Breaking News on Dairy Processing & Markets

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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.

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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.

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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.

New screening system slashes bacterial detection time

13-Oct-2010 - Mocon Inc said its new screening system significantly reduces bacterial detection times for food processors and packers, as well as boosting speed-to-market times across a range of products.

Omega-3 baby brain food ads pulled in UK

07-Oct-2010 - Magazine adverts for follow-on formula containing prebiotics and omega-3s have been rapped in the UK for making brain health claims unauthorised by the European Union nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR).

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Bisphenol A on the brink?

05-Oct-2010 - To BPA or not to BPA? While the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) backed the continued use of bisphenol A last week, the real question is whether the verdict was a full-blown reprieve for the controversial chemical or merely a stay of execution.

Court overturns Ohio ban on rbST-free milk labeling

04-Oct-2010 - A district court has overturned an Ohio state ban on the labeling of milk as free from artificial hormones, saying that there is a compositional difference between milk from cows treated with growth hormone and untreated cows.

Abbott infant formula recall to cost US$100m

29-Sep-2010 - Abbott said its recall of five million cans of Similac powdered infant formula because of possible contamination with beetles is likely to cost US$100m in lost revenues.

EU fails to agree on dairy market reforms

29-Sep-2010 - European Union farm ministers failed to reach a consensus last Monday over a report proposing controversial changes to dairy competition rules.

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High fructose corn syrup: A sugar by any other name

28-Sep-2010 - Once upon a time sugar was sugar, and sugar was most definitely not good for you. So the Corn Refiners Association move to rebrand high fructose corn syrup as corn sugar is a daring move – but should do little to sweeten its reputation.

China arrests six in latest melamine milk powder scare

21-Sep-2010 - Executives at another Chinese dairy company have been arrested for allegedly producing milk powder tainted with the industrial contaminant melamine.

No food safety threat from cloned animals, EFSA re-confirms

20-Sep-2010 - There is no indication that eating meat and milk from cloned animals holds any greater food safety risk than consumption of non-cloned food, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has said.

Pfizer investigation over spring in baby milk container

15-Sep-2010 - Leading baby milk manufacturer, SMA has launched an investigation after a mother made claims about finding a rusty spring in one of its can containers.

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Time to embrace balanced kids’ marketing regulation

13-Sep-2010 - Kids are not going to stop liking chocolate, pizza, ice cream, or fries. Heck, neither am I. So why is industry so afraid of mandatory restrictions on marketing to children?

Dairy UK sets out recommendations for EU policy

08-Sep-2010 - Dairy UK has warned that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should not be allowed to become an EU Common Food Policy.

New strategy identified to fight bacterial cheese contamination

27-Aug-2010 - Scientists have identified a way of using a virus to control levels of the Clostridium tyrobutyricum bacteria in cheese to prevent spoilage and minimise product waste.