In a time of regional regulatory change affecting more than 100 countries, the International Association of Dietary Supplement Associations (IADSA) has emphasised the importance of global guideline setting organisation, Codex Alimentarius, which turns...
The head of the Tea Board of India has launched a scathing attack on the nation’s growers ahead of the implementation of new regulations that go into force later this month.
Now the ACCC, Australia’s anti-trust commission, has given the green light to ADM’s proposed acquisition of GrainCorp, foreign interests will control all major grain handling facilities and grain ports in Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and...
An Australian consumer rights watchdog has branded liquid breakfasts’ nutritional claims as “dodgy” and “shonky” following an investigation into 23 brands.
While there were celebrations in some quarters following the news last week that Australia would reform its food labelling system, some sections of the food industry have voiced their concern over the new policy.
Researchers in Singapore have identified that eating high quantities of red meat over a period of time can increase the risk of type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
The Australian confectionery industry has broadly welcomed a 'star based' voluntary front-of-pack labeling system but is concerned about time frames to introduce the measures.
India’s National Food Security Bill is part of a conspiracy to impoverish farmers, according to the Samajwadi Party’s secretary general ahead of the government indicating it might convene a special parliamentary session to make the controversial plans...
China's Ministry of Land and Resources has announced plans to conduct a survey across the country to assess pollution levels as a means to ascertain the reasons behind excessive cadmium content in rice detected in some regions early this year.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has begun legal proceedings against supermarket chain Coles for alleged false, misleading and deceptive bakery claims.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says better nutrition targets to battle global hunger that affects 870 million people globally are being met in 38 countries.
Taiwan’s government has claimed it is still trying to obtain details on the tests conducted by Singapore authorities that led to the city state banning several brands of bubble tea.
A study of hospital admissions at one of Australia's favourite holiday destinations has shown no reduction in the already high levels of alcohol-related harm since the government increased tax on alcopops.
When you are catering to 1.8bn Muslim shoppers in a market that, according to The Economist, is likely to grow by 35% by 2030, there is bound to be a degree of fragmentation, but when it comes to halal, it is often more a case of disorganisation.
Heinz’s proposed acquisition of Rafferty’s Garden looks to have been crushed after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission vowed to oppose the move.
The Chinese Nutrition Society its to revise its dietary intake guidelines because of a marked increase in the nation’s intake of DHA and EPA fatty acids.
Thailand’s Public Health Ministry is hoping to boost the average height and life expectancy of its population through a campaign to encourage milk consumption.
Weight gain during infancy is directly linked to increased risks of obesity and other weight related conditions later in life, according to a University of study.
China's cabinet has announced detailed plans to improve the quality of domestic baby milk powder in a bid to stamp out the constant food safety fears that have plagued the country.
Western Australian researchers hoping to demonstrate improved cardiovascular function among coffee lovers have found that drinking too much of the brew may actually be linked to worsening of the metabolic syndrome.
A government panel has called for stringent checks for pesticides in fruit and vegetables brought into Delhi after discovering that most of the produce it tested contained dangerous chemical residues.
This was bound to come sooner than later: a roadmap to save Australia’s food industry, which has been floundering under the combined weight of climatic vagaries, supermarket power and the cheap imports the strong Australian dollar brings.
While it is expected that the Shuanghui takeover of Smithfield Foods will take place once it is rubber-stamped by American authorities, the union will hardly be blessed in the US.
IRRI rice guru Sam Mohanty has shed some light on China’s cryptic rice position while at the same time asking even more questions regarding this potentially troubling situation.
The Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety (CFS) has ordered the recall of an Australian low-fat milk product after routine tests found a bacterial count exceeding the legal limit.
Singapore food inspection authorities have withdrawn 11 starch-based products from Taiwan - mostly tapioca starch balls used in bubble tea - from sale after finding they contained amounts of an unapproved chemical.
Quality control in the food supplements sector is an ongoing mission that remains top of the agenda at the group that most prominently represents both global and national players – IADSA - especially as new regions adopt GMP rules for the first time.
In light of India’s trade deficit with China, which since 2010 has more than doubled to over US$40bn, the country hopes that three food and pharmaceutical agreements signed with China this week will have an impact on the shortfall.
Once again voicing its opposition to the thorny issue of container deposit schemes, the influential and vocal Australian Food and Grocery Council has hit out at an environmental group it claims has “actively misled petitioners” over a proposal to introduce...
The Food Corporation of India could potentially earn over Rs25,000 crore (US$4.5bn) by exporting wheat lying in open warehouses, according to an Assocham study.
China’s authorities need use all their resources to monitor the food market more closely and impose harsher penalties if the country is to bounce back from a spate of food crises, according to its premier, Li Keqiang, earlier this week.
A book released this week by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s forestry department attempts to persuade Westerners that they should see insects as a potential key food source for the future. This will no doubt please Australian “science communicator”...
The food industry claimed little to cheer after this week’s Federal Budget. Despite the government’s statement coinciding with the first time the Aussie dollar has dropped below parity with the Greenback for a month shy of a year, and indications that...
In the wake of the European Commission’s announcement that it will adopt a proposal to restrict the use of three pesticides belonging to the neonicotinoid family, rice research guru Bas Bouman has called for Asia to take different approaches, including...
The southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu has has become the latest to outlaw edible tobacco. The order, revealed by the chief minister in the state assembly, is expected to be passed next week.
Recent shocks in Australian food processing have been reflected in the latest Australian Industry Group report on manufacturing performance, which covers the month of April.
China’s Ministry of Public Security has announced the arrest of 904 suspects during a three-month campaign to prevent meat-related crime, such as the sale of rat and fox under the guise of beef and mutton.
The Australian Food and Grocery Council has welcomed the first round of government-sponsored research programme that sets out to boost innovation and productivity in the food sector.
Troubled Goulburn Valley cannery and Australian household name SPC Ardmona has urged the federal government to impose an emergency tax on imports of cheap tinned fruits and tomatoes.
While European consumers have for generations been used to standards protecting the wines they buy, that has not been the case in India. However, the Ministry of Food Processing Industries has now revealed plans to introduce national wine standards, with...
Until the introduction of synthetic vitamins in the 1960s, cod liver oil had been used in New Zealand since the earliest days of settlement to ward off or cure illnesses.
Australia’s newly appointed representative on the board of the International Rice Research Institute said she would use her role to seek ways to grow rice as a means to combat world food shortages.
By Dr Wendy Morrow, executive director, Complementary Healthcare Council of Australia
Something is not right when regulators increasingly opt to assess complementary medicines against medical criteria—in much the same way as pharmaceutical drugs are assessed.
Watching Asia from a Western prism gives you the advantage of seeing the bigger picture. But on the flip-side, you end up benchmarking what you see against what has happened in the West.
Allergic disease already affects one in five Australians, but experts warn this could rise by 70% to one in four by 2050 unless prevention strategies are developed now.
The initial findings of a research study has shown that pesticides are the number one problem reported by consumers around the world concerning food imported from China.
