Search Results for: food

BY MONICA DOBIE

FEEDING babies an alcoholic milk drink called ‘kefir’ may help protect against some food allergies according to research published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.

Kefir, a traditional fermented drink widely consumed in eastern Europe as a health food, has been shown in these studies that it inhibits the growth of allergen-linked antibody immunoglobulin E (IgE).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CONCERNS that using nanotechnologies in food and other consumer products could be hampered by the same public mistrust that has stymied the development of genetically modified foodstuffs are being tackled by a European Union (EU) research project. The ‘Nanologue’ programme has created a so-called ‘nanometer’, am online tool, which a European Commission note says is designed to help "researchers and product developers identify areas which could raise ethical, environmental or societal concerns among future consumers."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is planning a public relations makeover, asking European Union (EU) PR agencies to tender for a contract to redesign its logo and write a ‘corporate identity’ handbook. The move is the latest by new EFSA executive director Catherine Geslain Lanéele, who has promised to sharpen the agency’s communications.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

RESEARCHERS from University College London (UCL) have produced scientific backing for the popular theory that a high protein diet helps reduce weight. Long the mainstay of the Atkins Diet, UCL scientists have established that eating protein promotes the creation in the gut of a hormone called PYY, which sends signals to brains causing a feeling of fullness.…

BY MARK ROWE

SAFETY testing of nanotechnology-based food ingredients is likely to prove difficult for food safety regulators, a leading expert in the field as told an Amsterdam conference on nanotechnology. In many cases, officials will be almost entirely reliant on the good faith of food manufacturers when it comes to the verification and approval of products for the consumer market.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A SECRETARIAT running the United Nations’ Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP) has been opened at the Rome headquarters of the UN Food & Agriculture Organisation. The body is charged with promoting bioenergy, helping international exchanges of know-how and technology, promoting policies and identifying potential funding.…

BY ALAN OSBORN and KEITH NUTHALL

A EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA)-hosted conference has heard how national food sectors dominated by small businesses have real problems implementing European Union (EU) food hygiene laws. At a two-day meeting in Parma, Italy, lawyers representing the European food industry, food safety regulators and consumer organisations heard that even EU regulation 178/2002 on food safety was proving tough to enact, even though it defines general principles.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union’s Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health has ruled curd cheese produced by Britain’s Bowland Dairy Products Ltd should not be sold in the EU, and that national governments should trace and destroy any curd cheese from this dairy in circulation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Agency (EFSA) is to investigate human health risks caused by the contaminant ethyl carbamate in all alcoholic drinks, focusing particularly on its presence in stone fruit brandies. The chemical can naturally occur during fermentation, but a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Health Organisation (WHO) expert committee has concluded ethyl carbamate is "genotoxic and is a multisite carcinogen" in all animals, including humans.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) has released global figures on imports and exports of food commodities for 2004. See

http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/agric_e/agric_e.htm, then ‘Data: Members’ shares of world trade in agricultural products’, then ‘G/AG/W/32/Rev.9.’

ENDS…