European Commission calls for comments ahead of April Codex meeting
on proposed maximum levels of the potentially carcinogenic chemical
contaminant 3-MCPD in hydrolysed vegetable protein and soy sauces.
EU moves to cut agricultural subsidies survived a French-led revolt
in an emergency Council of Ministers meeting Tuesday, but calls for
closer scrutiny of Commission negotiations could still dash a deal
at the WTO.
Europe's food agency calls on scientists across the food industry
to contribute data on the potentially carcinogenic compounds
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) identified in foods.
Changes to Australia's food code continue, with the nation's food
agency calling on companies and organisations to comment on a host
of new proposals, including applications from DSM Nutritional and
Danisco Australia.
Sugar reform may yet hijack December's WTO talks as Australia,
Brazil and Thailand again accuse the EU of shirking its obligations
by planning to increase sugar exports by two million tonnes.
Efforts to detect carcinogenic colours in foodstuffs still a
priority for the food industry as Europe's risk system flags up
illegal red colours in spices from India.
Nutrition profiling proposals from the UK's food watchdog would put
milk in the same health bracket as diet coke and make breast milk
unsuitable for children, claims a dairy industry body critical of
the scheme.
Ireland's prime minister Bertie Ahern has called for the food
industry to support the CAP, at a time when the system is coming
under intense criticism.
Low calorie sweetener tagatose could soon hit European supermarket
shelves in a host of formulations as the UK's food agency clears
the way for Europe-wide approval.
More than six months after the sudan food colour debacle struck the
UK, the authorities are still detecting the illegal ingredient, and
potential carcinogen, in food formulations.
Food and drink makers developing functional, ready to drink and
instant formulas could gain from European Commission approval for
the slow-release carbohydrate isomaltulose supplied by German firm
Palatinit.
Amendments to Australia's food code continue, with the nation's
food agency calling on companies and organisations to comment on a
host of new proposals, including the addition of phytosterols to
fruit juices and fruit drinks.
Australia's food watchdog has abandoned its 'information on
request' approach to the country of origin labelling of food,
proposing instead a package of measures to provide consumers with
tighter information.
The UK's food standards agency will meet next week to discuss a new
BSE testing system trialled earlier this year as part of a managed
transition towards replacing the Over Thirty Months Rule.
Harmful red colour Sudan 1 crops up in prepared pasta dish in
Italy, reports the EU's food risk alert system this week,
confirming food makers still risk contamination by this illegal
food colour.
The first wrangling over EU sugar reform proposals by agriculture
ministers saw protests and a passionate debate in Brussels
yesterday, but the opposition looks increasingly isolated,
reports Chris Mercer.
MGP Ingredients, Manildra Milling and the Kansas State University
Research Foundation (KSURF) have reached a settlement over an
alleged patent infringement involving food-grade starches,writes
Anthony Fletcher.
Europe's food safety watchdog continues to wade through its risk
assessment of 1000 flavouring substances, with the latest batch of
ten requiring more data to complete the safety evaluation.
There are worries that a district court ruling in Maine banning all
synthetic ingredients in products labeled organic could
significantly slow the sector's growth, writes Anthony
Fletcher.
While debates on ingredient labelling and on Parmesan cheese are
among the main issues at this week's meeting of the Codex
Alimentarius, other items on the agenda include codes of practice
for handling quick frozen foods, cadmium...
Food pathogens and harmful toxins dominate the EU's food risk alert
system this week, detected in a range of products from fish and
cheese to pistachios and chilli powder, reports Lindsey
Partos.
Ongoing divisions over GM ingredients once again evident in Europe
as EU ministers throw out an attempt by the Commission to overturn
bans on growing legal GM crops currently in place in a handful of
member states, reports Lindsey...
Food safety for Chinese milk powders hits the headlines again as
authorities detect excessive iodine content in another Nestle baby
milk powder, according to Chinese news reports.
Sweeping changes to Europe's subsidised sugar regime announced
yesterday will see sugar prices cut by 39 per cent paid to
companies that include sugar and sweetener suppliers Danisco and
Tate and Lyle, but will bring price relief...
Joining the lively salt debate scientists at Europe's food watchdog
today issues an opinion concerning the upper limit for sodium
intake and confirm current consumption levels are a risk factor in
heart and renal diseases, reports...
Food and drink makers could soon expect cheaper sugar ingredients
with Brussels expected to publish its proposals on EU sugar reform
today, writes Lindsey Partos.
Europe's food alert system last week detects several batches of the
banned red colour sudan in the food chain, months after the UK
faced its biggest food recall ever, writes Lindsey Partos.
Europe's food safety body backs proposals to introduce the concept
of Qualified Presumption of Safety (QPS) for the safety assessment
of microorganisms used in food production.
International labelling standards on the percentage of ingredients
in a food and beverage products are on the table again at an
upcoming Codex meeting, reports Lindsey Partos.
A European regulation on food enzymes, which would demand dossiers
of safety and technical information on each enzyme prior to their
approval on the market, could be published by the Commission by the
end of the year, reports Dominique...
Illegal colours continue to crop up in European food products with
the EU's tracking system highlighting banned Sudan 1 and Para Red
contaminants in a range of foods this week, reports Lindsey
Partos.
A panel of scientific experts at Europe's food agency concludes an
enzyme preparation used as a food additive for binding
reconstituted food is safe, and 'not likely' to raise the risk of
allergic or intolerance response.
The European Parliament voted yesterday to radically modify the
proposed regulation on nutrition and health claims so that food
companies do not need to gain prior authorization for claims, nor
subject their healtlh products to nutrient...
Australian and New Zealand food agency calls on stakeholders in the
food industry to comment on a range of proposed changes to its food
code, including using GM cotton as a food and a new source for an
approved cheese processing enzyme.
In light of new European 'one up-one down' rules on traceability,
Finnish food safety receives a 'special focus' in 2005 with the
government announcing a clampdown on fruit and vegetables.
Deep divisions over biotech food ingredients once again evident as
member states fail to approve a gene-altered corn designed by US
biotech giant Monsanto, reports Lindsey Partos.
As banned colours continue to turn up in the food chain, the UK's
food agency will build a taskforce to reduce the risk of
contamination to supplies, and to improve risk management in the
advent of recalls.
Weeks and weeks after the UK's food agency issues official warning
about contaminated Worcester sauce, alarm bells ring as two
prepared foods containing the illegal ingredient, and previously
withdrawn from sale, turn up on the...
In our current uneasy climate of product recalls, sensitivities are
high and Brussels can ill afford to fuel confusion, but in the
latest document from Europe's central alert system, the reference
to annatto, bixin and norbixin...
Members of Codex fail to reach a decision on the creation of
labelling guidelines for genetically modified foods as divisions on
biotech foods remain entrenched between the countries.
Meeting yesterday to discuss the advent of banned colour Para Red
in the UK food products, European member states and the Commission
remind the food industry of its duty to supply safe food to
consumers.
The trickle of food products contaminated with the illegal colour
Para Red continues in the UK, with the country's food agency
identifying nineteen more food products for recall yesterday,
writes Lindsey Partos.