Industry News

Dawn MacKeen October 25, 2019 The Age Kombucha is a fermented food, much like cultured yogurt, cheese, kefir, kimchi and sauerkraut. Traditionally a carbonated drink with live micro-organisms, kombucha is made by brewing together sugar, black or green tea, liquid from a previous batch and the Scoby, short for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (though its more popular nickname is “mother”, since it reproduces during fermentation). The “tea of immortality” has come a long way from its reported beginning in China more than 2000 years ago. It has evolved into a $US475 million ($692 million) industry in the United States, nearly quadrupling in the previous four years, according to Nielsen. “Booch,” as it’s known, flows at megastores, coffeehouses and workplaces; and in bars in a more boozy form, with enough alcohol to rival an IPA. What is kombucha said to do? The drinks are promoted as improving digestion and…

Laura Reiley Oct 24, 2019 AFR Washington | Plant-based meat burst onto the international stage this year, with a dramatic IPO from Beyond Meat and the Impossible Burger making its way into 17,000 restaurants in the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore and Macao, and retail outlets such as Wegmans, Gelson’s and Fairway Market. The product label is a long list of tough-to-pronounce ingredients – which meat advocates have seized on to assert that plant-based meat is highly processed. This month, the US Center for Food Safety, a watchdog group that opposes genetically engineered foods, called on the Food and Drug Administration to recall the Impossible Burger product from grocery stores, citing safety concerns because of its use of genetically engineered heme, an iron-rich molecule found in meat and plants, for use as a colour additive. The Impossible Burger is Cowin’s chief competitor in the fake-meat market. Impossible Burger hit by…

SIMON BENSON OCTOBER 28, 2019 The Australian  The UN narcotics agency has warned that the ACT Labor government’s move to legalise cannabis in the national capital had put Australia in violation of its international treaty obligations on illicit drug control. The International Narcotics Control Board has written to the federal government asking for clarification over the laws, citing concerns they contravened at least three international con­ventions to which Australia was a signatory. A copy of the correspondence obtained by The Australian was sent to Australia’s UN mission in Vienna, and forwarded on to the Department of Foreign ­Affairs and Trade and the ­Department of Health. It suggested the ACT government’s laws passed last month ­appeared in legal breach of the 1961 convention on narcotics drugs, which was amended under a 1972 protocol, the 1971 convention on psychotropic substances and the 1988 UN convention against illicit traffic in narcotic drug and psychotropic substances.…

GEOFF CHAMBERS OCTOBER 28, 2019 The Australian Electric vehicle drivers should be charged road-user costs, with 76 per cent of Australians calling on green-car owners to contribute to transport infrastructure, and ­almost one-in-two declaring it unfair they avoid paying fuel excise. New polling obtained by The Australian reveals pushback against electric vehicle owners, with Australian motorists warning “there shouldn’t be one rule for them and another for us”. The survey of 1500 Australians, conducted by pollster Toby Ralph for the Australian Automobile Association, shows an “overwhelming sentiment that all road users should pay to fund the roads, not just those using petrol or diesel”. The research, based on 1400 quantitative and 100 qualitative interviews across the nation in July, also revealed concerns about Australia holding 50 days of fuel stocks, with 55 per cent saying it was insufficient and 31 per cent unsure. AAA managing director Michael Bradley said the…

Tom Minear, State Political Editor October 27, 2019 HERALDSUN.COM.AU From Friday, lightweight plastic bags will be illegal in Victoria, however the Australian Retailers Association is worried that businesses may not be able to comply with the ban. Lightweight plastic bags will be illegal in Victoria from this Friday but concerns remain that some retailers are unprepared for the ban. The Australian Retailers Association is lobbying the Environment Protection Authority to give businesses an official grace period until March 31 next year to stop giving out single-use bags. But while the government is willing to take a “common sense approach” from November 1, Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said: “Retailers have had more than a year to get ready for this ban and we expect them to comply.” Businesses who ignore the ban can face fines of up to $49,500, and the EPA will be in charge of gathering intelligence and making…

David Marin-Guzman Oct 27, 2019 AFR Under-resourced payroll offices and a lax approach to compliance are driving a recent spate of multi-million dollar underpayments hitting big corporates, experts say. Fair Work Ombudsman and payroll specialists warned employers at a conference last week that they risked payroll errors accumulating over several years and across thousands of employees if they did not pay attention, while also acknowledging the complexity of the workplace system made compliance more difficult. Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker told Senate estimates last week the regulator will revisit its approach to employers who self-disclose underpayments. Paul Jeffers The regulators have seen a shift in underpayments over the past two years from small to medium businesses to major corporates, with multi-million dollar unpaid wage bills reported at Qantas, ABC, Thales and Wesfarmers’ Bunnings. FWO director of knowledge Cletus Brown said major companies had “taken their eye off the ball” by…