The Japanese consumer, still reeling from the Snow Brand scandal
surrounding the mislabelling of beef, suffered a further shock this
week when Japan's number-three meat wholesaler, Starzen Co.,
admitted to falsely labelling cheaper...
The European Commission moved one step closer this week to
establishing the food safety edifice for the European consumer with
the launch of the hunt for an Executive Director to head up the new
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
Salmonellosis is on the rise in Europe and tougher controls are
needed to prevent the spread of the foodborne disease, a senior
World Health Organisation official said on Tuesday.
High-caffeine drinks must be more clearly labelled as part of a
package of changes to EU labelling regulations, the UK Food
Standards Agency reports this week.
The Australia New Zealand Food Authority has taken the step of
issuing advice to pregnant women about the risk of contracting the
food poisoning bacteria listeria, following the deaths of two
unborn babies in Western Australia from...
Food-borne diseases are increasing in Europe and a rapid alert
system needs to be extended across the continent and beyond to
protect consumers, delegates at a United Nations conference in
Budapest said this week.On the rise are diseases...
The latest food scandal involving Snow Brand Milk Products hit this
weekend after Japan's biggest dairy company said it had altered
expiry dates on butter.
The evolving characteristics of food, technology, pathogens and
consumers make it unlikely that the consumer marketplace will ever
be entirely free of dangerous organisms, according to a new report
by the Institute of Food Technologists.
The European Union has made recommendations to end the strict
controls on hormone-free beef products imported from the US, having
found no traces of hormones or other banned substances in recent
tests.
The European Commission has unveiled a sweeping reform of food
safety legislation, giving itself more powers to take emergency
steps in crises such as the dioxin poisoning scare.
Growing consumer appetite for ready-to-eat meals with a minimal
preparation time and few preservatives has led to increased
production and sales of chilled ready meals, reports the UK
Institute of Food Research.
The latest "mad cow disease" scare in Germany got a boost over the
weekend after reports that the McDonald's fast food restaurant
chain in Germany had pulled beef from circulation, Reuters Health
reports.
In the US, the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and the National
Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) signed an agreement this
week to establish a public/private sector partnership with the Food
Industry Information Sharing and Analysis...
The UK Joint Health Claims Initiative (JHCI) this week adopted and
published advice from leading scientists promoting the role of
fruit and vegetables in helping to avoid stomach, lung and bowel
cancer. "We will continue to press...
Efforts to stop illegal meats being brought into Britain are being
stepped up with a new publicity drive at ports and airports, the UK
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said this week.
New research claims that the use of nitrate fertilisers in growing
vegetables could be the cause of the fastest growing cancer in the
UK, reports BBC Online.
The European Court of Justice will this week hear a case brought by
the Parma ham consortium against UK supermarket chain ASDA over
mislabelling Parma ham.
A senior official at Belgium's Agriculture Ministry has been
arrested following the discovery of new cases of pig feed that had
not been tested for cancer-causing chemicals.
The battle continued on Thursday between the Australian New Zealand
Food Authority (ANZFA) and anti-GM lobby groups when GeneEthics
director Bob Phelps declared that Food Authority chief Ian
Lindenmayer had made "intemperate...
A consumer group has found evidence of high levels of
disease-causing salmonella in raw turkey products from five US
plants, including those owned by ConAgra Foods and Cargill.
ANZFA expresses disappointment at recent attempts by some anti-GM
lobby groups to spread misinformation about the safety and
labelling of genetically modified (GM) foods.
The European Commission has today authorised Austria to pay income
aid worth a total of some € 8.94 million to beef farmers who have
suffered losses between January and June 2001 because of the
consequences of the BSE crisis.
The US Senate voted this week to maintain a ban on meatpackers
raising livestock or overseeing independent feedlots, despite
warnings it could cause huge disruptions in the livestock markets.
Fears that fish, dairy products and vegetables from the Philippines
are contaminated with cholera bacteria has led the Oman government
to ban a whole range of food products, the Gulf News reports this
week.
Organic products should be given tax breaks throughout the European
Union to help them compete with conventionally grown goods, a green
lobby group proposed on Tuesday.
The Food Ingredient Specialties business of Nestle USA, a
subsidiary of European food company Nestle, voluntarily recalled
144,000 pounds of chicken base refrigerated products because the
allergen whey protein was not listed on the...
Japan's Agriculture Ministry on Friday began checking all frozen
beef stored under a government buy-back programme for false labels,
following revelations Snow Brand Food Co Ltd had improperly
labelled its meat products, Reuters...
Chinese Star Anise (Illicium verum), also know as Chinese
badian, is fit for human consumption and commonly used in foods,
reports Reading Scientific Services.
The Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) this week released
reports for public comment recommending the use of a GM canola and
a GM corn as foodsfor human consumption. ANZFA maintains that food
derived from these two GM crops...
A review of farmers' markets in Scotland has found standards of
operation to be generally high with only a few small improvements
needed, according to a recent review.
A day after Italy's first human case of suspected mad cow disease,
the European Parliament has demanded new EU powers to help prevent
the consumption of contaminated meat, reported Reuters.
The European Commission wants to see greater progress in frontier
technologies, particularly life sciences and biotechnology, and has
set out a clear strategy to achieve this aim.
The Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) this week released
a research report on food handling practices in Australian food
businesses. The findings were mixed.
The Thirty-fourth Session of the Codex Committee on Food Additives
and Contaminants and its Ad Hoc Working Groups will be held in
March 2002 in The Netherlands.
The Thai Small Industry Finance Corporation has allotted one
billion baht (€200m) to promote food safety standards among Thai
food manufacturers, the Bangkok Post reports this week.
In his budget proposal for fiscal year 2003, President Bush will
include $131 million (€152m) in new spending to protect the
nation's food supply from animal and plant pests and diseases,
strengthen food safety programs and support...
Environment groups say Britain is at risk of tainting conventional
and organic crops with gene-modified varieties if the new field
trial sites announced yesterday go ahead, reports Reuters.
More tests are needed to determine the possible health side-effects
of genetically modified organisms, France's food safety agency
AFSSA said in a report to the government this week,
An outbreak of avian flu among poultry flocks in Pennsylvania, US,
which led Japan and the Philippines to impose temporary import bans
on poultry products from the state, could be declared over as early
as March 1, reports Reuters.
Food safety regulators participating in a global food forum said
authorities should be completely open in assessing the risks during
food scares to avoid misunderstanding and public panic, reported
Reuters.
Food safety experts from some 120 countries gathered in Morocco
yesterday for an international conference that takes place in the
shadow of a new food scare in Europe.
Britain should tear up its code of conduct on how powerful
supermarkets deal with farmers and small suppliers, an environment
group said on Monday ahead of the publication of a new blueprint
for UK farming and food.
The Chinese government said the European Union's recent decision to
ban certain Chinese meat products on health grounds is
"unacceptable" and warned it could seriously affect bilateral
trade.
Japan said on Monday that food products made from imported rice
would not be affected by a temporary sales ban issued because of
concerns about the safety of foreign rice.
Yesterday's report by the EU Food and Veterinary Office on the
operation of controls over verocytotoxigenic Escherichia coli
(VTEC) has revealed inconsistent monitoring between the six
countries visited.
