The number of imported chocolate products into Switzerland has
increased for the fourth year running - but will the EU's looming
CAP reforms soon bring this burgeoning trend to an end, asks Tom
Armitage.
Companies seeking to do business across the Atlantic face
significant hurdles if the United States and European Union do not
work to remove non-tariff trade barriers, claimed Coca-Cola chief
executive Neville Isdell.
Seizures of conterfeit food products and medicines entering the EU
increased by 77 per cent from 2002 to 2003, according to the
European Commission. Foodstuffs seized included sweets, waffles,
chewing gum and even apples.
Recently devolved Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have already
established a strong bargaining position in the development of EU
policy, particularly in agriculture, likely to affect how the UK
handles CAP reform in the future,...
The Competition Commission (CC) today announced it has
provisionally cleared the completed acquisition by Napier Brown
Foods (NBF) of James Budgett Sugars (JBS), but voiced concerns
about the lack of competition in the UK sugar...
The European food industry could see a unified version of labels on
foodstuffs, and accompanying cost-savings, as Europe's executive
arm calls for standardised labels across the EU, writes Lindsey
Partos.
As Europe's food agency finally makes the permanent move to Italy,
a framework plan for 2005 consolidates the key objectives for the
EU's major risk assessor.
Markos Kyprianou, the new Commissioner for Health and Consumer
Protection in Brussels, will continue in his predecessor David
Byrne's foodsteps, pushing to maintain high levels of food safety
in the EU.
The controversial issue of nutritional profiles will remain one of
the biggest hurdles for EU legislation on health claims but recent
reports suggest that Germany may be ready to concede some elements
of profiling, reports Dominique...
Food and ingredients producer Greencore has warned early that its
Irish sugar business could be seriously damaged when the EU finally
implements its sugar reform, expected next December, writes
Chris Mercer.
An illegal red colour identified in a popular food oil prompts a
recall in the UK, the latest in a series of similar moves by the
country's food watchdog.
Driving research in the area of chemical contaminants, nutrition
and microbiology the UK's food agency is calling for scientists to
fulfill a batch of new research requirements.
Plans for EU sugar reform are unfair and would only benefit the
biggest producers, according to 10 member states including
Slovenia, Hungary and Latvia, as new discussions split opinions in
eastern Europe, reports Chris Mercer.
Europe comes closer to rubber stamping harmonised controls for
controlling mycotoxins in the food chain and the Scottish food
agency offers stakeholders a snapshot of recent talks.
The rise of snacks as grazing food has seen the Czech Republic,
recently identified by the European Commission as having the
longest working hours in Europe, emerge as one of the region's most
dynamic savoury snacks markets,...
Coca-Cola Services S.A. has applied to the UK's novel foods
committee seeking approval to market fruit juices, fruit nectars
and tomato juice with added plant sterols.
United International Enterprises Limited (UIE), the majority
stakeholder in vegetable oil firm Aarhus United, confirms it will
sell its considerable stake in the Danish firm, due to be divested
by January 2005.
The EU Commission's announcement this week that Germany will be
referred to the European Court of Justice unless it establishes an
effective, simple and non-discriminatory deposit system for
beverage packaging is music to the...
A popular food oil used extensively in food formulations is the
latest product-type to be pulled from the UK supermarket shelves as
the country's food watchdog identifies the illegal carcinogen Sudan
IV in a batch of palm oil...
Brussels will fight to appeal against a new decision by the World
Trade Organisation that rules the EU illegally subsidises exports
of sugar, ruling in favour of a legal challenge by Australia,
Thailand and Brazil, the world's...
Slovenia's wine makers, buoyed by the news of EU funding for their
vineyards, face a long struggle if they are to conquer foreign
markets and compete effectively against the titans of the world
wine business - but one man is...
Gel-forming additives used widely in jelly mini-cups have been
permanently banned within the European Union following a ruling in
the summer by the European Food Safety Agency that they constituted
a choking hazard.
In her introductory speech before the European Parliament last
week, farm chief designate Mariann Fischer Boel signalled that
sugar reform and defending EU products at WTO talks were among the
key challenges for EU agriculture over...
This year's Czech harvest has been hailed as the best since 1993,
producing almost nine million tonnes of crops, showing that the
farming industry has recovered well from a poor 2003 and the
disastrous floods of 2002 - just in...
Steel packaging recycling in Europe increased by 1.3 per cent last
year to reach just over 2.1 million tonnes, though the EU15
countries remain way ahead of new member states.
Hungary's accession to the European Union has already led to
increased competition in the food industry there, prompting one of
the country's leading food manufacturers, Pick Szeged, to embark
upon a two-year restructuring...
Croatian food group Podravka says it is looking to expand
production at its Polish production facility to keep up with
demands in the Polish market and to increase exports to other EU
countries.
The majority shareholder in Danish vegetable oil firm Aarhus United
could soon place its considerable stake on the market, citing a
potential difference in long-term investment interests.
The European Commission is funding a project to find out how food
labelling and advertising policies could be used to stem the rapid
rise of obesity in many member states.
Revenues from Czech dairy exports might have increased by 30 per
cent in the first six months of the year, but the Czech Dairy
Association says it is increasing dairy prices, not higher volumes
due to accession, that is boosting the...
Sugar producers from Serbia and Montenegro will once again benefit
from preferential access to the European Union market, following
the EU's recent lifting of a 15-month ban on duty-free sugar
imports from the country - a move...
US cereals and snacks group Kellogg is to centralise its European
operations in a new office in Ireland, giving it a major presence
in the market with the world's highest per capita consumption of
ready-to-eat cereals, writes...
Leading Polish confectionery company Mieszko says it is
currently in negotiations to acquire a company within the
confectionery sector in the course of this year. The company added
that at the present moment it is negotiating with...
Firm changes to the heavily criticised European sugar regime are
unlikely to have a significant effect on the world sugar market,
and that prices are likely to remain low, a US sugar industry
analyst tells an international sweetener...
A three year EU project funded by Brussels will seek to improve
understanding of the role phytoestrogens, found in a host of foods,
can play in reducing the risk of colon, breast and prostate
cancers.
The European Union last week announced plans for a radical overhaul
of the EU sugar regime, a resolution that is likely to bring about
both applause and criticism from its New Member States in Central
Europe.
Competition for European suppliers of honey has ramped up with
Brussels clearing the way to end a two year ban on food imports
from China which should pave the way for cheaper raw materials for
honey formulations.
Long-awaited changes to Europe's heavily subsidised sugar regime
are on the way after the European Commission tabled a new set of
rules that could lead to cheaper sugar ingredients, writes
Lindsey Partos.
Cheaper sugar ingredients could be on the way for food makers as
rumours continue to circulate about the proposed new rules to the
EU sugar regime that could open up the protected European market,
prompting Danish sugar giant Danisco...
Cheaper sugar ingredients could be on the way for food makers in
Europe as draft plans for tough changes to the much criticised
sugar regime come to light.
Despite cheaper alternatives to cocoa butter on the market and new
European rules allowing vegetable fats in chocolate formulations,
uptake for the replacers has been slower than expected as reticent
food makers and marketers stick...
Huhtamaki's Chinet range of moulded fibre foodservice plates has
just been certified for biodegradability - the latest step in an
industry-wide trend towards greener packaging.
Food manufacturers must continue to be on the alert for a red devil
as the list of products containing the potentially carcinogenic,
and illegal, red dye Sudan I is far from tailing off. Now the UK
Food Standards Agency is alerting...
The acquisition of Rhodia Food Ingredients by Danisco has finally
been completed today, bringing the Danish ingredients group one
step closer towards its goal of becoming a leading supplier of
ingredients to the food industry. The...
The European Commission has given the nod to Sygenta's Bt11
genetically modified sweetcorn, granting authorisation for it to be
sold within the European Union over the next ten years. Although
the Commission says that the sweetcorn...
The Beverage Can Makers in Europe (BCME) has welcomed the advocate
general's conclusions in the EU Court cases regarding the German
packaging regime. He found that the discriminatory elements of the
German packaging order regarding...
A scientist at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden has
demonstrated how manufacturers can make environmentally-friendly
packing out of garbage.
