Red line on dairy
OPINION: As India negotiates to open its borders to more global products, dairy is proving a sticky issue.
The world's biggest producer of milk, India, has a problem: at least 68% of dairy products sold there don’t meet the food standards.
Here’s more bad news: according to the World Health Organisation, if such adulteration were not checked immediately, 87% of citizens would be suffering from serious diseases, even cancer, by 2025.
So researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology, (IIT) Hyderabad, seem to have found a way to help detect adulteration using a smartphone
A detector system will measure the acidity of milk through an indicator paper that changes colour depending on the level. The researchers have also developed algorithms that can be incorporated into a mobile phone to accurately detect the colour change. On testing milk spiked with various combinations of contaminants, the team found near-perfect classification with accuracy of 99.71%.
Three New Zealand agritech companies are set to join forces to help unlock the full potential of technology.
As the sector heads into the traditional peak period for injuries and fatalities, farmers are being urged to "take a moment".
Federated Farmers says almost 2000 farmers have signed a petition launched this month to urge the Government to step in and provide certainty while the badly broken resource consent system is fixed.
Zespri’s counter-seasonal Zespri Global Supply (ZGS) programme is underway with approximately 33 million trays, or 118,800 tonnes, expected this year from orchards throughout France, Italy, Greece, Korea, and Japan.
Animal owners can help protect life-saving antibiotics from resistant bacteria by keeping their animals healthy, says the New Zealand Veterinary Association.
According to analysis by the Meat Industry Association (MIA), New Zealand red meat exports reached $827 million in October, a 27% increase on the same period last year.