طراحی وب سایت

chinese plant extraction specialist chengdu wagott pharmaceutical has joined the international stevia council. the company, based in the chengdu hi-tech zone in china, was voted in as a member as of 1 may 2011. it has planting n sichuan shehong county, has european organic certification through ecocert, and markets its product as viasweet in the us. “all of the members share a common vision to promote naturally-sourced stevia extracts as a way to improve the diets and health of people globally by addressing sugars and calories in food and wagott is extremely pleased to have agreed on the vision,” it said.

efsa plans to issue a public call for new data on aspartame in the coming weeks; meanwhile, producer ajinomoto has welcomed the commission’s request for fast-tracked reevaluation of the sweetener, saying it will give efsa the opportunity to restate its position. efsa last night confirmed that it has accepted the mandate to bring forward the re-evaluation of aspartame from 2020 to 2012, “stipulating the need for a public call for new data as well as a thorough literature review”.

reducing the proportion of fat in the diet could significantly reduce the risk of developing type-2 diabetes, even without weight loss, according to a new study. the research, published in the american journal of clinical nutrition, challenges the idea that weight loss is necessarily a crucial factor for reducing risk of type-2 diabetes. the researchers, from the university of alabama at birmingham (uab) provided 69 healthy overweight individuals with one of two calorically identical diets for eight weeks – either a reduced carbohydrate, higher fat diet (43 percent carbohydrate, 39 percent fat), or a standard diet of 55 percent carbohydrate and 27 percent fat.

tate & lyle is planning to re-start production at its mothballed sucralose plant in the us, as hot demand for the sweetener means it needs more capacity from two global sites. the sweetener giant put a pause on production at its site in mcintosh, alabama, in may 2009, to concentrate production at its new, state-of-the-art facility in singapore. the reason was given as a “breakthrough in sucralose manufacturing yields”.

new milk supply guidelines have been launched by the international dairy federation (idf) in response to the chinese melamine crisis in 2008. the newly published guidance document contains information on tools, procedures and methods that can be used to combat contamination of suppliers’ milk. idf began work on the guidance following the melamine crisis in 2008 which killed six children and sickened 300,000 people.

spanish cucumbers are now suspected to be the source of the deadly e.coli outbreak in germany that has been linked to between two and four deaths and sickened hundreds more. the health ministry in spain confirmed yesterday that cucumbers from two producers in the southern region of andalusia had been identified by the european commission as the possible origin of the outbreak of the virulent enterohaemorrhagic e.

the australian food and grocery council, together with not-for-profit barcode standards body gs1 australia, have called for industry support for their new smartphone app, gs1 goscan, which will allow extended labelling of products via barcode scanning by consumers. initially available for iphone, goscan has the capacity to list accurately a large amount of “real time” product data to consumers, including ingredients, nutritional content, rdi information, dietary statuses such as kosher/halal/organic etc, country of origin information, the presence of allergens and other health-related issues, and product descriptions and images.

fonterra, the world’s largest dairy exporter, has forecast that its payout for farmers could slide in 2011/12 after a “record” 12 months in the current financial year.the new zealand dairy giant yesterday (24 may) predicted that its payout for the year starting on 1 june would be lower than the current year, when it expects to pay nz$8.00-8.10 before retentions. the forecast for the current year - when fonterra expects to see record production - comprises a milk price of nz$7.

in a shakeup of its australian operations, heinz has announced it will move its beetroot, sauces and some of its meals from factories at girgarre, brisbane and wagga wagga, to its facility in hastings, new zealand, while investing $25 million in its echuca baby food plant and beverage production in brisbane. “heinz operates a number of factories across australia and new zealand. our decision to consolidate manufacturing is a critical step in our plan to become more competitive in a challenging environment, and to accelerate future growth in both markets,” said heinz australia ceo nigel comer.

there’s lots of good bank holiday reading in this month’s fsa e-news, which is now available online. our front page story highlights the excellent contribution being made to food safety week by ‘kids with cameras’. their ‘kitchen confidential’ dvd, which will be used during food safety week events, dishes the dirt on how food is bought, stored, prepared and cooked.