It seems that hot water is not essential for handwashing — washing hands in cool water for 10 seconds is just as effective in removing bacteria as washing hands in hot water. [ + ]

Ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) is a high-calorie, nutrient-dense paste that is the most widely used outpatient treatment for severe acute malnutrition. RUTF has seen success in many African countries but it has failed to get the same foothold in India due to issues with palatability, reliability of water supply and cost. [ + ]

Australian Dietary Guidelines recommend that adult women eat five serves of vegetables/day and adult men 5.5 serves — all very good. But how do you get adults to eat their veggies? [ + ]

An engineer was trapped by machinery while examining a conveyor belt, suffering major injury and ongoing nerve damage. After an investigation revealed that had a guard been in place this accident could have been prevented, the employer, a large UK food manufacturer, was fined £800,000. The moral of this — every food and beverage processing plant must develop and have comprehensive safety procedures in place. [ + ]

The Australian packaging and food processing market is overdue for an innovation injection. Consider the humble tin can, which is still one of the most dominant forms of packaging in this country — even though it was invented over 200 years ago. [ + ]

You can wash all you like but you can't get rid of all of the foodborne pathogens on your lettuce leaves because some hide within the plant tissue. [ + ]

The chlorine sanitiser and saline environments of many food and beverage processing facilities can impact the durability of stainless steel fixtures and equipment. Some grades of stainless steel cope better than others in these environments. [ + ]

Is it the Germans, the Irish or the Danish who are the largest drinkers in Europe? Actually, it's the rich. [ + ]

Should be we be worried by our food? Yes! Food has been suggested as a potential source for the transmission of C. difficile. [ + ]

The correct selection of vacuum generation systems substantially influences the operational reliability and economic efficiency of the packaging process. Depending on the size of the plant and the production quantities involved, there are a number of vacuum supply options. [ + ]

No longer pie in the sky, robotic kitchen assistants are now a reality. [ + ]

Product and process monitoring, labelling technology, packaging, logistics, maintenance and repair can already all be optimised through the Internet of Things (IoT). But are they? [ + ]

Foreign bodies found in food by the consumer can not only create an unexpected and negative consumer experience, it can also have a huge impact for the manufacturer — especially with today's accessible and widespread social media channels. [ + ]

A recent study found 46% of food contact papers were contaminated with chemicals known to be detrimental to human health. Now, researchers have found a way of tracking these chemicals after they have migrated from the pack to the food and been ingested. [ + ]

Whether cooking, pasteurising or sterilising, or heating or cooling a range of products, it's a safe bet that most food producers will be using a heat exchanger to carry out their thermal processing requirements. [ + ]