US company Reilly Industries is to buy Degussa's Belgium-based
vitamin B3 business for an undisclosed sum, giving the US firm the
world's largest capacity for food grade vitamin B3.
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.
BASF Fine Chemicals division said this week that it will
temporarily suspend lysine production at its Gunsan, Korea plant
due to essential maintenance work. The lysine plant will be
shutdown at the beginning of August for up to 3...
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...
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...
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...
Choline maker and encapsulates supplier Balchem reported a strong
30 per cent increase in sales for 2002 this week, thanks to growth
in both its core units. The global company also saw a 45 per cent
increase in its net income to $7.4...
Encapsulates company Balchem reported a 30 per cent increase in
sales for 2002 this week, up to $60.2 million. Growth in both its
core units also brought a 45 per cent increase in its net income to
$7.4 million, the Baltimore-based...
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.
Food ingredients giant Cargill this week reported $319 million in
earnings from continuing operations for the 2003 second quarter, a
25 per cent rise on last year's figure of $256 million. The
company's net income for the...
European ministers have reached a political agreement on
genetically modified foods and feed, paving the way towards some of
the toughest legislation on GMOs in the world. Although a supporter
of GM labelling, the European food industry...
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...
German chemicals group BASF said this week that while on schedule
with its expansion of vitamin E production, first announced in
2001, it was anticipating supply bottlenecks at its Ludwigshafen
plant between now and April next year.
The US has complained to the World Trade Organisation about the
recent decision in the EU to tighten the labelling restrictions for
GM products, increasing the likelihood of a new trade war between
the two blocs, warns Friends of...
In autumn 2002 chemical giant BASF will suspend lysine production
for a total of six weeks in Gunsan, Korea as the company integrates
new vitamin manufacturing features.
Pilgrim's Pride, the US-based poultry producer, has announced that
following an outbreak of flu that decimated its stocks and
subsequent disappointing financial results, it is to consolidate a
number of its processing operations.
Arla Foods of Arhus, Denmark, through its subsidiary Medipharm,
Sweden, and Triple "F", of Des Moines, Iowa have announced a
restructuring of their partnership Medipharm USA.
An advisory committee to the European Parliament has ruled that
draft rules on the labelling of genetically modified foods should
be toughened, to the delight of anti-GM campaigners throughout the
Union.
A new report presented to the US Congress has claimed that the EU
and other countries which have imposed bans on GM products because
of public health concerns are acting irrationally.
Consumers need clear information about genetically modified (GM)
food, but tough European Commission proposals planning compulsory
labels for all food products made from gene crops are unworkable, a
UK parliamentary report said.
Genetically modified foods pose no greater health risk than
conventional foods, but the US government should scrutinise more
closely the safety of new biotech products, the investigative arm
of Congress has said.
First quarter sales at pharmaceutical giant Roche were up 5 per
cent in Swiss franc terms to SFr7.4 billion (€5m), with good
performances from the group's other divisions more than offsetting
a decline at the vitamins arm.
US food company Cargill, the new owner of French starch
manufacturer Cerestar, reported $161 million (€182m) in earnings
for the third quarter ended February 28, up 63 per cent from $99
million earned in the same period a year ago.
Omega Protein Corporation, the leading producer of Omega-3 fish oil
and specialty fish meal products in the US, has reported net
profits of $3.9 million (€4.5m) for 2001, a welcome return to the
black after losses of $16.7 million...
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) on Monday announced
details of a comprehensive report from its BSE Sub-committee
looking at strategies to reduce the incidence of BSE in Ireland and
whether these would add value in terms...
Consumers are most concerned about issues such as food poisoning,
BSE and pesticides, reveals a recent consumer survey conducted by
the UK Food Standards Agency. Although they are more aware about
the meaning behind food labels there...
The vitamin price fixing affair which has already seen a cartel of
some of the world's major producers fined by the European and US
authorities is continuing in other parts of the world. This week
saw the Australian Federal Court...
New research virtually eliminates the likelihood of mad cow disease
being transmitted from one generation of cattle to the next, a
senior British government adviser on the disease has reported.
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.
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.
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 United Nations world food body urged countries to remove the
antibiotic chloramphenicol from the food chain after events last
week led to a European food scare.
A consignment of fishmeal feed produced in Germany using some
ingredients contaminated with an antibiotic presents no danger to
public health, the Lower Saxony state agriculture ministry in
Germany said yesterday.
German authorities are searching for a consignment of imported veal
contaminated with an antibiotic which can halt production of human
blood cells, the federal Ministry of Agriculture and Consumer
Protection said.
Slovakia's fifth case of mad cow disease surfaced on Friday, three
months after the country became the second central European state
to discover the brain-wasting affliction, a state veterinarian
said.
Austria has announced its first case of BSE.Discovered within the
country's routine testing programme, the case was found in a
middle-sized farm in Gmuend in Lower Austria. The 70-month-old cow
involved was immediately destroyed,...
Japanese investigators searching on Sunday for the cause of an
outbreak of mad cow disease zeroed in on a milk substitute which
may have been fed to all the animals involved.
A European Union ban on meat-based livestock feed, imposed over
fears of mad cow disease, could in future be relaxed for certain
types of animals, E.U. officials said on Monday.
Cuban President Fidel Castro's government was expected to buy more
U.S. food products this week, as executives of major poultry
producers headed to Havana, a group that tracks U.S.-Cuba trade
relations said on Monday.
European Union countries on Thursday agreed on new rules on
labelling animal feed, in a move to tighten existing laws after a
series of food scares in recent years, the European Parliament said
on Thursday.
Japan's Health Ministry said on Tuesday that it planned to inspect
all cattle due to be processed into food, tightening up its checks
for mad cow disease which currently only cover cows aged 30 months
or more.
Tests from a German laboratory confirmed Slovakia's first case of
mad cow disease on Thursday, proving fears that the brain wasting
affliction has spread further into Eastern Europe.
