The U.K. agency charged with evaluating novel foods for marketing may soon approve a national register of  nanofoods. The Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) food nanotechnology discussion group, created by an ad hoc House of Lords committee, comprises representatives from FSA, academia, industry, other government departments and consumer groups. Its goal is to help FSA implement recommendations from a House of Lords nanotechnologies report. On the agenda of the first meeting on January 13 were current findings of food industry nanotechnology research, and a suggestion to set up a U.K. register of nanofoods. FSA stressed that it will not assess the safety of nanotechnology in the food chain. But it is obliged to assess the food safety implications of a company’s application to market nanotechnology food.

The Czech Republic has called on the European Commission to enact legislation requiring food labeling to include country-of-origin information, claiming the dioxin-in-food scandal in Germany highlights the need for such disclosure in order to ensure food safety. The scandal, which stems from the discovery in December 2010 of dioxin in poultry, eggs, and pork from Germany forced German authorities to cull thousands of livestock. Some countries have temporarily banned the importation of eggs and poultry from Germany until they get assurance that food supplies from the country are free of dioxin, which is a cancer-causing agent.

British scientists have developed genetically modified chickens that are incapable of transmitting avian influenza virus to other chickens in a flock, an advance that could stop the spread of bird flu outbreaks. It would also reduce the risk of bird flu epidemics becoming new flu epidemics among humans. To produce the transgenic chickens, the scientists introduced a new gene that manufactures a "decoy" molecule that mimics a key control element of the flu virus, thus tricking the replication mechanism of the virus into recognizing the decoy instead of the viral genome. This process interrupts the replication cycle of the virus. The transgenic chickens who were infected with avian flu became sick, but did not transmit the infection to chickens kept in the same pen, researchers noted.

Dioxin contamination found in thousands of eggs in Germany has halted production at over 1,000 meat and poultry farms. The original contamination happened when oils for biofuels was used for animal feed. A European Commission spokesperson said that food exports from Germany were unaffected and there was no need for a ban. Prosecutors have named Harles und Jentzsch, a company in northern Germany that produces animal feed, in preliminary proceedings. Research has shown dioxins affect pregnant women and lead to higher cancer rates.

Reacting to complaints that goods being sold in the country as organic were not organic at all, Egypt’s Minister of Trade and Industry announced tighter regulatory control over organic and biodynamic goods. Organic products in Egypt often cost twice as much as conventional goods, because they purportedly contain no chemical additives and have not been genetically modified. However, until now there has been no certification process, consumers could not file a complaint with the government and companies were not required to be accountable. Under the new decree, manufacturers will need to be accredited by auditors registered with the Egyptian Organization for Standardization and Quality (EOSQ), organic companies will have to register and be certified, and EOSQ may inspect facilities and shut them down if they do not meet organic standards.

Viet Nam’s Ho Chi Minh City is awaiting government approval for creation of a chain of organic food stores under a new food management test project that places all stages of organic food production under the control of one agency. Included in the project will be organic meat, fish and vegetables produced according to the Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices standards created by the newly-enacted Food Hygiene and Safety Law. All phases of production, including breeding, feed, slaughter, use of water, pesticides, veterinary medicines, and delivery will be controlled by the Department of Health’s Food Hygiene and Safety Division. Currently, production and marketing of organic foods are monitored by several agencies. Since 2006, organic agriculture in Viet Nam has grown 20 percent a year, a pace that is expected to continue.