Leading food compliance consultants FoodLegal today announced a new program of intensive workshops. Bookings for the half day intensive workshops to be run in both Sydney and Melbourne began today. Registration forms are available here. There are two separate courses: 1. FoodLegal’s  ‘Swim between the flags’ workshop on marketing principles of compliance with Australian Consumer Law. One session each in Sydney and Melbourne Fri 24th May:  The RACV Club, 8.45am-1pm , 501 Bourke St, Melbourne Mon... ...Read more »

All players in the Australian food industry are being invited to send representatives to a seminar in Melbourne on the latest trends and issues on new global Standards. The seminar has been organised by DQS Certification AUSNZ, which has sponsored the visit to Melbourne by two international experts who will be the keynote speakers addressing the Standards and third party certifications. Admission to the seminar is free. The seminar will take place on Tuesday 19 March 2013 at 3.00pm at the RACV Club,... ...Read more »

Melbourne’s reputation as the coffee capital of Australia has been cemented by the launch of Australia’s first international coffee roasting competition. Entries for the inaugural Australian International Coffee Awards (AICA) will open on Tuesday 2 April 2013, in the lead up to the 2013 International Coffee Expo (MICE) and World Barista Championships, and judging will be conducted from Tuesday 7 May 2013 to Thursday 9 May 2013 at Melbourne Showgrounds. The Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria... ...Read more »

Monday 11 March 2013 is Labour Day in the State of Victoria. Australian Food News, like most other businesses based in Melbourne, Australia, will be shut for this public holiday. Labour Day historically celebrates a well-organised strike and public march on the Victorian Parliament by Melbourne workers on 21 April 1856. The government responded by awarding the workers their objective to reduce the working day from 12 hours to 8 hours with no loss of pay. Now some 157 years later, the Victorian government... ...Read more »

The Brisbane City Council has called for tenders for ‘mobile food facilities’ at several locations around Queensland’s capital city. The self-contained food  and beverage trucks, which will operate through the Brisbane Infrastructure Department, will be located in 11 different parks and reserves around the city, including in the suburbs of Chermside, Manly, Calamvale, South Brisbane and Kangaroo Point. “Creating this opportunity for food and beverage vendors adds yet another great reason... ...Read more »

Melbourne’s vegetarian fast food chain Lord of the Fries is going green with the launch of the new “Eco City Burger.” As part of Melbourne’s Sustainable Living Festival, Lord of the Fries has launched a new burger “with a small eco footprint, and significantly less carbon emissions produced than a normal burger.” The burger is vegetarian and delivered to Lord of the Fries outlets in trucks fuelled by recycled vegetable oil. It is also made from entirely locally sourced ingredients. The... ...Read more »

Considered a craze in many American cities, the mobile street food movement is quickly becoming a part of Australian city culture. Adelaide and Sydney have commissioned food carts and food vans to provide unique food options, but Melbourne’s food vans have just experienced a major setback. Many people have literally jumped on the street food “bandwagon” because of the convenient opportunity to purchase cheap, quick, fresh food at an affordable price. Furthermore, street food carts often offer... ...Read more »

A world-first trial to test if a healthy Mediterranean diet can improve the mental health of people with depression is being conducted by Deakin University researchers in Australia, funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). The research team from Deakin’s School of Medicine is now calling on people in Melbourne aged over 18 years with major depression to sign on for the trial which is funded for three years by the NHMRC. The trial will involve participants with depression... ...Read more »

Australia’s leading airline Qantas has apologised to one of its passengers after live maggots were found in the passenger’s on-board flight snack food. According to reports, Victorian woman Victoria Cleven had begun eating a pack of trail mix, supplied on-board a Qantas flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne, when she realised the pack had live maggots crawling around inside. Qantas announced yesterday that it has compensated the woman for the incident. The Herald Sun newspaper in Melbourne quoted... ...Read more »

An Australian-first obesity study will use the internet and mobile technology to try and help teenagers lose weight. Participants will be recruited from across Melbourne and will have their height, weight, blood pressure and waist circumference measured both when they join the study and also after three, six and 12 months. The study is being undertaken by the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (MCRI), a health research organisation based in Victoria. Researchers are recruiting 550 Victorian teenagers... ...Read more »