Officials in the EU and New Zealand have agreed on a common
strategy for maintaining meat and dairy exports in the event of a
serious animal disease outbreak.
Local authorities in the UK will get new inspection and regulatory
powers in the future, thecountry's food agency said yesterday in
announcing a review of the current system.
The EU Parliament yesterday voted for a tougher regulatory regime
for chemicals, requiring producers and users to replace some of the
current chemicals in use with safer alternatives, if they exist.
Australian dairy National Foods has recalled several thousand
litres of its Pura brand milk, citing fears that it could be
contaminated with the E.coli bacteria.
A dispute over Roquefort cheese has again erupted in Australia
after authorities there rejected a recent shipment, prompting
French dairy group Lactalis to cancel exports to the country in
protest.
The EU completes the food safety link from farm to fork on 1
January 2007, when new hygiene legislation is extended to farms, in
most cases for the first time.
A proposal to charge companies fees for assessments by the European
Food Safety Agency (EFSA) would impose too heavy of a financial
burden on companies, says an industry consultant.
The Forum on Private Business has called for a proposed UK guidance
document on EU food law to be scrapped, criticising it for not
further clarifying provisions of the bloc's regulations.
Routine cleaning may have been to blame for the contamination of up
to 2,000 packs of milk with excessive levels of bacteria in Jersey,
the manufacturer has announced.
Up to 2,000 packs of milk contaminated with excessive levels of
bacteria have been recalled in Jersey, raising more questions about
dairy hygiene practices in the EU.
The UK food safety watchdog has revised its guidance on dairy
hygiene in an attempt to defuse pending legal action from the EU,
after allegations UK officials failed to protect the public from
contaminated milk.
EU officials have filed legal proceedings against food safety
authorities in the UK, alleging they failed to properly protect the
public from contaminated milk at an English dairy.
Food safety inspectors from the EU will investigate how UK dairy
firms test for antibiotics residues in milk, after the European
Commission banned cheese from one company on Friday.
Rows and confusion have soured relations between food safety bodies
from the UK and European Commission, after EU member states agreed
to ban products from a UK dairy.
Efforts to save money and make farm inspections more efficient in
the UK have seen the Dairy Hygiene Inspectorate merge with the
country's veterinary service this week.
Proposed EU legislation would define the manufacturing practices
the bloc's processors would have to take in ensuring that packaging
materials do not migrate into foods.
A "tasting" robot that can identify foods, drinks and their
ingredients through the packaging provides a glimpse into the
future direction of safety and quality control in manufacturing
plants.
China is preparing to launch a new national standard on raw milk to
prevent dairy products containing antibiotic residues from reaching
the marketplace.
New Zealand dairy Fonterra must add a warning label to its new
vitamin K-enriched milk and yoghurt to reduce the risk for people
taking the blood thinning drug Warfarin, said the New Zealand food
authorities yesterday.
A pathogen detecting system that uses scattered laser light can cut
costs and speed up safety checks for food processors, researchers
developing the technology claim.
Chocolate has a nice feeling to it - tasty, fun, luxurious and
slightly sinful. This is comfort food, accessible to all and
epitomised in the recent film, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
A breakdown in the processing method of Unilever's Flora Original
Spread brand in the UK has led the company to recall some of the
product throughout the country.
A new approach to risk and crisis management for food and drink
companies has been unveiled at the UK's Campden and Chorleywood
Food Research Association (CCFRA).
Europe's food safety agency will begin a debate with processors on
formulating a common standard for assessing the health risks and
benefits posed by their products.
Levels of the cancer-causing PAH compounds in infant formula milk
on sale in Britain are below the limits set by the European Union
and pose no health risk, says the UK's food safety watchdog.
Dutch dairy group Campina has upgraded its new quality assurance
system for animal feed used by member farmers, re-iterating that
current checks in the sector were not good enough.
UK processor Dairy Crest has been fined £17,000 after food hygiene
authorities found mouse droppings on bottles of milk and packs of
cheese at one of its distribution depots.
The public's understanding of food risk issues is skewed towards
under estimating the danger from common pathogen contamination,
according to a research survey.
An EU-funded research project has developed micro and
nanotechnology portable devices to detect toxins, pathogens and
chemicals in foodstuffs on the spot.
A handheld sensor could help food companies quickly detect within
10 minutes whether their products are laden with Escherichia coli
or listeria -- before they are shipped out of the plant.
With the ushering in of new hygiene laws at the start of this year,
food companies are now under tougher regulatory scrutiny to ensure
they do not send out poisonous products from their plants.
The E-coli food alert on some French camembert brands has been
extended to more products in the UK, as the country's food watchdog
says batches may have found their way on to food fairs and farmers'
markets.
A dangerous strain of E-coli is feared to have contaminated
camembert cheese sold by more than a 100 British retailers,
including supermarket chain Waitrose, said the country's food
watchdog late Monday.
As fire from one of the biggest explosions seen in peace-time
Europe rages in Britain, food safety authorities seek to reassure
consumers about local dairy and food supplies.
Scientific evidence indicates that the presence of the ink chemical
isopropylthioxanthone (ITX) in packaged foods does not pose a
health risk, an EU regulator said today.
A EU food safety committee is meeting in Brussels today to discuss
the contamination of milk and other products with a chemical used
by Tetra Pak in its packaging process.
With an EU scientific study recommending that the European
Commission set up a system to track deadly listeria infections in
the bloc, processors will be under the gun to prevent the bacteria
from entering the food chain.