Australia has activated a national disease emergency plan after an outbreak of deadly bird flu was confirmed following the discovery of infected birds at two free-range duck farms near Melbourne in south eastern Australia.
Controversy surrounding New Zealand’s new food safety bill refuses to die down with activists and conservatives leading protests from small producers and farmers against the bill.
A Californian state law that would require euthanising “downer” livestock at federally inspected slaughterhouses has been ‘reversed and remanded’ by the US Supreme Court.
Alarmed at the various adulteration surveys that have revealed potentially dangerous food safety issues, the Indian government has decided to go the whole way in ensuring food safety in the country.
Recent food scandals have influenced China food officials to implement up to 1,000 food regulations by 2015. The aim is to regain consumer confidence in local processed foods.
Almost half a year after China banned the import of edible bird’s nests from Malaysia due to nitrite contamination, Malaysian exporters will finally get back to work under new regulations.
Malaysia has sounded an alarm for orange juice imports into the country in the wake of the discovery of traces of a toxic contaminant in certain brands of juice imported from Brazil into the US.
After the revelation that most of the milk sold in India is adulterated, there is a slight respite with a similar survey on food products, which found that a little more than 10% of such products were contaminated.
In a bid to develop modern dairy farming practices in China, Nestlé China has joined forces with local government, investors and farmers to create a training institute in Shuangcheng, in the Heilongijiang province.
A national survey in India has revealed almost 70% of the milk sold and consumed in India is adulterated by contaminants such as detergent and skim milk powder. But water was the biggest contaminant.
China’s latest milk contamination scandal involving local player Mengniu will cause consumers to switch to other brands in the short-term, but not necessarily to Nestlé or Danone, says an analyst.
Following the aflatoxin M1 milk contamination of China’s largest dairy producer, Mengniu, the toxin has now been found in samples of cooking oils produced by three separate companies operating in China.
The aflatoxin-tainted milk scandal that has gripped Mengniu Dairy since the end of 2011 is damaging short term, but China’s biggest dairy is unlikely to suffer long term damage in its sales and share price, say analysts.
China’s pork industry has taken its first steps towards meeting Western food safety regulations through the installation of a system to track pigs from farm to fork, technology giant IBM has claimed.
Following the discovery of radioactive substances in its baby milk formula, it has now emerged that Meiji Holdings Co. was contacted about possible contamination three weeks before it decided to recall the products.
A leading consumer advocate in Australia says milk product manufacturers in the region are using harmful colouring additives, despite knowing about their effects on children.
Coca Cola China has declared its products safe following one death and three other serious incidences of poisoning connected to the consumption of its strawberry flavoured Minute Maid milk drink.
Meiji Holdings Co. has announced that traces of the radioactive substance Cesium have been found in its baby milk powder amid suspicions that contamination occurred during the drying process.
Inspection and testing service provider SGS aims to strengthen its position in the growing Malaysian food testing market through the acquisition of a leading regional testing business.
India is looking to revise microbiological standards for milk and milk products in an attempt to better ensure food safety across the supply chain in the country’s growing dairy sector.
The vinegar processing industry in Shanxi province has implemented a new training scheme to nurture more qualified vinegar practitioners in a bid to improve the industry.
Dietary exposures to harmful chemicals and contaminants were “well below” the reference health standards for a wide-ranging selection of foods and beverages, as indicated by a major Australia-wide report.
Concerns that an icy children’s treat being sold in Australia and New Zealand contains artificial colourings that are harmful to health have been dismissed by the region’s food safety regulator.
Distribution of rice cultivated in the Fukushima prefecture has been restricted following the detection of unsafe levels of radioactive contamination found in samples harvested this season.
In the wake of several food scandals over the past few years, Chinese authorities are stepping up their efforts to enhance food safety laws and food inspection regulations.
India’s food processing market has the potential to mirror Chinese growth over the next few years, said Dutch firm GMV after it agreed a move into the Indian market.
China’s baby food market is a growing and strengthening market favouring internationals and premium brands, as a consumers focus on safety post melamine scandal, according to Euromonitor.
Walmart China’s doors will reopen to the public today, following the two week closures of its stores during an investigation into allegedly mislabelling regular pork as organic.
Walmart China’s CEO and the VP of human resources have resigned amid the investigations into the ten of its stores that allegedly mislabelled regular pork as organic.
The primary Indian food safety watchdog has said that it would soon introduce an online licensing system for food businesses in the country in order to streamline food safety issues.
Food sorting machinery specialist Belgian Electronic Sorting Company (Best) says it plans to target the Asian market following the opening of its fourth ‘sorting solution centre’.
Sales of energy drinks are booming, but a new report from Rexam also highlights growing concerns about high caffeine soft drink use amongst young people, especially in the developing world.
Dutch food safety company Micreos looks poised to gain approval for its Listeria-fighting bacteriophage processing aid in Australasia after safety authorities there said they had no concerns about the product.
Malaysia has introduced new regulation to govern the export of edible bird's nests from the country to China, where incidents of contamination were reported last month by quality regulators.
China’s latest food safety clampdown has seen the arrest of 32 people involved in an illegal ring that made and sold tonnes of discarded cooking oil recovered from drains and gutters.
Food safety in China saw another big push with food inspectors combing down food units that are selling moon cakes, a food product that is in great demand during the mid-autumn festival.
In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japanese scientists from the Fukushima Agricultural Technology Centre are working towards a potential solution for the future of Japanese rice farmers – a strain of rice resilient to cesium absorption.
Like China, other Asian countries need a long-term regulatory mechanism to form a coordinated supervisory system if they are to enforce higher food safety levels, according to a white paper released last week.
Independent Japanese inspectors have found the first case of radioactive contamination in a sample of rice since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident five months ago, on March 11.
The passing of the new food safety act in India earlier this month has knelled a death bell for gutkha and tobacco-chewing products like pan masala and supari in the country after a long drawn out battle in courts.
The recall process in Australia has received an overhaul after the introduction of a new service that is aimed at making the process more efficient and transparent.
