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Denmark has banned the savoury spread Marmite, saying its added vitamins and minerals break food safety laws. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13536479) By law, Danish authorities must give their permission for products with such additives to be sold. In recent years they have banned several well-known items – including the chocolate malt drink Ovaltine and some breakfast cereals. Already a shop in Copenhagen has been ordered to remove jars of... read more →

Controversial proposal among more than 200 reforms to food safety and environmental regulations put forward by farming regulation taskforce. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/may/17/farming-regulation-tb-cattle-milk Fiona Harvey Environment Corrspondent guardian.co.uk Tuesday 17 May 2011) Milk from cows that test positive for tuberculosis (TB) would be introduced into the human food chain under reforms suggested on Tuesday by government advisers... read more →

A joint investigation by the company and Norfolk fire chiefs is still under way to discover why an industrial fat fryer ignited last Friday teatime at the plant, on Station Road, Westwick, which employs about 200 people. Alex Hurrell , Reporter Thursday, May 12, 2011 7:00 AM The fire is understood to have damaged the roof of a building known by workers as the old packing house. Heinz invested more than £16m in the factory between 2006-2010 to boost productivity... read more →

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has been urged by experts in the field and members of its own Board to exercise caution in its use of ‘intelligent software’ to predict emerging food safety risks. (Foodmanufacturing.co.uk) The FSA plans to use more co-ordinated intelligence gathering and horizon scanning, including statistical analysis and intelligent software called Memex patriarch, to make it more effective. Its existing incident classification... read more →

A UK-based bagel bakery has been fined after a worker severed two of his fingers in “unsafe” machinery while attempting to clear a dough blockage. (Bakeryandsnacks.com) The firm, Ixxy’s Bagels, of Harley Street, London, was ordered to pay £2,250 with £9,719 costs for the November 2007 incident. The court heard that Mr Raakesh Patel, 26, was injured at the Ixxy’s factory when a rotating blade of a bagel dividing machine continued to move... read more →

An investigation has been launched following the death of an abattoir worker in Scotland. (Meatinfo.co.uk) David Barker, aged 48, is thought to have died after being struck on the head by a falling metal partition while working at the Scottish Borders Abattoir in Galashiels. However, the exact cause of death has not been announced, following the delay in a post mortem. A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said: “The investigation is... read more →

Slaughterhouses may have to install additional ventilation and air extraction systems after scientists discovered bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) can be spread to livestock by air. (Meatinfo.co.uk) They have found prions – the infectious agents triggering the disease – are not necessarily transmitted only by eating contaminated material. The researchers from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and the Institute of Immunology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut,... read more →

While new Commission draft measures to boost monitoring of dioxin traces in the EU food chain are welcome, the use of a colour marker would be a more efficient way of curbing the illegal practice of mixing industrial fatty oils in animal feed, claims an MEP. (Foodproductiondaily.com) Speaking to FoodProductionDaily.com this morning, Dutch Green MEP Bas Eickhout echoed the comments he made during the environment committee debate on dioxin regulation in Brussels... read more →