Topic “food safety” — Exporter Magazine

APL, the container shipping arm of Singapore’s shipping and logistics group Neptune Orient Lines, has announced it will scan export containers for nuclear radiation at its terminal at Yokohama, according to the Shipping Gazette. The report, quoting North American Metal Packaging Alliance’s (NAMPA) chairman Dr John Rost, said the only way to ensure public confidence in new materials was through the lengthy route of testing and research followed by regulatory approval. He urged that any legislative deadlines must take this into account. Manufacturers are no longer allowed to produce the two food agents or use them in flour production beginning May 1, 2011. However, flour and related products containing the additives are allowed to be sold until the shelf life of such products expires. According to FoodManufacture.co.uk, the hypothetical ruling from the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP) is significant, given that requests for rulings that yield a positive result usually lead to the licensing of foodstuffs for sale within the UK. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said its board will meet in December to discuss the committee’s conclusions, before advising ministers. Consumers rate food contaminated with bacteria such as Listeria and salmonella as their fifth highest concern. The item was rated as ‘very worrying’ by less than a quarter of the 26,691 respondents that took part in the research carried out by Eurobarometer and published by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The agency has warned four companies that the caffeine added to their malt alcoholic drinks is an “unsafe food additive” and threatened product seizures if appropriate action is not taken. The companies concerned are Charge Beverages Corp, New Century Brewing Co., Phusion Projects and United Brands Company. The Report comes to a number of important conclusions including the fact that hard interventions, such as taxes or subsidies on specific goods and services, would be difficult to justify. The probability of success of a tax on energy-dense nutrient poor foods is rated as ‘low’. The worldwide growth in the food processing sector, fast-expanding emerging markets and increasingly strict regulatory regimes are all set to drive global demand for food safety products to US$13.6 billion (NZD$17.23 billion) by 2014, according FoodProductionDaily.com. Food and beverage companies are increasingly ditching bisphenol A (BPA) from food can linings in response to growing consumer concern over the chemical, according to FoodProductionDaily.com, citing a study on safer packaging. Canada has become the first country in the world to declare bisphenol A (BPA) to be a toxic substance that poses risks to human health and the environment, according to FoodProductionDaily.com.