A new agreement between Dubai Municipality and Unilever involves closer cooperation on product safety and testing. The head of the Municipality delegation that visited Unilever’s Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre (SEAC) in England said the visitors were focusing on the impact of products on consumers and the environment, and the discussions extended to product labeling, storage, and misuse of products. The visit should also help the Municipality head off the spread incorrect information about the products. Unilever holds around 30% of the personal care market in the UAE and 45% of its skin care and cleansing sales. 

The organic food movement is beginning to catch on in China, though people are still uncertain whether products touted as organic are properly certified and labeled and of high quality. But some reputable local firms are working hard to meet international organic certification standards and are delivering organic choices to Shanghai shoppers, sometimes straight to the buyer’s door for free. BIOfarm, for example, offers many organic foods derived from its 120 annually rotating crops. The farm delivers weekly “Farmer’s Baskets” of fresh, high quality produce, including a “singles” basket of five to seven types of fruits and vegetables. Other Chinese organic food producers include Shanghai Organic Agriculture Co., Ltd., Fields, Organic Kitchen and My Local Store. Several of these have online stores.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a part of the Food and Drug Administration, has published a policy framework (“The Judicious Use of Medically Important Antimicrobial Drugs in Food-Producing Animals”) relating to the use of antimicrobial drugs in animals used for food. For over 50 years, antimicrobial drugs have been used in both human and veterinary medicine, but growing resistance to these drugs makes them less effective as therapies, creating a potential danger to public health, and so these drugs need to be used more “judiciously” in order to slow the pace of growing resistance. The guidance includes limiting use of such drugs except where necessary, and limiting use in food-producing animals to situations where there is veterinary oversight. 

The USDA, which contracts with private organizations to inspect and certify organic foods worldwide, has disqualified a private American inspector in China because of conflict of interest issues. The agency said it will send an audit team to China to take a close look at the certification process there. The problem with the disqualified inspector, the Organic Crop Improvement Association, is that it hired employees of a government agency to check state-controlled farms and food processing facilities. The OCIA earlier this year shut down most of its operations. Consumers and organic food retailers have long suspected there were problems with purportedly organic foods imported from China. Whole Foods Market will soon stock only two private label organic items from China, down from 30 two years ago.