China’s new administration is continuing to demonstrate its newfound determination to tackle longstanding food-safety problems by issuing a blueprint of measures it plans to take this year.
The charter of fundamental rights guaranteed under the Indian constitution is pretty consistent with the modern idea of liberal democracies. Much like elsewhere, an Indian citizen has the rights to free speech and equality, and the right to be free from...
Bottled water producer Nongfu Spring has launched an attack on the company it claims is behind allegations that its product contains more chemicals than are allowed in China’s tap water.
Health claims in food and beverage products is perhaps the most talked about topic in the entire food production chain outside of GM. In mature markets like the US—and now Australasia—at least there has been frameworks implemented to rationalise the claim-making...
New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries is working with the kiwifruit industry and the supplier of a range of organically-certified citrus-based products following the unexpected discovery of very low residues of a chemical in some organic kiwifruit...
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) lifted a ban imposed after the Fukushima disaster on food imports from seven prefectures in Japan.
The Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao has sparked outrage by saying that a rise in rural incomes has resulted in increasing food inflation in the country.
The Indian government is looking at ways to give the private sector greater involvement as its bureaucracy struggles to manage the country’s sizeable grain stocks, according to KV Thomas, the food minister.
I don’t think that there was any more talked about corporate news in India this week than the Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss Novartis’s appeal for a patent for its Gilvec cancer drug.
Chinese dairy processor, Yashili International, has been given the go-ahead by authorities in New Zealand to build a NZ$100m infant formula manufacturing plant in the country.
With over 30 years in the food industry, with a third of it spent providing and promoting food safety certification with Cert ID Europe, Richard Werran knows a fair bit about genetically modified crops in sustainable agriculture.
The head of India’s biggest dairy co-operative has called on the commerce minister to stand up for the country during ongoing discussions with the European Union over a proposed free-trade agreement.
A new study has found that natural seasonings like cinnamon, pineapple and green tea can significantly reduce the formation of cancer causing substances in well cooked meats.
According to a dispatch to parliament, in just under three years since foreign direct investment (FDI) was opened up for the food processing industry, investors have pumped almost Rs6,200 crore (US$1.15bn) into the segment.
The Philippines’ Department of Agriculture has “clarified” the blue-skies announcement by its secretary, Proceso Alcala, in which when he said the country would be in a position to stop importing rice next year.
India’s government is working hard to reach a consensus among scientists, politicians, farmers and consumers to reach a solution on the vexed issue of genetically modified crops, according to the country’s science and technology minister.
After days of frenzied negotiations and brinksmanship, delays and declarations, the Indian cabinet has finally approved an ambitious plan to subsidise food for two-thirds of its population, according to early BBC reports.
The Philippines’ embattled agriculture secretary is clearly clairvoyant, otherwise he would never have come out with such a grand prediction as he did last week—that his government plans to shelve rice imports in 2014.
High food inflation in India is “credit negative” for the wider economy, hurting government finances and making it difficult for the country’s central bank to deal with monetary policy, according to Moody’s.
Primary and secondary school students are five times more likely to be high consumers of sugar-sweetened drinks, such as soft drinks, if these drinks are available in their homes, according to a University of Sydney study published in the journal Preventative...
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has indicated it will be focusing on the veracity of label and marketing claims after it instituted court proceedings against a duck meat producer.
Last year, FoodNavigator-Asia reported that new Japanese regulations governing “acceptable” levels of the antioxidant ethoxyquin in fishmeal was destined to become a grave issue for shrimp exporters. Exactly six months later, the effects of this policy...
India has hotly debated the use of GM crops both on a societal and political level. The discussion around the issue is at most times primal. Travel tip? You would be well advised not to use this as an ice-breaker in any of the leftist states.
The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) has celebrated last week’s ruling by the Federal Court against the Northern Territory Container Tax—the AFGC’s bête noir—by announcing a A$100m industry-led recycling scheme and releasing data to show that...
Anticipation that China will elevate the status of the existing State Food and Drug Administration to an all-encompassing body (SFDA) is mounting following the submission of a report to the country’s parliament’s annual session.
In what has been dubbed a “hugely important finding”, Australian researchers have found that medical-grade manuka honey can be used as a new weapon in the fight against drug-resistant bacteria, such as the MRSA superbug.
Oxfam has called on the three biggest chocolate manufacturers to conduct independent audits on conditions for women on cocoa farms supplying their factories after finding evidence of unequal pay, discrimination and hunger.
If you are a regular reader of this news service, you would be hard-pressed to find just one month in the last two years when we have NOT reported on a food safety issue in China.
Australia’s trade department has announced that the country will begin to export lamb to India free of quotas, based on Australia’s compliance with India's food safety requirements.
Sick of lurching from one food crisis to the next, it seems the Chinese authorities are planning to form one cohesive food safety unit based on America’s FDA model.
Oxfam will step up its campaign to improve the treatment of people and resources that form part of the supply chain of the world’s biggest food conglomerates, after it cast industry responses to its damning Behind the Brands report as ‘bland’ and ‘complacent’.
Unilever and Nestlé say Oxfam missed an opportunity for a wider and more comprehensive debate about food ethics after the NGO published a damning report on the supply chains of the world’s biggest food firms this week.
Its that time of the year again. Yes, I know that is a cliche home run to begin with, but then one would find it difficult to describe the excitement that builds up every year towards the Indian Union Budget without indulging in one or two cliches.
Accusing Australia’s alcohol industry of being incapable of self-regulation, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) has called on the government to launch an inquiry into alcohol marketing amid what it calls an unprecedented push by the industry to...
Demands by Chinese quarantine authorities for a new layer of verification to make sure that pork imported from the US is free of a feed additive have baffled analysts and officials.
New Zealand’s commercial fruit and vegetable growers’ association has branded as ridiculous the latest claims by the Australian vegetable industry group, Ausveg, that Kiwi food manufacturers are bombarding their country with sub-standard frozen vegetables.
Following an ongoing furious stand-off between drinks manufacturers, environmental groups and the local government, the Northern Territory’s opinion-splitting container deposit scheme has now reached the point of litigation.
The fraught issue of government regulation on the Indian sugar industry might be on its way to a solution if a report in the Wall Street Journal is to be believed.
One of Australia’s leading nutrition bodies has given its resounding approval to the release of the Federal Government’s new Australian Dietary Guidelines, although not all food experts have followed suit with the plaudits.
The story of the death of a New Zealand woman who would drink between six and 10 litres of Coca-Cola a day needs to be treated with caution as it does the rounds of the world’s news media.
I am going to tell you a story–quite a long one, but one that ties in with one of the most serious breaches of trust we face as consumers. Now let me begin.
Resisting the urge to eat for two during pregnancy is vital to limit excess weight gain in both women and their babies, according to recent research in New Zealand.
Over 150 Indian scientists have united to call public attention to the Ministry of Agriculture, which they believe has been making a political case for genetically modified crops to counter concerns of food security.
Western Japan's Kinki University will soon open a restaurant in downtown Osaka specialising in blue-fin tuna and other types of fish that have been artificially raised from eggs at its aquaculture facilities.
