NZFSSRC
Food safety: Is success our Achilles heel? Summary of food safety sessions at the NZIFST/NZFSSRC Conference, Auckland, 30 June to 2 July 2026
NZ Food Safety Science & Research Centre We do food safety “pretty bloody well”, said independent economist Shamubeel Eaqub in the opening NZFSSRC/NZIFST Conference plenary. But, he warned, the food industry is in danger of losing ‘social licence’ because of the unaffordability of our food at home. Could our export success also be our Achilles heel, with consequent high food prices causing political instability? Somehow, he said, we must keep our institutions strong – our regulators and entities like the NZ Food Safety & Research Centre - to maintain standards, while globally, organisations like the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation are being emasculated. Comparatively, New Zealanders still have trust in our institutions. Fast forward to the closing plenary of the Conference. Paul Harrison (Harrison Parker) had delegates in tears with his ‘scrapbook’ of the many things New Zealand has to be proud of and which have given us a reputation and profile far greater than our tiny population. He alluded to the trust Asian parents have in our infant formula, for example. New Zealand is still very high on the “least corruption” ranking.
shocked many with his AI predictions and timeline. How does one process and adapt to such speed of change? What is the right tension between caution and the need to stay abreast of this revolution? There was a feeling, talking to some delegates, that we are hurtling into the unknown.
With such plaudits, it’s tempting to rest on our laurels. Jack van der Sanden (Biomerieux) is a highly experienced food safety manager. Growth (the Conference theme) equals change, he said, and this puts food safety systems under pressure. Jack was at Fonterra in 2013, its annus horribilis. He cited the so-called Swiss cheese effect, where a number of small faults and omissions align with sometimes catastrophic results. He said there needs to be constant reinforcement with staff of why we must stick to food safety protocols. The Centre is holding its first “Food Safety Champions” workshop in Auckland, 11 August (there may still be spaces free), to create a supportive community of food safety professionals and encourage best practice.
Roger Cook (MPI-NZ Food Safety), another experienced food safety professional in the regulatory space, took a pragmatic approach to AI – here, ready or not - outlining where he thinks it can make the biggest impact: collating and summarising evidence, enhanced analysis of electronic data, machine vision, big data and dashboards – all making for better, faster decision making. The discussion also touched on the potential for more effective inspections, remote audits, and the transformative role of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs), including innovations such as organs-on-chips, and cell-based testing which have the potential to replace whole animal testing and generate data that is more directly relevant to human health. Such positive applications balance fears of adverse outcomes.
The extensive menu of food safety presentations at the Conference included a glimpse of transformative technologies. Jarred Mair (MPI)
PhD student Steffi Thomas (BSI), in her first (hard to believe!) big conference presentation took us through the various parameters of her
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Food New Zealand