Food Processing - September 2007 - (Page 18)

NEWS BITES • F O O D S A F E T Y• China spending $1 billion on food safety China will spend more than $1 billion improving food and drug safety by 2010 with the regulatory agency over those industries being given stronger oversight powers, an official told reuters news service in early august. China’s state Food and drug administration was allocated 8.8 billion yuan ($1.16 billion) for food and drug safety over the current five-year plan, which runs to 2010, according to a spokesperson for the agency. that was the first time the spending figure had been made public, although the report did not make clear if the budget recently had been increased because of recent events. China has been struggling to convince the world its products, including food and ingredients, are safe following a series of scandals over tainted pet food, toys, toothpaste, medicine and fish. according to a new poll, U.s. consumers are extremely wary of products made in China, and nearly two-thirds said they would support a boycott of Chinese goods, reuters reported. some of the funds will be spent on a large, new government laboratory. By the end of the five-year plan, “the abilities and the base of the regulator will be substantially raised,” the spokesperson said. “there will be an enormous improvement in the system for guaranteeing food and drug safety for the public.” also, new rules are being put in place that would give the agency the power to seal factories and seize whatever materials are needed to investigate substandard goods. a key focus will be rural food safety. in an earlier report, another Chinese official said the backward state of farming was a major obstacle to food safety. in particular, the government will launch a crackdown on the use of banned pesticides, which are still in use. the reuters report said farmers improperly use chemicals and spray them on crops just before they are harvested. BRIEFly Campbell Soup Co., Camden, N.J., appointed Kirk Elliott vice president for corporate strategy. He will be responsible for the company’s strategic planning process and for advancing major strategic initiatives. Additionally, he will oversee Campbell’s licensing program. He comes from Elliott Oriental Medicine, a San Diego company he founded in 2005, but earlier spent eight years at Nabisco Intl. 18 • FOOD PROCESSING SEPTEMBER 2007 WWW.FOODPROCESSING.COM http://v1000.yaskawa.com http://v1000.yaskawa.com http://www.foodprocessing.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Food Processing - September 2007

Contents Editor's Plate Power Lunch NewsBites Regulatory Issues Rollout Food Biz Kids Product Spotlight Next-Generation Manufacturing Models Product Development Ingredients Packaging Show Previews New Product Profiles Toops Scoops

Food Processing - September 2007

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