Three research programs delivered good results and played a role in innovation and new ideas for the Australian pork industry.

ISO 12875:2011, Traceability of finfish products is a newly released standard that will help improve food safety by supplying stakeholders throughout the supply chain with accurate information about the origin and nature of these products. [ + ]

One of the largest biennial packaging and processing machinery and materials exhibition in Australia, AUSPACK PLUS, will be heading to the Sydney Showgrounds, Sydney Olympic Park, from 7 to 10 May 2013.

SIPA of Veneto, Italy, a global leader of stretch blow moulding machines for the production of PET bottles, has recently celebrated its involvement in producing the award-winning bottles of Ramlösa (Carlsberg) mineral water. The bottle was awarded the prestigious Diamond Pentaward 2011, one of the world’s finest packaging awards. [ + ]

Responding to cider’s recent growth in popularity among Australian consumers, leading glass packaging manufacturer Owens-Illinois (OI) developed a design brief for a 500 mL glass cider bottle. The brief was presented to first-year industrial design students at Melbourne’s RMIT University. It included a number of guidelines such as the need to produce a bottle suitable for high-speed production and filling lines, and an area for applying a label and branding and mandatory information. [ + ]

Australian and Chinese researchers are collaborating to improve global food security against pests and diseases.

At the 2011 Australian Packaging Design Awards, O-I won the Gold Beverage Award for its work on Diageo Australia’s Classic Mixes range. [ + ]

No policy reforms in Australia’s food and grocery sector will see the industry become less competitive by 2020.

Tastier cheese, improved food security and disease-resistant rice are some of the possibilities from $310 million investment in research from the government.

Stronger steel, higher quality wine and cleaner, safer cars could soon be manufactured in Australia thanks to research made possible with funding from the Labor Government.

Woolworths Supermarkets has outlined a five-year plan to double its customer take‐up of own brand products. [ + ]

Muddy Boots Software has won the inaugural Coles supermarket IT Vendor Award 2011. This follows the implementation of a quality management solution that improves the consistency and quality of fresh produce throughout Coles’ 742 Australian stores. [ + ]

The Crystal Diagnostics MultiPath system uses liquid crystals to detect multiple harmful pathogens in food in a single test, offering significant time savings over the most common testing methods. [ + ]

DuPont Qualicon has added over 1500 patterns to its RiboPrinter System database, providing pharmaceutical and food companies, public health practitioners and epidemiologists with more of the information they need to identify contaminating bacteria in production environments.

SPX Corporation is expanding its food and beverage capabilities with the acquisition of e&e Verfahrenstechnik GmbH, a leading supplier of extraction, evaporation, vacuum and freeze-drying technologies to the global food and beverage, pharmaceutical and bioenergy industries.