Montreal, PQ: A food additive found in literally thousands of food products could be subject to the largest ever food recall in North America, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The claim was carried this morning in a report by the Montreal Gazette. A batch of flavor enhancer manufactured by Basic Food Flavors...

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The government has summoned the Kenya Bureau of Standards and oil importers to a meeting on Monday next week to sort out the controversy over a multi-million oil inspection tender. This emerged even as the Industrialisation...

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U.S. Sen. David Vitter has called for federal officials to do a more thorough review of the deaths of several people who lived in homes that contained smelly, possibly toxic Chinese drywall. Federal officials at the Consumer Product Safety Commission said they have investigated and found no link between the drywall and the deaths of eight people...

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Here’s a question that popped up today during a panel discussion on the "Next Era of Food Safety” at the Atlantic Food Summit at the Newseum: Does the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have the authority to demand a recall when peanut butter or bagged spinach or jalapenos (or pick your favorite contaminated product) is deemed...

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Toyota’s recall of 8.5m cars, trucks and sports utility vehicles in recent months has shocked Japan, home of manufacturing innovations such as the kaizen philosophy of continuous improvement and “total quality management”. But while there is little evidence that Japan has got worse...

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Apple seems to be having supplier problems. Last week Wintek, one of Apple s suppliers, was reported to have been using a chemical, n-hexane, which had poisoned 49 workers. This week there is an issue with suppliers who use child labor to make Apple products. Either of these problems could impact any company that uses suppliers in areas where...

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Toyota Motor Corp.'s current mess is not the safety-related recall of a defective product. The mess is how the auto maker has mishandled the investigation and publicized its defect and the related recalls. Humans, and human creations such as companies, are fallible. The "relentless pursuit of perfection" (Lexus' tagline) is possible, but attaining perfection all of the time is not. Every car maker...

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To protectionists and Sinophobes, the news of China recently surpassing Germany to become the world’s largest exporter represents yet another nail in the coffin for manufacturing in “[insert Western country]”. But China’s exports include Apple’s ubiquitous iPods and countless other products designed in the West. More than a reflection of China’s growing economic might, this is testament...

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"Since the TVs work as designed, there's nothing to fix." That answer comes from Bob Perry, Senior VP of Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company, in reply to a follow-up question CNET asked in response to the company's February 3 statement addressing reports about the company's plasma TVs losing their deep black levels over time...

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Among the questions still swirling around Apple Inc.'s new iPad is whether the tablet computing device will boost the memory-chip market this year as much as many in the industry hope. If the iPad creates the buzz that the iPhone and iPod did several years ago, leading rival companies to launch similar products to compete, that could be...

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