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FDA Issues Pharmaceutical Industry Guidance on Preventing Melamine Contamination
In a guidance issued today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says that certain pharmaceutical ingredients used in the manufacture or preparation of drug products should be tested for melamine.
Melamine is a synthetic chemical with a variety of industrial uses including the production of resins and foams, cleaning products, fertilizers and pesticides. If ingested in sufficient amounts, melamine can result in kidney failure and death.
Although the FDA has no reason to believe that the U.S. …

IFIC, The International Food Information Council, is a trade group representing the interests of food, beverage, and agricultural industries mostly in the US. Recently IFIC published a report entitled “2009 Food & Health Survey – Consumer Attitudes toward Food, Nutrition & Health”. The consumer survey was conducted earlier this year and a summary presentation may be downloaded here [PDF].
There are many interesting statistics, but we’d like to first discuss the findings regarding the nutrition fact panel:
According to IFIC, these are the top 3 “challenges” consumers face with the nutrition panel:
1. …

Food Ingredients (FI) India 2008, a two day international exhibition and conference on food ingredients, has been shortlisted for the Association of Event Organisers (AEO) Best Trade Show Under 2,000 m2 Award. Being shortlisted among some strong exhibitions is an honour in itself, said UBM India, the organiser of the event.
Held in Mumbai, in October last year, Fi India 2008 grew by 106 per cent over 2007. It brought together 3,625 attendees with over 100 exhibitors. This year also the event is all set to grow at a similar pace. …

– Collaboration focused on enhancers of sucrose (table sugar), fructose, and Rebaudioside (stevia)
– Firmenich granted rights to commercialize novel Sweet Enhancers for use in all food product fields not currently partnered by Senomyx
      SAN DIEGO, CA AND GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, August 3, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Senomyx, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNMX), a leading company focused on using proprietary technologies to discover and develop novel flavor ingredients for the food, beverage, and ingredient supply industries, and Firmenich SA, the world’s largest privately-owned fragrance and flavor company, announced today that they have entered into a …

A food additive commonly used in margarine, mayonnaise, chocolates and baked goods might one day help control diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease risk, say researchers.
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis identified a substance, which is the component of food additive lecithin, in the liver that helps process fat and glucose.
They believe that lecithin may one day be used to control blood lipids and reduce risk for diabetes, hypertension or cardiovascular disease using treatments delivered in food rather than medication.
“Currently, doctors use drugs called fibrates to treat …

Last week England’s Food Standards Agency published findings of a study it had commissioned on the nutritional value of organic produce. Little to no nutritional benefit was found in organic fruit and vegetables compared with “ordinary” equivalents, the FSA reported.
The agency as well as the newspapers that published the report are perfectly respectable bodies. But we can still ask questions. In fact, aficionados of organics and the principles that guide it were astonished by reports braying that organic foods are no healthier (or not more nutritious) than ordinary produce. That’s …

Aspartame, first discovered in 1965 by the pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle, is an artificial sweetener marketed by Ajinomoto Sweeteners under trademark names including Nutrasweet, Equal and Canderel. After saccharin, aspartame is the commonest sweetener, consumed by over 200 million people worldwide, and represents about 60 percent of the artificial sweetener market.
Aspartame provides food, soft drinks, candy and chewing gum manufacturers with substantial cost savings compared to sugar, which is 200 times less sweet. Aspartame is a low calorie, which helps people control their weight. It is also used in vitamins …

If there is one thing that sets the Sam ‘n’ Ella Cafe apart from the competition, it is this: Butter is used in cooking. It is also placed on the tables.
Notice that I did not write “real butter,” as you might have seen on advertisements for that product. The dairy industry has had to counter so many ads that proclaim “buttery flavor” and “like butter” and “you won’t know it’s not butter,” that it has taken to calling its product “real butter.”
Bless them. Butter is either butter, or it’s not.
There …

This week we have explored the numerous and often-misleading food labeling terms shoppers must decipher at the supermarket. One point about these terms is clear: unless the USDA or FDA have made issued firm policies on the legal use of certain terms, their meanings are far from certain.
 
To wrap up this series, a list of the top 5 misleading food label terms is provided below. Savvy shoppers should check the ingredients list and nutrition label on food products sporting these terms on their packaging!
1. Free-Range. The guidelines for using this …

Following the last few years of food-borne illness outbreaks in everything from spinach to processed cookie dough, the House of Representatives completed the first step to revamping nationwide food production regulations Thursday.
A $3.5 billion measure, which the Senate will vote on later this year, would be financed by a $500 annual fee paid by producers, and would require the FDA to write new regulations, require food companies to keep more meticulous records and require more inspections of food production plants.
The bill passed easily in a bipartisan 283 to 142 vote, …