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FDA shifts thinking on chemical BPA
The Department of Health and Human Services, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have affirmed that Bisphenol A (BPA) is generally safe at the current low levels of human exposure, reports a story on FoodBusinessNews.net, but both agencies would…
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Regulatory Affairs: On the Label
Front of packaging labelling (FOP) is a voluntary practice of essentially highlighting the nutritional characteristics of a food product, and includes the use of logos and symbols. It’s like a modern day heads up display on food packages and point…
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Seafood Report: A Mark of Distinction
While sustainability is gaining steam in the seafood section of grocery retailers across Canada, many issues remain to be resolved. While some grocery chains and processors have taken the plunge and aligned themselves with a sustainability program, not all companies…
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Packaging Report: The Greener Side of Plastics
Canadian consumers have long been confident in the beneficial use of plastics as food packaging. These benefits vary from providing longer shelf life (thanks to moisture, oxygen and/or carbon dioxide barrier properties) to preventing loss of flavour and smell, to…
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Fruit & Vegetable Report: Back to the Future
What’s old is new again. Resurrected out of forgotten nooks and crannies in gardens across Canada, many of the heirloom vegetables and fruits our forebears enjoyed are making a big comeback. Several trends are coalescing to boost their popularity with…
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BPA Blues
In 2008 Canada made the bold move of designating bisphenol A, also known as BPA, a toxic agent. BPA is an industrial chemical mainly used to make polycarbonate plastic food and beverage containers, plastic food wrap and the epoxy resins…
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Expanding Options in Recycling
Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) have long since recognized the benefit in using automated sorting equipment to more accurately and more efficiently sort their plastic packaging waste streams. Until recently, this type of technology was used primarily for bottles, both PET…
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New Frontiers
Fred Marques is the first to admit that he knew almost nothing about halal food back in 1990. But that changed after he met with officials from the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Canada’s leading halal certification agency. “They…
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Shifting Gears
Packaging has been taking a lot of heat lately. This has come from politicians, consumers and environmental groups for a multitude of sins, including its contribution to litter, its burden on landfills, the cost of collection and recycling, and even…
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The Comeback Kid
About 15 years ago, soft drink companies began switching from glass to PET bottles. They were cheaper, of course, and larger companies could even make the bottles themselves. For the glass industry, the shift hit hard, and some insiders thought…
