Major state-owned company of China, Bright Foods Company, is reportedly opening a permanent office in Sydney, signaling an intention to expand its Australian operations. The reports come after the Chinese food group’s acquisition of a 75% stake in Australian food manufacturer Manassen Foods has been approved by the Australian Foreign Institute Review Board. Bright Foods is one of China’s largest dairy producers and a major manufacturer and distributor of consumer food products. The company... ...Read more »

Scientific researchers have formulated a new type of sugar that might help prevent heart disease, according to latest research from The University of Melbourne, in Australia. Dr Corin Storkey and Professor Carl Schiesser from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Free Radical Chemistry and Biotechnology at The University of Melbourne, together with Professor Michael Davies from the Heart Research Institute, in Sydney, have formulated promising heart disease preventatives based on sugar and selenium. Their... ...Read more »

Researchers at the University of South Australia are claiming that at least two billion dollars could be slashed from the annual healthcare budget if Australians increased their dairy intake. According to researchers from the university’s Health Economics and Social Policy Group, an estimated 65 per cent of Australians currently consume less than the recommended serves of dairy foods (milk, cheese, yoghurt and custard). Professor Leonie Segal said the potential healthcare savings equate to the... ...Read more »

Tesco Lotus has opened Asia’s the first of its “zero-carbon” supermarket Asia, as part of its commitment to be a zero carbon business by 2050. Tesco Lotus is a major supermarket chain in Thailand, Cambodia and China. In Thailand, the stores are operated by the Ek-Chai Distribution System Co. According to Tesco Lotus, the new store in Bang Pra, Thailand, will put back into the Thai National Grid as much energy as it uses over the course of a year. Renewable fuel is converted into energy... ...Read more »

A UK-based independent research organisation, has predicted the food and drink trends set to make an impact in 2012. The top 10 food and drink trends identified by Leatherhead Food Research are: Health and wellness  Leatherhead say that health and wellness is a trend which has had an over-arching influence on the developments of the food and beverage industry in recent years and this influence is set to continue into 2012. Key priorities for companies will include the continued efforts to meet guidelines... ...Read more »

The State of Queensland has announced plans to introduce new legislation requiring fast food outlets to display the energy content of foods and drinks on their menus – a move which has already been voluntarily pre-empted by several of Australia’s major fast food chains. Several major quick service food chains in Australia now voluntarily display energy contents on their menus, including Subway, Hungry Jacks, Domino’s, and McDonald’s. Similar to laws are already in place in NSW and the... ...Read more »

Australia’s largest dairy exporter, the Murray Goulburn Co-operative, has become the third major dairy supplier to participate in the New Zealand-based GlobalDairyTrade auction platform, joining Fonterra and Dairy America. Murray Goulburn will begin offering lactose through the auction platform from 3 April 2012. GlobalDairyTrade began in 2008 as a single-seller auction for whole milk powder. It appears to be transforming into a platform for companies to trade commodity dairy products internationally.... ...Read more »

A report commissioned by the Australian Government has found that its own alcohol guidelines are considered “unrealistic” and “confusing”. The report, published by market research company Horizon Research, evaluated effectiveness of the government’s ‘Australian Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks from Drinking Alcohol’ in educating Australians about the health risks of excessive alcohol consumption. The guidelines were released by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)... ...Read more »

Three Sydney restaurateurs have won a lengthy defamation battle against The Sydney Morning Herald over a scathing review of their restaurant published by the newspaper. On 30 September 2003, the Sydney Morning Herald published a review of the Coco Roco restaurant in King Street Wharf, in Sydney, written by the newspaper’s chief restaurant reviewer, Matthew Evans. Mr. Evans’ review, headlined “Matthew Evans fails Coco Roco”, referred to “unpalatable” food and claimed the restaurant... ...Read more »

Processed foods are largely to blame for nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) of adult New Zealanders consuming more sodium than current nutrition guidelines recommend, according to researchers from The University of Otago, in New Zealand. The researchers analysed urine samples taken from 3,000 people who took part in the New Zealand government’s latest adult nutrition survey. The average sodium intake for New Zealand adults was estimated to be around 3,500 milligrams per day (equivalent to around... ...Read more »