SPAIN has finally agreed to ban battery hens. The government has confirmed that all battery farmers will have to switch to so-called ‘enriched’ cages or a free range system by January 2012. The EU-wide change comes after mounting pressure from the European Network for Farm Animal Protection (Enfap). The group sent more than 16,000 emails [...]

A CONSUMER organisation has come under fire after advising shoppers to avoid 10 well known brands of milk. The Consumers and Users Organisation (OCU) has been slammed by the government after releasing a study of 47 different makes of UHT milk that showed an ‘abysmal’ difference in quality. The OCU even insisted that some Spanish [...]

WITH peak asparagus season well under way the experts have given us another good reason to eat this Spring green. Researchers in India have discovered that asparagus actually contains a powerful natural antibiotic that fights bacterial and fungal infections. The study tested extracts from the plants on microbes taken from the mouths of oral cancer [...]

IT already makes some of the world’s best cheeses. But now Spanish researchers have discovered that a daily glass of goat’s milk could be as good for you as mamma’s milk. The team at Granada University claim that goat’s milk has the same kind of properties and as many nutrients as human milk. The ‘superfood’, [...]

SPANISH farmers could see millions in compensation after it has been confirmed the cause of the deadly E.coli outbreak was most likely German bean sprouts and not Spanish cucumbers. The aggressive strain of the E coli bacterium – that has so far killed 22 people and left more than 2,200 ill – has been traced [...]

GOING organic can help you lose weight and live longer. In the latest of a long line of contradictory findings a study by the University of Newcastle claims that going organic could extend the average lifespan by 25 days for men and 17 days for women. A lucky few could even live for up to [...]

By Wendy Williams THE Spanish have long been proclaiming the olive as the ideal snack. Now it seems the rest of the world is catching on with British consumers prefering the more sophisticated olives to the old fashioned bar snack of peanuts. Tesco – the country’s biggest supermarket – has revealed olive sales rose by [...]

FORMER UN supremo Kofi Annan is coming to Marbella to talk about wine. The Nobel Prize winner will be a guest speaker at the Third World Conference on Climate Change and Wine, which is being held in Marbella for the first time. The former secretary general for the United Nations is the key note speaker [...]

IT has long been hailed as one of the world’s healthiest food regimes. But the Mediterranean diet is dying out in Spain at least, according to a new report. The Spanish Food and Nutrition Safety Agency (AESAN) has found that Spaniards are swapping olive oil, fresh salads and vegetables in favour of fast food, sweets [...]

AS the strawberry season gets into full swing, Wendy Williams picks out 10 fruity facts about the industry in Huelva. – The strawberry season can start as early as December and run until June but the peak is from February until April - Last year nearly 65,000 women – mainly immigrants from Romania, Poland and Morocco – [...]

A SPANISH leg of ham has gone on sale for 3,600 euros in London’s Harvey Nichols. Ham producer Maldonado from Extremadura, launched a super premium line dubbed by the Financial Times as one of the world’s most expensive delicacies with another Jamón selling for 1,800 euros in Harrods. Maldonado says the unhurried method of production [...]

AN estate, where the King of Spain is said to have stayed, has been named as one of the world’s best olive oil producers. Finca La Amarilla, near Ronda, where Prince Felipe has also taken holidays, has been listed in the top 20 in the world by major Italian guide Flos Olei. Its LA Organic [...]