Search Results for: food

BY PHILIP FINE

CITIZENS in the US state of Ohio will not be able to sue food establishments they believe contributed to their ill health, if a new bill becomes law. A state house of representatives committee has just approved the bill, which now goes to the full house for consideration.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MASS vaccination campaign against bird flu might result from the ongoing outbreak in Asia, with the UN Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) moving away from a pro-culling policy. Following meetings with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Office International des Épizooties on animal health the FAO said that a targeted vaccination campaign in heavily affected countries maybe required.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AROUND one-third of global meat exports – 6 million tonnes – are currently being restricted by animal disease outbreaks, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has claimed, maybe losing world trade up to US$10 billion if import bans extend throughout 2004.…

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 MONICA DOBIE
A USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel has urged the American government to increase testing for mad cow disease in order to assess if the disease is still present in the country and if so, where. The US Department of Agriculture already plans to test 40,000 cows this year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has approved a proposed regulation tightening and harmonising EU food and animal feed controls. As it informally agreed amendments in advance with EU ministers, the law is now expected to be rubber-stamped. One change insists that national governments erect “effective, proportionate and dissuasive” sanctions to breaches of these controls and another says relevant information held by food authorities must be publicised quickly, except data “covered by professional secrecy”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IT will be several years before Canada’s trading partners admit Canadian live cattle, according to a report from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The document – written after BSE was detected Alberta, but before its discovery in the United States – suggests that effective diplomacy will be needed to convince countries, rather than more scientific measures.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MASS vaccination campaign against bird flu might result from the ongoing outbreak in Asia, with the UN Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) moving away from a pure pro-culling policy. Following meetings with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Office International des Épizooties on animal health the FAO said that a targeted vaccination campaign in heavily affected countries maybe required.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WITH the European Commission from January publishing consumer safety alerts from European Union Member States, a soap has already been identified as dangerous: Rico Germicidal Soap, banned in Denmark. The note in the Commission’s Rapid Alert System for Non-Food Products (RAPEX) says the soap “contains three per cent potassium mercuric iodide,” adding “the use of this substance in cosmetic products is prohibited under the provisions of the Cosmetics Directive (76/768/EEC, Annex II, entry 221).”…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
AUSTRALIAN government agencies have decided to aggressively push the export of speciality halal meats to Asia and the Middle East. They want to tap the rapidly growing middle-class of consumers in the regions. Plans to use Malaysia as a halal processing centre for Australian exports to Islamic countries are already well advanced.…