Global stevia producer PureCircle has completed a $42 million expansion of its stevia plant in Malaysia. [ + ]

A project to introduce nanotechnology-based antimicrobial packaging, in order to enhance food safety and reduce waste, has received €7.7 million in funding from the European Union. [ + ]

Eating moderate amounts of vegetables each day has been linked with lower psychological stress, according to a University of Sydney study. [ + ]

Food and beverage packaging specialist Huhtamaki will establish a greenfield paper cup manufacturing unit in Kiev, Ukraine, to serve its Easter European foodservice customers. [ + ]

Australian pork producers have been warned they could face challenging times ahead, with productivity gains and consistently good herd feed conversion rates unable to offset the widening gap between feed costs in Australia compared to those of international competitors. [ + ]

Inline sensor systems combined with cognitive control concepts will enable cleaning systems to identify dirt on machinery and institute cleaning. [ + ]

Tetra Pak has acquired Johnson Industries International, a manufacturer of equipment to produce mozzarella cheese. [ + ]

The AIFST is holding a Toolbox Talk on 5 April to provide an overview of the FSANZ Compendium of Microbiological Criteria that was released in October 2016. [ + ]

Kefir launches grew more than threefold between 2011 and 2016, according to data from Innova Market Insights. [ + ]

Wallaby tenderloins marinated and cooked over charcoal with a spiced cashew sauce won the Best in Taste award at Taste of Sydney. [ + ]

Fine Food Australia will expand in 2017 to include new zones for organics, start-ups, fit-out and design, plus a co-located Commercial Drinks event. [ + ]

Furthering the uptake of high-pressure processing and establishing best practice procedures has provided the momentum to form the HPP Council in the US. [ + ]

Nearly half of all deaths due to heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes in the US in 2012 were linked to a poor diet, according to a study published in JAMA. [ + ]

10% of available food is wasted by overconsumption, and a further 9% of food is left to spoil, according to researchers who examined the key stages in the global food system. [ + ]

Twenty-seven percent of beer drinkers said that they already have substituted cannabis for beer, or would substitute their retail beer purchases with cannabis in the future if cannabis was legalised. [ + ]