Supermarket giant Coles has joined industry leaders in speaking out against genetically engineered (GE) food, as the Victorian government looks set to announce the lifting of its ban on the commercial growing of GE food crops.

The Confectionery Manufacturers of Australasia (CMA) has awarded the Alfred Stauder Award for Excellence 2007 to John Borell, the managing director of Melbourne-based confectioner GKC Foods.

The human love affair with chocolate is at least 3000 years old — and it began at least 500 years earlier than previously thought, according to new analyses of pottery shards from the Ulúa Valley region of northern Honduras.

New Zealand Trade and Enterprise have awarded specialist manufacturer and technology provider IBEX Supreme Exporter of the Year and Specialised Manufacturing Exporter of the Year at the New Zealand Export Awards.

Applications are now open for the Swisslog and Logistics Association of Australia (LAA) university scholarships.

Scottish scientists have received funding to mass-produce a food testing kit that detects the presence of a host of potentially fatal contaminants within hours, making it the fastest technology of its type in the world.

The Women in Manufacturing Stepping Up Program will be offered again during 2008, following the success of the pilot program last year.

IBM and OATSystems have announced that they will deliver the joint RFID solutions they have marketed successfully overseas to Australia and New Zealand.

One of Australia’s leading wine and spirits labeller, Collotype, could soon be taken over by the US labelling company, Multi-Color, after a letter of intent for the acquisition was announced last week.

While the world’s athletes train for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, an American microbiologist has helped direct the international spotlight onto the host country’s food safety practices.

American scientists have developed a crop simulation model that can predict the quality and yield of sweet corn.

Adept Electronic Solutions is opening an office in Melbourne and is celebrating with a Machine Vision Open Day on 22 November.

UK food and beverage manufacturers have committed themselves to removing artificial colours from their products by the end of 2008, in reaction to a recent study that linked artificial colours to increased hyperactivity in children.

An American company has developed a novel class of biodegradable, mouldable containers that can hold food products in dry, damp or wet conditions.

Scientists at the Institute of Food Research (IFR) are concerned with the process of fortifying flour with folic acid, due to recent evidence of how it is absorbed by the body.