Search Results for: food

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NORTH Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is to cooperate with the European Cooperation in Science and Technology programme (COST) in research strengthening the security of Europe’s food chain. Since the September 11 attacks, military forces and alliances have been increasingly concerned about bio-terror attacks via food distribution.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITISH and German scientists have made a breakthrough in developing Europe’s most common food and animal based pathogen – salmonella – which is increasingly resistant to standard antibiotics.

Britain’s Institute of Food Research and the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, of Germany, have discovered how salmonella bacteria defends itself in hostile environments (such as stomachs and intestines) by continually inserting outer membrane proteins (OMPs) into its cell walls.…

BY MARK ROWE
CLIMATE change, the general scientific consensus now holds, is taking place, and will continue to do so even were we to stop our fossil fuel emissions overnight. And while there may be jests to the effect that hotter summers would be good news for drinks manufacturers, the reality is that the drinks sector faces as many challenges as any other industry, both in terms of ingredient and energy supplies, production adjustments and related commercial issues.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has issued a regulation insisting packaging companies ensure from August 2008 that they follow effective quality assurance and quality control systems where their materials touch food. Issued just before Christmas, the legislation insists that food companies document these good practices, although stops short of stipulating their exact form.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) fishermen will be able to harvest 10,000 tonnes of tuna and related species from Mozambique Indian Ocean waters from this year to 2012, under a new agreement negotiated by the European Commission. This new fisheries partnership agreement, replaces an agreement spanning 2004-6, assuming it is rubber stamped by EU ministers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SCANDALOUS discovery last year of 110 tons of rotting meat in Germany warehouses has prompted German researchers to develop a laser-based scanner system, which can check the freshness of meat and meat products from the slaughterhouse, to processing plants and retailers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A REFORM of the European Union’s (EU) fruit and vegetable market, while liberalising the existing system, would encourage additional subsidies for boosting this sector amongst young consumers. Amidst concerns that Europeans are failing to eat enough fruit and vegetables, generating poor health, the European Commission has proposed increasing the EU’s rate of financing promotions for fruit and vegetable to 60% from the usual 50% maximum, when campaigns focus on children and adolescents.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
TRADE ministers have agreed to restart the Doha Development Round agricultural liberalisation talks, hoping sufficient progress can be made to persuade the US Congress to renew President Bush’s fast-track negotiating authorisation. This expires in June, and will need refreshing for the World Trade Organisations talks to have any hope of success.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GOVERNMENTS and food industry international organisations have been asked to comment on draft guidelines on using antibiotic resistance marker genes in food production, drawn up by global food standards body Codex Alimentarius. This additional consultation follows pressure from the European Commission for more studies into whether these genes are safe for consumers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is pressing the Egyptian government for talks on negotiating a wide-ranging food trade deal between the European Union and Egypt.…