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. [ + ]

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.

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. [ + ]

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.

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.

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. [ + ]

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.

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.

A continuous pasteurisation system for ambient pouch and tray packaged food has the potential to deliver product at a lower cost per unit than cans. Compared to current batch-based systems, users can expect increased output and huge savings in water and energy usage.

More than 50 years ago, Wallace McCain, a young Canadian, had a pioneering idea: McCain and his brother Harrison invested in the still relatively uncommon technology for frozen food and began immediately to produce frozen French fries.

Assumptions about an instrument can lead to unpleasant surprises during the calibration cycle.