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UGANDA – The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) has commenced the enforcement of standards on food additives in response to recent claims on the use of dangerous chemicals added to food. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines food additives as substances that are added to food to maintain or improve the safety, freshness, taste, texture, or appearance of food…
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NETHERLANDS – In a preliminary experiment carried out in a controlled environment, two vaccinations evaluated by the Wageningen Bioveterinary Research, located northeast of Amsterdam, has demonstrated efficacy against highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). A formal document posted on the Netherlands government website revealed that one vaccine was produced by the German company Boehringer Ingelheim and the other by the French…
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U.S – A California bill that could outlaw products containing certain additives is drawing retaliation from industry stakeholders who have argued that the additives in contention are “safe”. Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, who represents part of Los Angeles, filed AB418 in February to limit the use of five popular food additives that have been linked to cancer, DNA damage, and organ…
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BURKINA FASO – Burkina Faso’s Council of Ministers has passed a regulatory Act that will allow the country to import biopesticides as a means of tackling the fruit fly menace. The mango makes up over 50% of the fruits produced in Burkina Faso. The sector has numerous challenges, the most significant of which is the fruit fly, as in the…
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INDIA – Tests conducted by the Indian authorities have found that 35% of the milk samples tested are non-compliant with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s (FSSAI’s) requirements. According to data provided by the Union Ministry of Food Processing Industry, 3,399 milk samples out of a total of 9,717 that were examined by the relevant authorities in 2020–21…
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U.S – Researchers at the Central European University’s Department of Network and Data Science have developed a new tool that can use a variety of data to anticipate food insecurity up to 30 days in advance. Elisa Omodei, a study author and Assistant Professor in the Central European University’s Department of Network and Data Science, claimed that the tool could…
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U.S – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to regulate several different forms of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as contaminants, setting new maximum levels for six PFAS in drinking water, according to a pre-publication draft of a final rule. In March 2021, EPA issued a determination to regulate perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) as contaminants…
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UK – In order to improve the detection and tracking of foodborne human pathogens and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), from farm to fork, the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has launched the Pathogen Surveillance in Agriculture, Food, and Environment (PATH-SAFE) program. This £19.2 million (US$23.3 million) research program aims to create a national surveillance network using sequencing technology and environmental sampling.…
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AUSTRALIA – The Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in collaboration with the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences has called for greater national coordination and a focus on streamlining commercialization processes for new antimicrobial resistance (AMR) solutions and technologies. This is after they published a report that revealed that AMR is fast becoming a “silent pandemic” in Australia.…
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CANADA – After looking at a variety of packaged fresh food, a Canadian study has concluded that noxious compounds like Bisphenol S (BPS) migrate from the packaging materials into price tags and labels. To test the hypothesis that migration from the thermal labels on plastic film packaging is a major source of exposure to bisphenols and alternative color developers in…
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