Certification against Global Standard for Packaging and Packaging Materials Issue 4 has commenced on 1st August 2011. We have published the BRC Standards Issue 4 Manual. The manual describes how manufacturers [...]
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New Food Safety Award to Boost Hygiene Standards
Jane Washbrook, a food safety trainer and entrepreneur, has won the 2013 CIEH/NSF Food Safety innovation Award for developing an innovative product called the FOODSAFEKIT. The product is designed to offer small businesses and individuals, from child minders to mobile workers such as home carers and mobile caterers, access to food safety and hygiene products [...]
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Starbucks to Display Calorie Labels in Stores
Starbucks Corp will display calorie counts for coffees and snacks at all its U.S. locations starting June 25, ahead of a federal requirement that large American food chains prominently disclose nutrition information. The company said on Tuesday the labels were meant to encourage health-conscious consumers to further customize orders by opting for sugar-free syrups or [...]
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Farmworkers Feel the Heat Even When They Leave the Fields
Hot weather may be the work environment for the 1.4 million farmworkers in the United States who harvest crops, but new research shows that these workers continue to experience excessive heat and humidity even after leaving the fields. Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers conducted a study to evaluate the heat indexes in migrant farmworker [...]
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Effectiveness of Green Coffee Bean Weight-Loss Supplements Questioned
A major ingredient in those green coffee bean dietary supplements — often touted as “miracle” weight-loss products — doesn’t prevent weight gain in obese laboratory mice fed a high-fat diet when given at higher doses. That’s the conclusion of a first-of-its-kind study published in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. It also linked the [...]
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Cocoa May Help Fight Obesity-Related Inflammation
A few cups of hot cocoa may not only fight off the chill of a winter’s day, but they could also help obese people better control inflammation-related diseases, such as diabetes, according to Penn State researchers. Mice that were fed cocoa with a high-fat diet experienced less obesity-related inflammation than mice fed the same high-fat [...]
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Strains of E. coli May Linger Longer in Water than Benign Counterparts
A toxin dangerous to humans may help E. coli fend off aquatic predators, enabling strains of E. coli that produce the toxin to survive longer in lake water than benign counterparts, a new study from researchers from the University at Buffalo and Mercyhurst University finds. The research may help explain why water quality tests don’t [...]
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Detection of Apple Juices and Cereals Which Exceed Permitted Levels of Mycotoxins
Researchers from the University of Granada (Spain) have analysed the presence of patulin, a type of toxin produced by fungi, in several commercial apple juices. The results show that more than 50% of the samples analysed exceed the maximum limits laid down by law. They have also discovered a sample of rice with more mycotoxins [...]
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New Study Reveals How Bacteria Responds to Temperature Change
Bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego have developed a computational model of 1,366 genes in E. coli that includes 3D protein structures and has enabled them to compute the temperature sensitivity of the bacterium’s proteins. The study opens the door for engineers to create heat-tolerant microbial strains for production of commodity chemicals, therapeutic [...]
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New Approach Extends Strawberries Shelf Life
Strawberry lovers rejoice: the days of unpacking your luscious berries from the refrigerator only to find them sprouting wispy goatees of mold may be numbered. A research team from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Components and Health Laboratory in Beltsville, Md., and Sensor Electronic Technology, Inc. (SETi) in Columbia, S.C., has demonstrated that [...]
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Vegetarian Diets Associated With Reductions in Risk For Chronic Diseases
Vegetarian diets are associated with reduced death rates in a study of more than 70,000 Seventh-day Adventists with more favorable results for men than women. The possible relationship between diet and mortality is an important area of study. Vegetarian diets have been associated with reductions in risk for several chronic diseases, including hypertension, metabolic syndrome, [...]
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Poultry Contamination at Processing Plant Linked to Farms
Researchers at the University of Georgia, Athens, have identified a strong link between the prevalence and load of certain food-borne pathogens on poultry farms, and later downstream at the processing plant. “This study suggests that reducing foodborne pathogen loads on broiler chicken farms would help to reduce pathogen loads at processing, and may ultimately help [...]
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Hepatitis A Outbreak in the United States
Hepatitis A outbreak has been reported in several Western states (California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Arizona). In a release Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the first victims fell ill on April 29 and the most recent case was May 17. It is believed more will come. The outbreak appears to [...]
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Food Safety Online Course Level 2
The practical and interactive courses have been developed to help small businesses understand the complexities of food safety during food production.
Anyone handling food and drink within the food industry must [...]
