BERLIN, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - Berlin butchers got together to request a patent on their currywurst sausage from the European Patent Office, according to Bild newspaper Saturday.

The butchers' objective is to 'geographically' protect their culinary invention, the 1949 creation of one Herta Heuwer, a Berliner who served her snack in the western part of the then divided city day and night.

A plaque marks the spot of her famous foodstall, which was an institution at the time.

ROME, Oct 16, 2007 (AFP) - The UN food agency marked World Food Day on Tuesday with an appeal for concrete action to guarantee the "basic human right" of freedom from hunger.

"Our planet produces enough food to adequately feed its entire population," Director-General Jacques Diouf said at a ceremony at the Food and Agriculture Organisation's Rome headquarters.

"Yet tonight, 854 million women, men and children will go to sleep on an empty stomach," Diouf added.

ROME, Oct 16, 2007 (AFP) - The UN food agency marked World Food Day on Tuesday with an appeal for concrete action to guarantee the "basic human right" of freedom from hunger.

"Our planet produces enough food to adequately feed its entire population," Director-General Jacques Diouf said at a ceremony at the Food and Agriculture Organisation's Rome headquarters.

"Yet tonight, 854 million women, men and children will go to sleep on an empty stomach," Diouf added.

KANO, Oct 16, 2007 (AFP) - Fears of an imminent food shortage have gripped northern Nigeria following a shorter-than-usual rainy season and a locust invasion, officials and grain dealers said.

Accordingly grain merchants are withholding their goods in the hope of being able to command higher prices if they supply markets once an actual shortage is under way.

GENEVA, Oct 16, 2007 (AFP) - The UN food agency Tuesday said it had started airdropping food to thousands of flood victims in northern Uganda, where a quarter of a million people have fled their homes.

About 117 tonnes of food have been dropped to 10,000 people in two camps for displaced people since Saturday, said World Food Programme spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume.

The programme will continue for at least a month in the region, where flash floods sparked by torrential rain have severed road links, she told journalists.

ROME, Oct 16, 2007 (AFP) - The UN food agency's annual World Food Day on Tuesday will urge concerted action to fight hunger across the planet under the slogan "The Right to Food: Make It Happen."

"The right to food is not a utopia," said Barbara Ekwall of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). "It can be for all. Some countries are on the way to doing this, but everyone should contribute to make this happen."

MILAN, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - The Italian dairy group Parmalat said Thursday it had accepted payments from Swiss bank GKB in return for dropping a legal case against it stemming from financial operations prior to Parmalat's collapse in 2003.

GKB agreed to pay 20.75 million euros (29.4 million dollars), Parmalat said.

Parmalat had contested certain financial operations by GKB to pay insurance premiums on bond issues by the Bank of America on behalf of Parmalat in the United States, according to press reports here.

TOKYO, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - A Japanese dairy company on Thursday announced the launch of super-premium milk for stressed-out adults -- at the price of 43 dollars for a bottle of 900 millilitres, or one quart.

Tokyo-based Nakazawa Foods will launch the 'Adult Milk' line of products in October targetting 'adults who live in a stressful society,' the company said in a statement.

The price of 5,000 yen a bottle is nearly 30 times as expensive as ordinary milk even in Tokyo, which is famous for its high prices.

GENEVA, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - The Red Cross warned on Wednesday that a food crisis could be looming across east and west Africa due to the massive damage wrought on crops by ongoing flooding.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies highlighted the situation in Ghana, Sudan and Uganda, which are among the largest nations out of the 22 struck by floods that have affected an estimated 1.5 million people.

HARARE, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - A consignment of at least 1,000 tonnes of wheat imported from Mozambique has been delivered to ease bread shortages in Zimbabwe, which is in the midst of an economic crisis, a state daily reported.

The consignment had earlier been blocked in Mozambique over debts owed to an unnamed foreign supplier.

'At least 1,000 tonnes of wheat, the first consignment of the 36,000 tonnes held in Mozambique, has arrived in Zimbabwe after government secured foreign currency to pay the supplier,' the Herald newspaper said.

PARIS, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - Anne-Sophie Pic, who this year won the coveted three Michelin stars for her restaurant Maison Pic in Valence, has been named 'chef of the year' in a poll of 8,000 French cooks.

Pic, 38, was the first woman to win the award since it was created by 'Le Chef' magazine in 1987.

Her third Michelin star, awarded in February, was seen as a major breakthrough for women in a traditionally male-dominated profession. She was only the fourth woman to get the accolade since the guide began its awards in 1926.

MALABO, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - The parliament of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea expressed serious concern Monday over the skyrocketing prices of basic staples, terming it an 'emergency situation.'

Despite spectacular growth fuelled by huge oil and gas reserves, poverty levels are alarming across the country, sub-Saharan Africa's third largest oil exporter, and basic services such as tap water remain out of reach for many.

COTONOU, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - More than 2,000 people have been made homeless by floods in Benin's cotton-growing north and 80 percent of farmland in the region has been affected, a local official said on Monday.

'We have more than 2,000 victims that we are housing in classrooms and more than 4,000 hectares (9,900 acres) of land for rice, millet, corn and cotton have been affected,' the mayor of the Malanville commune in the north of the country, Koumba Gadje, told AFP by telephone.

BEIJING, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - A state-run cafe has opened in Beijing's Forbidden City on the premises where Starbucks closed down earlier this year amid charges the US chain sullied the site, state media said.

The 'Forbidden City Cafe,' managed by the authorities that oversee the historic imperial quarters, serves both coffee and traditional Chinese tea, the Xinhua news agency reported late Sunday.

RABAT, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - Police and demonstrators protesting high food prices clashed Sunday in the central Moroccan city of Sefrou, leaving 50 people injured, officials and witnesses said.

Witnesses said the demonstrators, who threw rocks at police, also trashed a bank office, several shops and an local administration office.

Police arrested about 30 people, according to witnesses.

The Moroccan Human Rights Association, which organised the demonstration, said that police had detained 28 people, including two of its activists.

BEIJING, Sept 22, 2007 (AFP) - The number of children hospitalised with food poisoning after eating school meals at a kindergarten in northwest China has risen to 307, up from an earlier figure of 260, state media said Saturday.

The children, all from the same kindergarten in Wuwei city, Gansu province, suffered fever, vomiting and stomach ache after having porridge and buns for breakfast at school on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

BEIJING, Sept 22, 2007 (AFP) - China will ensure ample food supply in the coming months to keep prices down, state media said Saturday, in yet another reaction to shock inflation figures released recently.

The price of food staples such as wheat, soybean and pork are to be kept at an affordable level by measures such as boosting supply or lowering duties, the Xinhua news agency said, citing several government ministries.

GENEVA, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - The World Trade Organisation on Friday upheld a complaint by the United States against Turkish measures on rice imports, saying Ankara's policies were inconsistent with global trade rules.

The WTO's dispute settlement panel said Turkish import restrictions on rice were inconsistent with international trade rules, according to the ruling released here.

The panel called on Turkey to bring them into line with WTO agreements.

ATHENS, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - The Greek government has warned farmers in areas devastated by last month's wildfires to be extra careful in rebuilding their sheep and goat flocks to ensure high-quality production of Greece's renowned feta cheese, the semi-state Athens News Agency reported Thursday.

The agriculture ministry has impressed upon farmers in the Peloponnese peninsula south of Athens to only choose sheep and goats of Greek stock for fear of altering the composition of the soft briny cheese, ANA said.

GENEVA, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - The Swiss food giant Nestle said Thursday that its Americas chief, Paul Bulcke, a long-standing company executive, has been nominated to replace chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe as chief executive next April.

Nestle said in a statement that Bulcke's nomination by the board of directors will be put to shareholders at the group's next annual general meeting on April 10, 2008.

'Nestle's Board confirmed that Mr. Peter Brabeck-Letmathe will serve as active, non-executive, Chairman of the Board,' the statement said.

GENEVA, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - The Swiss food giant Nestle said Thursday that the head of its Americas zone, Paul Bulcke, has been nominated to replace chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe as chief executive next April.

Nestle said in a statement that Bulcke's nomination by the board of directors will be put to shareholders at the group's next annual general meeting on April 10, 2008.

'Nestle's Board confirmed that Mr. Peter Brabeck-Letmathe will serve as active, non-executive, Chairman of the Board,' the statement said.

LONDON, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - The British competition watchdog accused British supermarkets and dairies on Thursday of colluding to fix prices, resulting in customers being overcharged 270 million pounds (386 million euros, 542 million dollars) for dairy products.

The Office of Fair Trading said it had provisionally found that a price-fixing agreement was in place between 2002-2003, with supermarket giants Asda, Morrisons, Safeway, Sainsbury's and Tesco involved.

PARIS, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - Top French chef Alain Ducasse is taking over one of France's top pastry schools, which had fallen on hard times due to declining enrollment.

Ducasse told a news conference Thursday that the national higher school of pastry (ENSP) in Yssingeaux, central France, faced closure, which 'saddened me.'

He is joining 'patisserie' and chocolate chief Yves Thuries to set up a company that will run the school, set up in 1984 and the only one in France that offers advanced courses to trained chefs.

LONDON, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - British supermarket group J Sainsbury said Thursday it would open its books to takeover suitor and Qatari investment fund Delta Two.

The Qatari group had bid 10.6 billion pounds (15.7 billion euros, 21.7 billion dollars) last July for Britain's third-biggest supermarket operator.

'The board of Sainsbury's has unanimously agreed that Delta Two may undertake a limited period of confirmatory due diligence on the Company in order to progress its proposal,' the two groups said in a joint statement.

BEIJING, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - Two hundred and sixty children have been hospitalised for suspected food poisoning after having school breakfast in northwest China, state media reported Thursday.

The children, all from the same kindergarten in Wuwei city, Gansu province, suffered from fever, vomiting and stomach ache after having porridge and buns for breakfast at school on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Sixteen of them are suffering from more serious symptoms while the rest have shown improvement, the report said, quoting the local government.

BEIJING, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - China's government vowed Tuesday to continue to crack down on shoddy and fake food products, but a top official cautioned the task was far from easy and problems remained unsolved.

We have 'undertaken the heavy task of inspecting product quality and food safety, this task is arduous and the responsibility huge,' said Zhou Bohua, the director of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.

'As far as product quality and standards are concerned, there still exist problems in every part of the country,' he told a press conference.

BEIJING, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - China will reward pig raisers with cash in a bid to ensure pork supply, state media said Tuesday, as the rising price of the dietary staple continued to add pressure on inflation.

The finance ministry has earmarked a fund of 1.5 billion yuan (199 million dollars) for 253 counties in China that supply 600,000 to 800,000 pigs on average every year, the China Daily reported.

DHAKA, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - A new strain of rice may be able to resist floods that destroy vast tracts of paddy fields in Bangladesh each year, offering hope to millions of poor farmers, researchers say.

The farmers lose their rice crops when fields are submerged by annual floods triggered when rivers, fed by heavy monsoon rains and melting Himalayan glaciers, burst their banks.

LONDON, Sept 16, 2007 (AFP) - British government ministers have decided to back a campaign to introduce genetically-modified crops in the country, The Guardian reported in an early edition of its Monday paper.

Citing a senior government source, whom it did not identify, the paper said that ministers were confident that the public's concern over the environment would trump its historic wariness over genetically modified crops.

'GM will come back to the UK; the question is how it comes back, not whether it's coming back,' the source told the newspaper.

TOKYO, Sept 15, 2007 (AFP) - Japanese consumers hoping to reduce their dependence on petrol at the pump are getting a surprise as they feel the pinch elsewhere -- when they sip orange juice, slurp noodles or bite into a sandwich.

As more people embrace ethanol and other biofuels as eco-friendly alternatives to fossil fuels in curbing global warming, the unintended consequence is a rise in food prices as demand puts pressure on agriculture.

LONDON, Sept 14, 2007 (AFP) - British researchers said Friday they had cracked a sticky problem which scientists have been chewing over for years by inventing gum which is easily removable from shoes, pavements and hair.

Its developers Revolymer say that the chewing gum, which should be launched next year, disappears naturally within 24 hours.

ROME, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - Italians largely snubbed a call for a 'pasta strike' to protest rising food prices on Thursday in an action called by several Italian consumer groups.

A few dozen people gathered outside parliament in Rome handing out free pasta, bread and milk.

But a grocer in central Rome said: 'I for one will not stop eating pasta, it's the basis of Italian food par excellence! And judging from what I've seen on the shelves, the customers are not changing their buying habits today.'

BEIJING, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - China is making good progress in solving its food safety problems and should not be singled out as a global danger, a World Health Organisation official said Thursday.

'They are on the right track,' Jorgen Schlundt, director of the WHO's department of food safety, told AFP in a phone interview in regards to China's campign to improve its food standards.

'It's not going to solve everything, it needs more profound changes and I think they know that.'

KABUL, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - Saudi Arabia has given two million dollars of dates to supplement the diet of Afghan children who lack proper nutrition because of insecurity and disasters, the World Food Programme said Wednesday.

The 2,000 tons of dates will be given to given to children at primary schools, WFP said in a statement.

Insecurity and natural disasters such as drought and floods 'have had a severe impact on the basic nutritional needs of millions of poor people, especially Afghan children,' it said.

LONDON, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - London has overtaken Tokyo and Paris to become the world's most expensive city for dining out, a new international survey revealed Wednesday.

At an average of 39.09 pounds (57.40 euros, 54.08 dollars), the price of a three-course meal for one in the British capital city has increased by 2.9 percent from 2006, according to the survey for the Zagat restaurant guide.

AMMAN, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - Jordan's King Abdullah II on Tuesday urged the government to clamp down on food price rises in the run-up to the holy fasting month of Ramadan, due to start this week.

'Ramadan is due to start and the most important things for me are prices and the availability of basic foodstuffs for the people,' the king told a weekly cabinet meeting, according to state-run Petra news agency.

'We must protect the people. There are various mechanisms and I will monitor this very seriously,' he said.

MOSCOW, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - Moscow city council members plan to support the opening of a chain of halal stores selling food products prepared in accordance with Muslim tradition, a councillor said Tuesday.

The head of the council's religious and ethnic affairs committee, Igor Yeleferenko, said the committee had been approached for help by the Russian Council of Muftis.

He said the appearance of halal shops would also help foster tolerance.

HANOI, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - A frown crosses the face of Nguyen Thi Huong as she peruses the fresh produce at a Vietnamese market -- a series of f