Green Monkey Ltd has recalled throughout Australia all five varieties of its Green Monkey Organic Baby Food from Woolworths, Safeway and Thomas Dux Supermarkets due to the presence of small plastic pieces. Green Monkey Ltd, which is a New Zealand-based company, said the contamination is the result of a packaging fault. It has recalled the all flavours of its organic baby food, which is sold in a tear-top 100g pouch. The products in question all have Best Before dates up to and including 22/05/2013. A... ...Read more »

Food lawyer Joe Lederman has raised serious concerns about weaknesses in the administration and monitoring of food safety enforcement in the State of Victoria. Mr Lederman, of food law firm FoodLegal, was quoted by the Herald Sun newspaper in an investigative article on Saturday 17 December 2011. The article revealed that laws that are meant to “name and shame” Victorian food businesses that have been convicted of food safety offences, have not been enforced. In the article, Mr Lederman... ...Read more »

Australia’s peak egg body, the Australian Egg Corporation Limited (AECL), today launched a marketing campaign to promote caged egg production as having the lowest carbon footprint of all the main protein foods. AECL Managing Director, James Kellaway, said the findings of a study undertaken by the AECL suggested that caged eggs are the “highest quality protein food with the lowest emissions”. The AECL study, based on the green house gas emissions from three egg farms over one year, found that... ...Read more »

Coca Cola Amatil is expecting to make around A$165 million in profit from the sale of its shares in the joint venture beverage manufacturer Pacific Beverages to other shareholder, multi-national brewer SABMiller. Pacific Beverages brands include Peroni, Miller Genuine Draft and Pilsner Urquell. Coca Cola Amatil expects to record a profit of around A$60 million for 2011, comprising the above-mentioned profit less around A$105 million in the extra costs associated with the restructuring of fruit producer... ...Read more »

  Coles Supermarkets is doing a natural recall of its home brand Chocolate Cake with Icing (cake mix) from its stores, including Bi-Lo and Pick N Pay stores, due to undeclared sesame content. Sesame is listed as one of numerous allergens (others can include milk, wheat, soy, seafood or nuts) that are required to be declared on a food label in accordance with the requirements of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code. Failure to do so is considered to be sufficient ground for a food to... ...Read more »

Scientists from two Australian universities in collaboration with an international academic have discovered ancient wild cereal genes that could potentially allow less water to be used in conventional crops. In a report published in the ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’ today, University of Queensland’s Professor Robert Henry said there were global implications for the discovery. Professor Henry said that wild rice plants in hotter and drier parts of Australia tend to be more... ...Read more »

The announcement yesterday by the Indonesian Government of drastic cuts to the live cattle export quota from Australia in 2012 should come as no surprise. The Australia Government and its industry partner Meat & Livestock Australia (the MLA) have been providing technical assistance to Indonesia’s growing beef feedlot industry for some time. The Indonesian Government has announced it is halving the quota of Australia’s live cattle exports to 280,000 cows in 2012. Indonesia intends to shut... ...Read more »

The findings just released of a nationwide survey by Australian consumer research group, Roy Morgan Research, reveal that Chinese is the most popular international cuisine among Australians. Roy Morgan Research sampled the views of 52,119 Australians between October 2010 and September 2011. According to the survey’s findings, the traditional ethnic cuisines of Australia’s earlier immigrants — Chinese and Italian — remain the most popular international cuisines among Australians. However,... ...Read more »

The European Parliament has voted in favour of putting in place tighter legislation on the composition of fruit juices, ensuring companies stick to stricter labelling guidelines. Companies will no longer be able to add sugar and sweeteners to drinks labelled as “fruit juices” under the EU’s new labelling rules. It is already industry practice not to add sugar to juices, and that practice is now being written into law. The new legislation will apply to all juice products regardless of whether... ...Read more »

Australian food regulatory authority, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), announced today that, despite it already being 10 years in the making, further consultation will be taking place on a revised draft Standard for Nutrition Health and Related Claims (Standards 1.2.7 – Proposal P293). The draft Standard will regulate nutrition content claims, health claims, endorsements, cause-related marketing and dietary information that appear on either food labels or in advertising of food... ...Read more »