Breaking News on Dairy Processing & Markets

News in brief

China takes new measure to restore confidence in dairy

07-Jan-2011 - Chinese dairy companies will have to renew production licenses or risk closure this year, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Dioxin-contaminated liquid egg distributed in UK

07-Jan-2011 - Eggs from farms affected by dioxin-contaminated feed have been and mixed with products to be used in processed foods and exported into the UK, food safety officials said yesterday.

Dannon on FTC settlement: “Our claims remain intact”

16-Dec-2010 - Dannon says its year-long negotiations with the Federal Trade Commission that resulted in a $21m settlement and modifications placed on its health statements, has not altered the core claims for its multi-million dollar selling probiotic yoghurts.

Proposal to permit producer organisations gets mixed reception

15-Dec-2010 - A Commission proposal to bend EU competition laws to permit dairy producer organisations to negotiate contracts with processors has received a mixed reaction from the industry.

Yakult: EFSA must recognise cold symptoms

13-Dec-2010 - Japanese probiotics giant Yakult says its recent EFSA probiotic health claim rejection discounted peer-review validated respiratory tract health measures, and called on the European Commission to facilitate a discussion on the matter.

UK: No labelling or regulation required for food from cloned animal offspring

09-Dec-2010 - There is no evidence to justify the regulation of food from the descendants of cloned animals on safety grounds, the UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) will tell Government chiefs.

EFSA health claim opinion

Danone: EFSA Actimel diarrhoea claim rejection is "incomprehensible"

09-Dec-2010 - Danone will contest the diarrhoea health claim rejection for its Actimel drinking yoghurt handed to it by the European Food Safety Authority this week.

EFSA gut/immune health meeting

Danone tells EFSA: Health claims “learning experience” is too costly

07-Dec-2010 - The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has repeatedly emphasised that the 2006 EU nutrition and health claims regulation is a learning experience for everyone involved – from its health claims assessment panel to industry stakeholders, to the member states and the European Commission.

PBDE-contaminated butter sparks call to boost regulatory scrutiny

07-Dec-2010 - High levels of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants found in a butter sample were most likely caused by tainted packaging, said scientists as they called for stricter regulatory scrutiny of the chemical in the food chain.

UK rejects EC proposal over temporary ban on cloned animals

06-Dec-2010 - Any move by the European Commission to introduce a temporary ban on the use of cloned animals for food would not be justified on food safety grounds, the UK Government has said.

Heart health claim expected end of 2011 for vitamin K2, says NattoPharma

03-Dec-2010 - NattoPharma sees huge potential for heart health arising out of the fortification of foods, and dairy products in particular, with vitamin K2 and it expects a cardiovascular health claim to get EU approval towards the end of 2011.

Comment

EU food safety left rudderless by Commission move on BPA

29-Nov-2010 - The hand on the tiller that is food safety in Europe has been left somewhat unsteady by the recent regulatory actions taken by the European Commission on BPA and food colours – moves that are pandering to consumer fear and showing contempt for the food safety agency it created.

Pending FTA trade agreement could benefit European dairy sector, EDA

26-Nov-2010 - A free trade agreement (FTA) between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan will bring trade benefits for the European dairy industry, but it could bring also lead to possible disruptions due to a variance in export certificates between the countries, said the European Dairy Association (EDA).

Comment

Local food doesn’t mean safe food

23-Nov-2010 - All food, if not properly handled, has the potential to cause foodborne illness – so why does local food get special legislative treatment?

DEFRA COOL draft cites new rules on cheese

19-Nov-2010 - The latest draft of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs’ (DEFRA’s) new code of practice on country of origin labelling (COOL) advises manufacturers to state the origin of liquid milk used in cheese and butter OR the place these products are manufactured.

‘Super dairy’ planners scale back ambitions in new application

18-Nov-2010 - Plans to build a ‘super dairy’ farm in the UK have been resubmitted with a 45 per cent reduction in the proposed cow numbers.

Protected status application for ‘Jersey Butter’ rejected

17-Nov-2010 - An application to register Jersey Butter with a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) has been rejected.

Wyatt technology to eliminate bacteriophage infections in dairy production

17-Nov-2010 - Wyatt Technology’s instruments have been chosen by two French Universities to try and identify lactococcus lactis, a bacterium widely used by the dairy industry to eliminate bacteriophage infections in production.

Comment

For front-of-pack labels, smart choices take time

02-Nov-2010 - Uh-oh, surely not another industry-sponsored front-of-pack nutrition label! Food industry engagement is welcome, but let’s take it slowly – no one benefits until we figure out a system that works.

Three EU countries face fines for exceeding 2009/10 quotas

29-Oct-2010 - Three EU member states have been ordered to pay a total of €19m in fines for exceeding milk quotas in 2009/2010, according to provisional figures published by the Commission.

News in brief

Dairy UK appeals for tougher cheese origin labelling

27-Oct-2010 - Representatives of the UK dairy industry have called on politicians to take tougher legislative action to stamp out misleading origin labelling.

Racy religious ice cream ads fail ASA test

27-Oct-2010 - British ice cream brand Antonio Federici has once again fallen foul of advertising rules in the UK over an ad portraying two priests on the verge of a kiss.

Commission proposes temporary ban on cloned food

20-Oct-2010 - The European Commission has proposed a temporary ban on animal cloning for food production in the European Union, at a meeting of the European Commission, Council and Parliament held in Strasbourg on Monday.

Comment

Regulatory clarity for nutricosmetics proves elusive

14-Oct-2010 - Somewhere, in some time, there exists a land of beauty and promise for nutricosmetics products, where beauty supplements, foods and drinks can frolic, happy in the knowledge of their justifiable claims.The problem is that getting to this promised land appears to be somewhat complex.