Archive

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE REPUBLIC of the Congo (Brazzaville) has launched a case at the International Court of Justice, in the Hague, which is trying to undermine the principle of extra-territoriality under which activist magistrates, for instance in Belgium and Spain, have been seeking to prosecute crimes committed abroad.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
POLAND has agreed to reduce by 30 per cent its preferential duties on spirits and by 50 per cent the duties on vermouths under a deal reached with the European Commission. The agreement, initialled in Warsaw in October, was formally adopted by the Commission today (Friday) and if accepted by EU ministers will come into effect early next year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union and its allies at the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) negotiations over the creation of a global register for protected geographical indications in the wine and spirit trade have made a significant concession, which may be the basis for a future deal.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Union is to lay down maximum concentrations for 15 natural

substances in natural mineral water that it says may pose long term health

risks in high concentrations. Labelling provisions are also to be strengthened.

If a natural mineral water does not comply it will be required to undergo an authorised separation treatment and some producers will need to invest heavily in treatment processes.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
EUROPEAN collective wine marketing systems are “insufficient and ill-suited to market requirements compared to those of wine-growing companies in the

new world wine producing countries:” this is one of the main conclusions of a

seminar last week (28 and 29 November) organised by COPA-COGECA, the

association of European agricultural co-operative organisations and the

CEV, Europe’s association for the wine industry and trade.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GEOFFREY Podger will start work as Executive Director of the European Food Safety Authority on February 1. He has been chief executive of the UK Food Standards Agency. The EU agency will now appoint its advisory forum, its scientific committee and panels, and recruit most of its staff.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EU Court of Auditors has criticised Brussels’ extensification premium, a subsidy designed to encourage beef and veal producers to abandon intensive farming. The Court claimed it “did little to encourage additional extensive farming.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed the authorisation of a food additive, hydrogenated poly-1-decene as a glazing agent in confectionery and dried fruit. It has also proposed banning the additive calcium hydrogen carbonate. And it has proposed new authorised uses for citric acid esters of mono-and-diglycerides of fatty acids (as an emulsifier in cocoa and chocolate), malic acid (in peeled potatoes to prevent browning), pectin and calcium chloride (to thicken fruit compotes other than apple), and powdered cellulose (for use in grated mozzarella as an anti-caking agent), among others.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THAI researchers have discovered a fungus parasite on fragrant rice that produces its pandanus leaf aromatic quality. The finding could enhance the flavour of the rice and lead to developments in the food industry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
US soybean producers had to destroy 500 bushels of soybeans after it was discovered they were accidentally contaminated with ‘pharmaceutical corn’ residue. The corn came from a one-acre experimental plot grown in Nebraska by ProdiGene Inc, which has been attempting to grow soy with medical properties.…