Search Results for: food

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission and the Belgian Federal Food Chain Security Agency are investigating the contamination of animal feed with poisonous dioxins, some of which have been exported to Germany and the Netherlands. Hundreds of farms have been closed in the alert in all three countries, which was caused by defective filters at Belgian chemical producer Tessenderlo Chemie.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

FOOD and agricultural spending by the European Union (EU) will fall from 2007-13 under a medium-term budget agreement struck by member states. It will decline from Euro 43.1 billion in 2007 to Euro 40.6 billion in 2013. Between those years, spending will be Euro 42.7 billion in 2008; 42.2 billion in 2009; 41.8 billion in 2010; 41.4 billion in 2011; and 41 billion in 2012, (at 2004 market prices).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has upgraded advice on monitoring genetically modified foodstuffs, to ensure they do not spark unexpected health and environmental problems after authorisation. Its GMO panel says that general surveillance, designed to identify unexpected risks unanticipated in earlier studies, should always be included in environmental monitoring plans.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has clarified when food suppliers, rather than the producer, can be held responsible for damages caused by defective products. Its advice came in a Danish case involving two consumers suing food retail chain Bilka after contracting salmonella from eggs.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission and the Belgian Federal Food Chain Security Agency are investigating the contamination of animal feed with poisonous dioxins, some exported to Germany and the Netherlands. Hundreds of farms have been closed in the alert, caused by defective filters at Belgian chemical producer Tessenderlo Chemie.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

THE EUROPEAN Commission’s new regulation to support organic food production – unveiled just before Christmas – isn’t quite the key to lift-off in this sector that some of us were hoping for. A cynic would say that’s because it doesn’t provide any fresh money though Brussels, farm people say that was never the plan anyway.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled in cases of no-fault liability, where food poisoning occurred despite good practice, a "supplier (should) be liable only….where the producer cannot be identified". Where a producer or supplier had been responsible for poisoning, however, the ECJ found suppliers could be "answerable without restriction for the producer’s fault-based liability".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BANKS in Surinam and Guyana have been asked to operate a rice production improvement fund worth Euro 10 million, aimed at helping these South American countries prosper in world food markets. The Caribbean Forum of the African Caribbean Pacific (ACP) States, or CARIFORUM, is spending Euro 6.5 million in Guyana and Euro 3.5 million in Surinam, to invest in rice processors, millers and growers, increasing the sector’s "efficiency and competitiveness".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) agency charged with promoting economic growth in the Balkans has launched a cattle identification and registration scheme in Kosovo designed to increase the province’s beef exports. European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR) Pristina-office chief Thierry Bernard-Guele said: "The programme is designed to improve Kosovo livestock sector, it is also important for the protection of the consumers and to ensure quality control of food products."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Parliament has added pre-packed bread, spreadable fats and tea to the list of food and drink products that will retain set pre-packed sizes within the European Union (EU) under a proposed directive from the European Commission that had originally called for these to remain for only wines, soluble coffee, white sugar and most products sold in aerosols.…