Demand for food safety products in the US is forecast to increase 7.3% annually to $4.5 billion in 2016. Solid gains will be the result of increased public awareness following recent highly publicised multistate outbreaks of foodborne illnesses; the need to comply with provisions of the landmark Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA); and industry initiatives that will provide a strong impetus for companies to improve their food safety practices. [ + ]

New Zealand’s Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) is calling for submissions on the standard on fortifying bread with folic acid in New Zealand. The MPI has released a discussion paper outlining four options for the future of the standard, from mandatory fortification of most breads from September this year through to providing for voluntary fortification indefinitely. [ + ]

A collaboration between glass packaging manufacturers O-I Australia and winemakers Taylors Wines has taken out the Best Wine Bottle Award at the 2012 Australian Wine Industry Design Competition. The 2010 Taylors Winemaker’s Project Grenache Shiraz Mataro (GSM) was declared the nation’s best bottle and label design at the awards. [ + ]

A South Australian olive oil company has paid $13,200 for two infringement notices for attempting to pass off low-quality olive oil as ‘extra virgin’. [ + ]

Australian winemakers have extra reason to pop a few corks following the 2012 International Wine Challenge (IWC) where Australian wines received a record 69 gold awards. [ + ]

Algae technology company Heliae has commenced work on a commercial demonstration facility in Arizona that it says will “showcase the scalability and economics of its proprietary algae technology platform”. The company plans to build several more facilities throughout the world. [ + ]

New South Wales could soon become the seventh state or territory to have a container deposit scheme (CDS) if a Greens Bill is passed. [ + ]

Innovative food processing techniques could soon be helping to minimise the adverse health effects of food allergens. The food allergy research group at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), led by Dr Alice Lee, is developing nanosensors to better detect allergens in food, while researching how allergens change during food processing and how this affects the human reaction. [ + ]

Dairy Australia has received a $1 million federal government grant for 900 dairy farm energy assessments across the country. [ + ]

Plantic Technologies opened its upgraded bioplastics packaging factory at Altona late last week. The company, which produces plastics derived from corn, says it has increased its output by 400% as a result of the plant expansion. [ + ]

Nestlé Purina PetCare’s Blayney plant has received a $31 million upgrade, creating more jobs and making the factory one of the leading facilities of its kind in the world, according to the company. [ + ]

The Federal Government has pledged over $20 million in grants to help small and medium businesses and community groups improve energy efficiency. Greg Combet, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, and Mark Dreyfus, Parliamentary Secretary, announced the 28 successful recipients of the Energy Efficiency Information Grants (EEIG) program on 17 May. [ + ]

Coles Merchandise Director John Durkan used his appearance before the Senate Select Committee, reviewing Australia’s food processing sector, to respond to claims that Coles is pushing branded products off its shelves and sourcing its private label products from overseas suppliers. [ + ]

FreshCase Packaging has taken out the Diamond award at the recent 24th DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation. Curwood’s FreshCase is an innovative vacuum packaging system that reduces food waste by keeping red meat looking and staying fresh for longer. [ + ]

Adelaide company Haigh’s Chocolates is investing $25,000 to train 10 of its workers. The Federal Government has co-contributed a further $25,000 so the workers can complete a Certificate IV in Competitive Manufacturing. [ + ]