Search Results for: food

BY MARK ROWE, in Munich

FOOD allergies can only be truly understood if they are studied at a pan-European level, according to scientists at a key European science convention. Dr Sian Astley, of the Institute of Food Research (IFR), in Norwich, said that only by studying allergies across different countries could the scale of the problem be understood.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared, using its competition authority powers, a proposed airline food catering joint venture at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport, between LSG – a subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa – and the Swiss company Gate Gourmet.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has recommended a continuation of the current European Union (EU) sheep-breeding programme, designed to promote resistance to TSEs (Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies), such as scrapie. However, it wants some changes, such as more tests on unusual scrapie strains, to assess any potential risks to human and animal health.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE COST of fraud and corruption to the European Union’s (EU) food subsidy budgets continues to rise, with the European Commission being alerted to Euro 102 million’s worth of "irregularities" in 2005, compared to Euro 82 million in 2004.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD’S international money laundering watchdog has warned the global food trade is exploited by criminals moving illicit funds to legitimate bank-accounts. A case study released by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has revealed how an unnamed offshore food trading company received revenue from ‘blood diamonds’, mined by forced labour.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

HARMONISED European Union (EU) rules on assessing and approving the use of enzymes in food have been proposed by the European Commission, which would write a list of all enzymes accepted for food production, in consultation with the European Food Safety Authority.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE LIVESTOCK and Meat Commission for Northern Ireland is to benefit from the latest batch of European Commission grants for promoting meat and other foodstuff sales within the European Union (EU). Brussels will subsidise a Northern Irish meat marketing and information campaign with Euro 207,365 over one year, with matching money being demanded from the UK government and local meat producers, the usual condition of such grants.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

The European Snacks Association, representing savoury snacks companies, agrees that it "has a role to play in the debate around nutrition and health and is actively engaging in this debate." At this week’s meeting in Brussels ESA said it would offer "more complete on-pack information and a wider product choice through reformulation" in 2006 and "new guidelines on commercial communication."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has been urged to help European Union (EU) food regulators protect consumers against food-borne illnesses, by securing more sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreements with non-EU countries. These impose agreed health controls on food and animals imported into the EU.…

BY TIMON MOLLOY and KEITH NUTHALL

SUSPECTED fraud notifications to OLAF, the European Union’s (EU) anti fraud office rose 20% in 2005, according to its activity report for the period July 2004 to December 2005, which was published in July. The agency received 857 new pieces of information, of which 560 were assessed as potential opening leads.…