The legislative office of China's State Council has been urged that its term “health-food product”, which refers to all dietary supplements, is too broad a concept and by definition can include “anything that is healthy for humans to consume”.
Scientists in the Far East have discovered a rice gene that in preliminary testing increased production by 13-36% in modern long-grain indica rice varieties—the world’s most widely grown types of rice.
Greater investment in research to delay aging may be a 'highly efficient' way to prevent disease, extend healthy life, and improve public health, according to new research.
A University of Adelaide researcher is seeking so-called “superfoodies” to participate in a study about the changing cultural perceptions of diet and health on Australian food production and consumption.
By Katherine Rich, chief executive of the New Zealand Food and Grocery Council
The retraction last week by the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology of the widely criticised anti-GM research paper commonly referred to as “the Séralini paper” no doubt left many in the science community and food industry around the world rightly asking...
Australia’s food chain faces a risk in the shape of the plastics that are contaminating its waters that could threaten human health, a new study has suggested.
What began as outrage over phone bugging accusations has now escalated to the point that Indonesia revealed it was turning away from Australian food imports.
A health programme based on community intervention has been shown to achieve a significant reduction in sodium intake among rural residents in northern China.
Obesity may drive fundamental changes in our perception of sweet tastes by modifying the number of cells that respond to sweet stimuli, according to new research in mice.
Having launched an inspection of a number of the instant noodle products for sale on the Chinese market, the country’s food safety watchdog has indicated that none contained heavy metals beyond allowed levels.
A press release arrived last week from India with the headline “Chicken becomes cheaper than onions”. Needless to say, it raised a few eyebrows at the FoodNavigator head office in Montpellier, France.
Australia’s über-powerful supermarket chains have agreed to a voluntary code of conduct with a peak food industry body, in a move that is expected to prevent the retailers from abusing market power against suppliers.
Taiwan will introduce tighter checks for makers of olive and grape seed oils after some batches were found to be contaminated by the country’s top food safety watchdog.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture organisation has been mobilising support to the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, which tore through the country causing severe damage to the fisheries and agriculture sectors, as well as massive loss of life.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has joined the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) in warning consumers off pre-workout sports supplement, OxyElite Pro.
China and New Zealand have agreed to strengthen cooperation in food safety and quality, three months after the Fonterra botulism scare negatively disrupted booming food links between the two countries.
By By Marieke Leegwater, palm oil programme manager at Solidaridad
Even though often invisible, palm oil is present in many product formulations. Currently, it is the worlds most used vegetable oil and its production and demand are forecast to grow.
By Katherine Rich, CEO of the New Zealand Food & Grocery Council
A new theory that seems to be gaining momentum on the obesity front is food addiction. Apparently the world’s expanding waistline is as result of so many of us being addicted to food.
Mead Johnson Nutrition has revealed that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is probing “certain expenditures” relating to the promotion of infant formula products by its business in China.
China’s food safety authorities have really been ramping up their charm offensive in the last month. Not only have bodies like the China Food and Drug Administration been seen a flurry of activity in introducing new regulations and policing their patch,...
India’s food minister has acknowledge something that everyone with a passing knowledge of the country’s food network has been aware of for years: that India simply doesn’t have adequate storage to meet demand.
A New Zealand researcher has further dispelled the notion that gout is a Western lifestyle disease brought about by diet and affluence by discovering that early Maori settlers also suffered from the condition.
Philosopher Julian Baggini has been commissioned by the New Zealand Food and Grocery Council to give his take on the serious issues affecting the industry. Here, he looks at how alcohol abuse can be tackled by using the brain more than legislative brawn.
A meta-analysis that found that vitamin D supplements have no beneficial effect on bone density has drawn intense criticism from Australian experts, who say the study’s conclusions could have “dire consequences” for public health.
An innovative new approach to sugarcane plantation weed management trialled in select Great Barrier Reef catchments have shown a dramatic 90% reduction in runoff of highly soluble herbicides into waterways.
People in at least one Australian state would welcome more government regulation on food matters for a better public health environment, a new survey has revealed.
New Zealand’s prime minister, John Key, must be laughing on the inside following the friendly advice given to him earlier this week by the Chinese premier and broadcast by state media.
Australia and New Zealand’s red meat sector has joined a long list of food processing sectors that the region’s top food safety watchdog looking to standardise food safety requirements.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand has called for submissions from industry and the public an application to change the Food Standards Code for the countries to allow food derived from genetically modified lucerne.
Kellogg cannot shirk its palm oil responsibility by deflecting attention to its supplier, says RAN following a statement from Kellogg calling for productive talks between its supplier Wilmar and the environmental group.
Despite two decades of increased agricultural productivity across the world, there has not been a corresponding drop in malnutrition rates. And now, two new multidisciplinary projects at the University of Sydney hope to address this challenge.
New South Wales’ fair trading department has been asked to investigate potentially misleading free-range egg claims after consumer watchdog Choice found that consumers are paying double the price of cage eggs for what is says products that are unlikely...
Australia's Productivity Commission has ruled against putting in place emergency safeguard measures against the import of cheap processed fruits and vegetables as demanded by the local food processing industry.
By Rick Beckmann, senior foreign legal counsel, and Aldi Rakhmatillah, associate, of Susandarini & Partners, in association with Norton Rose Fulbright Australia
How should Indonesia and, more to the point, the local community, benefit from foreign investment in plantations?
An organic equivalence agreement signed yesterday between the US and Japan will reopen the Japanese market to US organic producers and could provide more—and possibly cheaper—food for US consumers.
The food industry came under attack last week at the International Congress of Nutrition (#ICN20) for not doing enough to improve the healthiness of its portfolios…unfairly, says Unilever.
By Rick Beckmann, senior foreign legal counsel and Aldi Rakhmatillah, associate, of Susandarini & Partners in association with Norton Rose Fulbright Australia
The Indonesian Government is planning to crack down on further expansion of groups in the powerful palm oil plantation industry and, indirectly, foreign conglomerates.
Scientists in New Zealand have for the first time discovered a genetic link between sugary drinks and the occurrence of the debilitating arthritic disease, gout, in men.
GreenPalm has announced the first certified trade of palm oil by-product for feed use, hailing the development a triumph in supply chain sustainability for food manufacturers.
The Indonesian deputy trade minister has said that after successfully increasing domestic cocoa grinding capacity the country should lower cocoa bean import duties to prevent shortages in the future.
By Katherine Rich, CEO of NZ Food & Grocery Council
“Thought leadership” is the new fashion for some corporates. It has been described by some as providing ideas that intrigue, challenge and inspire, but for others the phrase can sound more than a little bit Orwellian.
Powerful and influential food industry lobbies in Australia and New Zealand have set the two countries to fail in stemming their obesity epidemics, a new study has suggested.
The new chief executive of the Complementary Healthcare Council of Australia has used his maiden speech to call on the incoming government to invest making the country healthier.
