Australia is facing a huge glut of potatoes. Prices for potatoes for the Australian domestic market will soon drop below  farm production costs. Greengrocers and supermarkets are acquiring potatoes at bargain prices. We are constantly reminded by the Australian Government and its consultant experts that the world is running out of food. They tell us that Australia needs to produce more food for the impending famine faced by the world. Yet, we already have the scenario of many countries currently... ...Read more »

Potato growers across Australia are threatening to plough surplus potatoes back into the ground or leave them to rot in what is reported to be one of the biggest potato gluts in Australian history. Australian potato grower and Chairman of the Australian Potato Industry Advisory Committee, David Nix, has seen double the tonnage of potatoes on his farm in Atherton, Queensland, compared to last year. Mr Nix told Australian Food News today, “This year has brought a wave of excess potatoes across... ...Read more »

In a world first, Australian sugar cane is being made into a new gluten-free, low-sugar, high-fibre flour substitute, with a production line swinging into action this week. The breakthrough technology was developed by KFSU Pty Ltd, an Australian company at Ayr, near Townsville in Queensland, after five years of research and millions of dollars of investment. The first commercial production of the flour began at the KFSU factory in Ayr this week, using sugar cane harvested from the surrounding Burdekin... ...Read more »

Queensland’s largest flour mill and only durum semolina mill, owned by Weston Milling, has recommenced production after an extensive rebuild that followed the devastating Brisbane floods in January 2011. The mill, located at Moorooka in Brisbane since 1954, is of strategic importance to Weston Milling’s supply of flour for domestic and international markets. Weston Milling produces a range of flours to make bread, cakes, biscuits, pastry, noodles. The company’s customers range from large Australian... ...Read more »

We can lower our risk of heart disease significantly, just by using flour containing 40 per cent lupin beans in the place of conventional wholemeal flour, according to research by Victoria University dietitian Dr Regina Belski and colleagues from The University of Western Australia. Over the course of a year, working with the Centre for Food and Genomic Medicine in Perth, researchers monitored more than 100 overweight, but otherwise healthy, Western Australian men and women, to whom they provided... ...Read more »

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced today that it does not intend to oppose Cargill Incorporated’s proposed acquisition from Agrium of the commodity management businesses of AWB Limited. “The ACCC concluded that the proposed acquisition would be unlikely to substantially lessen competition as post-merger Cargill would continue to face competition from a number of significant sources,” ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said. The ACCC conducted a full review of... ...Read more »

South Africa’s Pioneer Foods has taken disciplinary action against 41 employees involved in the price-fixing scandals that have recently engulfed the company.An external, independent presiding officer looked into the matter and 38 employees admitted guilt and received written warnings. One was found not guilty and two cases are still being processed. Besides the written warnings, executive management did not receive any incentive bonuses, while the company’s executive directors did not... ...Read more »

The Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa) is investigating a number of companies in the flour industry over suspected involvement in a cartel. The agency said it drew up several reports against a number of companies suspected as having concluded cartel agreements at the end of 2009 after a “thorough” investigation. Similar investigations have also been carried out in other countries, including Germany, Italy and Belgium, the authority said. “The companies in question still have... ...Read more »

One of the leaders of the Australian flour milling industry, Mark Laucke of Laucke Flour, has written an open letter to the Australian Food Industry expressing serious reservations about the mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid. On 13 September 2009 it became compulsory in Australia for all bread-making flour to be fortified with folic acid as a consequence of an amendment to the Food Standards Code passed two years ago that took effect on that date. Laucke’s concerns are expressed... ...Read more »

Concern over how quickly current world supplies are being drawn down has given commodity speculators all the ammunition they need to drive the price of rice through the roof. The price of rice from Thailand has nearly tripled since the beginning of the year and stands at record highs. Rice prices on the Chicago Board of Trade are up about 80 percent this year. While U.S. government and trade group officials have maintained that there is no shortage on the horizon, buyers have been streaming... ...Read more »