The New Zealand Food Safety Authority and the United Kingdom Food Standards Agency have signed an arrangement that fosters better links between the two organisations.

Australian Food and Grocery Council research shows that the number of food-related recalls in Australia has remained stable, with an average number of 52 recalls per year, since 2005.

Last November the European Commission voted to allow the sale of 'wonky' and misshapen fruit and vegetables in Europe from 1July this year.

The uptake of active and intelligent packaging in the foods, beverages and pharmaceuticals industries is expected to continue to increase as manufacturers take advantage of the smart packaging benefits.

The founder of food packaging and processing machine company tna, Alf Taylor, has been included in Engineers Australia's 2009 list of most influential engineers.

The world market for aseptically packed products amounted to 86 billion litres in 187 billion packs during 2008, according to the new Global Aseptic Packaging report from food and drink consultancy Zenith International and packaging experts Warrick Research. Volumes have grown by over 6% a year since 2003, with Asia achieving the fastest rise at over 13% a year.

Ms Jenni Mack, Dr James Murray, Dr David Roberts and Associate Professor Winsome Parnell have been appointed to the FSANZ board.

Avoz Exports is the trading name for a new avocado export-focused company. The Avocado Export Company represents about 60% of the avocados produced in Australia.

Rebecca Du is the inaugral recipient of the Australian Packaging Machinery Association's annual scholarship. Rebecca will complete an Australian Institute of Packaging Diploma in Packaging Technology.

The Savory Functional Systems activities of Chr Hansen has been acquired by Frutarom.

Professor Jim Hardie has been appointed as the Director of the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre (NWGIC) at Charles Sturt University.

The demand for bottled beverages in China is expected to increase beverage container growth to 298 billion units/year by 2012. Plastic milk containers are leading the charge.

The first meeting of the ISO project committee that will develop an International Standard providing a code of good practice for establishing, implementing and managing efficient, flexible and responsive consumer product recall programs including corrective actions has taken place.

Potential speakers and sponsors are invited to express their interest in FoodTech Connect 09 — an exciting new food industry conference that will take place in Sydney on October 22 and 23.

A novel and severe allergic response, called delayed anaphylactic shock, has been found to be triggered by an IgE antibody that binds to a sugar molecule known as galactose-α-1,3-galactose (alpha-gal). So far, evidence strongly suggests that tick bites are triggering the production of alpha-gal antibodies.