A chef from Brisbane-based Hospitality Training Association Inc. (HTA) will this month travel to Mongolia to train teenage orphans in the hope of providing them with life-long skills and a regular source of income. The Lotus Children’s Centre, based in Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar, is a non-profit, non-government organisation providing shelter, food and accommodation for up to 150 abused, orphaned and abandoned children at any one time. As part of the initiative, HTA chef and trainer... ...Read more »

Australia’s competition watchdog has reportedly called for the investigation into milk pricing to be widened to include the country’s biggest milk processors as well as retailers.The news comes in the midst of a Senate inquiry into the Australian dairy sector and follows claims from farming representatives that “government inaction” has permitted the country’s largest supermarkets – Coles and Woolworths Ltd – to abuse their market power. However, according... ...Read more »

Swiss scientists have linked cardboard packaging made from recycled newspapers to health complaints in lab rats, ranging from the inflammation of internal organs to cancer.Researchers at the Food Safety Laboratory in Zurich said that mineral oils in ink from newspapers that are then recycled can make their way into foods such as cereal, pasta and rice – even passing through inner plastic bags. The researchers analysed a total of 119 products bought from German supermarkets last year. According... ...Read more »

Premier Foods plc has completed the sale of its meat-free unit to Exponent Private Equity, which has created Quorn Foods, a company with the aim of developing the world’s “leading meat-alternative business”. The GBP205m (US$331.9m) deal, first announced in January, was sealed yesterday (7 March) and Exponent’s Simon Davidson said the private-equity firm would “back the management team’s plans to grow the business”. “We have invested in Quorn Foods because... ...Read more »

Coeliac Awareness Week is almost here – 13-20 March. Men, as well as women, need to understand that coeliac disease is a very serious condition. Untreated, it can lead to other health conditions such as liver disease and cancer that can, in some cases, prove fatal. Coeliac disease affects at least one in 100 people, or nearly a quarter of a million of the population.  Diagnosis rates overall were poor, with four out of five coeliacs not aware that they had the disease. These are alarming statistics... ...Read more »

SA Health Minister John Hill has announced moves to require all major fast food retailers in South Australia to display kilojoule information on their menu boards, websites, leaflets and menus. The new regulations (under the Food Act 2001) would require food chains with 20 or more stores in SA, or 50 or more stores nationally, to state the kilojoule content of each item clearly and legibly alongside the price of the product, as well as prominently featuring the average adult daily energy intake of... ...Read more »

Kellogg Company announced last week that it is helping fund sustainable palm oil production through purchasing GreenPalm certificates covering 100 percent of its global palm oil use. Today, GreenPalm estimates that only six percent of the current global supply of palm oil is sustainably grown. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) continues to work toward the development of a consistent and sufficient supply of segregated, sustainably grown palm oil, however, it is currently not available... ...Read more »

Private-equity firm PAI Partners, which is in talks to sell its half of Yoplait, has said it wants to find the “right partner” for Sodiaal, the French dairy co-op that plans to keep its stake in the yoghurt business. PAI has received nine offers for its 50% stake in Yoplait and, while the buyout house has refused to name the identity of the bidders, reports have linked the likes of Nestle, General Mills and Lactalis to the race. There were also reports this week that claimed China’s... ...Read more »

At a time when wine seems to be getting cheaper and cheaper, Vok Beverages – a joint venture partner of Foster’s – is planning to go the other way by raising prices in a bid to draw consumers away from bargain-basement wine. Vok, which teamed with Foster’s in late-2009, sells a number of brands with Australia’s largest alcoholic beverage group; the most well-known being the Queen Adelaide brand. The privately owned group will be upping the price of Queen Adelaide from... ...Read more »

by Joe Lederman Australian Food News At a breakfast presentation to the Rural Press Club of Victoria in Melbourne on 3 March 2011, John Durkan, the national merchandising director of Coles Supermarkets, stated that Coles “Down Down” campaign would not adversely impact the farm gate prices for milk to dairy farmers. However he conceded that Coles dealt only with the milk processors and was not in a position to dictate what processors pay their farmers. Mr Durkan claimed that since 50 percent... ...Read more »