Last week’s free-trade agreement between China and Australia will potentially complement existing agreements between the two countries by boosting access for Australia organic wines, dairy products and possibly meats to Chinese consumers.
New Zealand has signed an arrangement with Indonesia around food safety while the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have stressed the benefits of partnerships.
Soaring demand from China and an extremely steep rise in prices has distorted the market for the Peruvian botanical maca to the point where non Chinese buyers have been all but priced out of the trade. The influx of cash has brought violence, too, with...
China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) will establish a meat import inspection checkpoint in Luohe city, Henan province, the central China base of meat processor Shuanghui Group.
US agricultural processor Archer Daniels Midland has opened the first phase of its integrated food manufacturing complex in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin.
Chinese authorities are investigating reports that a business unit of China Modern Dairy sold milk cows that tested positive for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) and brucellosis.
China’s food and drug regulators have embarked on modernising the country’s health food industry by releasing two draft documents covering nutritional supplements to form a new category within the country’s fast-evolving regulatory framework.
Functional ingredient major FutureCeuticals has been issued a Japanese patent for whole coffee fruit production, including coffee fruit powders, extracts and concentrates.
A project conceived over 60 years by Mao Zedong is coming to life as China embarks on a water diversion project to help ease the drought that has been plaguing its northern regions and increase grain input.
The Irish Dairy Board (IDB) has expanded its presence in China with the launch of a long-life, whole milk product under its Chinese Kerrygold brand, Jin Kai Li.
Liqui-Box has closed down its factory in Shenzhen, north of Hong Kong (under its former DuPont ownership) and relocated to a plant in Taizhou, on the eastern coast of China's Zhejiang province, facing the East China Sea.
Environment secretary Liz Truss will be travelling to China in December with the aim of reducing barriers to UK pig exports to the world’s most populace nation as its demand for protein rises.
South African pharmaceutical giant Aspen has set its sights on China after agreeing to acquire a 50% stake in infant formula manufacturer, New Zealand New Milk (NZNM).
China has lifted its ban on the import of Fonterra two infant formula ingredients, more than a year after it was implemented in the midst of the 2013 botulism scare.
Tate & Lyle used the recent Food Ingredients-Asia trade event in Jakarta as a springboard for its mounting ambitions in the country of 250 million people as well as other parts of Asia. Fibre and low-calorie sweeteners for weight control were a big...
Extracts from green tea may boost a range of cognitive functions, with particular benefits observed for short term memory, report researchers from Japan.
Nestlé Japan will soon begin using a humanoid robot to sell Nescafé machines as the company devises new ways to appeal to customers in the brand’s biggest market.
Once upon a time there was China tea. If you were Chinese and liked hot drinks, the local tradition in tea led the way. If you preferred coffee, especially the brewed kind, you were plain out of luck, as until recently, Nescafé was one of the very few...
With more than a quarter of Japan’s population over the age of 60, it is said that country suffers more from the issues of an ageing population than any other country. That’s no doubt why the anti-ageing industry is doing so well.
After making one of the biggest dairy investments in its history, Nestlé has opened the doors a dairy farming institute in northeast China, which it hopes will help modernise the country’s farming practices while encouraging farmers to sustainably meet...
The world’s biggest salt market will gain a new player after North America’s Morton Salt signed a joint-venture with local player China National Salt of Shanghai.
By Shane Starling at FI-Asia in Jakarta, Indonesia
From tea yoghurt to coffee fruit energy, portable water enhancement to Milo’s brand expansions, Mintel shared category-busting innovation at Food Ingredients-Asia in Jakarta, Indonesia, this week.
China has announced a US$50m donation to the Food and Agriculture Organisation to support the UN body’s programme of "South-South cooperation" to improve food security and promote sustainable agricultural development over the next five years.
Glucosamine has become a commodity market, but concerns about quality and sourcing makes increasing room for a top-shelf niche product like Cargill’s Regenasure vegetarian glucosamine, the company said at the recent SupplySide West trade show in Las Vegas,...
The pace of innovation refuses to slow down in Japan, a nation known for its wild tastes, flavours and aromas, from garlic ice cream to bread that smells like Guinness.
"We aren’t going to wake up one day and everything will be crystal clear; there’s going to be some trial and error going through it.”
By RJ Whitehead & Shane Starling at Health Ingredients-Japan in Tokyo
Japan will implement a new health claims system that is set to supersede its strict FOSHU regime in April 2015 – just six months away – but what form will it take and will it meet its deadline?
FrieslandCampina and China Huishan Dairy have entered into a joint venture to produce and sell infant formula in China under one of the Dutch dairy's existing brands.
By Shane Starling at Health Ingredients-Japan in Tokyo
Japan’s innovative but restricted €25bn functional foods and food supplements sector is about to be handed a set of game-changing marketing keys by the government, industry players told us at Health Ingredients-Japan in Tokyo today.
Japan’s second biggest island, Hokkaido in the north of the country, is known across Asia as being one of the continent's premier locations for seafood. And now a local nutraceutical company has been using its reputation to supply Muslims with a...
In the harsh landscape of China’s northwest in the Gobi, where temperatures can fluctuate by 90 degrees over the course of a year, a bush with striking beneficial properties has been left to grow unnoticed for more than a thousand years.
McDonald’s Holdings Japan has revised its financial forecasts to take into account a damaging incident earlier this year, in which workers from supplier Shanghai Husi were filmed picking meat off the floor and using out-of-date beef and chicken.
American Medical Holdings and Bio Actives Japan K.K. have collaborated to launch a new ingredient complex, FB3, a blend of three botanical actives that inhibits the absorption of dietary fats.
Meiji’s fragranced milk range - developed for those that dislike the regular smell - has been heralded by market intelligence firm Datamonitor as a “new type of milk.”
More than one in 10 traditional Chinese medicine materials and tablets have been found to be substandard, prompting the country’s drug watchdog to declare the situation as “not optimistic”.
Young Chinese consumers have adopted global ideals around health and sustainability, driving a cosmopolitan edge to the country’s traditional Mooncake Festival, Euromonitor says.
Chinese food authorities are stopping many of their citizens from gaining access to the best quality health supplements as a result of their onerous approvals process, according to one British company.
Agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce has assured Chinese farmers that Australia is “not a threat” to their livelihoods on a day when two Far East investment groups established a A$3bn (US$2.7bn) fund to invest in Australian agriculture.
The potential bone health benefits of vitamin K2 menaquinone-4 may be achievable at a daily dose of 600 micrograms, according to a new study from Kyowa Hakko with implications for formulations and health.
