Lucky thing. Months of sleeping late/playing outside 'til all hours/going places/doing sportscamps/watching cartoons/not getting dressed until lunchtime... And foo...

Star Chefs...The Next Generation

Everyone looking forward to Easter? How many Easter eggs have you got lined up so far?  I’m guessing there’s not a single person reading this that won’t have a bit of chocolate this weekend. The question is: how much? In the interests of science,...

Food on Film..

When it comes to food, I really, really like to try new things. A kind of reverse fussy-eater, that's me.  This week, me and three friends tried a new restaurant for lunch. Nothing fancy mind you. No knives, forks or plates - just your chosen lu...

A colleague told me on Wednesday about how she made homemade cookies with her 2 girls last weekend, which were a great success for lots of reasons; her kids loved get...

It's all about questions these days. And answers. And it's usually the answers that are most interesting. And funny. Take Dermot junior - I often tell others he wasn't born but hewn from bare rock in a quarry. He's like a force of nature these d...

I love breakfast. I know; how can a rushed bowl of cereal and slice of half-eaten toast be considered as enjoyable? Well for me anyway, maybe it's the anticipation of what's to come. How after a night's sleep, my tastebuds suddenly kick-into ge...

January seems to be the month for diets. Not actually the decision of going on a diet, but instead which diet to choose. And if you're currently following a diet plan, I wish you every success with it and hope it works for you! Diets have cle...

So what does Christmas mean to you? For me, it’s about enjoying the company of family and friends, sending cards, giving gifts (and getting some in return if I’ve been good). And food, because food forms such a big part of our Christmas traditions...

Heroes. It's a word that gets used a lot when the dedication, actions, efforts and commitment of others get noticed. For me, I would subscribe to the old school definition of heroes. Those who do heroic deeds for the sake of others. Ordinary peopl...

I'm speaking at our social media conference tomorrow ("You are what you tw-eat") and it got me thinking about the impact of social media on our food choices. Whatever type of food or chef you like, the chances are there's at the very minimum, a webs...

Hello there, I’m not Dermot, I’m Aileen, a nutritionist working at safefood. My office is next door to Dermot’s so I guess I’m the closest thing we can offer while he's taking a break. Speaking of breaks, the school holidays are nearly over. My litt...

When you think about what Italy has given the world in terms of art, culture, design, sport and food, fish and chips probably wouldn't be high up that list. Takeaways. I'd guess many people have their favourites. For me, it's Macari's near where I...