EU
weighs criminal trials for food safety
The
European Union head office proposed tougher food and feed safety controls
recently, including the possibility for offenders to face criminal prosecution.
EU Health Commissioner David Byrne said the plans would streamline “weak
and scattered controls and strengthen consumer protection by giving
both member states and the European Commission tougher enforcement tools.”
They
call for more EU-wide standards on food and animal feed safety, more
enforcement cooperation among EU governments and a single definition
of foodstuffs, that cannot be imported to prevent outbreaks of animal
diseases such as the foot and mouth epidemic that broke out in 2001.
Under
the plans, experts from the EU head office or the European Food Safety
Authority would conduct inspections and audits to ensure national governments
apply EU food safety laws.
Japan
endorses food safety bills
The Japanese Cabinet endorsed a set of bills recently to ensure the
safety of food in the wake of a series of scandals and incidents affecting
public health. The bills were devised in response to the outbreak of
the mad cow disease, the false labeling of meat and other products,
high levels of pesticides in imported vegetables, and deaths and illnesses
caused by Chinese diet aids. One
of the bills seeks to set up a governmental food safety commission to
evaluate the effects of certain foods.
2002
merger and acquisition lowest since the early 1990s
Merger
and acquisition (M&A) activity in the food industry plunged in 2002
from the prior year and hit the third lowest mark of total transactions
in the past 20 years, according to the Food Institute, a non-profit
information and reporting association that monitors M&A activity
in more than two-dozen food categories. The group tracked 416 transactions,
down 19 per cent than in 2001.
One
bright spot – investment firms and banks, who gobbled up 42 food-related
concerns, twice as many as in 2001 and the highest level of deals recorded
since the Food Institute began monitoring that category in 1998. Food
retailers made just 26 purchases of other companies, down 42 per cent
from 2001 and a 51 per cent decline over 2000.
Food
industry growing at a breakneck speed in Russia
According
to the State Statistics Committee, Russia’s food processing industry
showed a 6.5 per cent increase in production in 2002, thus continuing
its position as the fastest growing segment in the Russian economy.
Besides,
the other branches of food processing that witnessed better production,
the meat processing sector showed the highest expansion, as processed
meat output was up by 8.5 per cent to1.4 million tonnes, while sausage
production was up by 16.9 per cent to about 1.4 million tonnes.
Butter
output also increased by 2.8 per cent to 278,000 tonnes, and the milk-processing
sector was up by 11 per cent to 7.5 million tonnes, while skim milk
processing was up by 1.8 per cent to 399,000 tonnes.
Protein
causing Mad Cow found
An
Australian company said it has developed technology to remove the protein
that causes mad cow.The company, Gradipore, said its Gradiflow membrane
technology could remove infectious prion proteins from two blood components
– gamma globulin and albumin.
Scientists
said the device could permit earlier diagnose of animals afflicted with
these diseases and enable farmers to isolate and remove infected animals
from their herds. In addition, they said, it might be possible to use
the membrane to detect the human forms of mad cow – known as Creutzfeldt
– Jacob disease.
“This
discovery is really important because if you pick up infectious prions
at the earliest possible stage, while the animal is still alive, then
you can limit the spread of associated diseases and start to look for
a cure,” Tim Wawn, COO for Gradipore, said.
NFPA
opens shop in Thailand
To
make itself more international the US based National Food Processors’
Association (NFPA) is setting up its first Southeast Asian regional
head office in Thailand. According to Dr Rhona Applebaum, NFPA’s Executive
Vice President and Chief Science Officer, Thailand’s good environment,
safety, stable political situation and the fact that around 60 per cent
of the population is involved in the food industry had prompted the
NFPA’s decision.
Talking
about NFPA she said “NFPA is an association that uses science to serve
the food processing industry because we represent this industry in the
US with offices in three places including Washington DC, California
and Seattle. It is the industry’s premier food science and food safety
association having been set up over 90 years ago. In all this while
it has been assisting member companies and ensuring that rules and regulations
controlling the food processing industry are on a sound scientific foundation.”
Agrilink
Foods to shut down 6 food processing plants in US
Agrilink
Foods Inc, whose brands include Bird’s Eye, will close six frozen vegetable
processing plants, eliminating about 260 jobs, over the next several
months, the company announced. The facilities being closed are in Green
Bay, Oxnard, Barker, Bridgeville, Uvalde, Texas and Montezuma, all
in US. Agrilink Foods Chairman and CEO Dennis Mullen said the work from
the facilities would be consolidated at other plants in Darien
and Watsonville to allow for more efficient operations.
Agrilink
acquired the vegetable operation in
1998 from Dean Foods, which in turn had acquired Birds Eye Frozen Food
in 1993. The company has sales of about $1 billion annually. It
currently processes fruits and vegetables in 30
facilities nationwide. Rochester-based Agrilink Foods also makes Freshlike
and McKenzie’s frozen foods, Veg-All canned vegetables, Comstock pie
fillings and Nalley chili
and salad dressings.
US
lawmakers toughen their stand on meat safety
The
US government still isn’t protecting consumers from contaminated meat
a decade after four children died and 700 people were sickened in an
E coli outbreak linked to hamburgers sold by the Jack-in-the-Box fast
food chain in the West, food safety activists and Democrat politicians
pointed out recently.
Senator
Tom Harkin has announced a new effort to pass legislation that would
give the US Agriculture Department authority to shut down meatpacking
plants where inspectors find contaminated meat. Activists suggested
that all food inspection should be consolidated into a single agency
instead of divided between the Agriculture Department and the Food and
Drug Administration. According to the fine print of
the current law, only meatpackers and food processors can issue recalls,
although the government often actively pressurises companies
to do so.
McTrouble:
French
radical farmer and anti-globalization group 'Confederation Paysanne'
members hang their banner on a McDonald's restaurant during a barbecue
party in Paris recently. Confederation Paysanne leader Jose Bove, a
celebrity for his campaign against what he says is 'junk food', now
faces a trial for defamation in Paris. McDonald's, on its part, reported
its first-ever quarterly loss on January 23, after cutting jobs and
closing restaurants amid intense competition and deteriorating sales
in US. The day before, a US court threw out a widely watched lawsuit
that blamed Big Macs, Fries and Chicken McNuggets for obesity in children.
Three-star:
French
chefs Alain Ducasse, right, and Franck Cerutti pose in the kitchen of
Ducasse's restaurant 'Le Louis XV' in Monaco. Alain Ducasse was awarded
a three-star rating for 'Le Louis XV' in early February by the famous
French food lover’s bible Guide Rouge
2003 (Red Guide), formerly known as the Guide Michelin. Cerruti has
spent much of the last 15 years at
the Louis XV, taken over by his mentor and fellow super chef Alain Ducasse
in 1987.
