Wellington, July 22 NZPA - A bill that will replace the 30-year-old Food Act was given its first reading in Parliament today. The 342-page Food Bill has taken three years to draft and Food Safety Minister Kate Wilkinson says it is a big improvement on existing law.

Wellington, June 6 NZPA - Support for a supermarket code of conduct is growing and the Green Party says there must be an independent watchdog to oversee it.

Wellington, June 5 NZPA - Vegetable and fruit growers are backing a call for an investigation of supermarket prices, although the retail marketers deny they are ripping off consumers with huge mark-ups.

Wellington, June 5 NZPA - Supermarkets don't rip off customers with huge mark-ups on fruit and vegetables, the Food and Grocery Council says.

Wellington, July 4 NZPA - A Green Party survey shows fruit and vegetable growers face ruin from New Zealand's two giant supermarket chains using their duopoly position to put the growing industry at risk.

Wellington, June 21 NZPA - Some New Zealand food companies are being slippery about whether they use palm oil, according to a Green Party survey.

By Chris Ormond of NZPA

Wellington, June 3 NZPA - Discussion about the cost of looming redundancies resulting from the merging of councils in Auckland is premature and unfair to staff who are affected by the changes, says Local Government Minister Rodney Hide.

Wellington, May 12 NZPA - The country would be outraged if children were treated as poorly as the elderly were, Green MP Sue Kedgley said today after the first meeting in a Grey Power-Labour-Greens inquiry into aged care.

Wellington, May 12 NZPA - An aged care investigation being undertaken by Grey Power, along with Green and Labour MPs, starts with a public meeting on the Kapiti Coast today, with a string of nationwide meetings to follow.