The merger of Adept Electronic Solutions and Total Turnkey Solutions will create a leading machine vision industrial company, with a complementary portfolio of products, advanced technologies and enhanced growth opportunities.

Two of Australia's major retailers have been found by the NSW Food Authority to have falsely described the origin of fruit for sale in two Sydney stores.

The Dow Microbial Control Customer Application Center (CAC) has opened in Altona, Melbourne, allowing customers access to state-of-the-art testing laboratories and innovative formulations, in line with local regulatory requirements.

WorkCover NSW has published a safety alert to remind employers and those in control of workplaces to ensure the safety and stability of plenums, ceilings and other associated structures.

The Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) is rerunning the half-day training course on the Introduction to Plastics on Thursday 4 August 2011. To be held at Oatlands Golf Course, NSW, the course presenter will be Pierre Pienaar FAIP.

The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) said it is disappointed that the federal government didn’t allocate any new funds for a National Food Plan in the 2011-12 Budget.

Woolworths store-baked soft white bread now contains 25% less salt and the company has also reduced salt in its wholemeal, grain and sourdough breads.

IFR has helped develop a tool for modelling the growth of Salmonella in the pork supply chain as part of an EU-funded research program investigating the main sources of contamination that cause human salmonellosis.

As resources become more and more scarce around the world, it has become apparent it is more effective to reduce food losses than to increase food production, according to two recent studies commissioned by the FAO.

As the issue of chemical migration from food contact packaging materials receives more attention, FSANZ has released a survey on the range of chemicals used in packaging materials.

National rigid packaging supplier Plasdene Glass-Pak reached agreement to acquire the bottle distribution business of J.McCarthy, effective 29 April 2011.

With billions of kilos of meat and bone meal going to waste in landfills after a US government ban on its use in cattle feed, scientists have developed a process for using that so-called meat and bone meal to make partially biodegradable plastic that does not require raw materials made from oil or natural gas. They reported the finding at the 241st National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

Demand for meat, poultry and seafood packaging in the US will increase 3.0% per annum to $9.2 billion in 2015. Gains will be fuelled by expanding meat, poultry and seafood production for the domestic market, as well as rising export opportunities to countries such as Japan and Chile. Packaging demand will also be stimulated by the ongoing shift to case-ready packaging by many retailers as a means of reducing in-store labour costs.

The AFGC has found it disappointing that it has been left out of carbon tax discussions with the PM.

IMCD has launched its Food & Nutrition Academy to focus on new trends in the market.