The popularity of breakfast drinks has gradually increased in recent years, with the percentage of Australians purchasing them in an average four-week period growing from 4.1% to 7.7% since 2008. [ + ]

Natureworks will open its first Asia-Pacific regional headquarters in Bangkok and expand its team of senior commercial, managerial and technical personnel. [ + ]

National Starch and Corn Products has a new identity. The group of companies, one of the world’s leading ingredient solutions providers, will now be known as Ingredion. [ + ]

Creaminess or astringency of new foods can be determined by measuring the sound generated by the food interacting with the tongue during consumption. This new technology, developed by NIZO food research, records and analyses the sound of rubbing of the tongue against the food and can be used to predict the sensory effects of food innovations. [ + ]

Arla Foods Ingredients has revealed plans to invest €120 million in a new lactose manufacturing facility in Denmark. [ + ]

Aspartame has been accused of causing a seemingly endless list of health conditions. However, a recent assessment by the EFSA suggests that the sweetener is not toxic at current levels of exposure. [ + ]

Coopers has announced it will retain its Celebration Ale as a permanent line. The product was introduced in 2012 to celebrate the brewer’s 150th anniversary. [ + ]

Queensland broiler chicken growers have received authorisation from the ACCC to collectively bargain with three major poultry processors in the state. [ + ]

Sweet Green Fields has been granted a patent in Japan for its proprietary high-purity stevia extraction process, the Fast Precipitation Process (FPP). [ + ]

Taiwanese researchers have found that people eating hot soup from melamine bowls excreted higher levels of melamine in their urine than those eating from ceramic bowls. [ + ]

Working with cleaning products, flour or enzymes can increase your risk of adult-onset asthma, a new study from Imperial College London has shown. [ + ]

APPMA has issued a gentle reminder that submissions for the 2013 APPMA Awards of Excellence are due in March. The awards recognise innovative and outstanding packaging and processing solutions. [ + ]

Introductions of foods and drinks making a high-protein claim are almost three times higher in the US than anywhere else in the world, accounting for 19% of global new product launches in 2012. [ + ]

The US Pharmacopeial Convention has added nearly 800 new records of ‘food fraud’ to its Food Fraud Database, which contains information about foods that are vulnerable to fraudulent manipulation in today’s food supply. [ + ]

A few simple actions like buying oddly shaped fruit and freezing food could dramatically reduce the 1.3 billion tonnes of lost or wasted food each year, according to a new global campaign to cut food waste. [ + ]