A recently-emerged strain of avian influenza virus in poultry in Southeast Asia represents a new threat to animal health and livelihoods and must be closely monitored, the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned.
Although Malaysia’s halal certification is pretty much the only such standard that is accepted across the world, the body behind it continues to refuse to allow the accreditation of medicines to avoid causing life or death cases of panic.
Dispatches from Euro Fed Lipid Congress, Montpellier
Faced with increasing gains across Asia-Pacific, not least in Australia where traditional brewers are fast losing market share, craft beer importers are now eyeing Southeast Asia as a new growth market.
Ten years into the process to harmonise the regulatory framework for nutritional and health supplements among Southeast Asian nations, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
In spite of a recent downturn in prices, there is still cause for optimism for Indonesia’s palm oil producers as a result of growing consumption by China and India.
Nestlé has extended its partnership with expansion services firm DKSH to bring confectionery brands such as Kit Kat, Milo Confectionery and Uncle Toby’s to traditional trade channels in Singapore.
When in June of this year, British newspaper The Guardian published a damning report tracing fishmeal that it claimed had been caught by workers kept in slave-like conditions, a public relations storm seemed to have broken loose.
Back when Europe and North America were there dominant growth markets for the food industry, Asia was considered as little more than an extension of their traditional business and dominated by unorganised local companies.
Recently, it seems that not a week goes by without a lead story in the English-language press raising serious concerns about the adverse impact of some food and beverage companies on their workers, surrounding communities or on the environment.
Nestlé has recalled a batch of NAN brand infant formula in the Philippines after internal tests discovered products did not contain fatty acids specified on the label.
Carlsberg tells BeverageDaily.com it is maintaining heightened security at its Malaysian brewery near Kuala Lumpur, after sympathizers of terrorist organization Islamic State told police they had planned to attack the facility.
Indonesia’s poultry sector is fast transforming from a backyard industry to professionally managed and integrated production, according to figures released by Rabobank.
Sales slipped 6% and net profits 11% in Q2 for DSM’s human and animal nutrition arm as adverse currency movements, a slow US vitamins and omega-3 food supplements market and the Asian botulism infant formula scare affected earnings.
Chobani, America’s top-selling brand of strained yogurt that has been gaining a massive global following through its slick marketing, will soon be available in Malaysia.
A major stake in New Britain Palm Oil, which supplies UK manufacturers, is being targeted by Malaysian conglomerate Sime Darby, part of the consortium that acquired Battersea Power Station.
In what many say is an attempt to silence dissent against an allegedly military-orchestrated land grab, a Burmese court has been prosecuting hundreds of farmers who have been calling for the return of their property.
“The IEA does not accept state money, and all of our research is independent of corporate funding.”
The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has said categorically it does not accept state money, following accusations by a Malaysian media outlet that the UK think tank is in bed with the Malaysian Palm Oil Council and the country’s government.
Probiotics research is now entering the Malaysian mainstream, according to two female Universiti Sains Malaysia students who recently received international recognition for their work.
Early this month, in what looks like a failed attempt to save its reputation, Australia‘s ANZ Bank severed its ties with Phnom Penh Sugar, a company accused of a range of human rights abuses linked to its plantations in Kampong Speu province, Cambodia.
If it wasn’t bribery, then who was it, Thais have been asking after food conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Foods strongly denied the payments it had been making to journalists were anything other than a "special budget to support the media”.
A new sustainable palm oil scheme has met with criticism from environmentalists claiming that it actually allows deforestation, rather than stopping it.
In a rare move, NGOs and rights experts commended Coca-Cola for a report it has submitted with the US State Department regarding its responsible business practices in Myanmar.
A common fish that was said to have fed thousands in biblical times could feed billions of mouths in the future as food stocks struggle to keep pace with population growth.
The expansion of oil palm plantations may also pose a threat to water quality in fresh water streams that millions of people depend on, according to new research.
The Australian Food and Grocery Council has published a series of reports that it hopes will deepen the manufactured food industry’s understanding of the opportunities that exist within Asia.
A new testing kit will go a long way to ease fears among Malaysian Muslims that the food they are eating is halal, especially in light of a recent pork-related controversy involving Cadbury.
If modern-day slavery is ever to be eradicated from Thailand’s food sector, companies and supermarkets must set out to make their supply chains more transparent—a move for which there seems to be little appetite, especially among Thai suppliers.
The Indonesian government is considering new labeling regulations for manufacturers of alcoholic beverages in a bid to lower the number of consumers of alcohol in the country.
Indigenous peoples, local communities and private smallholders should actively form producer organisations, according to two new reports promoted by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation.
In spite of fears that El Niño will deliver a possible monsoon failure in India and Southeast Asia, the fate of existing rice stocks have failed to perturb the market.
This story is part of a new series of investigative reporting commissioned by FoodNavigator-Asia to follow the legalities and loopholes in Asia's produce growing and production network.
Indonesia’s fast-growing importance in flavour production was acknowledged by the opening of a US$27m spray-dry facility by the worldwide flavours and scents market leader, Givaudan.
The Philippines’ special treatment in rice, which allows the country to keep high duties on rice imports, is expected to continue after the World Trade Organisation’s Goods Council approved the country’s waiver request for its extension.
This story is the first in a new series of investigative reporting commissioned by FoodNavigator-Asia to follow the legalities and loopholes of Asia's produce growing and production network. Please feel free to comment in the box below.
The natural sweetness and antioxidant properties of dates could add value to dairy, pastry and meat products, and would reduce waste of a fruit that was not being eaten fresh, Spanish researchers say.
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has been called on to renew its principles on zero deforestation, land development and rights by Cargill Refined Oils Europe.
Mondelēz is challenging palm oil suppliers to step up their game so it can move towards using physical supplies of purely sustainable palm oil for all its products.
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and the Indonesian Vice Minister of Trade have announced that they are open to a collaboration to produce a joint sustainable palm oil standard.
Speciality hydrocolloid manufacturer CP Kelco has opened a hub for South Asia alongside a dairy beverage centre of excellence in Singapore, with hopes to strengthen the company’s global innovation footprint.
Mondelēz International has published a palm oil action plan promising to “prioritize” suppliers that meet its sustainability principles – something Greenpeace says is fundamentally flawed due to its definition of what a forest is.
Food businesses and consumers don’t understand the impact emerging economies could face if pressure to source 100% sustainable palm oil builds too quickly, Marks & Spencer’s (M&S) sustainable development manager Fiona Wheatley claims.
UK-based food coatings specialist Bowman Ingredients has launched a new offshoot in Thailand with a joint-venture with an family-owned food coatings firm based near Bangkok.
Evolva Holding will collaborate with Universiti Malaysia Pahang to establish a scientific centre of excellence for natural products from Malaysia in Pahang state’s Flavour and Fragrance Cluster.
