Risk management helped US firm Cargill achieve a 7 per cent rise in
profit for the three months to February this year despite tougher
trading conditions that saw raw material prices rising, a knock in
demand for soy through Asian...
Scientists from the Institute of Food Research (IFR), UK, have
found that specific probiotics - beneficial bacteria - can destroy
pathogenic bacteria living in the gut of poultry. The discovery
could help remove the threat of bacterial...
The safety of chicken eggs has been challenged by a UK
environmental pressure group, just weeks after figures showing the
lowest levels of Salmonella in years were published. The Soil
Association claims that as many as one in eight...
European suppliers of probiotics could see a growing channel for
sales as UK scientists discover a new way to combat food poisoning,
by targeting it in living animals using beneficial bacteria.
Probiotics provide fresh hope for destroying...
Amersham, an international bioscience company with a background in
the pharmaceutical industry, is turning its expertise to the dairy
industry. Its separating technique - designed to filter
biomolecules from DNA - may be used to finely...
French natural ingredients firm Diana-Ingredients will shift from
one equity investor to another with confirmation yesterday that its
owner, a BNP Paribas holding company managed by PAI Partners, will
spin the company off to London-based...
As Asia slowly recovers from the bird flu crisis, mounting corn
prices are now hitting poultry and other livestock producers as
they race to restock feed supplies. With corn stocks in China
hitting new lows, other feed alternatives...
Boosting 'added-value' opportunities for companies working with
corn, new research from government scientists on a fungus could
hold the key to using corn fibre as a factory for the production of
the potent antioxidant lycopene,...
Governments on both sides of the Atlantic need to better understand
how consumers perceive risk if they are to form better food safety
policies. The issue of bioterrorism however is helping to establish
a growing consensus among policy...
Nutritional ingredients producer DSM is to launch an improved
version of its Lafti probiotics in the USA, which are said to offer
superior survival through the GI tract, writes Wai Lang Chu.
A diet of rapeseed oil fed to dairy cows can produce healthier milk
and butter to beat their artery-clogging equivalents, find British
scientists, signalling future gains for suppliers of ingredients to
the animal feed industry.
Russian agribusiness group Aston says it has acquired a controlling
stake in the Millerovo oil extraction plant in the Rostov region,
which, after modernisation, will be used to increase the company's
foothold in the edible oils...
A hardy winter cereal crop could soon be a common sight in European fields as scientists in France present the fruits of 30 years of labour in the labs.
Favourable news for the pro-GM camp as a team of British scientists
claims that genetically modified (GM) maize is less damaging to
wildlife than conventional varieties. At the same time, leading UK
organisations call on Tony Blair...
The decision by meat processing giant Tyson to consolidate two
poultry manufacturing operations in Mississippi represents yet more
upheaval for America's meat processing industry. The firm's
decision, which follows a comprehensive...
The current thinking that oxygen free radicals are responsible for
the development of numerous diseases, including cancer and
arthritis, may be a red herring, says a team of UK scientists.
A number of probiotic products available in South Africa do not
live up to the claims on their labels, report researchers in the
February issue of the South African Medical Journal (94:
121-124).
Countdown to the integration of 10 new member states in Europe this
April begins under the aegis of the Irish presidency. For
manufacturers, a clear understanding of the marketplace in these
countries will be vital to pitching the...
A new report suggests that the potential for whey products reaches
far beyond their traditional function as a milk powder substitute.
Dairy companies, especially in Eastern Europe, are fast turning
whey into value-added food ingredients...
Norwegian CLA company Natural has reported its biggest profits
since first listing five years ago, thanks to initial payments from
a major licensing deal last year, which significantly boosted first
half revenue and reduced operating...
Monsanto will have to wait a little longer to find out if it will
be granted permission by the European Union authorities to import
its genetically modified (GM) maize NK603 into the trading bloc.
European scientists will meet today to decide the fate of a
genetically modified corn developed by US biotech giant Monsanto. A
positive outcome from the committee would end Europe's five year
ban on GM crops, attacked by a host...
The firm that introduced CLA to the functional foods industry is
going back to its roots to concentrate on further developing
technology for health-promoting lipids.
A small Canadian milling company has found a novel way of creating
more value from its by-products - by tapping into the growing craze
for low carbohydrate products made popular by the Atkins Diet.
Dutch agriculture authorities have substantially reduced the number
of authorised animal feed ingredients available to feed producers.
Feed companies must now operate in accordance with the code of good
manufacturing practice for...
Finland's Raisio group is preparing to build a new strategy around
health foods, it revealed yesterday, using capital from the planned
sale of its chemicals unit to fund growth in its ingredients
business.
Canada is looking into regulations that would force companies to
use only non-food plants for producing industrial or pharmaceutical
products. The purpose of such a law would be to reduce any risk of
contaminating human food or livestock...
Geneticists have engineered mice to produce high amounts of the
heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids in their tissues and organs, they
report in Nature this week.
In recent years the Russian dairy sector has undergone tremendous
upheaval, with the consolidation of old dairy plants changing the
face of the industry. We spoke to the Russian National Dairy
Institute to find out what impact these...
The European Commission today backed a proposal to allow imports of
Bt-11, a genetically modified (GM) maize type. This represents the
first step towards lifting the EU's five-year unofficial ban on new
GM crops and products....
A US delegation, which is in Japan this week to convince the
country to open the gates to US beef imports, may have its plans
scuppered as the Japanese farm ministry says it is very wary of
more BSE cases in the US.
Legislation in the Netherlands has been passed that substantially
reduces the number of ingredients that can be used in the
manufacture of livestock feed. Food processors in Europe will be
looking closely to see whether such legislation...
In a bid to win back slashed beef sales, the FDA's head honcho will
travel to Japan today to discuss recent events linked to the first
case of mad cow disease in the US.
The Russian government recently lifted import duties on soybeans,
corn and fishmeal for nine months starting 25 January, reports the
American Soybean Association, opening the way for soy movements in
the East.
Adding vitamin E to the diets of turkeys may reduce the likelihood
of consumers contracting a serious foodborne illness from the meat,
according to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in the
US. Researchers made the discovery...
As the United States deals with the fallout from the first case of
mad cow disease to hit the country, an international organisation
warns countries to stay on the alert and buck up controls.
French-based technology group BioMérieux is developing gene chips
that can be used to ensure food safety and enhance traceability.
The company, which is set to launch the product next month, is
keeping tight-lipped about the product,...
Rocketing feed costs are pushing up poultry production costs,
making a substantial price increase in poultry meat inevitable,
warned the British Poultry Council (BPC) this week. Widespread
drought in the UK and across cereal producing...
For the seventh consecutive year, farmers around the world
continued to plant genetically modified (GM) crops at a
double-digit pace, with the 2003 total up 15 per cent to 67.7
million hectares, according to a report released this...
A row over the safety of farmed salmon has flared up in the UK amid
concerns over the levels of cancer-causing toxins present in the
farmed variety compared to its wild sister following findings from
a new US study.
DNA evidence suggests - to a high degree of certainty - that the
BSE-positive cow found in Washington State originated from a dairy
farm in Alberta, Canada, according to the USDA. The department also
believes that the safeguards put...
Uncertainty about recent EU proposals for health claims legislation
presents a major challenge to players in the probiotics market,
suggests a new market analysis.
Organic meat sales are set to surge in the United States as BSE
sparks consumers' fears for food safety, reports UK research
company Organic Monitor. Late last month the US government
confirmed the country's first mad cow...
MEPs last week voted to adopt a contentious report calling for
rules to be established at the community level on the coexistence
of genetically modified (GM) crops with ordinary crops. A move that
squares up against the Commission...
New data from a survey of animal health companies show that the
volume of antibiotics used in animals in the US was virtually
unchanged in 2002 compared to 2001, after two consecutive years of
declines. The report from the Animal...
If nothing else, the opening decade of the 21st century will go
down in the annals of time as the period the world went to war over
GMOs. When it comes to genetically modified organisms, passions run
deep and the path to reconciling...
Tekes, the national technology agency in Finland, is currently
funding an investigation into the use of rare sugar components -
previously deemed as unimportant by-products - as a useful raw
material in food and pharmaceutical industries.
