When cucumbers were blamed for the E. coli outbreak that killed 54 in Europe last May, the European fresh salad produce market was devastated. A couple of weeks later it was established that fenugreek sprouts were the source of the outbreak and the cucumbers were innocent. How could officials have gotten the source of the outbreak so wrong? It turns out that the answer to this will need to be taken into account in all future foodborne illness outbreaks.

The freshness and convenience of chilled food is appreciated by consumers who are increasing their purchases of complete ready meals, fresh pizza and pasta that only need to be baked or cooked, packaged sandwiches, kitchen-ready cleaned vegetables and salad preparations, smoothies, cut and portioned fruit, freshly pressed juices and ready-to-eat salads.

As food imports increase and FDA demands more detailed disclosure and tracking, foreign seafood manufacturers and suppliers will undoubtedly feel the pressure from both government agencies and US importers. Benjamin England discusses the major challenges.

Joint health products are still concentrated in the dietary supplement market. Joint health is underdeveloped in the functional foods arena, where most of the product launches are for pets. [ + ]

Wrigley has implemented JDA Software’s Space & Category Management solutions to manage its large volume of retail planograms, fixtures, floor plans, store/cluster data, product attributes and performance information. [ + ]

Detecting foodborne illness outbreaks quickly and accurately determining the source of the outbreak are essential if the risks to public health are to be minimised. By adopting a method based on whole genome sequencing, researchers have been able to discriminate between outbreak-related and non-outbreak-related cases and to identify the temporal, geographical and evolutionary origin of outbreaks.

The longer-term outlook for the Australian beef market looks promising as drought continues to affect our major competitor, according to Rabobank’s latest report.

The recent Listeria and E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks associated with cantaloupe and raw beef in North America reveal that the current available methods and procedures for food safety are failing to achieve full control of these deadly pathogens. New packaging approaches, by Canadian researchers from the Sentinel Bioactive Paper Network, for improving food safety are ongoing and can provide solutions for biocontrol by using immobilised phage.

Class 0 compressed air ensures higher product purity and process integrity, minimising the risk of oil contamination being transferred directly to a product being manufactured or interfering with the operation of equipment. Dino Alessio, compressor engineer and National Sales Manager at CAPS Australia, reviews the international standard for compressed air quality and the technology to provide Class 0 air.

Kockums Bulk Systems has installed Tawi vacuum-assisted lifting systems at Zetco. The systems have resulted in improved handling of boxes and cartons of valves with improvements in productivity and safety. [ + ]

Modern X-ray inspection systems can find contaminants in multitextured foods, tin cans, foil pouches and more. The detectors are evolving to function as a both a management tool and food safety measure.

Scientists at the Valencian Institute of Agrarian Research in Spain have created a machine that automatically detects and separates rotten oranges, another that classifies mandarin segments according to their quality and another that helps citrus fruit pickers out in the field.

The trend toward non-alcoholic beverages is continuing. This is especially clear to German breweries, which for years have been adapting to a decline of 1-2% in the per capita consumption of beer by selling more non-alcoholic beverages.

In the 15th century, when Europeans first began moving people and goods across the Atlantic, a microscopic stowaway somehow made its way to the caves and monasteries of Bavaria. Orange-coloured galls, from the beech tree forests of Patagonia have been found to harbour the yeast that makes lager beer possible.

Vision systems can be used to virtually eliminate rework by making sure products are labelled and filled correctly, compliant and in-spec - straight off the production line. ROI will improve and lean manufacturing will be enabled as vision systems ensure that products are ‘shelf-ready’ as they exit the production line.