A follow-up survey of soy sauce carried out by the UK Food
Standards Agency (FSA) has shown a significant improvement since
the agency's previous survey in 2001.
Do you remember the following words from European Commissioner for
health and consumer protection David Byrne? : "I am determined
to ensure that the momentum we have created on food safety
continues… the Commission is forging...
US company Spherix Incorporated reports that the US Food and Drug
Administration has allowed the claim that the low-calorie sweetener
tagatose does not cause tooth decay, and that it may actually
reduce the risk of this disease.
A further step marking the importance of the traceability of GMOs
in Europe was made yesterday when the European Research
Commissioner Philippe Busquin inaugurated a European network of
genetically modified organism (GMO) laboratories....
Recruitment is over for the executive director of the new European
Food Safety Authority (EFSA) with the announcement yesterday that
Geoffrey Podger has had the all clear from the European
Parliament's Environment Committee -...
In the same week that the agriculture Council cleared the way for
tougher GM legislation in Europe, the European Commission has
announced a new proposal that seeks to harmonise the use of food
additives in flavourings in order to...
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...
The European food and drink industry this week gave a vote of
confidence to the radical revamp of the 41 year old Common
Agricultural Policy proposed by European Agriculture Commissioner
Franz Fischler - but gave a clear warning about...
The European Commission's Standing Committee on the Food Chain and
Animal Health (SCFCAH) this week voted in favour of a European
Commission proposal to allow the resumption of imports of certain
fishery products (crayfish and...
In light of the 18th session of the Codex Committee on Fats and
Oils to be held in London, UK on 3-7 February 2003, the US
Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration said
this week that they are to sponsor a public...
The UK Food Standards Agency last week held its first open board
meeting in the heart European bureaucracy, Brussels. On the agenda?
An action plan on food labelling, GM labelling, and consumer
involvement in policy making. Commission...
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week re-launched the
thorny debate on the use of trans fatty acids in food processing,
and the labelling thereof, when it reopened the comment period for
a proposed rule first published...
European food manufacturers will soon have to label the complete
content of all foodstuffs as the European Commission's proposal for
an end to the '25 per cent' rule was endorsed yesterday by the
European Council.
The thorny issue of 'health' claims on consumer food products
continued this week with the publication of a new report from the
UK Food Standards Agency. The findings, that consumers are confused
or unclear about the properties...
Netherlands-based edible oils company Loders Croklaan Lipid
Nutrition announced this week that the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has confirmed GRAS status for its omega-3
fatty acid product Marinol C-38.
We reported yesterday that voters in the US state of Oregon had
voiced a resounding 'no' to Measure 27, an initiative that would
have required labels on food containing genetically engineered
material. Clearly a sensitive...
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 wee dram after a hard day at work could lead to severe abdominal
pain, the UK Food Standards Agency claimed this week. The agency is
warning people not to drink counterfeit Johnnie Walker Black Label
whisky as it has been found...
The UK Government's Department of Health is to reform its social
welfare food scheme, which targets mothers and children in
low-income families, by adding a broader range of foods such as
fruit and vegetables and cereal-based...
Newly formed food body Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ)
this week warned that there are only two months left for food
businesses that have not changed their food labels to be ready for
the 20 December 2002 deadline. The...
In May 2002 Swedish scientists released information that
acrylamide, a potential carcinogen, had been found in a range of
foods. Food agencies across the world are monitoring the situation
very closely. An upcoming conference in the...
Spinal cord has been found in German beef imported into the UK,
according to the UK's Food Standards Agency. Bovine spinal cord,
one of the parts most likely to be contain BSE, is specified risk
material (SRM) and under European...
Food safety experts from across the UK gathered in London last week
for the first National Food Safety Communications Conference
organised by the country's Food and Drink Federation (FDF). Awards
were given to those teams with...
One of the toughest legislations in the world on genetically
modified organisms came into force in Europe on Thursday with a new
EU Directive that strengthens 10-year-old rules on testing and
licensing GMOs used as crops or ingredients.
European Commissioner for Research Philippe Busquin has issued a
thinly veiled attack on opponents to 'new technologies' in Europe,
warning that European competitiveness in agriculture could be
harmed through 'through...
All Member States must fully and swiftly implement the 1998
European Directive on the legal protection of biotechnological
inventions or Europe will fall behind its competitors in this
crucial sector - so the European Commission warned...
When scientists from Sweden reported earlier this year that several
ordinary foodstuffs could contain high levels of acrylamide - a
potentially cancer-causing chemical - governments, food
associations and food manufacturers drew a...
Newly formed agency 'down under', the Food Standards Australia New
Zealand (FSANZ), this week invited interested parties and
organisations to comment on a number of proposed changes to the
Food Standards Code, including...
Food safety fears over beef are now settled in the psyche of
consumers across the world - stretching from Japan, over Europe and
into the US. But what about seafood? How many of us have been ill
from a less than healthy oyster or...
Europeans are not the only consumers wary about genetically
modified foods and the notion of GM wheat. A Reuters report
on Thursday elaborates on how Asian buyers of US wheat remain
largely opposed to the planned introduction of genetically...
US FDA moves to update its health advisory on risks associated with
eating all raw sprouts due to the recent outbreak of E. coli
O157:H7 associated with alfalfa sprouts.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said this week that it is
to establish a standard of identity for white chocolate.
The standard will provide for the use of the term `white
chocolate' as the common or usual name of...
Eastman Chemical, Aventis and eight other companies conspired for
17 years to fix the price of sorbates, a widely used food
preservative, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said in a
lawsuit.
Confirmation that the European scientific world is alive and
kicking arrived this week when the Commission announced that it had
received over 12,000 'expressions of interest' (EoIs) in response
to a call for ideas on promising...
The UK's fears about GM foods, and the insistence of the government
that GM trials should continue - highlighted by the publication of
the Consumers' Association report which we also report on today -
are shared by the Swiss...
The European Commission has updated the regulations designed to
prevent the import of aflatoxin-contaminated Chinese peanuts and
Turkish figs, pistachios and hazelnuts into the European Union.
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...
The IADSA Asian conference on food supplement regulations held in
Bangkok, Thailand last week produced a clear recognition of the
need for a common approach to regulations in the region and a
demand for increased collaboration and...
American scientists may well warn about the risks to human health
of reducing the levels of antibiotics in the food chain, but there
is still considerable opposition in Europe, as the UK's Soil
Association has shown this week.
Further evidence presented at the ICAAC meeting in California this
week shows that increasing public pressure - and better animal
husbandry - has led to a reduction in the use of antibiotics in
animals in the US. But is this necessarily...
New research from Procter & Gamble suggests that there may be
more appropriate methods of preventing the formation of
cancer-causing chemical acrylamide than simply cooking food at
lower temperatures - but also that the compound...
Proposed new legislation which would tighten the rules governing
the labelling of foodstuffs in a bid to reduce the risk of
consumers suffering from allergic reactions to certain ingredients
has passed the latest stage of its journey...
News in Germany earlier this year that tainted organic wheat had
been fed to poultry at organic farms caused an immediate fall in
consumer demand for organic foods, with the organic meat sector
being particularly badly hit. The industry...
EU committee backs Commission proposals to reverse enforced testing
of fish products from China. In March this year Member States
blocked certain Chinese products over fears of banned antibiotic
chloramphenicol.
The UK Food Standards Agency has published a guide to the
provisions of the 1990 Food Safety Act and other UK legislation
covering the composition and labelling of foods, chemical safety,
food hygiene, control of foodstuffs and trading...
Lonza, the Swiss-based pharmaceuticals company, has said that the
US Food and Drug Administration has allowed the sale of PepZin GI,
a recent dietary ingredient submission to the federal agency.
Progress towards the founding of Europe's Food Safety Authority
(EFSA) has been closely followed by Foodnavigator.com, including an
interview this week with the freshly appointed spokesman for the
EFSA, Andrew Stimpson. As such,...
The US Georgia Department of Agriculture said this week that its
inspectors will be checking food warehouses and supermarket shelves
to make sure some boxes of cereal that were incorrectly labelled
are removed from sale, Commissioner...
Speaking this week at the Informal Agriculture Council in Nyborg,
Denmark, David Byrne, Commissioner for Health and Consumer
Protection, said that innovation in the farming and food sector is
a vital issue to which Europe will need...
