The thirteenth meeting of the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council considered a number of strategic policy and food standards issues.

A study has compared different hand drying techniques — warm air hand dryers, paper towel and jet air dyers.

GS1 has extended the deadline by which retailers must be able to scan GS1 DataBar from 2010 to 2014.

HBM Plastics & Packaging Technologies now represents IntraVis Vision Systems in Australia and New Zealand.

Technology leader in the food and meat industry, IBEX Technologies has changed its name to Veron Technologies Intl Limited.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published an opinion on the public health significance of MRSA in animals and foods.

The United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business has released an international electronic certification standard built on work by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) and the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service. The electronic certification will provide government-to-government assurances about the safety of imported and exported food, replacing the paper certificates traditionally issued to help clear products at borders.

The Australian Institute of Packaging will be holding its technical forum alongside AUSPACK in June this year. Registrations are now being accepted.

The World Congress on Oils and Fats and the 28th ISF Congress to be held in Sydney this September will include a number of short courses that will be of particular interest to food manufacturers.

The Australian Packaging Machinery Association offers a scholarship each year to enable a packaging engineer to complete the AIP's Diploma in Packaging Technology.

Bioplastics industry professionals throughout Europe will converge on Germany in November for the 4th European Bioplastics Conference, taking place on 10 November 2009 at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Berlin.

Wheat experts from Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas have converged on the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative 2009 Technical Workshop in Mexico to discuss the worldwide threat of the Ug99 windborne plant fungus, which could decimate 90% of the globe's wheat varieties.

In a study released at the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative 2009 Technical Workshop in Mexico, researchers have developed varieties of wheat that are not only resistant to plant rust fungus Ug99, but also produce more grain than today’s most popular varieties.

US researchers are conducting clinical trials for a botanical drug that could provide the key to effective treatments for peanut allergies.

More than 1200 companies from around the world are exhibiting at Anuga FoodTec, the world's premier event for the food processing and packaging industries, currently being held in Cologne, Germany.