Search Results for: food

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Bank has announced a US$140 million grant and loan package to improve west African food production, notably confectionary ingredient export quality. The West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme will for instance establish a centre of excellence in Ghana for researching tree crops (cocoa, coffee, cashew, palm tree, rubber tree, Arabic gum, shea nut and mangoes).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ERADICATION of exotic fish diseases that can damage important aquaculture suppliers to the food industry will be subsidised by EU budgets, under new reforms to farmed fish health directives proposed by the European Commission. It especially wants to increase the reliance on disease prevention, rather than containment.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SAUDI Arabia is eliminating a ban on importing food products with less than half of their remaining official shelf life, via commitments made to join the WTO. In a key deal with the United States, the Saudis have promised to accept “internationally-recognised manufacturer-determined use-by dates, with the exception of certain perishable foods and baby foods”.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE USA’S Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has unveiled a natural super-carbohydrate ingredient, which can be used to make biscuits and cookies, promoting good health, whilst allowing consumers to indulge their sweet tooth. Its researcher George Inglett says Calorie-Trim (or C-Trim) is made from whole oats and barley, containing 20-50% soluble fibre beta-glucan, 5-10 times more than in standard oats, flour and oatmeal.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN USA-Saudi Arabia agreement, easing the oil-rich kingdom’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will liberalise the international meat trade with Saudi buyers. Saudi Arabia is eliminating a ban on imported meat containing growth hormones, and will recognise USDA food safety certificates.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN AGREEMENT has been forged between the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the European Commission to establish a US$5.4 million rapid response programme to prevent foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) entering Europe. It will help stop the virus spreading from the Caucasus, Iran, Iraq and Turkey.…

KEITH NUTHALL
A CALL for biogas producers to be more careful when handling animal waste raw materials has been made by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), because of concern that this manure, slurry and other materials could spread bacteria and disease.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority has named food dyes used illegally in spice-producing countries, which could be genotoxic and/or carcinogenic: Acid Red 73; Sudan Red 7B; Metanil Yellow; Auramine; Congo Red; Butter Yellow; Solvent Red I; Naphthol Yellow; Malachite Green; Leucomalachite Green; Ponceau 3R; Ponceau MX; and Oil Orange SS.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE RELEASE of the main report of the Volcker inquiry into the United Nations’ oil for food scandal could strengthen reformers within the global body seeking tougher auditing controls and greater independence for its secretariat. It blamed administrative complexity involving shared powers over the Oil for Food Programme by the UN Security Council and its secretariat for creating a power vacuum, readily filled by Iraq’s former Saddam Hussein regime.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned major international donors have given only 20% of the money needed to control bird flu in poultry and animals before the epidemic spreads again this winter. The FAO wants mass vaccination campaigns in east Asian countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam, where the disease is most entrenched and from where a global epidemic is most likely to spring.…