GAO, group urge stricter source labeling; association says current labeling lawful WASHINGTON — The Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, recommended in reports released Wednesday that bottled water be labeled with the same level of information municipal water providers must disclose, reported the Associated Press.
Bottled water—an industry worth about $16 billion in sales last year—has been suffering lately as colleges, communities and some governments take measures to limit or ban its consumption. As employers, they are motivated by cost savings and …

Ongoing concerns about salmonella contamination of dry milk and other products produced by Plainview Milk Cooperative have forced officials to recall more foods which were made using the Plainview ingredients.
Plainview recently recalled its instant non-fat dry milk and other ingredients which were sold to food producers, but not available directly to consumers, due to the potential that the milk powder was contaminated with salmonella bacteria, a leading cause of food poisoning.
This week, the C. F. Sauer Company, of Richmond, VA announced the voluntary recall of its brown gravy, brown gravy …

If a blouse is made with cotton imported from China but sewn together in Canada, should it be allowed to carry a “Made in Canada” label?
If the blouse were a juicy burger made with U.S. beef, the answer would be yes under the labelling rules that govern Canada’s meat supply.
Meat that is imported from countries such as Brazil or Australia does not have to be labelled as foreign if it is processed at a Canadian plant before reaching stores. The country of origin of beef caught national attention last week …

Antwerp, Belgium, 7th July 2009 – Univar, a leading European company specialising in the sales, marketing, application and safe handling of a wide range of chemicals and ingredients, announced that it is expanding its filling capabilities for food and pharmaceutical products by replacing dedicated tank trucks with Univar-branded swap bodies (31,000 litre ISO tanks).
This development, combined with Univar’s existing state-of-the-art white room, allows the company to support its customers in food and pharma with a one-stop-shop for sourcing, transport, filling and any other handling requirements.
A state-of-the-art white room facility
The white …

Food has become an important category for retailers trying to cope with a tight-fisted consumer in a prolonged recession, but it can be a risky business, particularly as stores take on more direct responsibility for delivering to the public products that can cause serious illness.
Over the past week or two, Kroger particularly has gotten pounded and has had to run a series of recalls that raised consumer concerns. Kroger got burned on beef contamination almost exactly a year ago, so this particular run of luck has to be particularly disheartening.
Perishable …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration needs to improve its oversight of vitamins and other dietary supplements as reports of consumers experiencing side effects continue to rise, a government report concluded.
The FDA must be given additional power to require more information from supplement manufacturers each year, including an updated list of all products sold, the Government Accountability Office said in its findings released on Monday.
Agency officials also should better educate consumers as well as offer the industry advice about using new ingredients and marketing their products, the …

The growing share of imported foods in U.S. supermarkets and restaurants presents new challenges for food safety regulators and private decision makers (Becker, 2008b). While the U.S. food supply is still overwhelmingly from domestic sources, the share of imported foods has grown steadily (Jerardo). The growing presence of imported foods reflects various trends: seasonal demands for produce from warm-weather regions; rising consumer demand for ethnic food, beverages, and spices; integration of nontraditional regions into global supply chains; and falling agricultural trade barriers. China is one of the most prominent examples …

Today’s life good health is a major topic. Everyone wants to live happy with good health. Take healthy food is the best way for it. But some people think that healthy foods are so boring and tasteless. While healthy food means your daily food which you take regularly, but prepare it a little different way.
Healthy food is pleasant for the taste. The natural food with taste is the healthier for you. Packaged food is not good for your good health so avoid it. This kind of food is convenient but …

Public health would not be harmed if the maximum level of aflatoxins permitted in all tree nuts was increased by 150 per cent, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has said.
The European food safety watchdog’s Scientific Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) made the announcement as it recommended raising maximum levels of the toxic mould from 4µ/kg to 10µg/kg for all tree nuts.Aflatoxins can occur in food and feed as a result of fungal contamination by moulds, primarily by Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus under warm and humid …

Yesterday, Kunming’s Food Safety Commission made its mid-year report on food safety and inspection. According to the briefing, 62,192 establishments were inspected under special regulations regarding misuse of food additives and non-food additives.
Recent food safety scares, most notably the melamine cases of 2008, have raised the profile of food safety issues.
According to the report, this year the Kunming Agriculture Bureau carried out special monitoring of veterinary drugs and illegal animal feed additives. Samples from Kunming’s 14 counties and city districts all gave negative results for Clenbuterol, a pig feed additive …