Tough new food safety training requirements will be in place by next year in an effort to reduce the number of foodborne illnesses, NSW Minister for Primary Industries, Ian Macdonald, said yesterday. “Our aim is to have mandatory training requirements in place by 2010 to ensure each hospitality business in NSW has a designated food safety supervisor responsible for implementing safe food handling on the premises,” he advised. “This will involve individuals being trained by registered... ...Read more »

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has allowed 18 chicken growers in South Australia to seek to collectively negotiate the terms and conditions of their growing contracts with Inghams Enterprises.Collective bargaining refers to two or more competitors collectively negotiating terms and conditions with a supplier or customer. Without protection, it can raise concerns under the competition provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974, the ACCC advised. Small businesses can obtain protection... ...Read more »

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Tony Burke, is in the Middle East this week to promote Australian agricultural trade including in wheat, dairy and live animal exports.He will be meeting his counterpart ministers in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates and will be accompanied by representatives from Australian dairy, meat, live animal export and fodder industries – including Dairy Australia, the Sheepmeat Council of Australia, LiveCorp, Australian Livestock Exporters’... ...Read more »

The Chairman of the world’s largest food manufacturer has told a Swiss weekly magazine that he expects the company to deliver strong results in 2009 despite a “difficult” few months for the sector.”Nestle will … grow respectably in 2009. But that doesn’t mean that the economic situation won’t be difficult,” Peter Brabeck told the Weltwoche weekly in an interview to be published today. “The past few months since November were difficult for the... ...Read more »

Increased spending by Woolworths has led to downgrades on the stocks of Australia’s two largest supermarket chains by a leading team of analysts. Wesfarmers is “unlikely” to turn around the performance of its Coles unit because of increased spending by Woolworths, Merrill Lynch & Co. said in a note to clients, while Woolworths’ investment in their business is considered too high by the same team of analysts. As such, they downgraded Wesfarmers from “neutral”... ...Read more »

McCain Foods has announced a voluntary recall of McCain Shepherd’s Pie due to an inadvertent packaging error that has seen some contain a Tuna Mornay meal instead. The affected product was available for sale at Coles Supermarkets, Coles Online, and Bilo Supermarkets from March 2, 2009. McCain has now sent a direction to all stores in NSW and ACT to remove all affected stock from sale. “We apologise for the mix-up but customers are only at risk if they are allergic to fish,” McCain... ...Read more »

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has said that current food advertising guidelines are beginning to have a positive impact and decided against scrapping a protein cap, which is currently used in determining what foods are advertised during children’s TV shows. The FSA Board agreed that the Nutrient Profiling model, which dictates what products can be promoted to children without incurring the wrath of advertising regulator Ofcom, was working effectively. In particular, the protein cap, which... ...Read more »

Barack Obama, President of the USA, and his wife, Michelle, are showing strong support for organic production, according to Andre Leu, Chair of the Organic Federation Australia, which could provide a boost to the sector in the years ahead. Michelle Obama has already started planting an organic vegetable garden in the White House lawn, with produce from the organic garden to be used for the first family’s meals and at White House formal dinners. The First Lady believes the most important role... ...Read more »

The Australian Medical Association is recommending that the money raised by the failed alcopops tax should be spent on a trial buy-back to reduce alcohol advertising in sport. AMA President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua, said handing the money, $340 million in total, back to the liquor industry made no sense. “This money should be put to good use. It could fund a carefully evaluated trial where government buys back advertising space that would otherwise be used by alcohol marketers during sporting... ...Read more »

PepsiCo’s Aquafina, America’s highest selling brand of bottled water, is launching the lightest half-litre bottle of any nationally distributed bottled water brand in the market, according to the beverage giant. At a weight of just 10.9 grams, the Eco-Fina Bottle is made with 50 per cent less plastic than the half-litre Aquafina bottles produced in 2002, eliminating an estimated 75 million pounds of plastic annually. The company is also looking to reduce its carbon footprint by producing... ...Read more »