The palm oil labelling bill in Australia is entering its next phase, with the House of Representatives set to vote on whether it becomes law – and the current government saying it intends to oppose it.
The European Council has rejected MEP claims that its legal experts believed a ban on food from cloned animals would not contravene international law and spark a global trade war.
The EU food sector can remain competitive and tackle challenges that lay ahead by forging strong partnerships, looking outside its own borders, and putting scientific advances to the best use, an expert panel on the future of food concluded.
Spray washing chicken carcasses with a solution of lauric acid and potassium hydroxide could help processors design practical and non-chlorine-based sanitisers, said the US Agricultural Research Service (ARS).
Spirits are low after the Doha trade talks in Geneva collapsed yesterday following an intense nine days of negotiations and are high unlikely to be resumed before January 2009 or later.
Food industry voices are joining those of politicians in the GM debate, hailing the controversial technology as the answer to the food supply crisis. But the hearts and minds of consumers must still be won.
The European Commission's ambassador to the United States, John
Bruton, has strongly criticized proposals that would tax imported
dairy products to pay for US promotional programs.
Friesland Foods this week announced plans to scale down
its production facilities in the Netherlands in a bid to brace
itself for wide scale changes within the EU's dairy market.
Two weeks ago world leaders extended the deadline on the
beleaguered Doha trade round to the end of this year. Exhortations
not to let the opportunity pass have ensued, but big barriers must
still be overcome before a positive conclusion...
The European Commission has used its latest Monitoring Agri-trade
Policy (MAP) report to assess the current debate on the potential
impact of agricultural trade liberalisation in the context of the
Doha Development Agenda.
The suspended WTO farm talks featured in the organisation's
agriculture committee's meeting yesterday, with members' failure to
supply up-to-date information a source of frustration.
Ingredients giant Tate & Lyle is considering the sale of its
Food & Industrial Ingredients, Europe (TALFIIE) division, in a
move designed to sharpen its focus on value added ingredients, the
firm announced yesterday.
The US government has initiated antidumping duty investigations on
imports of lemon juice from Argentina and Mexico, in response to an
industry petition that claims these imports are harmful to the
domestic lemon juice production.
A successful outcome from the currently suspended Doha Development
Round of WTO trade negotiations is still possible, but agriculture
remains a key issue of difficulty.
Ingredients giant Tate and Lyle could be set to cease its sugar
processing operations in Central Europe, as producers look to lower
quotas in light of new EU sugar reforms.
Tate & Lyle has formed a joint enterprise to build and operate
a sugar plant in Israel, a move that will partially replace
traditional sugar imports from the European Union.
The recent failure of the WTO trade talks could have serious
implications for our culture of obesity, and is an issue that must
be dealt with urgently, claims a scientist.
The Doha Round of global agriculture negotiations collapsed mainly
because of infighting between large and powerful countries,
corporations and lobbies, said the FAO this week.
The short sighted failure of greedy WTO trading partners to achieve
any sort of meaningful agreement on global agricultural tariffs is
bad for Europe's food industry.
The EU food industry has expressed disappointment at the WTO's
failure to achieve any meaningful agreement at the Doha round of
agricultural trade talks.
Government subsidies can be useful instruments in correcting market
failures and working towards social objectives but can also distort
trade, warned the WTO.
The US is pushing to insert a special clause in trade negotiations
in Geneva this week that would make its use of farm subsidies
immune from prosecution, according to Oxfam.
China has lifted a three-year ban on imports of selected cuts of US
beef that has been in place since the first case of mad cow disease
was detected in the nation.
The current move towards harmonising global regulations on
genetically modified food is a good thing, though agreement on
labelling remains as far away as ever, an IFT conference heard this
week.
The CIAA has called on the EU to maintain pressure on negotiating
partners in order to ensure a balanced and successful outcome to
the current round of WTO talks.
It is unrealistic to expect the European Union to make more big
concessions at the upcoming World Trade Organisation talks, argues
the European Dairy Association against critics of Europe's stance.
The EU trade commissioner has today attacked the US as the 'biggest
single block' to the successful completion of the Doha round of
trade negotiations, casting doubts that a successful conclusion can
ever be achieved.
Weak and stagnating prices for food, agricultural raw materials and
manufactured goods in 2005 could mean further bad news for
exporters this year, according to a World Trade Organisation
report.
Trade negotiators from the EU, the US, Brazil, India, Japan and
Australia are meeting in London this week for talks intended to
move forward the stalling WTO Doha negotiations on agricultural
tariffs.
WTO director-general Pascal Lamy has urged countries to intensify
negotiations in order to conclude the current round of agricultural
trade talks - but will they listen?
EU claims that the stalling Doha round of negotiations in not the
fault of Brussels but the result of intransigence from other states
shows just how little was achieved in Hong Kong.
In the expanding European premium foods market many suppliers are
striving for EU-approved hallmarks to boost the prestige of their
products and attract retailers.
The draft WTO Hong Kong ministerial declaration is considerably
less ambitious than the stated original objectives of the meeting,
according to the European food industry.
Sugar users in the UK have cautiously welcomed the Council of
Ministers' agreement to lower European sugar prices, but have
demanded a more competitive future marketplace.
