The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is launching a public consultation on its draft scientific opinion on the implications of animal cloning on food safety, animal health and welfare and the environment.

Australian fresh produce companies have a chance to foster Chinese business opportunities at China’s SFT — the annual fresh fruit, vegetables and nuts exhibition.

Statistics New Zealand has released figures showing that the total value of NZ merchandise exports in November 2007 rose 18.4% compared with November 2006. This is the second consecutive month to see a large increase driven by milk powder, butter and cheese, and petroleum and products. Combined, these two commodity groups made up a third of all exports and accounted for over 90% of the increase from November 2006.

Alcoa has agreed to sell its packaging and consumer businesses to New Zealand’s Rank Group Limited for $2.7 billion. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter 2008.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has invited individuals and organisations with an interest in the regulation of food to provide information and comment on two applications and a proposal to amend the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code.

Developer of customised industrial-scale separation services Upfront Chromatography has announced that commercial production of highly functional proteins from the side stream of potato processing has been enabled using its Rhobust processing platform. The Rhobust adsorbent is a key component of Solanic’s industrial processing plant, which was officially opened in December 2007 in Gasselternijveen, Netherlands. Solanic is the protein business unit of the potato starch giant AVEBE.

While the performance benefits of enzymes are increasingly being acknowledged by food product manufacturers, enzyme suppliers still have to contend with price pressure and intense competition while at the same time delivering quality customised solutions and service, according to a report on the food enzymes industry.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has just launched a public consultation on the draft approach it proposes for assessing botanical food additives.

Poultry workers in the United States are 32 times more likely to carry drug-resistant E. coli bacteria than others outside the poultry industry, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

ISO has launched a new CD that contains the ISO 22000 series of standards, developed to help operators in the food chain to implement food safety management systems.

Delays in the drafting of the new Food Bill will see Food Control Plans introduced only on a voluntary basis for some sectors of the food industry by mid-2008.

New Zealand is in contention to be one of the top five consumer countries for energy drinks, while the US market rockets into first place, according to the latest report by global drinks consultancy Zenith International.

Nanotechnology was incorporated into more than US$50 billion in manufactured goods last year and the market is expected to grow to US$2.6 trillion by 2014, according to a report by Lux Research, yet no nanospecific regulation exists anywhere in the world.

Applied Sorting Technologies has appointed packaging and weighing equipment specialist, Accuweigh to be its exclusive distributor for the company’s range of Australian made X-ray food inspection systems.

CUNO Foodservice is emphasising its position as a part off the 3M family by re-branding its product line.