Breaking News on the Food and Drink Manufacturing Sector

Headlines > Food Safety

Pilot plant simulates factory micro-organism controls

24-May-2013 - Leatherhead Food Research (LFR) has opened a new facility, which will allow microbiological testing of foods to be carried out under factory-like production conditions.

Plant bakers braced for more government salt reduction demands

22-May-2013 - Bread bakers should be prepared to face further reductions in salt levels when new limits are set by the Department of Health (DH) later this year – despite hitting their 2012 targets and reducing levels by 40% over the past decade.

Obesity during pregnancy poses lifetime health risk for babies

21-May-2013 - A woman’s diet and lifestyle before and during pregnancy, and her baby’s diet in early life, can affect the infant’s risk of succumbing to disease later on and this will have important implications for the food industry, a new scientific report has concluded.

Retailers' food safety double standards

20-May-2013 - Some retailers may operate double standards in demanding high levels of food safety from suppliers, while being unaware over the amount of products contaminated with foreign objects they sell.

Vitafoods 2013

Personalised nutrition demand to bring big opportunities

16-May-2013 - The key business challenges for food firms whose products aid disease management are overcoming the "huge disconnect" between the number of consumers who claim to be interested in them and the number who actually purchase them, while also making inroads into the increasing demand for “personalised products”.

Vitafoods 2013

Food industry and regulators accused of ‘public health malpractice’

14-May-2013 - The functional food industry and regulators have been responsible for public health malpractice verging on gross negligence for failing to adequately communicate the health benefits of good nutrition.

Supermarkets must stop scaremongering, say scientists

01-May-2013 - Supermarkets are pandering to misplaced consumer fears about the health risks of of widely used food ingredients in a cynical marketing move, a group representing young scientists has warned.

Feature

Visionary thinking

30-Apr-2013 - The list of positive reasons for choosing vision-based product inspection is lengthening. Paul Gander looks at recent and future developments

Feature

Illegal entry

30-Apr-2013 - Fraudulent claims of foreign bodies in food and drink are a hidden issue, says Rick Pendrous

News in brief

Scottish government to target foods high in fat and sugar

28-Apr-2013 - The Scottish government is working with the British Standards Institute to develop a new Scottish marketing and advertising standard covering foods high in fat, salt and sugar.

Horsemeat was ‘effing horrendous’: Sainsbury boss

26-Apr-2013 - The food industry has “no idea” where the next food fraud scandal will come from, not least because so many resources are being ploughed in to tackling the horsemeat crisis.

Targets for cutting poultry Campylobacter will be missed

24-Apr-2013 - Targets set for Campylobacter reduction in poultry for the end of 2013 are unlikely to be met and new techniques of process treatment will be needed if the targets set for 2015 are to be achieved, the chief executive of the British Poultry Council (BPC) has claimed.

World’s largest food allergy study launched

23-Apr-2013 - An international study into food allergies has been launched which hopes to establish a standardised approach to allergen management for companies involved in food manufacturing.

Horsemeat webinar: how to protect your food business

23-Apr-2013 - Food safety watchdog the Foods Standards Agency (FSA), Leatherhead Food Research, market intelligence specialist Mintel and business law firm DWF are supporting the Food Manufacture Group’s free one-hour webinar Horsemeat: learning the lessons of an avoidable crisis.

Food safety training mostly ‘on the job’ but time barriers

23-Apr-2013 - About 85% of global food safety training is ‘on the job’ but lack of time can block progress, according to a survey of 649 food and drink manufacturers.

Mechanically removed meat safety implications vary: health chiefs

23-Apr-2013 - The safety implications of mechanically removed meat differ depending on the type of pressure used to remove the meat from the carcass, according to European health chiefs.

Learning the food safety lessons from ‘horsegate’

23-Apr-2013 - The horsemeat scandal, which continues to plague the food supply chain, has severely damaged consumer confidence in the industry’s ability to regulate itself and will have major implications for the way food safety is regulated in the future.

Bird Flu outbreak at Bernard Matthews farm

19-Apr-2013 - Restrictions have been imposed on movements in and out of a Bernard Matthews poultry farm after a strain of bird flu was detected.

Scientists want authenticity returned to FSA

11-Apr-2013 - Top scientists have backed a return of food authenticity responsibilities to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) following the horsemeat scandal.

Horsemeat crisis

FSA probes illegal drug in Asda’s horsemeat corned beef

10-Apr-2013 - The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is investigating how Asda corned beef became contaminated with horsemeat, which was then revealed to contain the banned veterinary drug phenylbutazone, or bute.

Free horsemeat webinar

Free webinar to learn lessons of horsemeat crisis

10-Apr-2013 - The horsemeat crisis has cost millions of pounds and done untold damage to the reputations of many in the UK food industry. But what lessons can be learned from the worst crisis to affect the sector since BSE? Food Manufacture is staging a free, one-hour webinar at 11am on May 16 to explore this.

Scottish slaughterhouse fined £9,500 for breaking BSE law

09-Apr-2013 - A Scottish slaughterhouse has been fined £9,500 for breaking a law designed to keep bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) out of the human food chain.

Food safety training blocked by ‘lack of time’

05-Apr-2013 - Lack of time for food safety courses and difficulties in measuring their effectiveness are the main barriers to effective training, a new survey of 649 global food and drink manufacturers and processors has revealed.

New studies show need for salt reduction: CASH

05-Apr-2013 - Two studies published in the British Medical Journal today (March 5) reveal the need for government to force the food industry to lower salt targets, claims the pressure group Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH).

Food and drink features in health and safety excuses

03-Apr-2013 - Spurious health and safety rules have been used to refuse to supply a burger cooked rare and to deny drinkers pints in glasses with handles, according to a new Health and Safety Executive (HSE) report.

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