With Italy being renowned for its gelato, it is no surprise to hear that it will be hosting the 2017 World Trophy of Pastry Ice Cream Chocolate at Host, Fiera Milano. [ + ]

A plan to export 40% more vegetables within the next three years is being implemented by Hort Innovation. [ + ]

The odour of what we eat may play an important role in how the body deals with calories. If you can't smell your food, you may burn it rather than store it. [ + ]

Three businessmen who passed off horsemeat as beef in a simple grab for profit have been convicted of fraud, with two being given custodial sentences and one a suspended sentence. [ + ]

JBT Corporation has purchased an English provider of powder filling systems, PLF International, for £28 million. [ + ]

Professor Markus Egert of Furtwangen University looked at 14 used sponges under the microscope and found 362 different types of bacteria. [ + ]

The Hanna Group (Hannapak), one of Australia's leading providers of folding cartons, has been acquired by WestRock Company. [ + ]

Calorie counting and dieting are not for everyone, but the Xtreme Eating Awards by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) highlight some of the most calorific and unhealthy options from popular food chains in America. [ + ]

Remember Letitia Cropley, the 'Queen of Cordon Bleugh' in TV series The Vicar of Dibley? She served up unusual food combinations such as Marmite cakes, lemon curd with ham and cheese, and a bewildering concoction of chocolate with cod's roe. She may have benefited from new research that increases understanding of which flavours work well together and why. [ + ]

Lluis Serra-Majem, professor at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and president of the International Foundation of the Mediterranean Diet, has criticised the eating habits of millennials, claiming their diet has shifted over the generations. [ + ]

Demand for packaging for ready-to-eat poultry applications is projected to climb 4.6% annually to $450 million in 2021. [ + ]

Australian conveyor NEPEAN Conveyors has finalised negotiations to acquire Sandvik's International Conveyor Components businesses and Sandvik's Specialist Conveyor Systems business in Hollola, Finland. [ + ]

Nestec, a subsidiary of Nestlé, has signed a Technology Evaluation and License Option Agreement to test EnWave's Radiant Energy Vacuum (REV) food dehydration technology. [ + ]

Snowdale Holdings has been ordered to pay a total of $750,000 in penalties for making false or misleading representations that its eggs were 'free-range'. [ + ]

Marel's strategy to be a full-line supplier to the poultry, meat and fish industries globally is closer to fruition with the company's acquisition of Sulmaq. [ + ]