The Malaysian arm of agribusiness giant Cargill is to spend US$50m on the expansion of its vegetable oil processing.Cargill Palm Products has signed an agreement to lease with the Port Klang Authority to build a new vegetable oil refinery in Port Klang Free Zone. The investment in the vegetable oil refinery is expected to double Cargill’s existing specialty fats production capabilities and increase overall processing capacity in Malaysia to 950,000 metric tonnes per year. “The investment... ...Read more »

A pan-European study by the European Food Information Council (EUFIC) has provided further insights into the shopper relationship with food labels. The study, which questioned 17,300 people from various European countries, both in supermarkets and at home, found that only 18% of Europeans regularly look for nutrition information on food packaging in-store. Independent market research agencies carried out the field work in each country. Results showed, however, that the better established forms... ...Read more »

The Heart Foundation is calling on the restaurant and fast-food industries to switch from saturated fats to healthier alternatives. Speaking at the World Congress on Oils and Fats in Sydney this week, the health group argued that there is a need for labelling of fats on menus. “Unfortunately most of the outlets are using fats that are very high in saturated fats, some of them are up to about 50 per cent, whereas there is healthier options available at saturated fat levels of 7 per cent,”... ...Read more »

A new report in the UK has questioned the impact of a number of celebrity chefs on the consumer diet, suggesting some are contributing to the high rates of obesity in the region. The study by The Fat Panel analysed the saturated fat content of a variety of starters, main courses, side orders and desserts from popular cook books and discovered that many celebrity chefs’ recipes contained more than 100% of the Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) of saturated fat (30g for men and 20g for women) in a... ...Read more »