No one wants food that has gone mouldy - least of all when they have only just purchased the product. But consumers are not exactly wild about food preservatives either. Packaging researchers are now introducing coated films to fight the battle of the bacteria.

Chequer Packaging Limited has invested NZ$5 million in a state-of-the-art printing press at its production site in East Tamaki, Auckland.

VK Creative Aromatics develops and manufactures flavours and fragrances, supplying a comprehensive range of some 500 sweet and beverage flavours.

Drs Christopher Parry, Alfrun Erkner and Johannes le Coutre, scientists at the Nestle Research Center in Lausanne, Switzerland, have reported about novel genetic fundamentals of taste perception.

WorkSafe Victoria is taking expressions of interest from small to medium-sized food and beverage processors for a new subsidy scheme to help them improve occupational health and safety.

The Canned Food Information Service (CFIS) has changed its name to the Canned Food Industry Association (CFIA).

New online courses offered by TAFE will promote the latest best practice in food handling.

The New Zealand Seafood Industry Council (SeaFIC) says that exports of New Zealand seafood to China could treble if the government is successful in negotiating a bilateral Free Trade Agreement.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to share information about food safety emergency issues that may pose a serious or unacceptable risk or threat to the health of consumers.

Open up a punnet of strawberries and more often than not you'll find a fuzzy berry or two in the mix. A blast of chlorine dioxide gas, however, promises to not only keep those berries fuzz-free, but also to kill off harmful bacteria living on their surface more efficiently than methods currently used by the food industry, say Purdue University researchers.

FoodPro 2005, the Australian International Food Processing Exhibition, will spread across four halls of the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, from 10-13 July 2005.

As the health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids reach the awareness of consumers eager to improve the functions of their body - from the cardiovascular system to the brain - food makers are scurrying to enrich and fortify products with omega-3s and get them to market. But one major obstacle tempers progress - flavour.

Scientists at Florida State University subjected walnuts, cashew nuts and almonds to radiation, roasting, pressure cooking, blanching, frying and microwave heating in an effort to make them safe for allergy sufferers.

New research on specific sample groups shows some organic produce may have an added health benefit over conventionally grown counterparts, according to researchers presenting at the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting and Food Expo. But inherent inconsistencies associated with organic farming make general comparisons inappropriate.

Used plastic wrappings and containers make good fuel if incinerated but are also dumped in huge quantities on landfill sites.