When I started compiling this issue of Food and Drink Technology, I naturally looked at the individually scheduled features. The aim it to provide you, across the year, with a wide range of topics that highlights the many segments relevant to the food and drink industries. Apart from this relevance, they are not directly linked. However, often when you look back over the material that has been seleced for print, the ways it connects and reverberates becomes evident.

Hygiene considerations and combating risks of contamination in meat and poultry processing is one of the topics covered in the topic on p 20. Companies are developing solutions to control pathogens throughout the meat supply chain, and ways to develop flavours and extend shelf life of products.

The meat and poultry article relates to our specific hygiene feature on p 30 wher Roberto Ortuño, the technical support and analytical services director at Spanish research and development centre AINIA discusses the Eco-Dhybat project that aims to demonstrate eco-hygienic design of equipment and installations as a preventive economically viable technique to reduce the environmental impact of cleaning and disinfection operations of food industry equipment and installation.

This hygiene feature then links into the labelling feature on p 28, wher companies explore the solutions for the new food allergen labelling regulations. Work on modifying existing labelling methods can be both time consuming and sustainably intensive. Suppliers are working with manufacturers to comply with the new regulations before the requirements come into force in December 2014.

Finally, ensuring accurate labelling connects with the laboratory feature on p 19, wher Eric Jamin from food authenticity  test centre Eurofins Analytics looks as the testing tools available to the food industry for verifying the origin and validity of a product or component as well as emerging methods in this sector.

Hence, without specific intentions, I noticed an undercurrent of inter-connecting themes throughout the issue. If things are best understood through its links with its surrounding material, then hopefully the issue will be even more useful and relevant to you as readers.