Just commissioned research aims to to help resolve the stalemate that exists in the EU over maximum permitted levels (MPLs) for vitamins and minerals with a novel approach.
The European Union has set new levels for acrylamide in foods, above which companies and governments should investigate ways to cut the potential carcinogen.
Food manufacturers are likely to ask for an extension to the 60-day comment period set by the FDA to consider its proposal to revoke the GRAS status of partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), a food law attorney has predicted.
News that the FDA is considering revoking the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status of partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) in a bid to eradicate artificial trans fats from the US food supply has been broadly welcomed. But how long should the agency...
Scientists have optmized a method to detect inorganic arsenic (iAs) at low levels in cereal-based food like bread, breakfast cereals and corn snacks, an issue which is not currently regulated by any fixed quantities in Europe, they say.
The proponents of Washington State’s I-522 initiative mandating the labeling of foods containing GMO ingredients claim they have a slight lead hours before tomorrow's election deadline.
Industry has faced legislative change and will continue to do so and this puts a lot of pressure on bakers and their bottom line, the American Bakers Association says.
In new developments in the highly charged debate over GMOs, General Mills has been targeted in a report blasted by a plant geneticist as “a collection of discredited studies and half-truths”, while the GMA has been slapped with a lawsuit alleging it concealed...
A federal judge handling three lawsuits vs General Mills over ‘100% natural’ claims on Nature Valley products claimed to contain GMOs and other allegedly ‘un-natural’ ingredients says the courts are perfectly capable of deciding if consumers have been...
Dietary exposure to cancer-causing compounds polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in bread and cereal products are of little concern to consumer health, according to researchers.
As the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) welcomed a broad range of stakeholders to its Italian HQ today to debate data and process transparency, the food industry asked at what point openness brakes innovation and competitive advantage?
A federal judge has dismissed as “ridiculous” allegations in a lawsuit alleging Nabisco misled shoppers by describing its cookies as containing ‘real fruit’ when they in fact contained fruit purée.
A federal judge in California has given the green light to a proposal from Diamond Foods - potentially worth $120m - to settle a class action lawsuit from investors who bought stock in the firm just before its $2.3bn mega-deal to buy Pringles went south...
The FDA says it will permit qualified health claims on the relationship between eating whole grains and a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, but is the wording it has proposed so qualified that no food manufacturer will want to use it?
Cargill has agreed to settle a proposed class action lawsuit alleging it is misleading shoppers by marketing its Truvia consumer products (which contain stevia extract Reb-A and erythritol) as ‘natural’.
A bill proposing sweeping changes to food labeling laws covering everything from ‘natural’ claims to whole grain statements has been welcomed by consumer groups, but stands little chance of success, legal experts have told FoodNavigator-USA.
Is it too risky to label products that may contain ingredients from genetically engineered crops as ‘all-natural’? And will the FDA step in and decide this issue so consumer class action lawsuits over this issue stop clogging up the court system?
Voluntary folic acid fortification of bread is sufficient but maximum limits should be set and the market carefully monitored, a public health expert says.
A donut factory has come under fire for dozens of health food violations, including bakery scrapers and spatulas stored in soiled and moldy water, flies on food and dirty hands.
In the 2nd major development this week in the debate over whether foods made with GMOs can be labeled ‘natural’, a NY judge handling a multi-district lawsuit vs Frito-Lay says she will not refer the matter to the FDA, as her counterparts have done in...
Alum-based baking ingredients are to blame for almost one-third of Chinese people consuming quantities of aluminium above the recommended maximum safe level in their diets, according to new research.
Premium nuts and snacks maker Diamond Foods has agreed to settle a private securities class action against the firm and two of its former executives over accounting errors that forced it to restate its 2010 and 2011 earnings and scuppered its plan to...
A broad new study has found that that mums with unhealthy diets of cereals and sweet drinks during pregnancy are more likely to have children with behavioural problems.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been refused more time to enact the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), signed into law by President Obama in January 2011.
In 2006, the FDA issued draft guidance designed to ensure food manufacturers were all singing from the same hymn sheet when making whole grain labeling statements. Seven years later, we are still waiting for the finalized guidance, and comments to the...
Menasha Packaging’s Food Packaging facility has been recognized by the American Institute of Baking (AIB) International for the sixth consecutive year.
The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) recent backing of folate’s (vitamin B9) ability to reduce the risk of spinal birth defects is a good thing for infant health and the vitamin industry – but is it actually a prohibited disease claim in disguise?...
Borregaard's vanillin and ethyl vanillin plant in Norway has acquired the food safety certification FSSC22000 to distinguish it from a rise in competitors.
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is not in a position to monitor over 1,100 members from more than 60 countries, but it does take violations extremely seriously, its secretary general says.
After years in the draft stage, the US Food and Drug Administration has finalized its rule defining the term “gluten free” for voluntary food labeling. The final version contains no surprises, but will bring certainty to a market in which many firms have...
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that Cereal Partners UK must remove two adverts that compared the nutritional value of Cheerios to croissants and Nesquik to jam on toast.
Non-fermented carbohydrates can deliver tooth health benefits but there is not enough data to show cranberry can benefit urinary tract infections, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has found in a new series of health claim opinions.
EFSA: "Increasing maternal folate status contributes to the reduction of the risk of NTD.”
Europe’s head science agency has joined other international authorities in backing B vitamin folate’s ability to reduce neural tube defects (NTDs) like spina bifida and hydrocephalus in early-stage foetuses.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is looking for a new chief after executive director Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle resigned to work in the French public service.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has released a consultation paper about the qualifying criteria for dietary fibre nutrition content claims.
A week after California judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers put a class action lawsuit (Cox vs Gruma Corp) on ice for six months to let the FDA determine whether GMOs belong in foods marketed as ‘natural’, a judge in Colorado has followed her lead in a similar...
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the adoption of plain and highly graphic packaging last year by the Australian tobacco industry has led to a marked reduction in smoking, albeit in a very short time. And when you see some of the frightening images on...
Asian agri giant and Kellogg’s joint venture partner Wilmar International has defended its palm oil operations and insisted it remains undaunted by the challenge of ensuring a sustainable supply chain.
Kellogg says it takes palm oil sourcing extremely seriously and is defending its joint venture with Wilmar International after accusations that the Asian agri giant is involved in illegal palm oil activities.
Lawyers defending food industry clients in consumer class actions over whether GMOs belong in 'natural' products say courts should follow a California judge's lead and let the FDA determine this matter once and for all, so such cases stop...
Kellogg has pulled LCMs and Coco Pops television adverts in Australia after the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) upheld a complaint from the Obesity Policy Coalition (OPC) that the marketing irresponsibly promoted high sugar products to children.
By Katherine Rich, chief executive of the NZ Food & Grocery Council
Recently Choice, the consumer activist group from Australia, accused a number of Australian and New Zealand food manufacturers of making allegedly "shonky" health claims (see details and reaction here) and telling "furphies" about...
Manufacturers and industry groups have slammed an Australian consumer watchdog’s assertion that nutritional claims on the packs of some liquid breakfasts are “shonky”.
