News

Non-GMO labels are on the rise in European countries – but unlike the US, EU legislation requires all food containing above trace levels of GM to be labelled. So is there even a need for GMO-free?

Any product manufactured in the EU which contains more than 0.9% GM ingredient must be labelled as such. However, demand for GM-free food - containing no more than 0.1% GM ingredient, is growing. 

Read the full article at:

http://www.foodnavigator.com/Market-Trends/Non-GMO-labels-are-on-the-rise-in-Europe-but-why

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has backtracked on a recall of ground cumin because of almond after additional testing.

Read the full article at

http://www.foodqualitynews.com/Industry-news/Almond-findings-in-cumin-which-prompted-recall-found-to-be-wrong

The National Association of Catering Butchers (NACB) has officially launched its new standard. 

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20150713/local/woman-acquitted-of-mis-labelling-sicilian-honey.576505     

An Appeals Court in Malta has exonerated a mother of producing and selling Sicilian honey, falsely labelled as local produce, but confirmed the conviction of one of her sons, reducing his suspended jail term by two months.

Fraudsters are targeting risotto rice sold in UK supermarkets by substituting expensive varieties with cheaper ones, the boss of Italy’s biggest rice processor has claimed.

A recent article at FoodQualityNews.com reports on the outcome of a series of webinars, and comments on the increased vlunerability to fraud arising from the globalised food supply chain. See the article, Complex and globalized food supply increases vulnerability to fraud, for details.

Source: Olive Oil Times

A food and drink research firm has been chosen by the UK government to carry out authenticity. Authenticity testing is necessary to identify cases of fraud where olive oil is adulterated with inferior quality oils or other vegetable oils. See the Olive Oil Times article for more information.

A trial site based on the Ning social platform opened on 29 April. The complete IT solution is intended to provide the following features:

• Open access so that it is available to all stakeholders
• Interactive discussion board capability so it can be an open forum for discussion on current issues and knowledge exchange
• Ready access to material from knowledge transfer exercises, standard operating procedures for analytical methods, final research reports, scientific publications and other method related literature.
• A member’s only area or a “safe space” to help with discussion of new methods or problems was seen to be important to help facilitate the advancement of new scientific approaches and techniques through discussion and co-operation.
• News sections, including (for example) food authenticity alerts, information on new relevant publications etc.

The trial site will be open for up to two weeks in the first instance. If successful, it may form the basis for the live site.