The UK's environmental regulator has cautioned food and drink
manufacturers that if they fail to comply with essential
environmental legislation they risk hefty fines. The warning comes
as a website is launched to help small...
Grants have been made available in the US to enable small
businesses to invest in renewable energy systems. Food producers
could be in line to benefit most - the industry accounts for 10 per
cent of electrical load in many areas.
The Agricultural and Food Technology Alliance (AFTA), set up by
energy solutions provider EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute),
is a project designed to help food manufacturers better manage
their energy consumption. It also provides...
With stringent rules on the labelling of genetically modified
ingredients entering into force earlier this week, the European
Commission has laid out the framework for the tough new
regulations.
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...
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...
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...
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).
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...
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...
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...
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.
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.
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...
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...
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...
The EU is to take a vote next week on seed thresholds. With rules
for growing gene crops and legislation on feed containing GMOs
already in place, the Commission's standing on the subject is to
become clearer.
A suspected mad cow has shocked the Czech State Veterinary
Authority (SVS) by being only 3 years old. Previous cases of the
disease in the state have always dated back to cows born between
the years 1995 and 1997.
The European Union has given its first indication that it may lift
its five year block on GMOs, stating that the ban could be lifted
before the end of the year.
European Commissioner David Byrne welcomed the Agriculture
Council's decision this week on new rules to cut the incidence of
foodborne diseases in the European Union. Salmonella alone costs
the EU an estimated €2.8bn.
The Agricultural Council has made the final adoption of an EU
Regulation controlling the use of additives in animal feed which
specifically targets antibiotics being used as growth promoters.
The Council of Ministers yesterday formally adopted two European
Commission proposals on genetically modified organisms,
establishing a clear EU system to trace and label GMOs in food and
feed products.
Representatives from 169 countries gathered in Rome yesterday for a
week of talks led by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. High on the
agenda, food safety, biotechnology, food irradiation and an
overhaul of the Codex structure.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)
said in a statement this week that the discovery of bovine
spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a cow in Canada should not
result in widespread hysteria in Europe and...
The baton has been passed - and not too soon either. The European
Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has, at last, appointed the body of
scientists charged with the responsibility of scientific assessment
of food safety issues in Europe,...
A US survey, sponsored by a leading organic produce supermarket,
has revealed that almost three quarters of Americans are concerned
about the presence of antibiotics in meat production, yet less than
half are aware that the meat they...
The European Court of Justice has this week annulled the
Commission's decision to end the ban on bovine products from
Portugal, following a French-led legal challenge. The ruling is
expected to have a European-wide impact on...
The Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health at the
European Commission has adopted a series of transitional and
permanent implementing measures in preparation for the application
of the Animal By-Products Regulation...
The Commission recently discussed some of the Member States'
comments on its proposal to regulate fortified foods and adding
vitamins and other nutrients.
As the GM debate takes to the road in the UK this week with
promises of consumer feedback via conferences and meetings, here
below we have selected an article by Lyndsey Greig of market
analysts Frost & Sullivan that takes a closer...
As research in laboratories across the globe continues into the
presence of potential carcinogen acrylamide in a variety of foods,
the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) emphasised last week that
consumers should continue to eat...
The whole infrastructure of European egg production will be
decimated ifcurrent legislation to improve animal welfare is
allowed to passunhindered into European law, without protection
against importsproduced to lower standards.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is slowly taking form -
several months behind schedule - with the announcement this week
that it is currently on the look out for scientists to join its
scientific committee and scientific...
The board of directors for the National Food Processors Association
in the US has approved a position on the use of food crops for
production of plant-made pharmaceuticals (PMP) and industrial
compounds. Undoubtedly the move will...
Swedish company Biacore is currently leading the way in global food
safety testing solutions. FoodProductionDaily.com spoke to
company vice-president Esa Stenberg to find out about the
latest developments in its food safety testing...
Food and biotechnology industries in the US breathed a collective
sigh of relief this week as the voters of the US state of Oregon
voiced a resounding 'no' to Measure 27, an initiative that would
have required labels on...
A new study supported by the US National Cancer Research body is
set to investigate recent concerns that a growth promoter widely
used in the US cattle industry could be linked to an increase in
the risk of breast cancer.
