Search Results for: food

BY KEITH NUTHALL
RUSSIAN cosmonauts are trialling a fast-food snack system designed to preserve freshness in wholesome Mediterranean products, even in the long-term room temperature storage required for six-month International Space Station missions. The Mediet (Mediterranean Diet) experiment uses vacuum-sealed plastic packages of dried tomatoes, mature cheese, piadina bread, peaches and chocolate from Italy on an aluminium ergonomic tray.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
DESPITE the woeful record of the British food industry regarding health, Britain’s food consumers are the most trusting in Europe, a new survey has suggested. Comparing UK attitudes to those in Denmark, Norway, Germany, Italy and Portugal, when asked if they felt 12 food products were “very safe” to eat, British consumers were the most optimistic in every case.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE 10 EASTERN and southern European countries joining the European Union (EU) last weekend are on course to meeting its food health standards, Brussels’ health and consumer protection Commissioner David Byrne has claimed. His confident declaration masks a series of problems, however, leading to many temporary exemptions and special measures, giving the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Malta, and Slovenia; the countries between three months and three years extra time to ensure slaughterhouses and food processing plants meet standards that should have been in place on May 1.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SCOTCH Whisky Association (SWA) has welcomed the passage into European Union (EU) law of a newly approved directive on fighting counterfeiting and piracy, which will strengthen the hand of established drinks producers in suppressing fakes. The legislation widens powers available to EU customs and trading officials to seize fake goods and also for rights holders to secure the destruction and recall of illegal goods, plus financial compensation, injunctions and damages.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations Food & Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has warned that the number of domesticated livestock breeds worldwide is declining sharply, with 1,350 of the roughly 6,300 FAO registered breeds threatened by extinction or already extinct. The problem has been discussed by a special FAO meeting of national coordinators on animal genetic resources, which is developing a global plan to halt their disappearance.…

KEITH NUTHALL
LISTERIA monocytogenes contaminants have been found in Spanish sea bass and German smoked salmon, according to a recent bulletin from the European Commission’s rapid alert service on food safety. The system also publicises alerts on fish imported into the European Union, recently highlighting aerobic mesophiles in Indonesian shrimp, for instance.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has cleared the way for the European Union to legalise the sale of a genetically modified Monsanto maize engineered to resist certain pests, especially rootworm. EFSA said MON 863 “is as safe as conventional maize….AND…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is releasing Euro 18 million to improve the quality and safety of EU organic food, boosting standards in farming, manufacture, transportation and retail. The ‘QualityLowInputFood’ project will develop technologies assisting the production of organic tomatoes, lettuce, onions, potatoes, carrots, cabbages, apples, wheat, pork, dairy and poultry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is releasing Euro 18 million to improve the safety and quality of organic food in the European Union, by boosting standards in farming, manufacture, transportation and retail. The ‘QualityLowInputFood’ project will develop new technologies for organic tomatoes, lettuce, onions, potatoes, carrots, cabbages, apples, wheat, pork, dairy and poultry products.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has moved to scotch a fresh round of so-called ‘Euro-myths’ falsely alleging that European Union (EU) legislation will ban treasured food traditions when 10 new member countries join the EU in May. Brussels officials are particularly sensitive to such stories, because of past bad publicity about – ultimately inaccurate – tales, such as EU laws insisting on straight cucumbers.…