Archive
International News Services archives articles supplied to clients one year or more after initial publication. These articles are protected by a password and not made available to readers without permission from clients. They are used as a background resource by agency journalists. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.
SUGAR BEET
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SUGAR beet processing and production companies from Italy have failed to overturn a EU Council of Ministers decision to phase out by this year special state ‘adjustment’ aid paid to their sector. Sadam Zuccherifici, Sadam Castiglionese, Sadam Abruzzo, Zuccherificio del Molise and Società Fondiaria Industriale Romagnola had claimed that ministers had not followed proper procedures.…
COMMODITIES REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE COLLAPSE in world cocoa prices, at a time when its national market has been liberalised, has left policy makers with the difficult task of reinventing financial protection for its producers, a UN World Commodity Survey 2000-2001 has concluded.…
LABELLING LAW
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EU consumer affairs Commissioner David Byrne has revealed details of a planned new European directive on food labelling to a round table on food quality, safety and production, that could lead to a dramatic expansion of the ingredient information that must be printed.…
DIOXIN LIMITS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed that strict dioxin contamination limits are introduced from January 2002, covering foodstuffs including milk and butter; the technical formula quoted by Brussels for this ceiling is 3 nanograms per kilogram of fat. Dairy products with dioxin contaminants exceeding this level would be considered “unsuitable for consumption.”…
CANADA v USA, DAIRY SUBSIDIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PRICE of exported Canadian milk and butter could rise after a World Trade Organisation appellate body ruled that the organisation of a dairy market where produce is collected and sold at a higher price on the home market than abroad, can break WTO rules.…
POLAND v SLOVAKIA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
POLAND has announced that it intends to impose retaliatory restrictions on Slovakian food exports, in response to the safeguard duties imposed on imports of sugar by its east European neighbour, which Warsaw claims were erected in a way that breaks world trade laws.…
UTAH BOOZE
BY MONICA DOBIE
ALCOHOL supplies at the next Winter Olympics, in Salt Lake City, Utah, will be guaranteed and maybe even more liberal than the two previous games, despite the fact that about 70 per cent of the state is inhabited by teetotal Mormons, according to the Utah Travel Council.…
GM PIGMEAT
BY MONICA DOBIE
SCIENTISTS at the University of Guelph in Ontario have developed genetically modified pigs whose manure has up to 75 per cent less phosphorus than other pigs, a development that could dramatically reduce environmental costs and hence the price of pig-meat.…
RIFT VALLEY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN AFRICAN livestock disease has spread beyond its home continent to hit Saudi Arabia and Yemen, from where it is threatening to infect sheep, goats and cattle in Iraq. Rift Valley Fever is a highly contagious disease spread mainly by mosquitoes and the movement of animals; it causes abortion and death and can also infect humans, sometimes killing them.…
IRELAND
BY KEITH NUTHALL
IRELAND is being threatened with legal action by the European Commission over its alleged failure to extend the EU product liability directive to primary agricultural foodstuffs, such as meat and game. Ireland had until last December to changes its law, to allow Irish food manufacturers, processors and caterers to pass on liability for defective products to farmers, where the blame is clear.…