Search Results for: food

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INSTITUTIONS of the European Union (EU) always say they are getting a handle on the fraud that riddles their operations, but are they? Keith Nuthall looks at the latest annual report from EU fraud-fighters OLAF.

MEASURING fraud is notoriously difficult, given that the aim of this crime is to be as undetectable as possible.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CURRENT Dutch presidency of the EU is surveying food-related EU research to inform at meeting of senior officials next February 2005, where governments will discuss boosting cooperation within the EU’s Standing Committee for Agricultural Research.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON
THE WORLD is waking up to biofuels, increasingly produced from food crops and their waste by-products and now one of the growing energy alternatives to conventional fossil fuels. As prices for traditional energy rise year on year, and energy watchers warn of oil production peaking around 2010, governments are looking towards food producers to grow the raw feedstock for the fuel of the twenty-first century.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NATIONAL governments are often jealous of attempts by the European Union (EU) to increase its power into policy areas that they consider none of its business. Defence and foreign affairs are obvious examples, but health is another. EU member states have long resisted Brussels’ calls for influence over their health policies, but their resolve has weakened of late.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
A USA Food and Drug Administration advisory committee has said that the regulator should issue stronger warnings to doctors about the possible link between antidepressants and suicidal thoughts among young people. These warnings should not discourage doctors from using such antidepressants, but alert them to signals that a drug might be having harmful effects, said the committee.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PHARMACEUTICAL sector is a key element of a free trade agreement recently struck between the USA and Australia, although some onlookers claim Washington failed to achieve many of its aims regarding the industry. Nonetheless, the US Trade Representative’s office lauded the fact that Australia would make product-listing procedures within its pharmaceuticals benefits scheme more transparent, notably through the creation of an independent review process.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GLOBAL tea production in 2003 reached a record high of 3.15 million tonnes, 75,000 tonnes more than in 2002, and although traded tea fell by 2.6% to 1.4 million tonnes, prices remained stable, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has called for clinical studies on whether glucose syrups produced from barley can cause dangerous reactions in consumers suffering from cereal allergies. Existing “scientific data (is) insufficient”, said EFSA.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is staging regional training and research programmes to cut the thousands of gallons of milk spoiled in east Africa every week. It estimates that US$59.7 million dairy products are lost annually in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE OFFICE International des Épizooties (OIE), the world animal health organisation, has declared Canada officially free of bird flu, six months having passed since the last registered case of the disease. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed that the outbreak had been confined to the Fraser Valley area of British Columbia province.…