Summer Academy on Global Food law & Policy 2011

The third Summer Academy in Global Food Law & Policy will take place at Como Lake - Italy, July 25-29, 2011, at the beautiful Villa La Collina. A distinguished faculty from relevant food organizations (WTO, Codex, EFSA, EU Commission), industry (CocaCola) as well as academia (Michigan, Bocconi, HEC Paris) will be animating cutting-edge discussions on the latest developments in global food governance, from food private standards to health claims, from US Food Modernization Act to novel food regulation. 

Among the those presenting are four faculty from the Institute for Food Laws and Regulations (IFLR) at Michigan State University: Neal Fortin, Professor at MSU and IFLR Director along with IFLR guest instructors Alberto Alemmano, Associate Professor of Law at HEC Paris, Gretchen Stanton,  Senior Counsellor at WTO, and Raymond O'Rourke, Barrister, Ireland.

For more information on the program and the faculty, please find the brochure here and more information here and here. Please don't hesitate to contact Nikola Bock (bock@lexxion.de) for more information.

Chinese ban benzoyl peroxide and calcium peroxide as food additives

According to China Daily, on March 1 Chinese authorities banned the production of two food additives used to bleach flour. The additives, benzoyl peroxide and calcium peroxide, were banned because "there is no need to use them in flour processing anymore" as the country's processing techniques and wheat planting have improved, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

EU BPA Ban Now in Effect

A ban prohibiting the manufacture in the European Union of baby bottles containing Bisphenol A (BPA) became effective March 1, 2011. BPA is an organic molecule that is used in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastics. Small amounts of BPA can be released from plastic containers into the food they carry if these containers are heated at high temperatures. According to scientific evidence, infants' ability to eliminate BPA is still building up during their first six months of life. 
The ban of the manufacture of baby bottles with BPA was adopted in January (EU Directive (2011/8/EU) and entered into force on 1 March. For more information, visit Alberto Alemanno's blog here.