World Business Quick Take

■ Technology
Florist prints on roses
Roses long conveyed love, but they can now carry a personal message on their petals with the use of computer technology unveiled yesterday. FarEastFlora.com and Hewlett-Packard Co launched what they say is the first full-color printing on fresh flowers. The message is printed on a "floral-safe membrane" by a color laser-jet printer and applied onto the roses, said Ryan Chioh, FarEastFlora's executive director. The technology, which was developed in Singapore, has a patent pending. The project has been two years in the making. The petal can accommodate about three lines of text or a picture slightly bigger than a postage stamp.

■ Fast food
McDonald's to explain fats
A judge has approved an US$8.5 million educational campaign by McDonald's Corp to settle lawsuits filed against the fast-food giant for failing to reduce its use of partially hydrogenated oil. In February, McDonald's agreed to pay US$7 million to the American Heart Association to educate people about trans fats in foods. It also agreed to spend US$1.5 million publicizing that it had not followed through on its 2002 pledge to switch to a healthier cooking oil. BanTransFats.com, a nonprofit advocacy group, sued McDonald's in California state court in 2003. In September 2002, McDonald's announced it would lower trans fat in its cooking oils and said the switch would be completed in five months. In February 2003, McDonald's announced a delay. The lawsuit accused the Oak Brook, Illinois-based company of failing to adequately inform consumers of that delay.

■ Airline industry
Caterer asks for volunteers
Ailing caterer Gate Gourmet and trade union officials said yesterday they have agreed to explore voluntary redundancies over the next week in a bid to resolve a crippling labor row. The breakthrough -- made in talks on Thursday night -- came as the US-owned company said it was investigating allegations made in a newspaper of security and hygiene breaches at its branch at London's Heathrow airport. Gate Gourmet said it will send letters to all 1,400 staff at Heathrow as well as 670 sacked workers asking them if they want to quit. The firm is expected to meet members of the Transport and General Workers' Union again next week to discuss the responses. Gate Gourmet said it needed to cut 675 jobs at its Heathrow operation, and that it retained the right to make forced redundancies if insufficient volunteers step forward.

■ Telecoms
Web phones menace Vonage
As Vonage Holdings Corp, a company that offers low-cost phone services in the US, plans for a share sale, competition in the virtually unregulated Internet phone service market is lowering profit, the Wall Street Journal said. Both Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Corp now offer Internet-based phone services, a number of cable companies and new businesses are providing similar facilities and within a year most major communications companies will be offering phone calls based on the Internet, the newspaper said. About 4 million Americans will purchase telephone services through the Internet by the end of the year and that number may increase to 17 million in three years, the Journal said, citing independent analyst Jon Arnold.