Food New Zealand, April May 2021

A pril /M ay 2021

NZ’S AUTHORITY ON FOOD TECHNOLOGY, RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURING

FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE: Ingredients for food products - Overview Foodtech Packtech Preview - 13 - 15 April

THE MEANING OF 'MILK' - is your choice nourishing?

THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE OF FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INC.

Contents

NZ’S AUTHORITY ON FOOD TECHNOLOGY, RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURING

APRIL/MAY 2021 | VOLUME 21, NO.2 ISSN 1175 – 4621

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5

EDITORIAL

5 IN-BRIEF News, views and information from around and about

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FOOD SAFETY

12

OVERVIEW

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L & N NEWS

New Zealand Food Safety Update

MPI, Covid-19 and the food industry: supply issues

FSANZ Food Regulation and the Case for Encouraging Innovation

Food Ingredients

A review of the latest news in the realm of natural compounds and health

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Laurence Eyres FNZIFST and Mike Eyres B.Sc.

J C ANDREWS ADDRESS

The Rewards and Challenges of Industry Focused Research Professor Phil Bremer, University of Otago

Contacts Peppermint Press Ltd 5 Rupi Court, Mt Wellington Auckland 1072, New Zealand Phone 64 21 901 884 www.foodnz.co.nz

Food NZ is distributed to all members of the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology.

An online edition is shared internationally.

Visit www.foodnz.co.nz to subscribe.

Copyright © 2020 Peppermint Press No part of this publication may be reproduced or copied in any form by any means (graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping information retrieval systems, or otherwise) without the written permission of Peppermint Press. The views expressed in this journal are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent the view of the Publisher, the Scientific Review Board, NZIFST or MIA.

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Food New Zealand

Director and Editor Anne Scott, Peppermint Press Limited anne@foodnz.co.nz Director and Writer Dave Pooch, Peppermint Press Limited davep@me.com Advertising Anne Scott, anne@foodnz.co.nz 021 901 884 Design and Layout Johanna Paynter, Pix Design, Regular Contributors Richard Archer, Laurence Eyres, Dave Pooch, Rosemary Hancock, John Lawson

Published by Peppermint Press Limited Notice to Contributors When submitting editorial for Food New Zealand please observe the following, Editorial to be submitted as plain text files, NO FORMATTING please. Images should be sent as high resolution .jpg or .tiff files. Do not embed images in word documents, send separate files. Any images smaller than 500 kb may not be printed as the clarity of the print may be compromised.

Advertisers Material specification sheet and rate card on website, www.foodnz.co.nz

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OPINION

The meaning of “Milk” and other traditional animal- sourced foods Allan Main BTech (Food Tech) FNZIFST, Principal, MAINly Consulting Ltd

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RISK Risk Mitigation Stewart Hunt, Managing Director, First Commercial Insurance

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FTPT

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FIET

Food Industry Enabling Technologies April 2021 Reports

Don't miss Foodtech Packtech

Richard Archer, Jolin Morel, Qun Chen, Jim Jones, Merit Mathew, Lindsay Robertson, Jason Hindmarsh

46 54 24

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MEAT WORKSHOP

AgResearch and Meat Industry Association

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NZIFST CAREERS

Food Technology in schools

Jenny Dee FNZIFST

46 NZIFST News, INCLUDING: Conference

New members

Spotlight on Hester Cooper FNZIFST

Branch Events

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STUDENT ESSAY Wool on a plate?

Rochelle Gounder, Student, University of Otago

JOIN NZIFST NOW for Executive Manager, Rosemary Hancock PO Box 5574, Terrace End, Palmerston North 4441, New Zealand Phone: 06 356 1686 or 021 217 8298, Email: rosemary@nzifst.org.nz, Website: www.nzifst.org.nz

Professional Development Networking – connecting with your peers Regular information about your industry Recognition through awards, scholarships, travel grants www.nzifst.org.nz/join/

On the cover Our distant ancestors discovered that grains were nutritious, then the nutritional value of animal protein, then cooking to improve digestibility. Now we are looking at moving away from animal protein back to plant protein.

Next editorial and advertising deadline: May 19, 2021 Features for June/July 2021 NZIFST Conference Handbook, including Programme Managing Risks in Food processing and manufacturing

April/May 2021

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Editorial

EDITORIAL What's in a name?

As food technologists we are fascinated by the growth in the market of foods created to substitute for those we grew up with; meat, milk, cheese, for example - yes, animal proteins. But... I also feel uncomfortable with the easy adoption of traditional terminology for what are not only foods (I use that term with some unease) that may look like the original, but seldom taste the same, and rarely have anything like the nutritional benefits of meat, milk or cheese, for example. Yes, there are valid environmental concerns driving changes from animal proteins to vegetable proteins, or other protein analogues. I am aware that citing current high costs as a negative ignores the fact that general adoption of meat substitutes will bring economies of scale in production. But... but, I agree with Allan Main FNZIFST, in his Opinion Piece, page 28, that our bodies' nutritional needs are unbelievably complex and rushing headlong into this area may bring with it longer term nutritional deficiencies. We have evolved over tens of thousands of years to be omnivores, it will take more than a century, say, to adjust our digestive systems to

Anne Scott FNZIFST, Editor

extract the macro and micro nutrients we need from other sources of proteins, no matter how carefully produced are the non animal protein analogues.

Part of the issue is lack of consumer understanding that it may say 'milk' on the package, but that doesn't mean it is as good for you as the product of our dairy animals. Allan cites consumer research data on this in his article.

What do you think?

Looking for a particular ingredient for your NPD? Our annual, April/May Ingredients overview reflects the move in new product development towards non-animal proteins with several offerings that support that niche. The move towards clean label, with what are now known as colouring foods, for example, is clear. Unlike say, 10 years ago, no-one is promoting chemical preservatives, although plant derived preservatives are growing in prominence. The end of the story is that we are now enjoying many more foods with low or zero levels of preservatives, and our fridges are getting fuller with "refrigerate after opening" labels appearing more frequently. See page 12 for more information.

Foodtech Packtech, 13 - 15 April Now that life is returning to normal (is it?) in 2021 we are all grateful to be able to gather with our food industry peers. This year Foodtech Packtech, now April 13-15 in Auckland, rescheduled from last September, will be full of the usual exhibitors, coupled with a strong seminar and workshop series.

NZIFST Conference 2021 A line up of stellar plenary speakers will set the scene supported by sessions covering everything from "Covid" – of course, to repurposing waste materials, to using online, or cloud data to support Food Safety in processing to novel, innovative processing and testing methods. Don't miss it. July 6-8, Palmerston North, See page 49 for more information.

Sliding on A new column next issue - can you guess what it will be about, and the author?

Anne Scott FNZIFST, Editor

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Food New Zealand

In-Brief

In-Brief In Brief is Food New Zealand’s pick of the news stories about NZIFST members, about companies with relationships with NZIFST plus items that catch our interest.

Massey Professor’s input sought for UN Food Systems Summit Distinguished Professor Paul Moughan (Riddet Institute Centre of Research Excellence, hosted by Massey University) has been invited to submit a briefing document to the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) 2021. The UN is spearheading initiatives for future sustainable food production and global food security and the Secretary-General will convene a summit this year. The UN aims to launch bold new actions to transform the way the world produces and consumes food, delivering progress on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Feed Our Future A New Zealand Sustainable Food Systems Dialogue event.

Sustainably feeding a growing population is a global problem, but also one for New Zealand to consider.

Where does our reputation for high quality, premium food products fit in a hungrier world?

How can kiwi innovation and ingenuity make a difference to the global future of food?

At this event, stakeholders and decision makers will come together for an accessible, evidence-based discussion of the key global issues and the local decisions that we need to make. We will explore the current conversation of sustainable food, bringing moderation and balance to what is often a debate of extremes. This dialogue will inspire our future decisions and put New Zealand at the front of the sustainable food systems debate.

We hope you can join us in Wellington.

The event is convened by Professor Warren McNabb, Sustainable Nutrition Initiative, Deputy Director, Riddet Institute

Distinguished Professor Paul Moughan (Riddet Institute Centre of Research Excellence, hosted by Massey University)

Professor Moughan will provide a brief on the Asian region, that will be combined with similar reports for the Americas, Africa and Europe, for the global brief. The invitation is based on his involvement with the International Academy Partnership (IAP) project on world food and nutritional security; and his authorship of the Association for Academies and Societies of Sciences in Asia (IFASSA) report on food and nutritional security for Asia. The IAP was invited to prepare the reports for the summit by the UNFSS Scientific Group, an independent group of leading researchers and scientists from around the world. The Scientific Group are responsible for ensuring the robustness, breadth and independence of the science that underpins the UN FSS Summit and its outcomes IAP reports are created by a global network of science, engineering and medical academics, working together to provide independent expert advice on scientific, technological and health issues. The policy briefs for the Food Systems Summit covers issues for transformation of food systems for improved health, nutrition, sustainable agriculture, and the environment. In the lead up to the Summit, the Riddet Institute is hosting a New Zealand food systems dialogue ‘Feed Our Future’, focused on the role of our country in a sustainable food system of the future.

Te Papa, Wellington

IAP reports for the UN FSS: https://www.interacademies.org/index. php/news/interacademy-partnership-iap-united-nations-food-systemssummit-un-fss

Register https://masseyuni.wufoo.com/forms/m5j1a871p2bfut/

UN Food Systems Summit: https://www.un.org/food-systems-summit

Join us on Wednesday 9 June, 2021, 9.30am - 5.00pm

April/May 2021

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In-Brief

Technology Scanning contact, Nikki Middleditch

Riddet information scanning Discover breakthrough commercial potential, keep your innovation funnel loaded!

This new service spotlights key technology advances from publications, patents and conferences.

Do you need a fresh set of eyes to keep your innovation funnel well-supplied? Do you ever worry that there is a real breakthrough that would significantly change or extend your business – or your competitors' business if you miss it! How can you keep an eye on the publications related to food topics, or make sense of new patents or attend all those conferences?

Massey University experts are now underway with our advertised process of developing an emerging technologies scanning service for the New Zealand food industry.

We are looking for both significant advances within existing fields and quick wins (mature technology from other fields) – each valuable in a different way.

In our last two updates, we noted the emerging options for the removal of fat from whey concentrates, an application of ultrasonic cavitation to the treatment of specific milk proteins, the development of "home food recyclers" (considered a valuable future approach to the major issue of food waste), the emergence of a human milk oligosaccharide (HMO) shown to improve cognitive-perceptual processes, and also processes for the extraction of bioactive substances from macroalgae. Scanning since then has identified a number of useful advances, among them are an efficient way of extracting multi-use nano-cellulose from otherwise low-value apple pomace, developments towards a process for home brewing on a per serving basis, technology to obtaining additional fermentation from "spent" distillers' grain, options for obtaining Omega3-rich extracts from macroalgae, and market options for frozen pellets of food liquids. New developments are emerging all the time - the trick is to find them!

We are taking advantage of the large number of trade/academic sources, databases, conferences and specialised abstracting services, as well as our staff ’s extensive contacts with industry and other research institutions. Equally importantly, we are leveraging our existing knowledge of current technology to highlight items of specific relevance from this large volume of material.

We have already had contact with industry players who recognise the opportunity and are also concerned to identify ranges of fruitful future options – and avoid being back-footed. Please contact Nikki Middleditch at the FoodPilot, in confidence, to discuss how this service can assist you. [N.Middleditch@massey.ac.nz]

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Food New Zealand

AIP to introduce NEW Beverage Training Course Bookings are now open for the NEW Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) ‘Packaging in the Beverage Industry’ Virtual Training Course which will be held on the 30 June 2021. The AIP trainer will be Dr Martin Orzinski MAIP, Director, Orzinski Consulting with Guest Lecturers Anthony Druitt MAIP (Coca-Cola Amatil) and Michael Furlong (Universal Closures).

Please note that NZIFST Members receive a discount.

The new ‘Packaging in the Beverage Industry’ training course will provide the tools and techniques for developing beverage packaging to excel in the marketplace. The two key influencing factors on product and packaging are consumer preferences which too often are being addressed through NPDs and cost pressure to manage a successful P&L. The course is structured to create the decision making aspects from a commercialisation process. This course will focus on the requirements of primary, secondary and tertiary packaging. These sections will include prototype testing regime, sustainable packaging guiding principles, QA testing details, shelf-life requirements, continuous improvement thoughts.

The role of beverage packaging during this course is approached through an End-2-End review along the supply value chain. Therefore, understanding manufacturing capabilities, a specific focus at the POS, packaging as the driving force in sustainability and the development of a long term beverage packaging strategy roadmap are the essential contents which will be addressed. External experts, graphics, literature sources & videos will be used for various chapters.

Book your place today http://aipack.com.au/event-registration/?ee=312 NZIFST Members receive a discount

Who’s gone where?

NZIFST members who are changing jobs, moving overseas, starting their own businesses...

Jess King has moved from Davis Trading and joined Countdown as a Food Safety Partner.

Dave Wyllie is working for BHF technologies as National Sales Manager based in Hamilton. Still remaining in the field of filtration for food and beverage and Pharmaceutical customers and applications.

In-Brief

Innovative technologies making a difference for food manufacturers Aotearoa’s food producers work hard. The business of producing safe, high quality food in a competitive market, while navigating national and international regulatory standards, requires good process and highly skilled personnel. It’s a fast-paced industry and production time matters, so choosing a laboratory partner who can deliver fast test results, can really make a difference.

With six laboratories across New Zealand, AsureQuality offers a comprehensive range of testing services to the food and primary production sectors. They continually invest in innovative technologies which enables them to deliver fast and accurate test results to support their partners.

Rapid microbiology testing can deliver real benefits to food manufacturers when time matters most. There is a wide range of laboratory testing technology in the microbiology field, so it is important to understand what technology is used and what this can mean for your results. Receiving a positive test result for Listeria, Salmonella or Cronobacter can have huge consequences for a food manufacturer, while receiving a false positive test causes unnecessary delays and stress that can be avoided.

AsureQuality provides a comprehensive range of microbiology testing and have invested in advanced technology, utilising dual detection which delivers improved specificity and a market-leading low falsepositive rate. This technology enables them to deliver next day test results for: Salmonella, Listeria, Cronobacter, B.cereus, S.aureus, E.coli, Coliforms, and Enterobacteriaceae. AsureQuality is the only laboratory in New Zealand offering a next day confirmation following presumptive outcomes for Listeria, Salmonella and Cronobacter.

AsureQuality is also the first laboratory in New Zealand to offer an accredited FT-NIR service for simultaneous analysis and rapid turnaround times of fat, protein, moisture, and ash in selected dairy powders, which is good news for kiwi exporters. The FT-NIR instrument provides benefits such as the ability to adjust levels of different components for improved nutritional value for overseas market access and can also improve yield, reduce wastage, and increase profit margins. This new method is extremely precise and delivers results within one to two days.

Talk to our team about how we can support your business; 0508 00 11 22 or go to asurequality.com.

April/May 2021

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In-Brief

Petition for Code of Conduct for Supermarkets tabled in Parliament The NZ Food & Grocery Council’s petition seeking Parliament’s support for the establishment of a mandatory Grocery Code of Conduct for supermarkets, to introduce more transparent supplier/retailer business relationships, has been presented by Chief Executive Katherine Rich to Ohariu MP Greg O’Connor at Parliament.

similar to those in Australia and the United Kingdom to address potential abuses of market power towards food and grocery manufacturers arising from New Zealand’s highly concentrated grocery retail market. “This market dominance has led to concerns about market power and potential abuses of the food and grocery suppliers to supermarkets,” it says.

Mr O’Connor said he was happy to receive it, saying it deserved the scrutiny of the House of Representatives and anything that benefited consumers had to be a good thing.

He also said a Code would also be good for supermarket owners, with those with good practice not being disadvantaged by the bad ones, because everyone would be working to the same rules.

The petition, which attracted 500 signatures, seeks a Code

Katherine Rich said she was grateful and delighted Mr O’Connor had received the petition, which has now been tabled in Parliament and will be allocated to a Select Committee for consideration.

Katherine Rich, Chief Executive, NZFGC

The petition can be read here: https://www.parliament. nz/en/pb/petitions/document/PET_102583/petition-ofkatherine-rich-grocery-code-of-conduct-for

Is your Milk Safe?

New antibiotic test kit range simplifies compliance for all players in the milk value chain MilkSafe is Chr. Hansen’s new test range that enables detection of the most common dairy antibiotic residues in milk. The equipment and digital services test for antibiotic residues throughout the milk value chain, helping producers reduce contamination to minimise waste, optimise sustainability and save money.

Tests are comprehensively validated by an external third-party laboratory (ILVO1) and can be conducted at any point between the on and fridge: farm

NZIFST is now LinkedIn and • Facebook.

At the farm: A Mini Incubator allows the farmer to visually interpret results and quickly control for the presence of antibiotic residues.

Have you joined us on • aOn the truck: A Portable Reader tests for residues during milk Linked in yet? NZIFST has transportation. Combined with the MilkSafe™ App, the test results group page. are stored in a cloud-based data management system, providing Have you “friended” us traceable documentation and transparency. on Facebook yet? Our • In the laboratory: A Desktop Reader and a Data Manager (PC page address is https:// software that transfers data from Desktop Reader to PC) enable www.facebook.com/ groups/Food.New.Zealand/easy interpretation of test results.

This moderated group Digital documentation for traceability and transparency page is available for all MilkSafe’s portable reader and app enable digital integration at your members of NZIFST to fingertips and ensures a systematic approach to rapid antibiotic testing, upload and comment on storing data for full traceability and ease of future documentation. media misinformation, “We are excited to launch the MilkSafe test kit range because we and for branches to share upcoming events and believe it is a perfect tool for helping customers improve their quality assurance standards to meet growing demands from legislators and activities. Come and join in. alike,” says Christian Bendix Jensen, director for test kits Links to both LinkedIn consumers and and equipment at Chr. Hansen.

FB are on the NZIFST home page.

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Food New Zealand

In-Brief

2020 New Zealand Food Industry Salary Survey is now open ** This survey and comprehensive report are FREE for participating companies** (Normal value $450.00) Lawson Williams Consulting Group, The New Zealand Institute of Food Science & Technology (NZIFST) and The New Zealand Food & Grocery Council (NZFGC) invite you to participate in the 2nd New Zealand Food Industry Salary Survey. The survey is designed for employers to participate with respect to technical positions in their companies.

• Environmental

It is an understatement that since our first survey in 2019 the economy and employment markets have been significantly impacted. We believe this survey will be key to measuring and reporting the remuneration changes that have taken place in the Food Industry over this period.

For Supply Chain positions we invite you to complete the NZ Supply Chain Salary Survey

This Survey includes positions in the following disciplines:

Participating companies will go into the draw for one complimentary membership of NZIFST, plus 2 tickets to the 2021 NZIFST Conference Awards Dinner, 7th July, Palmerston North.

• Technical - Product Development, Packaging, Process development • Quality - QA, QC, Laboratory, Compliance, Food Safety • Science and Research • Health and Safety

• Operations and Production • Engineering and Maintenance You can complete the survey Food Industry Salary Survey HERE

Thank you on behalf of Lawson Williams, NZIFST and NZFGC for your time and we look forward to presenting the results to you.

If you have any questions about this survey please contact John Lawson, john@lawsonwilliams.co.nz or Rosemary Hancock rosemary@nzifst. org.nz

April/May 2021

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Food Safety

New Zealand Food Safety Update In this edition, we’re focussing on rules for donating food, and the Significant Contribution to Food Safety Award.

Rules for Donating Food Do you know the rules around donating food?

Under the Food Act 2014, businesses can donate food. A ‘Good Samaritan’ clause (Section 352) was put into the Food Act to protect food businesses that donate food.

The donor is protected from civil or criminal liability under the Food Act, provided the food was safe and suitable when it was donated and came with information needed to keep it safe and suitable.

However, there are additional rules for food that is given away as promotional material (i.e. if the food is advertising a product or promoting a business). For more details, see fundraising, social, and community event requirements.

established with funding from the New Zealand Government, offering a single point of contact for producers, growers and wholesalers to send bulk food into its network. Aotearoa Food Rescue Alliance provides national support for local food rescue organisations to reduce food waste and increase food security.

These food donations can then be redistributed widely and safely to reach communities in need across New Zealand. Food donors can register online with the New Zealand Food Network or contact the Aotearoa Food Rescue Alliance via its website.

Entries Welcome for Significant Contribution to Food Safety Award

If your business is interested in donating food, two options are through the New Zealand Food Network or the Aotearoa Food Rescue Alliance.

The New Zealand Food Safety-sponsored 2021 Significant Contribution to Food Safety Award is open!

The New Zealand Food Network is a not-for-profit organisation

This Award, which is part of the NZIFST Awards, recognises

MPI, Covid-19 and the food industry: supply issues Food NZ submitted the following to MPI: While importers of food ingredients who have agencies from international suppliers are on top of compliance there may be some smaller operations that are perhaps pushing the envelope for cost reasons. We are also aware that some supply chains have become difficult/slow due to Covid so substitution is necessary, creating possible concerns. Is MPI working with importers of food ingredients to ensure they are able to maintain supplies from alternate suppliers? Specifically, is MPI working with importers of food ingredients to ensure they are able to maintain supplies from alternate suppliers when they need to have new approvals if they have to switch suppliers?

The MPI response: COVID-19 has disrupted global sea and air supply chains. This means that around the world, importers are facing challenges including higher freight charges, port congestion, delivery delays, and more complex shipping and supply chains.

Many of these supply chain disruptions are global in nature although issues have been exacerbated in some cases by domestic factors such as port congestion.

Disruptions have affected New Zealand’s food industry, especially

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Food New Zealand

where we depend on imports for consumption or as a source of ingredients for the production of food for the domestic or export markets.

New Zealand’s supply chain is commercially driven and marketled involving ports, freight forwarders, transport operators, shipping lines and other parties. Government agencies are working closely together to identify where they can facilitate market-led solutions, mitigate supply chain risks and reduce the impacts from supply-chain disruption.

“We appreciate that there are very real challenges which must be addressed in seeking to change supply chains and markets to take account of the new realities,” says New Zealand Food Safety’s Imported Food Manager, Mark Potter.

“There are some things businesses can do — and many already are — to mitigate risk and build resilience.

“For example, manufacturers that switch suppliers of imported ingredients may find the food safety requirements for foods from the new country different. Planning how New Zealand regulatory requirements will be met should start as early as possible. Where you can, give yourself more time to plan,” says Mr Potter.

Food Safety

developments in a process or operation – either by an organisation, team or individual – to improve food safety in the New Zealand food chain.

New Zealand Food Safety welcomes nominees who have: • made improvements in areas such as science and research, equipment or processing technology, product and packaging development, industry best practice; and/or • built and maintained an effective food safety culture through staff engagement, leadership, and/or continual improvement.

The Award winner will receive a trophy, and a 12-month NZIFST membership. Previous winners of the Award are Aaron Dodunski (2020), Rosie Waller (2019), Professor Nigel French (2018) and Dr Lesley Rhodes (2017).

To nominate individuals, teams, and/or organisations, visit Significant Contribution to Food Safety Award. Self-nominations are also accepted.

Nominations close at 5pm on 4 June 2021.

The Award will be announced on 7 July at the 2021 NZIFST Conference, in Palmerston North.

If you have any questions, please email foodactinfo@mpi.govt.nz or call 0800 00 83 33.

Food Regulation and the Case for Encouraging Innovation Glen Neal, General Manager Risk Management and Intelligence, Food Standards Australia New Zealand Enabling an efficient and competitive food industry is one of 8 factors to which FSANZ must have regard when developing food regulatory measures.

MPI appreciates the impacts of these issues will fall differently across regions, businesses, and sectors; and we’re committed to working with importers, trading partners, and other agencies to address issues as they arise.

“The extra costs in logistics, transport costs, extra storage, freight rates are affecting the bottom line of many businesses.

We acknowledge importers are carrying additional costs and are working hard to ensure efficient border clearance.”

Keep in touch Mr Potter says, “it’s important food businesses let MPI know of any issues, so we can help and support where we can.

“Please keep in contact with us –- we want to understand your challenges. We can help you understand your obligations around importing food.” Email: Import.Systems@mpi.govt.nz.

More information for importers: https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/10823-What-you-needto-know-before-importing-food-into-New-Zealand https://www.mpi.govt.nz/import/

A report from Swinburne University’s Centre for Transformative Innovation, recently commissioned by FSANZ, pulls no punches on the importance of encouraging an innovative business environment. It outlines the criticality of innovation to being competitive in the world market.

The beneficiaries of innovation are consumers. Imagine a world without electricity or airplanes – which would probably fail the current test of precaution increasingly applied in some geographies.

‘Our well-being will fall below our potential if we fail to innovate and exploit the best new ideas.’

The report digs into the detail of innovation, regulation and infant formula and chillingly claims that the US and Europe have considerably faster regulatory systems than New Zealand and Australia. A simulated one standard deviation decline in innovation could cost New Zealand dairy exports $234.6 million a year.

The infant formula industry represents the premium and researchintensive extreme of the processed food industry and is a prime example of continued innovation improving the standard of living of citizens by closing the health and development gap between breast fed and infant formula fed infants.

Anyone wanting evidence to help substantiate their next business case for new product development can find the report on our website here: https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/code/applications/Pages/ A1155.aspx - look for “Supporting Document 5 - Innovation in the manufactured food and infant formula sectors.”

April/May 2021

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Overview

Food Ingredients - needing a texture modifier, to add fibre or a stunning colour? See what you can find in the following pges About ADM At ADM we unlock the power of nature to provide access to nutrition worldwide.

With industry-advancing innovations, a complete portfolio of ingredients and solutions to meet any taste, and a commitment to sustainability, we give customers an edge in solving the nutritional challenges of today and tomorrow.

We’re a global leader in human and animal nutrition and the world’s premier agricultural organisation and processing company. Our breadth, depth, insights, facilities and logistical expertise give us unparalleled capabilities to meet needs for food, beverages, health and wellness, and more. From the seed of the idea to the outcome of the solution, we enrich the quality of life world over.

We’re ingenious when it comes to ingredients – and every single thing you need to succeed!

We think that creating consumer-pleasing foods and beverages is a science, an art, and a business – and we love creating the perfect balance for your success.

ADM ANZ (Australia & New Zealand) have offices in both Australia and New Zealand and welcome our customers to our Customer Innovation Centre in Sydney, offering a collaborative and interactive approach to successful innovation.

Food is Fundamental: it sustains us, fulfills us and fuels our wellbeing. ADM is devoted to that impact every single day.

Learn more at www.adm.com

Dominion Salt Dominion Salt supplies high quality Sodium Chloride (Salt) as an ingredient to a variety of commercial and artisan food producers nationwide and around the world. We pride ourselves on producing products that are manufactured to the highest food standards, certified to ISO 9001, FSSC2200 as well as Halal and Kosher accreditations. These certifications assure our customers they can expect consistency, adherence to Standards and traceability through the supply chain.

Natural Sea Salt contains a higher level of the minerals Calcium and Magnesium than normal table salt, as these minerals are also naturally present in sea water. It is believed that this balance of minerals has beneficial effects on the body.

Marlborough Flaky Sea Salt is created by an age-old process of careful evaporation in a purpose built evaporator. The result is a unique, flake-shaped salt crystal that is ideal for finishing fine foods. The delicate crystal dissolves easily on the palate, greatly enhancing flavours and you tend to use less salt (by weight) on food.

Flaky salt also has excellent adherence qualities. This brings new taste sensations to many of your favourite foods and recipes.

The Marlborough flakes are prized by the discerning epicurean palate for their superb flavour, soft texture and versatility when combined with fine cuisine.

We welcome your feedback as we continue to improve our digital interaction with customers.

Please visit our website - www.domsalt.co.nz

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Food New Zealand

Overview

Beneo BENEO offers plant-based functional ingredients for food, feed, and pharma. They help improve the nutritional and technical properties of a wide variety of products by supporting health and optimising taste and texture. The Company’s portfolio includes functional carbohydrates from sugar beet, prebiotic chicory root fibre, plant-based proteins, and speciality ingredients from rice.

Through a unique chain of expertise, including the BENEO-Institute that provides decisive insights into nutrition science and legislation, and the BENEO-Technology Center that consults in application technology, BENEO supports customers by providing ingredients that promote a healthy lifestyle in a holistic way.

Palatinose™ Palatinose™ is a naturally sourced smart carbohydrate, providing full energy (4kcal/g) in a more balanced way thanks to its low-glycaemic profile. The sustained energy helps consumers get through their busy day-to-day activities. Athletes and sports enthusiasts also benefit from Palatinose™ because it contributes to sports performance by supporting optimum fuel supply.

Isomalt Isomalt is the only sugar replacer made from pure beet sugar. It has a sweetening profile almost equal to sucrose — with only half the calories. For more than four decades, this proven ingredient has been used in the production of sugar-free and ‘sugar-reduced’ confectionery and is the world’s leading bulk sweetener in sugar-free candies.

Orafti® Inulin and Oligofructose Prebiotic chicory root fibres, Orafti® Inulin and Oligofructose (FOS), improve balanced intestinal flora by stimulating growth of beneficial bifidobacterial — an important element of good digestive health. These prebiotic fibres have been proven to support weight management and help the body absorb more calcium for stronger bones. In addition, BENEO’s fibres also support a low-glycaemic diet.

Remypure S52 P The instant, functional native rice starch Remypure S52 P, allows food manufacturers to produce clean label food preparations, such as cold processed sauces, dressings, dairy desserts and bakery fillings. The new ingredient reportedly delivers soft and creamy textures and excellent product stability, even under harsh processing conditions such as high shear and acid.

For further information on BENEO and its ingredients, please visit: www.beneo.com

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Overview Royal DSM DSM elevates plant-based offering with first-of-its-kind vegan fish flavour Royal DSM, a global science-based company active in Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Living, has launched Maxavor® Fish YE – a new vegan, 100% allergen-free flavour solution. Derived from algal oil, this unique innovation allows food manufacturers to deliver an authentic fish taste and mouthfeel in a variety of plant-based fish alternative applications, in addition to fish-based products.

Maxavor® Fish YE offers manufacturers of plant- and fish-based foods two taste profiles (Maxavor® Fish M YE and Maxavor® Fish W YE) to emulate the body, mouthfeel and taste of distinct fish varieties; one for rich and oily dark fish and another for fresh, light and fleshy white fish. Maxavor® Fish YE can therefore be used to create a wide range of appealing plant-based fish alternative and fish-based products, such as vegetarian fish nuggets, vegan fish sauce and fish cakes. Maxavor® Fish YE is also Kosher and Halal certified and suitable for several label claims.

Plant-based fish alternatives are emerging as an appealing option for the rising numbers of people adopting flexitarian, vegetarian and vegan lifestyles. For example, 28% of consumers across nine countries in Europe reported that they regularly consume fish alternatives.

Plant-based fish alternatives also present a more sustainable option for food manufacturers who are looking for ways to address growing concerns over the world’s diminishing fish resources – 33% of fish stocks are currently over-fished.

However, it can be a challenge for food producers to develop authentic-tasting, sustainable and label-friendly plant-based fish alternatives. Most commercially available seafood flavours require the processing of fish/crustaceans, or are unable to meet Kosher or Halal needs.

Maxavor® Fish YE flavour was designed to help producers create a broad range of product positionings and mask the strong flavours typically imparted by plant-based proteins. Added during the blending of dry ingredients, Maxavor® Fish YE is also low in salt, enabling producers to tailor sodium levels and achieve the desired taste and texture, without compromising a product’s nutritional profile.

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Food New Zealand

Brenntag's Food & Nutrition teams are geared to turning trends into marketable products

Brenntag “Do you have the right innovation partner to grow your business?”

Brenntag NZ Ltd partners you to our extensive market knowledge, formulation expertise and quality products from our world class suppliers. We deliver the best performance in a product’s taste, texture, nutritional composition and shelf life for our customers and the markets we serve.

Our specialists work with customers to choose the right ingredients for their products, we develop solutions that are tailor-made for each customer’s unique and specific needs – from milk to meat, from bread to beverages, from confectionery to convenience food.

Our experts use ingredients to develop formulations at our own in-house Application and Development Centres.

Brenntag Food & Nutrition will work with you to find the right ingredient combinations, interactions and processing conditions to have ingredients perform to their fullest. Our teams will help you

achieve cost optimisation and flexibility with alternative ingredients, or develop new formulations fitting current market trends in a range of areas: • Food Design • Food Technology • Health & Nutrition • Food Safety and Shelf Life Our experts can offer you our expertise and knowledge in the following sectors: • Dairy and Ice cream • Bakery and bread • Chocolate and confectionery • Functional Food, Food supplements, dietetic foods • Meat, poultry and fish • Convenience food, ready meals, soups and sauces • Fruit and vegetable processing • Beverages • Pet food

Overview Invita Making the Most of UHT for Dairy and Plantbased Alternatives.

The dairy industry is constantly evolving with influence from consumers, industry, technology and manufacturers’ creativity.

UHT dairy has many nutritional benefits and consumers are now looking beyond their traditional understanding of dairy to value-added UHT products for convenience and wellbeing.

Appreciating the unique processing parameters of UHT systems plus how and when ingredients are incorporated is vital. You need to be confident that you are partnering with an ingredients supplier that has a comprehensive knowledge of manufacturing and ingredients, but most importantly how they fit together.

Invita works with you to develop concepts and fine-tune ingredients from technical, nutritional and consumer perspectives. Our experienced team provides you with support to navigate the entire NPD process, offering a uniquely holistic service including local applications support and regulatory expertise.

There are many products available in the UHT space ranging from white milk and cream to plant-based alternatives and pet milk, with all these products needing to differentiate and remain competitive. Add specific vitamins and minerals, select combinations of prebiotics or blend flavours and colours; with a little imagination there are endless possibilities to distinguish your brand.

Invita’s knowledge of local and export markets combined with ingredients’ expertise gives manufacturers an ideal platform to develop successful UHT products.

At Invita, our aim is to make your job simple and find solutions for market leading innovations.

Invita, Ingredients for Life!

• Natural flavours and sweeteners • Taste modulation and protein masking solutions • Vitamin and Mineral premixes • Enzymes for lactose-free dairy and plant-based milks • Nutraceutical ingredients • Prebiotic Chicory Root Fibre • Plant proteins • Cocoa powder • Emulsifiers and stabilisers • Rice flours, starches and syrups • Colouring foods • Malt extracts • Natural burnt sugar and caramel

Invita’s ingredients expertise gives manufacturers an ideal platform to develop successful UHT products

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Overview Caldic Are you looking to develop the next plant-based product range?

Wanting to add a FSANZ-approved digestive health claim to your next product launch with our shelf stable Ganeden BC30 probiotic? Are you looking for a sustainable fibre that binds 26 x its weight in water without high shear mixing?

Caldic offers inspiring solutions to food manufacturers, and our technical sales team are well qualified to support you in your next development.

We are organic certified, and partner with some of the world’s leading manufacturers. Globally we are active in 18 countries so if you have a speciality ingredient that is hard to find in New Zealand we are here to help. Locally we are strong in the following product areas: • Nutrition: Prebiotic fibres, plant and dairy proteins, shelf stable probiotics, immunity ingredients, vitamin and minerals premixes including naturally sourced options, nutritional fat powders and creamers, natural extracts and sheep, goat and A2 milk specialties.

• Savoury: Functional and sustainable fibres, textured and functional plant proteins, yeast extracts, hydrolysed vegetable proteins, natural antimicrobials, cures, brines, marinades, seasonings, glazes, batters, premixes, vegan and savoury flavours, enzymes and natural colours.

• Dairy: Inclusions, sweet and fruit ripples, natural colours, enzymes, emulsifiers, butter, cream and cheese flavours (including vegan), sweet flavours.

• Bakery – Fruit and cream fillings, fondants, allergen free glazes, premixes, freshness enhancers, emulsifiers, flavours, improvers, vegan creams, sourdoughs, and specialty fats.

• Pet food – Antioxidant solutions, V&M premixes, palatability enhancer, lecithin and fibres • Confectionery – hydrolysed proteins (foaming/aeration), lecithins, natural colours and flavours, maple syrup and flakes.

GS Hall: flavour partners Since 1962 GS Hall & Company Limited has built a reputation for sourcing and supplying high quality food ingredients to customers across all categories of the food industry. As a 100% New Zealand owned company, GS Hall are proud of their association with most of New Zealand’s leading and progressive food manufacturers.

GS Hall’s primary focus is on supplying natural, clean label ingredients including natural flavours, seasonings, herbs, spices, seeds, dehydrated vegetables, plant proteins, mustard, oleoresins, essential oils, colours, functional fibres and dairy powders.

Utilising on-site technical and product development laboratories and applications kitchens, GS Hall work directly with customers to develop products to meet specific requirements. These are then manufactured on-site to deliver customers a complete concept-to-market customised ingredient solution.

Low MOQs and short lead-times assist GS Hall’s customers meet changing market demands with cost effective, innovative products.

GS Hall’s AA grade BRC certification demonstrates the robust quality and operational systems in place which provide customers an additional layer of confidence.

Mapping the origin and content of raw materials is essential to a robust supply chain and the supply of safe ingredients.

GS Hall’s large network of global suppliers provides access to current and upcoming on-trend ingredients. Being responsive to ever-changing trends and speed-to-market gives GS Hall and its customers a competitive edge. Trustworthy market data also enables better purchasing decisions and drives reliable management of stock.

If you are looking to work with a company which has the knowledge, expertise and experience to contribute to your success, making your journey seamless and costeffective, you should contact one of the team at GS Hall. www.gshall.co.nz 16

Food New Zealand

Overview Formula Foods Be bold with your flavours Priding itself on supplying natural, New Zealand-made “from scratch” flavours, Formula Foods has a rich history spanning three decades.

Formula Foods Corporation Ltd commenced trading in 1987 in Christchurch. During the 1990’s the business expanded into supplying a range of technical services, consultancy, ingredient labelling, shelf life improvement, then flavour and ingredient supply and also instrumentation.

Techniques were developed to accelerate the ageing of food products through controlled-atmosphere chambers. Real-time shelf-life was compared against the accelerated trials of many different food products to determine methods to verify shelf life faster for clients wanting to launch new products quickly. This area is now covered by Mätt Solutions – launched in 2012 out of Formula Foods Formula Foods has now refocussed on its flavour house business, concentrating on flavour development and ingredients designed for specific clients’ projects. R&D is now focused on formulation of flavours and ingredients, with a large flavour laboratory and separate development lab. Formula Foods has been at the forefront of traditional Kiwi favourites, offering our customers a wide range of customised flavours and colours, including unique FLAVRCOL pastes used in the baking industry, providing enhanced taste and consistency without preservatives.

Due to Covid impacting internationally on both manufacturing and freight, FF has been building up stocks of raw materials to enable flavour manufacture to proceed during this very difficult time.

Previously carrying 6 months stock of raw materials, it has now become imperative to carry 12 months+ to ensure clients' requirements are well covered. Many businesses are forecasting their needs up to 12 months in advance which is a great help, but may New Zealand business do not plan their orders very far ahead which puts pressure on resources.

With almost 33 years serving the food industry, we endeavour to partner with our clients in order to fully understand and supply their needs. As a New Zealand owned business, we are flexible and therefore able to supply small minimum order quantities - usually from 1kg. The added bonus is that we offer short lead times which have proven beneficial to many kiwi companies. www.formulafoods.co.nz

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Overview Lycored expands natural astaxanthin range Lycored has increased its range of natural astaxanthin products with the launch of an oleoresin as well as a microencapsulated starch beadlet, rounding out the company’s application capabilities for the antioxidant.

Created from Haematococcus pluvialis algae, the oleoresin product is a wellness extract designed for soft gels, while the starch beadlet is a CWD microencapsulated solution suitable for beverages and dry mixes.

Lycored’s beadlet microencapsulation techniques, widely utilised in the company’s carotenoid family, enhance the stability of ingredients while minimising cross-interaction and protecting against oxidation.

Patented for synergy with other ingredients such as Lycomato, Lycored’s astaxanthin solutions represent a natural choice for supporting cellular and immune health.

The new products expand the possibilities for astaxanthin applications, with Lycored’s microencapsulation technologies also providing options for tablets, hardshell capsules, chewable tablets, gummies, nutritional bars and more.

Algae-derived astaxanthin is a carotenoid that acts as a highly potent antioxidant, balancing oxidative and inflammatory status to support cellular health in general as well as specific health benefits such as skin and immune health.

Lycored’s astaxanthin range is GRAS for food and beverage use and Non-GMO Project Verified, with further options including gelatine beadlets and vegetarian beadlets. For more information, visit: https:// www.lycored.com/astaxanthin

Heilala Vanilla Heilala Vanilla was established by John Ross and his family as an aid project in 2002. After a cyclone ravaged the Kingdom of Tonga, a partnership was formed with a family in the village of Utungake to establish a vanilla plantation.

Grown in virgin soil on coconut-husk frames, Heilala Vanilla orchids are hand-cultivated, hand-pollinated and sustainably harvested followed by a traditional curing and drying process carried out under the tropical sun. The annual crop is manufactured into a range of vanilla products from the companies base in Te Puna, Tauranga.

As demand for Heilala Vanilla has grown – thanks to its consistent quality, uniquely profound flavour and ethical sourcing and organic growing practices - grower partnerships have extended throughout Tonga.

Heilala Vanilla proudly supplies products to various food manufacturers including chocolate, cereals, craft beer, artisan and gourmet cake and biscuits.

• New Zealand owned and operated: A kiwi family owned business who make and manufacture the product range in Te Puna, Tauranga • Single Source Pure Vanilla Range: Pure flavour and aroma with no artificial colours, flavours, or fillers • Plantation to Pantry: We’re deeply invested in supporting Tonga’s heritage and local farming communities through respectful and sustainable business practices

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• Social Impact: Directly supporting 14 villages and grower communities with a goal is to employ 200+ women by 2025 • Vanilla Expertise: We’re specialists across the complete vanilla production process, from growing, harvesting, curing, drying, to product development, manufacturing and shipping • The Chefs vanilla: Loved and celebrated by chefs and foodies in New Zealand and around the world

Overview Berbere is a West African red spice mix that could be added to snacks such as popcorn to create the kind of innovative combination that excites today’s adventurous consumers

Create inspirational snacks with plant-based EXBERRY® reds This year, red is fuelling innovation in food and drink – and snacks are no exception. Red is a colour of contradictions that can spark energy, excitement and passion, helping manufacturers tap into some of the industry’s biggest trends. It can inspire active consumers through products such as pressed energy balls and bars featuring superfood ingredients like beetroot, cherries or goji berries.

Red also plays a signature role in some of the world’s most spectacular food and drink and can help to underline these products’ exotic appeal. Berbere, for instance, is a West African red spice mix that could be added to snacks such as popcorn to create the kind of innovative combination that excites today’s adventurous consumers.

Red can also be used to add a fun twist to classic treats such as cheese puffs, tortilla chips or corn snacks with flavours like ghost chili, red bellini cocktail or tomatoey pizza.

Appearance is key to creating appetizing snack products – and EXBERRY® Coloring Foods can be used to take them to the next level with vibrant red shades. Based on the straightforward principle of colouring food with food, they are made from edible fruit, vegetables and plants using physical processing methods like chopping and boiling.

Suitable for almost any food and drink application, EXBERRY® Coloring Foods are the ideal choice for the modern market, delivering Instagrammable shades alongside clean and clear label declarations.

Get in touch today to discuss your vision for your products and, together, we can make it a colourful reality.

Contact local distributor Invita on enquiry@invita.co.nz to find out more.

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Overview Newly Weds Foods Inspiring new tastes In March 2021, we opened our 5,000 sqm purpose built manufacturing facility right here in East Tamaki, Auckland New Zealand.

This new plant houses our dry blending, our crumb manufacturing plant and our liquids plant all under one roof, with a much larger capacity, more internal storage and adding additional capabilities to our offer to our New Zealand customer base.

We see this as enabling our business to provide improved service, flexibility and capabilities to you our customer.

What does New Weds Foods (NZ) make?

Dry products - We specialise in Japanese Style Bread Crumbs plus a complete range of coating systems, seasoning blends, marinades, premixes, batters and breadcrumbs to suit every possible application with a wide range of packaging options from sachet, pouch, and bags.

Wet products - We specialise in hot filled and cold filled sauces and dressings with a wide range of packaging options from sachet, pouch, bottles, and pails Newly Weds Foods has evolved over the last 80 years, to be a truly international business, with 29 manufacturing facilities globally and customers in over 80 countries around the world.

NWF pioneered the introduction of Japanese Style Bread Crumbs in the Australian and New Zealand markets. NWF provided Poultry and Seafood processors with innovative products and technical expertise to create unique, value-added foods for the growing frozen & QSR sectors.

To meet the changing needs of customers and market trends towards clean label and gluten free products NWF invested in an extruder that allows for production of a range of affordable, purpose-made, clean label, gluten free and specialty products, for use as meat, bakery and pasta fillings, binders and coatings.

Sensient Technologies We Bring Life to Products Sensient Technologies is a leading global manufacturer and supplier of natural extracts, natural colours, and natural flavours.

Sensient’s innovative technologies create fresh, unique solutions tailored to meet the needs of today’s educated consumers. The name communicates what we do: Enhance SENSory experiences through specialised ingredIENTs, delivered through proprietary technologies.

The Auckland factory has been supporting the New Zealand food industry since 1984. Sensient’s development and manufacturing team take international trends and technologies from our global resources and transform them into local products, concepts and innovations for our Kiwi customers.

Our New Zealand business has a strong technical team and supports R&D development for our New Zealand customers and for Sensient’s Asia Pacific region.

With robust local technical knowledge

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paired with marketing expertise, the New Zealand team has developed many solutions for customers, meeting their needs in sugar and salt reduction, plant based food and beverages, natural extracts, colouring foodstuffs, natural colours and tailored flavour requirements in both liquid and powder flavours.

Sensient New Zealand manufactures most of our products right here in Auckland, enabling secure supply chains for our customers. New Zealand manufacture also enables us to supply with short lead times, flexibility in providing different pack sizes and small minimum order quantities.

If there’s anything we’re more passionate about than colours, flavours and ingredients, it's partnership. We are the experts in science, art and innovation of taste. We are problem solvers, however, Sensient would be nothing without its clients and collaborators. Together, the most challenging product puzzles can be solved, making products that are delicious, craveable, and truly inspired.

We want to champion your business and your success by being a partner who’s with you every step of the way.

Overview Pacific Flavours Pacific Flavours and Ingredients Ltd is a fully owned New Zealand family company established in 2003. We focus on specialised ingredients in the flavour, sweetening, nutritional and cosmetic industries, complemented by a team of experienced food and product development technologists, and pilot equipment with full wet and dry manufacturing facilities at Mt Wellington, Auckland. We are proud of our innovation, technology and sourcing of quality flavours and ingredients for the food and beverage industry.

With a strategic partnership with Dritrik NZ, investment is progressing with building a new extraction facility, giving Pacific capabilities in spray drying technology, liquid extractions and concentrations.

With this new facility we can now proudly offer a wide range of New Zealand provenance extracts, both liquid and powder. These are sourced from seasonal New Zealand produce.

Examples of these include, Hawkes Bay Lemon and Lime extract, Waikato Raspberry and NZ Green Tea Extract with natural caffeine. The range is expanding and we welcome new ideas and concepts.

The recent emergence of Corona-19 virus is driving demand for immunity boosting ingredients such as our proprietary Seperex IgG 25 Whey Protein Co-Isolate. This unique material is available, made to customer specific requirements right here in New Zealand.

We are proud to be working alongside both large multinationals and fast developing ventures in the food and beverage industry. Our product development team can support customer projects from development to manufacturing and to final distribution.

With the support of our global partnerships we offer an extensive range of flavours and ingredients for the food and beverage industry.

Our supplier partners work closely with us to ensure all specifications meet New Zealand, Australian standards and if need be Chinese, Taiwanese and USA requirements.

We have the solution, experience and passion to assist in driving your business. Contact us by email: sales@pacific-flavours.co.nz or call us: 09 5701516.

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L & N News

Lipids and Nutraceuticals News A review of the latest news in the realm of natural compounds and health

Laurence Eyres FNZIFST and Mike Eyres B.Sc. Annual General Meeting This year’s AGM for the Oils and Fats Specialists Group and social dinner will be postponed until much later in 2021 due to COVID and other issues in Auckland.

Introduction In this month’s Lipids and Nutraceutical News we have focused on omega-3 supplements, with an overview of their development over time, a new product announcement and some recent research to report on.

Marine omega-3 supplements How to choose a quality supplement.

Omega-3 supplements have been around for over 50 years. The early products were composed of fish oil which had been refined and deodorised and then filled into soft gel capsules. The most popular example was a product called MaxEpa. The early fish oil supplements were basically simple, low concentration mixtures of EPA and DHA and these are known as the 1812 products. The majority were cheap with poor stability so were criticised for their fishy taste, causing fish burps (eructation) and they had high peroxide and anisidine values (TOTOX).

Since then, more sophisticated products have been developed based on molecular distilled, highly purified (adsorption) and concentrated extracts which have been processed to remove all contaminants including heavy metals and PAH. These new products show no sign of eructation or fish burps. When choosing an omega-3 supplement it pays to look for branded products and research their websites to see where they source their products and how they purify them.

Environmentally concerned people will look for products that meet the guidelines of marine stewardship. It is especially useful to study the work of GOED (https://goedomega3.com/) who have white papers on standards and updates on raw materials and processing techniques plus detailed investigations into erroneous analytical publications criticising current omega-3 supplements.

Essentially, one is looking for a material low in peroxide and anisidine values with examples of control procedures such as certificates of analysis and supply audits.

Professor Philip Calder's strong recommendation is to have at least 1g long chain omega-3 per day. Good quality supplements have >50% long chain omega-3 per capsule so one need only take 2 soft gels per day.

More sophisticated purified omega-3 concentrates are now being marketed containing a correct concentration of natural antioxidants and lipid-soluble material such as vitamin D and coenzyme Q10 that will enhance the activity of the Omega 3. A good example of highquality omega-3 with vitamins and coenzyme Q10 can be found at the following source: https://www.abouthealth.co.nz/.

There is a lot of fuss about the use of krill oil. This oil is extracted from krill (whale food) and its marketing is based on the fact that the omega-3 is in the form of phospholipids which are reputed to have 22

Food New Zealand

a much higher bioavailability compared to natural triglyceride forms.

Whilst this has some strong theoretical basis, we believe it is yet to be proven and the environmental effects of harvesting food that whales eat has been questioned. There is a good review of quality supplements on the following website: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/bestfish-oil-supplement.

SeaDragon Omega-3 powder Hawkins Watts and SeaDragon have entered into a collaborative distribution agreement.

SeaDragon is New Zealand's largest refiner and blender of high-quality, internationally certified omega-3 oils. Their products are sourced from algae and by-products from fish caught in the clean, pure waters of New Zealand, the South Pacific and other certified-sustainable sources.

Specialising in high DHA oils and powders for brain and eye health with superior organoleptic properties, their products are derived from algae, New Zealand Hoki and Tuna and refined to worldleading standards. SeaDragon has developed technologies delivering functional omega-3 powders with a superior organoleptic profile, creating exciting opportunities to include the goodness of DHA into an array of food products. Obviously, having a refinery in New Zealand dramatically shortens lead times and improves product freshness for local customers.

SeaDragon holds numerous certifications to ensure quality, market eligibility and sustainability practices. These include following and exceeding the GOED Monograph's standards –­­ the global organisation which sets quality standards for EPA and DHA, fishery sustainability certifications from Friend of the Sea and Marine Stewardship Council, and their refinery is FSSC22000 certified.

Hawkins Watts is a proud, locally owned food ingredient company with sales and manufacturing operations in Australia and New Zealand.

Across the group, they have 30 food technologists on staff and multiple R&D laboratories. With a core competence in texture, nutrients, colours and flavours, Hawkins Watts provide technical support and R&D services in addition to ingredient supply. Their food ingredients are premium quality, from many of the world’s leading manufacturers.

Hawkins Watts also supplies other specialist lipid products and ingredients.

For more information and samples, contact Alan Bulmer. Ph: +64 9 622 8798 or Email: alan@hawkinswatts.com, www.hawkinswatts.com

Novel lipid research and the endocannabinoid system Researchers led by a team at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have found that two naturally occurring lipids can be converted, via a cellular process known as epoxidation, into potent agents that target multiple cannabinoid receptors in neurons, to interrupt pathways that promote pain and inflammation. The modified compounds, called epo-NA5HT and epo-NADA, have much more powerful effects than the molecules from which they are derived — N-arachidonoyl-dopamine (NADA) and N-arachidonoyl-serotonin (NA5HT) — which can also act to regulate pain and inflammation.

Reported in Nature Communications, the team’s study opens a new

L & N News

avenue of research in the effort to find alternatives to addictive opioid pain killers. “Understanding pain regulation in the body is important because we know we have an opioid crisis,” said study lead Adita Das, PhD, a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign comparative biosciences professor. “We’re looking for lipid-based alternatives to opioids that can interact with the cannabinoid receptors and in the future be used to design therapeutics to reduce pain.”

Das and colleagues reported on their findings in a paper titled, “Antiinflammatory dopamine- and serotonin-based endocannabinoid epoxides reciprocally regulate cannabinoid receptors and the TRPV1 channel,” in which they concluded, “The epoxide metabolites are bioactive lipids that are potent, multi-faceted molecules, capable of influencing the activity of CB1, CB2, and TRPV1 receptors … These molecules are potential candidates for the development of pain therapeutics.”

Opioids are highly addictive pain medications that are susceptible to abuse, the authors wrote. They cite CDC figures indicating that just five years ago the age-adjusted death rate by opioid overdose was nearly 20 per 100,000. “Hence, there is a need for therapeutic alternatives to opioids that combat inflammation and the associated pain.”

The newly reported work is part of a long-term effort to understand the potential therapeutic by-products of lipid metabolism, a largely neglected area of research, said Das. While many people appreciate the role of dietary lipids such as omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in promoting health, the body converts these fat-based nutrients into other forms, some of which also play a role in the healthy function of cells, tissues, and organ systems.

To read the full paper visit : https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467021-20946-6

Inform article on Dr Matt Miller AAOCS A recent Inform article in the January edition (AOCS) has a page about Doctor Matt Miller of the Cawthron Institute NZ, who is also a key member of the NZIC Oils and Fats group. The article gives a summary of Matt's scientific work on Greenshell mussel. Matt is President of AAOCS and was a key person in the Lipids Conference held in Sydney in February 2020 which luckily managed to sneak in prior to the Covid pandemic lockdowns.

Working group on Avocado oil composition AOCS is forming an Avocado Oil Expert Panel and they are looking for interested parties. The panel, chaired by Dr. Selina Wang, Department of Food Science and Technology, UC Davis, will follow the pattern of the influential AOCS Olive Oil Expert Panel working on standards and techniques with the support of AOCS. The first Avocado Oil Expert Panel meeting will be held virtually on April 30 at 9:30 am CST. Please email Denise Williams, Technical Service Manager at AOCS, for more information or to participate in the meeting. New Zealand has two highly active researchers in this field, Marie Wong and Alan Woolf, who will be a key part of this group.

Mike Eyres, BSc. BNatMed Mike Eyres is a technical consultant, researcher and Registered Medical Herbalist and Naturopath (NZAMH) with 18 years professional experience in the food, beverage, and natural health industries. He was a co-author of a peer reviewed, scientific article in the journal “Nutrition Reviews” on coconut oil and cardiovascular risk factors. Consulting projects have covered herbal, food and nutraceutical products in various formats including gel caps, soft gels, sachets, bulk powders, tablets, and topicals. mike.eyres@gmail.com

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JCA Address

J C Andrews Award Address: The Rewards and Challenges of Industry Focused Research Professor Phil Bremer, University of Otago This Award is presented annually in memory of Massey University’s first Chancellor, Dr Jack Clark Andrews, who proposed that a food technology degree course be established at Massey University.

The award recognises Institute members who have made a substantial contribution to science and technology in the food industry.

Early days - study Inspired by a TV series about the marine conservationist Jacques Cousteau and his adventures aboard the boat Calypso, I travelled from Invercargill to the University of Otago in 1980, with the goal of completing a BSc in Zoology and joining the fight to save the oceans. During my undergraduate degree I found that I also enjoyed microbiology and chemistry, hence after completing a double major in Microbiology and Zoology, I undertook a two year MSc in Marine Science, writing my thesis on “The role of polysaccharides produced by bacteria in the accumulation of chromium by marine organisms, supervised by the remarkable Professor Margaret Loutit.

On completion of the MSc, I was still unsure where my passions lay so I embarked on a PhD project on “The effect of heavy metals on the development of marine invertebrates” under the supervision of Prof Loutit and Associate Professor Mike Barker.

International work

The 2020 NZIFST J C Andrews Award was presented to Professor Phil Bremer, in November 2020 24

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On completion of my PhD in 1988, I was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship which enabled me obtain a post-doctoral position with Professor Gill Geesey at the newly established National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center on Biofilms in Bozeman, Montana.

My research interests consequently moved from understanding how metals bind to bacteria, to understanding how bacteria bind to metal surfaces and form biofilms, and the consequences of biofilm formation on corrosion and material performance. Over the next three years I was fortunate to work with some extraordinary visionaries and scientists, make life-long friends and, owing to the resources and equipment available at the Center, to play a role in some notable scientific achievements such as publishing the first atomic force microscopy images of fully hydrated bacteria on a copper surface and using scanning laser confocal microscopy to explore the association of bacteria with microscopic surface features such as machining defects, grain boundaries or corrosion pits.

JCA Address

Dec 1988, PhD graduation

Microbiology at Plant & Food Research In late 1991, I received a phone call from Dr Mike Dunbier, the CEO of Crop & Food Research (now Plant & Food Research). Mike said “We are having problems with Listeria monocytogenes in seafood, could I help?” I mumbled something like, “yes it can be very challenging to control, but yes, I think I can help”. After the call ended, I ran across to the library to look up this bacterium I had never heard of. In any event, in 1992, I started work as microbiological programme manager for seafood and vegetables at P&FR’s Seafood Research Unit in Nelson, highlighting to me the importance of seizing opportunities, not being afraid to step out of my comfort zone in accepting challenges I believed, rather than knew, I could do.

Figure 1. Images of the underside of a conveyor belt removed from a processing plant showing bacteria, including Listeria monocytogenes colonising deep into the weave

During my first few years at P&FR, I carried out classical microbiological studies investigating how to kill Listeria associated with hot smoked, heat shucked or marinated mussels and hot smoked, cold smoked or gilled and gutted whole salmon. Interestingly, some of this research, despite being published in the early 1990s, is still being referred in the context of de facto guidelines, thereby illustrating how once published, research can take on a life of its own.

At P&FR I also found a ready outlet for my continuing interest in biofilm research. Back then, as I still do today, I greatly enjoyed the April/May 2021

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JCA Address

Figure 2. The effect of season on selected taste and flavour, sensory attributes of roe from male (—n—) and female (…p…) sea urchins (mean over 23 months ± SE). Letters that are different along a line show where there is a significant difference between seasons according to Tukey's post hoc analysis. The number of males and females in autumn was 16 and 14, winter 13 and 27, spring 25 and 24, and summer 26 and 14, respectively challenge of working with the food industry to track and control bacterial contamination in processing plants, (Figure 1) despite the fact that the food industry has not always appreciated the need to fund academic or CRI-based researchers. Once, after quoting the cost for a project and meeting some resistance, I explained that P&FR had set monetary targets for me to meet. The response was "If you did twice as much work for half the rate you would generate the same income”.

Impeccable, if unrealistic, logic.

Funding for research Over time I have seen increasing expectations for a researcher to obtain external funding, which means that while many researchers enjoy working on industry projects, the reality is that if they are not being appropriately compensated for their time, it will probably be more advantageous for their careers for them to focus their energies elsewhere. This occurs because industry projects generally come with restrictions around intellectual property ownership, a reduced ability to publish and strict performance expectations which can impact on the freedom to explore interesting or unexpected results. Other challenges in working with industry include production priorities “trumping” research priorities, which means that a good experimental design can “go out the window” in a heartbeat. Additionally, competing interests and convoluted communication paths can mean that samples, equipment and data are often “lost”.

Of course, working on industry projects does have many positives.

The ability to work on applied projects that can make a measurable difference is appealing and it is refreshing to work with companies and individuals and to see the pride they have in the safety and quality of the products they produce. I have always appreciated the privilege it is to be invited into a processing plant and to learn about the challenges they are facing. Having, access to resources and samples under “commercially” relevant conditions is a fantastic opportunity for a researcher, which can make it easier to show relevance and real world “outcomes” when competing for governmental funding.

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The call of Otago By 1997, my wife Louise and I were the proud parents of Charlotte and Samuel and we were at a crossroads in our lives as Louise had been accepted into Medical School training in Dunedin and it was rather unclear how we could balance our career aspirations. Fortunately for me and my family, while attending an NZIFST conference in Napier in 1997, I found myself in a bar with the head of the Food Science Department at Otago, Professor Jean-Pierre Dufour and his colleague Pat Silcock.

In a demonstration of the networking opportunities membership of the NZIFST affords, we managed, over a few beers, to hatch a plan whereby, I would be sub-contracted to teach Food Microbiology at Otago while remaining employed by P&FR. This arrangement enabled me to split my time between Nelson and Dunedin and to develop many productive and enjoyable research collaborations with University of Otago staff members. In fact, the collaborations went so well that in 2002 when P&FR requested my fulltime return to Nelson, I made the difficult decision to leave P&FR and commence a fulltime career as an academic in the Department of Food Science.

Safe food that tastes good During my almost 10 years with P&FR, I had come to the conclusion that while it was relatively easy to make safe food, it was far harder to make safe food that tasted great, so over time my research interests had expanded to include product development, food processing, sensory and flavour science. A classic example of this was the work that Pat and I carried out to move the NZ kina roe industry to a level where it could compete in the lucrative Japanese market. Three points stand out for me from this research. The first was that females are sweet some, but not all of the time, and on occasions they can be very bitter, while the roe from the males is sweet all year round (Figure 2). The second was the realization that this observation was new, mainly due to the fact that most New Zealanders eating the roe would struggle to tell a he from a she and that the biologists who could tell the difference

JCA Address

No of joint publications

Name

Expertise

Affiliation

59

Associate Professor Pat Silcock

Food Chemist

University of Otago

42

Professor Steve Flint

Microbiologist

Massey University

27

Professor Indrawati Oey

Novel Food Processing

University of Otago

24

Professor Jim McQuillan

Chemist

University of Otago

23

Professor Gill Geesey

Microbiologist

Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA

19

Professor John Brooks

Microbiologist

Massey University, Auckland University of Technology

17

Associate Professor Miranda Mirosa

Social Scientist

University of Otago

15

Mr Graham Fletcher

Microbiologist

Plant and Food Research

14

Dr Brent Seale

Microbiologist

Auckland University of Technology

8

Associate Professor Mike Barker

Marine Biologist

University of Otago

8

Dr Jonathan Beauchamp

Physicist

Fraunhofer-Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, Freising, Germany

7

Dr Graham Eyres

Food Chemist

University of Otago

7

Dr Franco Biasioli

Physicist

Edmund Mach Foundation, San Michele, Italy

Table 1. The people with whom, to date, I have, most frequently co-authored scientific papers in a kina’s sex, generally did not eat roe. Hence, the third point, the realisation of the importance of multi-disciplinary research. Looking back, I now see that despite my 18-year old self going to Uni to “save the oceans”, I was having a whale of time making seafood taste better.

Over time my interests further expanded to include exploring how microbes influence desirable flavour development in foods such as beer and wine and undesirable flavour characteristics due to spoilage.

These interests then diversified more to exploring the factors driving food choice.

Team-working with varied disciplines On my research journey I been fortunate to have had the help of a wide range of very talented collaborators. While it is not possible to acknowledge and thank all those who have helped me, Table 1 shows the researchers I have published most with over the years. I am very grateful for their support and friendship, and for the help and support provided to me by the many colleagues and students I have worked with over the years who, are not listed in this Table. Note the diverse range of expertise and affiliations of the listed researchers. I believe that this reflects the importance of building multi-disciplinary teams of researchers as we are asked to tackle increasingly complex projects.

I strongly encourage all researchers to find like-minded colleagues to work with. Being part of a team makes the research more enjoyable and a team will achieve far more that the sum of its individuals can do.

The team concept has been exemplified by a number of large research consortia I have been involved with over the last few years including the High Value Nutrition National Science Challenge, the Food Industry Enabling Technology (FIET) MBIE programme and the New Zealand Food Safety Science Research Centre. While working with researchers across institutions can be challenging, the benefits of collaborative research far outweigh the negatives and I have thoroughly enjoyed the company of and the opportunity to learn from a wide range of new colleagues. Last year the University of Otago launched the Food Waste Innovation Theme, headed by Associate Professor Miranda Mirosa.

In my role as Technical Innovation Group leader and through my involvement in the theme’s Upcycled Food Lab, I now believe that I can make a start on my 18-year old self ’s goal of “saving” the planet.

I am often asked by new researchers... “How do you establish a relationship with industry?” and while I find this question difficult to answer, I do know that it involves time, the nurturing of trust and the maintenance of scientific creditability. On every industry-funded project it is important as a researcher to understand your legal, moral, ethical and personal obligations to the various stakeholders involved, including the company funding your research, New Zealand Inc. (including MPI) and domestic and international consumers (not necessarily in that order). The key to a successful relationship is in reaching an understanding of what can or cannot be made public and in understanding that this may change. This does not mean that industry funded research cannot be published, in fact the majority of my 221 scientific papers have come from industry projects. However, it is critical to set the ground rules and ensure that all parties understand them clearly when the research is at the planning stage.

In closing In closing I would like to be able to say that “over the last 28 years my research has helped to reduce the human suffering and economic harm caused by Listeria." Unfortunately, the data on illnesses, deaths and food recalls caused by Listeria suggests otherwise. The question therefore is why have I and others not made more of a difference? I believe that the answer is in part due to the focus, I see from researchers and industry in trying to find novel, 100% guaranteed, rock solid approaches for pathogen control. I believe that rather than focusing on finding a “silver bullet” what is required is a better understanding of how to promote and maintain good food safety behaviours. If we can get the “people” part of the equation working well the science-based detection methods and controls we already have will ultimately enable us to get on top of pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes.

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Opinion

The meaning of “Milk” and other traditional animal-sourced foods "It’s time to stop uncontrolled use of animal food terms for nutritionally inferior substitutes."

Allan Main BTech (Food Tech) FNZIFST, Principal, MAINly Consulting Ltd

All opinions expressed in this article are the author’s personal views.

The use of food names traditionally associated with animal-sourced foods by non-animal alternatives is a controversial matter that has been subject of debate for decades with roots that formed in the 19th century “margarine wars”]i. A core consideration within that debate is the appropriateness of the use of dairy terms (milk, cheese, yoghurt, etc) for food products that do not derive from lactating mammals.

The recent decision (Amendment 171ii) of the EU parliament to ban the use of dairy product terms for plant-based substitutes (but to not apply the same limitation on meat alternatives) and the plant-milk industry’s response ]iii gives new life to that controversy, inviting discussion on if/ 28

Food New Zealand

how New Zealand’s regulatory system should address the issue.

Historically regulators have predominantly directed their attention to two questions: • Is the consumer being misled to believe that plant milks come from cows (consumers know that they do notiv, and nor do they think that “Almond Milk” hails from lactating almonds) • Should farmers and producers of traditional dairy products be protected from competition (of course they should not, provided that competition is founded on a fair and even-handed basis).

These are superficial, illogical and largely spurious aspects of a far more important underlying issue. More appropriate is to tie the determination of appropriate nomenclature to what the consumer expects and what

Opinion

they have a reasonable right to expect when they consume any food that is offered to stand in place of a traditional food and that bears the name of that standard food.

products is extensively evidenced in the international literatureviii,ix,x including Australiaxi where the authors observed “To avoid unintended dietary outcomes, it is vital that consumers make pragmatic decisions regarding dietary replacements for cow’s milk.”

But what about the nutrients?

Nutritional shortcomings are similarly evident in the New Zealand food retail environment through these exemplars from the supermarket dairy case:

Food in our modern society serves many purposes – sustenance, social lubricant, cultural touchstone, hedonistic fulfilment – but above all these aspects the primary and non-negotiable purpose of food is nutrition. Traditional animal foods (and dairy in particular) are nutrientdense components of our diet being significant contributors to meeting minimum nutrient targets for several key nutrients.

That nutritional contribution is reinforced by the most recent New Zealand Adult Nutrition Surveyv reporting that milk provided New Zealanders aged over 15 years with nutritionally critical amounts (over 10% of their dietary intake) of calcium (27%), riboflavin (23%), vitamin B12 (21%) and retinol (12%) and nutritionally significant amounts of their dietary potassium (10%), protein (9%), zinc (7%), vitamin A (6%), thiamine (6%) and niacin (5%).

While the consumer knows that when they consume plant-derived milk it doesn’t hail from cows, a more important issue is whether they expect it to be equally nutritious.

A 2018 surveyvi conducted in USA for the National Milk Producers Foundation by market research firm IPSOS found a majority of consumers mistakenly believed dairy milk and plant-based milk alternatives have the same nutritional content. That survey of more than 2,000 adults found 77% of them concluded almond milk provided the same or more protein compared with dairy milk where the factual position is that cows’ milk provides eight-times more protein than almond milk. The survey also found that 68% believe almond milk has the same or more key nutrients compared with cow’s milk. The opposite is true. While there appear to be no reports of consumer awareness of nutritional comparisons between plant and mammalian milk in New Zealand, this author’s anecdotal evidence from talking with consumers making dairy alternative purchases in supermarkets supports the same being true here with the common perception being that the plant-sourced alternatives are “more nutritious”.

Such misconceptions are also a matter of concern to the US FDA. In a press releasevii associated with their consideration of the use of dairy terminology the Commissioner noted “Because these dairy alternative products are often popularly referred to as ‘‘milk,’’ we intend to look at whether parents may erroneously assume that plant-based beverages’ nutritional contents are similar to those of cow’s milk, despite the fact that some of these products contain only a fraction of the protein or other nutrients found in cow’s milk.”

It is apparent that a significant pool of consumers do hold the expectation that food that wears a traditional dairy food name will provide comparable nutrition to the mimicked food. By that expectation a substitute product is assumed to not just have physical and organoleptic congruence with the food from which the name is “borrowed”, but to provide comparable nutrition. Furthermore it is a reasonable argument that the consumer should have a right to that expectation as an aspect of “truth in labelling”. It is equally apparent that this expectation is rarely met and that there is significant public ignorance of that situation. Such nutrient deficiency in “look-alike” dairy

• Fluid “milks” with Vitamin B12 levels1 per 100ml of 0.72 µg (soy milk, fortified), 0.0 µg (almond milk), 0.0 µg (oat milk) compared with 0.90 µg for standard cow’s milk (the milk derives from more than one cow) • Products badged “mozzarella” with protein levels2 per 100g of 0.2 g (vegan “mozzarella”) compared with 25 g (cow milk mozzarella), and • Yoghurts with calcium levels1 per 100g of 6mg (coconut), 105mg (soy) compared with 120mg for cow’s milk plain yoghurt (the milk derives from more than one cow) The marked under-delivery of key nutrients from foods represented as equivalents and alternatives to traditional foods that are core sources of these nutrients cannot serve the consumer interests nor enable them to make informed choices. Furthermore the deficiency places at risk aspects of public health at least within certain vulnerable communities.

A way forward?

So what is a viable consumer-focussed solution that addresses current problems associated with using traditional standard food names for a look-alike food?

Why not require, for any product that wears the traditional name of a standard food, “key nutrient equivalence” relative to the original food? Compliance with “key nutritional equivalence” would require comparable delivery of all nutrients for which the original food provides a potential nutrition claim according to FSANZ standardsxii. That standard would be applied with indifference to the traditional foodform and to any alternative accorded the traditional name, whether derived by formulating with non-animal sourced ingredients or from a cell-based system or by any future technology.

Exemplar: for a product to qualify as “milk” by any means of production, in addition to resembling milk, that product would be required (as a minimum) to provide, according to FSANZ specified standards, equivalent pre-approved nutrient content claims as standard (derived from more than one cow) milkxiii, i.e. a “good source” of Calcium, Riboflavin and Vitamin B12, and a “source” of Protein, Folate, Iodine, Potassium, Niacin, Phosphorus, Vitamin A and Vitamin D. By that means all milks irrespective of their derivation would be equivalent in delivering the nutritional “halo” the consumer associates with the original dairy term.

Non-compliance with nutritional equivalence would not exclude the product from the market but would preclude it from wearing the name of the traditional food and so avoiding the risk of an erroneously inferred nutritional quality. So a currently non-compliant (say) almond “milk” would be required to reformulate to deliver the necessary nutrients, or drop any reference to “milk”, but could still be marketed as a “beverage”, or some other descriptive term that does not April/May 2021

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Opinion

misrepresent the nutritional contribution of the product. Compliance with regulations for non-standard foods would be required, of course.

Similar compliance would be required for assuming the name of any food for which a specific standard applies within Chapter 2 of the FSANZ Food Standards Code, so comparable nutritional equivalence hurdles would associate with nomenclature like “yoghurt”, “cheese”, “sausage” etc where the product standard is prescribed either as a standard food or where the name relates to a subsidiary food defined within a parent standard.

on “dairy-like” labelling in milk alternatives” Food Ingredients 1st February 23, 2021 (available at https://www.foodingredientsfirst.com/ news/alpro-leads-charge-against-eus-push-to-widen-restrictions-ondairy-like-labeling-in-milk-alternatives.html accessed 20 March, 2021) Splitter, J (2018): “Consumers Aren't Confused By Plant-Based Milks, New Research Shows” Forbes Magazine, Oct 14, 2018 (available at https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennysplitter/2018/10/14/ consumers-arent-confused-by-plant-based-milks-new-researchshows/?sh=7439e37935f2, accessed 10 March 2021)

iv

Any exclusions to this principle would be rare and only be allowed for long-standing established foods that are clearly not intended as substitutes for the named traditional food and would only be facilitated by a specific FSANZ food standard for that food (e.g. coconut milk/ cream, peanut butter).

v University of Otago and Ministry of Health (2011): “A Focus on Nutrition: Key Findings of the 2008/09 New Zealand Adult Nutrition Survey” Publ Ministry of Health, Wellington NZ September 2011 (available at https:// www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/publications/a-focus-onnutrition-v2.pdf, accessed 18 March, 2021)

Applying the principles described here would go a long way to providing a rational basis for traditional food terms to be more broadly applied whilst giving due accord to consumers’ rightful expectations of nutritional performance. Furthermore, the application of this principle would allow continued innovation within sensible consumer-focussed boundaries.

vi

Considerations The approach is not perfect. One deficiency is that it ignores the nebulous question of bioavailability, the translation of available nutrients into nutrition which is variable depending on the nutrient form and the food matrix. Bioavailability has long been known to be generally higher when the nutrient is naturally present compared with supplementation in formulated foodsxiv. Similarly a more nebulous aspect of nutritional equivalence exists in the quality of the protein with non-animal-sourced substitute products frequently being deficient in one or more of the nine essential (aka indispensable) amino acids limiting their nutritional utility. Not all proteins can be considered equal as is implicit in the generic labelling of protein content on nutritional information panels.

But taking this approach to authorising use of traditional names for substitute foods is vastly superior to the protectionist philosophy that has apparently driven the argument elsewhere and redirects the focus to the primary obligation to ensure that food substitutes do not lead the consumer toward uninformed choices that risk compromising their nutritional status. Surely that approach is far more aligned with consumer interests than the counter-logic of allowing traditional dairy products to be diluted with water to match the nutritional contribution provided by their look-alike substitutes!

References 1. Data from New Zealand Food Composition Database 2. Data from product nutritional panel Brown H.C. (2016): “Not Milk?” The Counter December 2016 (available at https://thecounter.org/not-milk/, accessed 20 March, 2021) i

Southy F. (2020): “’Vegan Cheese’ Banned, but ‘Veggie Burger’ still on the Table, Votes European Parliament” Foodnavigator 23 October, 2020 (available at https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2020/10/23/ Vegan-cheese-banned-but-veggie-burger-still-on-the-table-votesEuropean-Parliament accessed 16 March, 2021)

ii

iii

Anon (2021): “Alpro leads charge against EU’s push to widen restrictions

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Food New Zealand

Dumas, C.R. (2018): “Survey: Consumers think alternatives equivalent to milk” Capital Press 1 November, 2018 (updated 13 December, 2018) (available at Survey: Consumers think alternatives equivalent to milk | Dairy | capitalpress.com accessed 16 March, 2021)

vii USFDA Press Release July 26, 2018: “Statement from FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., on the process FDA is undertaking for reviewing and modernizing the agency’s standards of identity for dairy products” (available at https://www.fda.gov/news-events/ press-announcements/statement-fda-commissioner-scott-gottliebmd-process-fda-undertaking-reviewing-and-modernizing, accessed 10 March 2021)

Ferreira, S (2019): “Going nuts about milk? Here’s what you need to know about plant-based milk alternatives” American Society for Nutrition, January 25, 2019 (Available at https://nutrition.org/goingnuts-about-milk-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-plant-basedmilk-alternatives, accessed 20 March 2021)

viii

Schuster, M.J., Wang, X, Hawkins T, Painter, J.E (2018): “Comparison of the Nutrient Content of Cow’s Milk and Non-dairy Milk Alternatives; What’s the Difference?” Nutrition Today: 7/8 2018 - Volume 53 - Issue 4 - p 153-159 ix

Chalupa-Krebzdak, S., Long C.J., Bohrer B.M. (2018): “Nutrient density and nutritional value of milk and plant-based milk alternatives” International Dairy Journal Vol 87, December 2018, Pages 84-92

x

xi Zhang, Y.Y., Hughes J., Grafenauer, S. (2020): “Got Mylk? The Emerging Role of Australian Plant-Based Milk Alternatives as a Cow’s Milk Substitute” Nutrients 2020, 12(5), 1254; https://doi.org/10.3390/ nu12051254 xii NZFSA (2012): “Nutrition Information User Guide to Standard 1.2.8 – Nutrition Information Requirements. Part B – Nutrition Claims” (Available at https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/code/userguide/ Documents/Userguide_Nutrition%20Claims_PartB_March12.pdf accessed 14 March 2021)

The New Zealand Food Composition Database https://www. foodcomposition.co.nz/search using the “Potential Nutritional Claims” report format (accessed 10 March 2021)

xiii

Heaney, R.P, Dowell, M.S., Rafferty, K. and Bierman, J. (2000): “Bioavailability of the calcium in fortified soy imitation milk, with some observations on method” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 71, Issue 5, May 2000, Pages 1166–1169, https://doi. org/10.1093/ajcn/71.5.1166 (accessed 16 March, 2 xiv

Risk

Risk Mitigation – is your business protected?

Stewart Hunt, Managing Director, First Commercial Insurance Is your business at risk?

The food manufacturing industry is vital to the the New Zealand economy, representing 3.75% of our total GDP and 71% of our manufactured goods exports in 2019. With the arrival of COVID-19 virtually shutting down our tourist industry overnight, our economy is even more reliant on income from our food exports.1

Protect your business from the unexpected

New Zealand’s reputation for safe, high-quality food is a crucial part of the industry and the economy. Maintaining and increasing this level of trust with consumers is essential to supporting our export base for manufactured food, particularly when we are competing with a large number of global food brands with marketing acumen and deep pockets.

a glass of water. Other risks are monumental: Christchurch residents discovered the enormity of the risk of living in a city on a fault line in 2011. We constantly minimise risk, by wearing seatbelts, for example.

And we can mitigate some risks by insuring our property in case of loss or theft, for example.

We constantly live with risk. Most risks are so small that we ignore them as being of little moment - cutting a finger while cooking or dropping

So it is in business. A food manufacturer constantly runs many risks in producing food for human consumption. They also live with risks

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Risk

Examples of types of risk you can insure Material Damage (Company Assets) Buildings, plant, contents, computers and machinery and stock can be insured for accidental sudden loss or damage.

Mobile Assets Items that are away from the main location especially if it is on a regular basis, for example, samples, electronic equipment and plant/tools.

Business Interruption (Loss of Profits and/or Increased Operating Expenses) These important losses and expenses are insurable and are often the key to business survival.

Dual Use Commercial/Private Motor Vehicle Insurance Dual use covers protect the vehicle for private and business uses and can often work out just as competitive price wise. They can also have useful extensions such as rental vehicle cover, etc.

Electronic Equipment Electronic equipment such as servers can suffer internal failures which can be crippling.

Machinery Breakdown Insurance This may not be covered under Asset Cover.

Marine Cargo/Inland Transit This covers damage to goods in transit within New Zealand and anywhere in the world against loss or damage.

Public Liability During the course of your day to day business, your services, products etc, can potentially cause property damage and/or bodily injury to third parties. Litigation for such issues and/or the costs of repairs/ reparations can be disastrous for your business. If your business is transacted outside of New Zealand the potential losses can grow exponentially. Claims range from visiting a client’s premises and accidentally breaking something, setting fire to a business premise causing a million dollars of damage, or your product injuring someone in the United States resulting in several million dollars of legal costs.

Statutory Liability (Breach of a Government Act) The actions of your business, its staff and representatives can

relating to managing the structural elements of a business: plant, vehicles, employment disputes. These risk are a tiny sampling of those a business must minimise. The additional safety net of insurance cover is vital in order to maintain a viable operation when disaster or even minor incidents threaten the smooth running of an operation.

Small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) are particularly vulnerable to business risks as a lack of capital and experience can have an irreversible effect on a business.

How insurance supports business The insurance industry covers any, and almost all, risks faced in the operation of a food manufacturing operation. Generally an insurance broker will discuss with business owners or managers the extent of the 32

Food New Zealand

sometimes unintentionally breach Statutory Acts of Government, eg releasing customers’ information that breaches the Privacy Act, spilling chemicals in a stream that breaches the Resource Management Act, etc.p The only acts not covered are those of a criminal nature or against public interest (eg the Firearms Act or Crimes Act).

Employers Liability (Workplace Injury) ACC is constantly being retracted in its scope of cover, and where there are gaps, the employee can sue the employer directly.

Examples of this are for repetitive strain injuries such as RSI/OOS or injuries over a period of time such as stress. Cover includes the legal costs and reparations.

Employment Disputes Liability Cover is available to protect against awards and legal costs for personal grievance type litigations, Crime (Employee Theft and Fraud) Most asset policies will exclude theft or fraud by staff. Cover is available to protect against theft and fraud by staff even extending to third party deception (eg credit card fraud).

Workplace Criminal Defence Costs Accidents happen in the workplace and sometimes those accidents lead to criminal charges being laid eg manslaughter charge from a work car accident, or assault charge evicting an unruly patron from your premises.

Malicious Product Tamper, Extortion, Contaminated Products & Recall Insurance The number and magnitude of product recalls has increased significantly in recent years. In New Zealand, there are an average of two recalls announced every month – and there are many more that do not become public knowledge.

Key Person Protection Are there any individuals in your business, who have a direct impact on revenue and without whom the business would be impacted immediately? If you answered yes you probably have some Key Person exposure and if that person were to suffer a critical illness, major disability or pass away; your business could also be severely compromised.

This list doesn’t include every type of insurance available, but is intended to give an insight into the variety of covers available.

business and determine its risk profile. Based on information received, they will recommend a policy, or policies that mitigate these risks and provide support when needed.

It is important that you make informed decisions about the insurable risks you are faced with in your business. When researching insurance needs and options, it is vital to carefully disclose fully and review the information provided.

Close to 50% of businesses do not financially survive a major loss and the majority of those businesses have insurance cover that is inadequate at the time of loss.

Recalls - a significant risk Manufacturers must prioritise food safety to maintain our country's

Risk

image of high-quality and safe food. It’s more important than ever for companies to prevent and mitigate damage arising from food-safety incidents. Increased awareness of new allergens and allergen-prone people makes it even more challenging for the food industry to manage these risks.

Robust manufacturing processes and procedures are the first line of defence in preventing these incidents from occurring.

A recall plan is essential. An effective product recall plan, combined with robust crisis management planning, can minimise damage to a manufacturer's brand and reputation.

Insurance policies are available to cover businesses for recalls: the cost of removing stock from supply chains, lost profits, decontamination, manufacturing delays and damage to brand reputation, which can have a large impact on future earnings.

Cyber based threats – greater than you think While evolving information technology is a boon to the food industry, it increases the risk of cyber-based threats. Combined with globalisation, this poses new challenges to the food manufacturing industry.

Across the globe, businesses have become more reliant than ever on technology. Yet with a growing digital footprint, the risk of a business incurring a cyber incident is no longer a question of if, but when.

Insurers may offer cyber insurance as a product but the speed of technological advancements fails to reflect what the policy covers. It is critical for insurers to update and reflect on their wording to offer adequate coverage.

The media have a tendency to report only unusual cyberattacks, when in reality, cyber-crime occurs daily across a variety of sectors and through a number of channels.

Internet of Things (IoT) An emerging risk businesses need to take into consideration is the rise of IoT devices. The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the physical devices embedded with software which can then be controlled via internet infrastructure e.g. CCTV cameras, coffee machines, smart TVs. It is estimated that 50 billion devices will be connected to the network by 2028. Organisations have increased their use of IoT devices to 78%, up from 63% in 2016. IoT devices are especially prone to external threats as developers pay less attention to older versions of software which may still be in use and have inadequate cybersecurity measures to shield them from increasingly sophisticated intrusion methods.

Gaining entry through an IoT device into a corporate network is becoming an ideal opportunity for hackers. The lack of uniform security standards is one of the major challenges IoT faces. The technology of these devices primarily relies on cloud-based services, so the absence of structure makes it tough to apply adequate perimeter defences.

The assumption that the biggest loss a business or organisation faces is financial is far from reality. Reputational damage, loss of competitive advantage, customer loss and revenue costs are only a handful of risks that must be considered.

A company can undertake a variety of actions to mitigate potential losses, including taking the time to determine specific threats to their organisation. Understanding these threats can help a business prepare in the event of an incident. It is impossible to be 100% protected from a cyber incident, but the sooner a breach is reported, immediate costs can be minimised and exposure to slow burn costs reduced.

Cyber Crime is New Zealand’s third most prevalent crime yet less than 1% of businesses buy Cyber Insurance. If you are a business that holds client data or has an IT system central to the operation of your business you have an exposure. It is estimated that last year alone NZ businesses lost in excess of $650m to cyber events and the value continues to grow.

Amongst others cover includes forensic costs to find and eradicate the problem, the costs of PR and crisis management, loss of profits during the outage and your third party liability to the public.

Conclusion Risks come from all areas of an operation. Their realisation can have a devastating effect on its viability, whether through putting unbearable pressure on capital, through loss of confidence in products in the marketplace or through the loss of key personnel. Appropriate insurance cover allows a business to survive major catastrophe, or even minor adversity such as the loss of electrical power in the middle of a production run.

References MBIE. (2018, April 17). Beyond commodities: Manufacturing into the future.

1

https://www.mbie.govt.nz/assets/f0f81b6194/new-zealandmanufacturing-sector-report-2018.pdf

Stewart Hunt Stewart Hunt has been providing insurance and risk advice in the food manufacturing industry for over 15 years. He is the Managing Director of First Commercial Insurance Brokers and a member of Insurance Advisernet.

We believe it is important to understand your business first then provide the right risk advice and a tailored insurance program that suits your business needs. Honesty, integrity and trust are the hallmarks of our business practices and these are underpinned by consistent business advice processes.

Stewart Hunt, Managing Director, First Commercial Insurance

As business owners ourselves, we understand where the risk and value is in a business. We appreciate the daily commitment required to run a business and the importance of being able to rely on trusted professionals for the services outside of your primary business operations. Working closely with you, our focus is to ease the ‘labour of insurance’, allowing you to focus on what you do best – running your business successfully.

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FTPT

FOODTECH PACKTECH Don't miss Foodtech Packtech: April 13 - 15

Held only once every two years, FTPT is a must-attend event providing visitors with the opportunity to come face-to-face with the experts and discover the freshest ideas, latest technologies and the newest developments entering the F&B manufacturing and packaging technology industries.

In times of intense change a trade show for our industry provides vital support to by showcasing new technology, new products, solutions and know-how. Meeting industry specialists is essential to helping you innovate and stay relevant.

After COVID-19 changed so many schedules last year, XPO Group is thrilled that (all going to plan), Foodtech Packtech and the Materials, Handling and Logistics show is on from April 13th to 15th.

With over 200 exhibitors, the show connects you with the experts and answers your most pressing food processing, manufacturing, packaging and distribution questions. You will meet suppliers, as well as industry experts, partners, and industry-good Associations so you can kick start innovation and development in your business.

Seminar Series The FTPT NZIFST seminar series is created to deepen your knowledge and understanding of technology and innovation.

From innovative new processing technologies, to in-depth panel discussions around packaging materials and technology, from using online technologies to enhance your business management to better understanding how to select the perfect instrument to enhance your Quality Assurance operations, we have created a stimulating programme.

As usual, the research and development sessions will be upstairs, in the Seminar room, presentations focusing on technology and instrumentation for your business will be presented in the Business Growth Hub on the exhibition floor.

The Food Industry Enabling Technologies team will share the new processing technologies they have developed over the 5 years of the programme – perhaps you can see a potential here for your business's future developments.

Workshops Thursday will see two valuable workshops. Numbers are limited.

10am to 12 noon How to get better returns from your NPD - Saskia van Der Geest Be part of the conversation!

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Saskia van der Geest will present an NPD Workshop on Thursday 15th

Jason Low, of Solid Consulting, will run a Workshop on Rapid Learning Cycles on Thursday 15th

This session is a conversation. Saskia will share her learnings and insights into some of the common traps and how to prevent them and she will share some of the latest thinking to improve your New Product Development processes. As a participant, you will leave this session with new connections, draft plans and tools ready to implement in your workplace.

You will be part of the conversation to help the industry improve ROI on PD and be more successful on the international stage. Faster, better, more profitable NPD with more fun. A consistent pipeline of new products. Because "when NPD flows, everyone is happy!"

This session is a great foundation for the Rapid Learning Cycles workshop.

12 noon to 2pm Rapid Learning Cycles workshop – Jason Low, Solid Consulting (FREE registration required) Rapid Learning Cycles (RLC) is a new, innovation-project management approach, combining ideas and methods from Agile and Lean product development. Globally, businesses are increasingly turning to RLC to accelerate their journey to market and improve their decision-making processes. Join the RLC workshop to see how this new innovation approach can improve your business.

This workshop is brought to you in association with The Rapid Learning Cycles Institute and The Product Development and Management Association of New Zealand (PDMA-NZ).

FTPT

Exhibitors There's a wide range of information available from exhibitors, for example:

Food Tech Solutions on Stand 3130 A Focus to Food Safety!

A niche supplier since 1998 of instruments and consumables for quality testing solutions for food, dairy, beverage, and research industries within New Zealand.

Food Tech’s foundation in Food Safety is based on delivering high standard quick solutions combined with rapid essential technical expertise and superior service.

The cornerstone of our slick Auckland operations facility is the expedited distribution of product, rapid swap-out loan instruments, plus exceptional lab skills for all your evaluation trial work.

Our goals and the essence of what we do – we fulfil demands within the food industry for a great source of products that contribute to both food safety and food quality programmes, ensuring New Zealand only produces quality products with maximum shelf-life, whilst minimising recalls!

“We say what we do and deliver over and above what is expected!”

Our Product Range: • ATP Detection Systems - Superior science for advanced hygiene control – Charm Sciences • Pasteurisation Confirmation - All animal milk and soft cheeses – Charm • Product Sterility Testing/ predict spoilage - EPIC: UHT/ ESL milk and beverages products – Charm • Rapid Antibiotic Residue Testing – Raw milk, and other food matrices – Charm • Enzymatic Test Kits – Wine, brewing, food/nutritional, biofuel – Megazyme • Production Enzymes – Industrial enzymes for food, wine, brewing, olive industries – DeltaGen • Texture Analysis - Food & foodstuff profiling, testing packaging – Stable Micro Systems • Allergens – Wide range of ELISA rapid tests: food and environmental swabs • Metal Detectable & X-Ray Visible Products – Quality products for manufacturing environments Food Tech will again be at Foodtech Packtech, showcasing new and existing products.

Visit Stand 3130; start a conversation about how we can facilitate your QC! April/May 2021

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FTPT MATT Solutions on stand 3006

risk contamination. This acts as a deterrent to testing. (And who wants to waste product?)

What is a leak? A leak is a crack, hole, or other gap that a substance such as a liquid or gas can pass through.

• Small leaks rely on operator experience for detection.

• How much pressure is required for leak detection is often by trial and error

Did you know a single hole with the diameter of 1 strand of hair will gain 7% O2 in 24 hours?

In food this means loss of shelf life through gas escaping or oxygen entering the package. With leaks leading to spoilage and a bad customer experience, identifying leaks is a critical process control point for modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) or vacuum products, What is the best way to find a leak?

1. Because it identifies the site of the leak, a water-bath will always form part of an effective leak detection and elimination process, despite the disadvantages, 2. If you want to leak test more often while wasting less product, the solution is either via “pressure decay” or “gas detection”

Mätt Solutions MD, Bob Olayo will present a seminar session on Modified Atmosphere Packaging in the NZIFST FTPT Seminar Series

1. A water bath is the simplest form of leak detection. Simply submerge your package in water, ensure there is a pressure differential between the package and the water, and then look for bubbles.

The advantages of a water-bath include • Simplicity • Identifies the site of the leak (and thus allows corrective action) The disadvantages of a water-bath include • Destructive – you must throw your product away after testing or

In a pressure decay system – such as used by the BesTech range of instruments, your package is sealed in a vacuum chamber. If any gas leaks from your product, it causes a “decay” (reduction) in the vacuum which is picked-up as a leak. Because the packages are not damaged during testing, those that pass can still be sold. For high value products, or those flushing in 100% nitrogen this can be particularly effective.

3. Another non-destructive method of testing is the Ametek Mocon (Dansensor) LeakPointer3. This works by subjecting the package to a vacuum, which sucks the headspace gas out through any leaks – and then detects CO2.

There are some food producers that give themselves 100% assurance by using non-destructive testing to examine and verify every single package that comes of the production line. This is made possible by two virtues of non-destructive leak testing • It doesn’t damage your product – packages that pass remain fully sealed after testing • There is no incremental cost to testing – there are no consumables, no test cost and no wastage.

For a more complete conversation on a leak testing regime that will keep you products safe, protect your brand and deliver a great customer experience, visit Mätt Solutions at Foodtech Packtech stand 3006 for a showcase the solutions available.

Butler Techsense Stand 3169 With 20 years of experience in industrial instrumentation, Butler Techsense is a proven supplier of environmental monitoring solutions for pharmaceutical, GMP, medical, scientific and food production industries.

Butler Techsense delivers field-proven technologies that can handle demanding conditions and challenges to allow you to maximise the performance, profitability and, most importantly the quality compliance aspects of your business.

At Foodtech Packtech we will be featuring our range of measurement instrumentation, including thermometers, dataloggers, pH meters, wireless IoT solutions for food production, laboratories and warehouses.

Apera Instruments design and make a large range of portable and laboratory pH and conductivity instruments suitable for use in the food and beverage industries. There will a selection of these on display.

From cold chain storage and transport to high temperature pasteurisation, we have solutions to meet your operational and budgetary needs. Including dataloggers from LogTag Recorders, Tempmate, Grant Instruments, Center and Tecnosoft.

Tecnosoft manufacture probably the world smallest high temperature data logger, used in the food industry for pasteurisation and retort profiling.

Our display will be featuring the IoT cloud HACCP solution for monitoring critical temperatures throughout food production service from our European partner, JRI. 36

Food New Zealand

FTPT We will also be joined by our calibration partners, WIKA Instruments who are an IANZ accredited calibration laboratory. They will be available to discuss your calibration requirements for both on site and field instrumentation. WIKA instruments also manufacturer a large range of process temperature and pressure sensors.

NDA Group on stand 2035 NDA Group are New Zealand's leading engineering/fabrication, site installation and maintenance and equipment providers for the dairy, wine, water, industrial and food processing and horticultural, industries.

We have permanent assembly, installation and maintenance services in Hamilton, Hawera, Rolleston and Timaru plus other NDA divisions in Blenheim and Invercargill.

For you this means that, wherever you are in New Zealand, there will be a convenient option for you.

NDA Equipment is an agent for several international ranges of process and packing equipment plus providing engineering equipment, including tube cutting and weld preparation. Some of these technologies are being showcased at Foodtech/Packtech.

“Bag in Box” technology allows a the fully automated insertion of a bag into a box from a roll of polyethylene film. The high performance Flexim-31 automatically makes forms, cuts and inserts bags into cases, crates, trays, tins or pails. Block bottom or pillow packs are standard. It is also standard-equipped with a fully automatic format change which means that multiple box sizes can be programmed into the machine for quick changeover.

Smart Warehousing and Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGV’s) are transforming the movement of both cartons of goods and fully packed pallets. NDA has a range of AGV’s to move goods in several formats of any weight up to 1500kg. Coupled with its smart pallet store and propriety WMS software efficiency, moving goods into and out of any location can be optimised.

Talk to our Equipment team today and find out more about what NDA Group can provide for you.

“Bag in Box” technology from NDA allows the fully automated insertion of a bag into a box from a roll of polyethylene film Take advantage of the local and global trust in New Zealand food and beverages and optimise your full supply chain potential by connecting with the experts, all under one roof.

Foodtech Packtech is an excellent opportunity to network, discover and get excited about the future of your business.

FREE TO ATTEND for all industry professionals, simply visit www. foodtechpacktech.co.nz to register today.

Tuesday 13 – Thursday 15 April 2021, ASB Showgrounds, Auckland

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FIET

Food Industry Enabling Technologies - April 2021 Reports Authors: Richard Archer, Jolin Morel, Qun Chen, Jim Jones, Merit Mathew, Lindsay Robertson, Jason Hindmarsh

Rapid Sheep Milk Freezing enough and strong enough to sit on farm. We needed it to be built and maintained in New Zealand and to be affordable to farmers setting up.

The effect of speed of freezing on ice's structure Before we started it was well known that ice forming in a solution on a cooled surface starts freezing as parallel needles growing outwards from the surface. A very cold surface grows needles faster and closer together. Over time the needles thicken up and grow together squashing any still liquid solution out of that zone entirely or possible entrapping some between the nearly-touching columns. This is called columnar ice and it can have quite big ice crystals. The solutes get concentrated in the small volume of liquid that gathers between ice crystals.

The Rapid Freezing team: Richard Archer, Jolin Morel, Lindsay Robertson (of Massey) and Ian Macdonald of Sheep Milk Supply Group

Introduction The rapid freezing project is now in commercialisation phase. We started nearly six years ago in response to the growing sheep and goat milk industries. Farmers wanted to develop farms remote from the few milk processors available. Farms producing say 500 L of sheep milk daily needed to amass perhaps 2,000 L for a cheese run or 50,000 L for a dryer run. Or farms needed to club together.

Early on, heat transfer is easy. The heat has only a thin layer of young ice to get through to travel from the freezing front to the cooled surface.

In this stage, ice-growth is really fast and the needles of ice are fluffy they develop hundreds of small offshoots called dendrites (see Figure 1). This gives a tangled mix of fluffy ice dendrites and unfrozen liquid.

That is exactly what we want when we freeze sheep milk – to keep the solid and the solid water tangled up together. And if casein micelles are crushed together, we want this to be in tiny zones which would make micron size aggregates should they be stored frozen long enough and warm enough to lose solubility.

We wanted to develop a freezer format where the speed of freezing, from beginning to end, is up in the dendritic range. First, we needed

Farmers in this situation traditionally freeze milk in 5-10L bladders or pails. Such freezing is very slow and thawing is so slow that high bacterial growth can occur. The slow freezing causes pure ice to separate out and concentrates all the proteins together in little pockets. Over time the caseins knit together. The milk will not be the same on thawing, and can be flaky or gel together.

We set out to understand the physics of the processes by which ice and milk solids separate in order to avoid this happening. We hoped to build a prototype sheep milk freezer that would get milk frozen in less than 3 or 4 minutes and allow milk to thaw just as fast. We wanted to keep the milk proteins soluble during storage.

We wanted a system simple enough, small 38

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Figure 1: Ice morphologies in freezing skim sheep milk. Fully dendritic growth is seen at 30 μms-1

FIET

Figure 2: A range of liquid food products frozen with our laboratory-scale freezer

Figure 3: Sheep milk frozen during an initial trial with an early larger-scale tube freezer prototype

to know what the critical freezing rate is when our milk of interest starts/stops growing as dendrites. That depends on the composition of that milk. We needed to work out what happened with various milks, whose compositions are:

a critical thickness. Then we stop cooling, heat the metal pipe quickly and let the tube of frozen milk slide off, maybe with some mechanical assistance. We hoped the energy, lost in heating would not be too great: that the ice would come away cleanly and that this system, although exposed to the air, could be run cleanly.

Compositions of various milks Component

Goat

Sheep

Cow

Fat (%)

3.80

7.62

3.67

Solid-not-fat (%)

8.68

10.33

9.02

Lactose (%)

4.08

3.7

4.78

Protein (%)

2.90

6.21

3.23

Casein (%)

2.47

5.16

2.63

Whey Protein (%)

0.43

0.81

0.60

Ash (%)

0.79

0.90

0.73

We froze whole sheep milk, skimmed sheep milk, sheep milk ultrafiltrate and water. We determined the impact of each of the major solutes present and measured the critical freezing speeds, which increased in the order: whole sheep milk< skimmed sheep milk< sheep milk ultrafiltrate< water.

Laterial ideas trialled The next step was to come up with a freezer that could perform this function. Clearly, we needed to freeze milk in small amounts at a time – if the distance for heat transfer gets too great for the cooling temperature we have available, the system will fall off its foils. We came up with three formats to try: 1. Rolling droplets – we drop ~3 mm spheres of chilled milk on to a corrugated stainless steel slope against a very cold breeze. They roll and freeze and the rolling motion helps mix the interior. We hoped the droplet-forming jets wouldn’t freeze up and the stainless steel would not build up frost.

2. Falling film – we arrange chilled milk to flow down the outside of a cold vertical stainless steel tube. The milk ice builds up until it reaches

3. Cooled tube. We pump milk under pressure through a cooled pipe.

We hoped it wouldn’t just form a frozen shell and squirt through the middle and that it wouldn’t burst the pipe when it froze right to the centre. We hoped that the frozen plug would slide along the wall and emerge intact from the far end of the tube as a solid rod ready to break into pellets.

We tested all of three formats and had greatest success, unexpectedly, with the cooled tube. It is a very simple device and not too hard to fabricate. Yes, the risk factors exist and it does not work with all fluids or under all circumstances. We have looked carefully at why it might work and have our theories. We have looked carefully at situations where it does not work and have more theories.

With our very small laboratory scale tube freezer (4.4mm internal diameter) we have successfully frozen sheep milk, goat milk, orange juice, other dairy liquids, coffee, kiwifruit pulp and other (secret) liquid food products. With a larger unit (10.2 mm ID) we have frozen sheep milk, and other liquid dairy products so far.

Answering the new questions How fat a tube can we use? How long must it be? We think we know all this and the answer is 900. A single unit can freeze about 900 L of sheep milk in a day. Beyond that we can easily parallelise units.

We have a patent under examination on this technology and Cuddon Ltd of Blenheim are building the first commercial prototype. We anticipate such a unit, sensibly designed and operated, will be well received by MPI. It is simple, enclosed, easily cleaned and freezes milk quickly into a format that will store well and thaw very quickly. It is a distinct step forward in milk quality over bladders and pails.

These units could well be in a rural supply store near you in the near future.

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Atmospheric Freeze Drying - no vacuum required Considerations 1. Drying time.

AFD is hideously slow. Water vapour must diffuse out through the food and navigate all the air molecules inhabiting the pores. Where VFD may take two days, AFD may take more than two weeks. That means the drying chamber is 10 times larger. But that chamber is just a light poly-panel tunnel, it is cheap to build. And if the product is sitting waiting in a freezer store anyway, there is no penalty.

2. Not suitable for batch processes AFD does not suit all situations. It is best operating semi-continuously at large scale, where every day dried product is withdrawn from one end of the tunnel and fresh frozen feed put in the other end. The air flow hits the driest product first, and wettest last. It does not work well under -10 °C because air carries so very little water vapour down there – you have to recirculate air too often to be economic. This restricts AFD to low salt, low sugar foods which don’t build too much freezing point depression as they dry.

3. Best for complex shapes requiring a gentle process

The project team, (from right to left), Prof. Richard Archer, Prof.

Jim Jones, Dr. Qun Chen

Introduction New Zealand is big in freeze drying. In Cuddon Freeze Dry of Blenheim we have a successful manufacturer (and exporter) of batch freeze drying equipment. In our mussel, kiwifruit, pet food, and dehydrated vegetable industries we have some large scale freeze drying companies.

And in our military and tramping rations companies, a range of expert users of freeze drying.

All of this is classic vacuum freeze drying (VFD), an excellent process capable of preserving structure, flavour and bioactivity in many materials. But the equipment is expensive, being based on a largediameter pressure vessel, vacuum pumps and complex heating manifolds. And it is very hungry on energy. VDF is expensive.

Drying from frozen in a full atmosphere of pressure Within FIET we have been developing atmospheric freeze drying (AFD) for five years now and it is looking promising. The principle is simple.

Put product in a freezer store at (say) -10°C and blow very dry (dew point < -35°C) over it. Water will sublime from the food and diffuse out into the cold dry air. If that air contacts a pile of frozen food at (say) -8 °C, then it will do some drying work and leave at about -10 °C. The job of the equipment is to dry out that air, warm it back up to -8 °C and send it round through the product again.

AFD is not a new concept. A few engineers have seen the promise and have tried heat pump and other solid desiccant approaches. None has quite cracked it yet. What has changed is the ready availability nowadays of very good desiccant wheels with very low thermal mass.

We have found that two such wheels, carefully sized and set in cascade, is the secret. One large wheel is placed in an air handler unit beside the freezer tunnel down which the cold dry air is blown. A second wheel makes warm dry air with which to regenerate the large wheel. And the second wheel is itself regenerated using either a small flow of hot air like a normal dryer, or by a heat pump operating over a comfortable temperature range.

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Food New Zealand

AFD suits some products far better than VFD does. Complex shapes and delicate materials such as cut flowers, hop cones, leafy green herbs do not like sitting with one petal or leaf resting on a very hot plate. That one part gets scorched and over-dried while the rest stays moist. AFD provides even heating over the whole surface.

In VFD it is common for the heating plates to get up to high temperatures – 40, 50, even 60 °C. Product can rise to these temperatures late in the drying cycle. But with AFD, not one molecule of product can get above the inlet air temperature (perhaps -8 °C) at any point in the cycle. It is really very gentle.

VFD usually suffers from some point to point variability in a dryer.

Vapour paths differ between locations. Building the perfect heating manifold to make each tray identical is very difficult. Here the slowness of AFD becomes a virtue. No part of the product can race away from another. The whole load evens out in moisture content very well.

Trial results We have performed successful AFD trials on a number of products now, including snap frozen peas, corn kernel, cabbage leaves, frozen smoothie drops, hop cones, mussels, insect larvae and quite a few whose owners would like to stay quiet.

We have built trial devices at three scales: 1. Several airtight mini-scale boxes with a drying capacity of ~1g water/

AFD small scale trial units and examples of dried product

FIET

10 kg/day prototype and AFD process diagram

day, which allow us to measure the drying rate of small samples under different relative humidities and temperatures; 2. A bench scale medium-size testing box with a maximum AFD drying rate of 100g water/day for characterising drying behaviour in a semicontinuous process; 3. A proof-of-concept prototype of the desiccant wheel-driven AFD process with a drying capacity of 10kg water/day consisting of an insulated tunnel for semi-continuous drying and an air handling unit holding the cascading desiccant wheel dehumidification system.

[The AHU was designed, built and donated by Cooke Industries of Auckland].

Our calculations indicate that, at scales over 2 MT of water removal per day, AFD looks to be about half the capital cost, and half the operating cost of VFD.

Our conclusion But... the best application looks to be as a finisher to a VFD operation.

In vacuum freeze drying, the first 2/3 of the water dries off in well under the first 1/3 of the cycle. If you can keep the product cold and break vacuum after say 30% of the normal cycle time, then transfer the load to an AFD for finishing, you might treble your throughput at the cost

of a very simple AFD. Product may need to stay a week or more in the AFD but it will stay very cold and come out very evenly dried. It may not much matter if you leave it over the weekend and pack out on Monday – the final part is the slowest.

Food Industry Enabling Technologies (FIET) is funded by the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment and its purpose is to support new process developments that have the potential to add significant value to our national economy.

The programme has six research partner organisations, Massey University (the host), Riddet Institute, University of Auckland, University of Otago, Plant and Food and AgResearch.

Funding is $16.65m over six years (2015-2021) and targets pre-commercialisation activities. If you are interested in more information, then please contact either Dr Ross Holland (R.Holland1@massey.ac.nz) or Professor Richard Archer, Chief Technologist, (R.H.Archer@massey.ac.nz).

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Meat Innovation Workshop AgResearch and Meat Industry Association

Introduction The Meat Industry Association of New Zealand (MIA) is the voluntary trade association representing New Zealand's red meat processors, marketers and exporters.

MIA provides the industry voice and technical advice and background information to the government to support trade negotiations with other countries as well as resolution of specific market access issues.

The Association invests in industry-good research and development on behalf of its members – either directly or in partnership with government or other investors.

Significant levels of funding and in-kind contributions are made to initiatives that add value to the industry across the areas of product safety and integrity, automation and processing efficiencies, improving compliance and animal welfare, hygiene regulations and the development of new products. A major goal is increasing product value to support the profitability of the industry.

Investments in research are through the following vehicles: • Direct investment by MIA, MIA Innovation Limited • Industry Investor in the New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre

MIA Innovation Limited MIA Innovation Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Meat Industry Association that was formed in 2015 to run a coordinated programme of meat science research and development.

Its vision is to increase the productivity and profitability of the sheep and beef processing sector through the development of new science and technologies.

MIA Innovation invests in the following areas: • Shelf life and product quality • Improving processing efficiency • Food safety • Novel products 42

Food New Zealand

Approximately $1.2 million is invested per annum in R&D, funded one-to-one by industry and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) via the MBIE Partnership Scheme. Industry funding for the programme is largely sourced from the Meat Industry Initiative Fund, with some funding directly from companies.

The annual Meat Innovation Workshop reports back to members of MIA on research and development work done in the last year, and highlights the directions taken by research designed to fulfil MIA Innovation's and MIA's goal.

Workshop Highlights This year's workshop was opened with a mihi whatkau by Mustafa Farouk of AgResearch and covered laboratory research, field work, and innovations in plant.

Thinking caps were activated by the presentation of new ideas with potential for future developments.

Food Safety The never-ending search for safer food, and longer shelf life was AgResearch Senior Scientist, highlighted by the presentation by Mustafa Farouk, based John Mills, AgResearch, discussing at Ruakura, opened and bacterial growth causing failures closed the workshop and, as in vacuum packed, near freezing always, was prominent at the products – specifically bone-in barbecue cooking the beef lamb cuts. The goal of the trial and lamb for the Barbecue was to identify which organism(s) dinner caused late failure (>10 weeks0, and find strategies to minimise contamination – or mitigate it.

First identify your "late failure" organism, which can be difficult using traditional methods such as selective or differential plating media.

Modern technology, by way of whole genome sequencing, is helpful

Meat

in identifying individual species of Clostridia and less expected species such as Shewanella.

Having identified the organisms, the challenge is first to find the source of the contamination and whether this can be eliminated. Additionally, the team looked for possible means of preventing these organisms growing. At this stage anything and everything is considered. As every researcher knows, sometimes the most unlikely idea can lead to an answer.

For example, modern encapsulation technology shows potential for extending shelf-life by allowing use of materials that cannot touch the edible product. Multiple actives may be the answer, as is used in the well-understood Hurdles technique for food preservation. The team has done studies using active packaging materials, bio-preservative bacteria, chemical preservatives and essential oils such as vanillin, garlic or manuka. John presented slides showing results from this work.

A group of PhD students and their mentors working at AgResearch presented early investigative work in preservation methods.

These included Antimicrobial production by Clostridium spp. by Amila Nawaranthna, Modelling to predict STEC growth in beef during chilling and freezing and Plasma Activated Water by Aswathi Soni. Other work in this area was Smart Hurdles from Tanu Gupta and Light disinfection Meat Industry and Covid-19 by Gail Brightwell.

The session closed after Cath McLeod, Chief Executive, Food Safety Science and Research Centre, offered a Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) facility as a discussion topic for the meat industry – asking if they saw potential for the technology. Cath cited the Poultry Industry's use of WGS in its work on Salmonella and Listeria in poultry processing operations. WGS was used by the industry to accurately identify sources and sites of contamination and work backwards through operations to discover the ingress point of gene specific species of organisms. The technology can be used to discover if an organism found on site is new or resident or whether cleaning regimes are truly effective. She asked if meat processing plants might find the technology useful in their operations? Further discussion will follow in that area.

Meat and nutrition After lunch the Pasture Raised Advantage research team, Drs Emma Bermingham, Lovedeep Kaur and Andrea Braakhuis presented their work to date. The Pasture-raised Advantage is an evolving series of research studies working towards a world class, evidence-based approach on the advantages in consumption of New Zealand pastureraised, red meat. The work is supported by MIA Innovation Ltd and jointly funded with B+LNZ, MBIE and High Value Nutrition.

The work was begun in November 2019, with an intense nutritional analysis of meat products (pasture-fed beef, grain-fed beef, lamb) and meat substitutes, looking at lipidomics, metabolites and potential bioactives of emerging importance. This work was led by Dr Emma Bermingham of AgResearch.

Dr Andrea Braakhuis, University of Auckland, is conducting clinical studies investigating the health and well-being impact of eating New Zealand red meat and plant based meat substitutes

Dr Lovedeep Kaur is working with Dr Mike Boland at the Riddett Institute using in-vitro techniques to investigate how red meat and plant based meat substitutes are digested

In Stage 2 Dr Mike Boland and Dr Lovedeep Kaur undertook an advanced analysis on how these foods are digested by the body in vitro.

Stage 3 of this research is led by Dr Andrea Braakhuis of the University of Auckland: a clinical study of how the nutrients from a meal comprising the study food samples are absorbed and utilised by the body in males in the 20 - 34 year old group. It sounds simple but managing the protocols and sampling required is a logistical tour-de-force. It is expected that the results from this work will be available in September.

The final part of the study, also led by Andrea Braakhuis, will be a 12 week clinical trial observing the impact on health and well-being outcomes of 40 couples in the same age group, eating meals with the contrasting foods.

Results of the work to date are too extensive to be covered usefully here but the most notable result is that the nutrient profile of the meat substitute, in all facets measured, that is, fatty acid profile, lipodomic profile and metabolomic profile was significantly different than pasture fed beef.

Elsewhere in this issue of FoodNZ, an opinion piece discusses the nutritionally deficient profiles of, in particular, plant based "milk" and suggests that products in this space, that is, substitutes that mimic animal protein sources (milk in particular), should be required to have usefully similar nutritional profiles in order to use the common animalbased protein name.

In a following presentation, Fiona Windle, of Beef + Lamb NZ Inc. highlighted the Role of Red Meat Report as a source of significant, useful information and data in this area. The report was updated in 2020 and is available from B+L NZ at https://www.beeflambnz.co.nz/ role-of-red-meat.

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Phil would like to see the meat industry view the value chain as a whole, starting from the consumer end of that chain, and working back through to the selective breeding of animals with conformation that fits the market.

Pie in the sky? Certainly, a long term view.

Selective breeding won't only serve to supply what the market wants, it can be targeted to reducing waste streams, such as fat trim, when leaner animals with more muscle in high value areas are identified and linked with their breeding, climate and soil parameters in order to discover critical information.

Kelly McClean is Sustainable Packaging Project Manager, Foodstuffs and showed her expertise when she discussed the task of managing packaging sustainability

Keynote Speaker, Phil Green, Managing Director of Greenleaf Enterprises Pty Limited, based in Brisbane

Quality expectations and measurements The first day was rounded out with a fascinating presentation from Kelly McClean, Sustainable Packaging Project, Foodstuffs. She described New Zealand and global consumer expectations, retail trends and infrastructure challenges and how circular systems design, coupled with value chain collaboration, can help drive meaningful change towards sustainability in the supply of foods to consumers.

Tuesday's final presentation, Cameron Craigie's Objective measurement study, heralded Wednesday morning's keynote speaker.

Cameron's study aims to develop a device that combines a raft of non-invasive sensor technologies that can measure the intramuscular fat (IMF) content, pH and tenderness of meat cuts in a processing plant. The study is in response to increasingly exacting consumer requirements for meat composition and quality measurements that need to be measured objectively in order to inform markets.

Keynote speaker - Phil Green Phil Green is Managing Director of Greenleaf Enterprises Pty Limited, based in Brisbane. He has a long term association with MIA and many years experience with management consulting and business planning, operations management, strategic planning, and business development.

You will have heard of the Internet of Things (IoT). Now expand your mind to encompass the Lake of Data – the innumerable data points that are gathered throughout a meat processing operation (or any process) – and speculate on the information that can be extracted by analysis based on, for example, whether lambs have higher fat content or, say, longer backs and therefore more high quality meat on the carcass. The modern ability to collect and analyse large volumes of data creates significant potential to increase nimbleness in responding to the market.

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The Lake of Data, when accessed across a country's industry, can be interrogated to find patterns, not just what all the farmers in one region know from experience, but information that can be applied to projects for the good of the whole industry, taking in to account geology, soil, climate, genomics - the whole 9 yards, nationwide. Imagine the potential.

Virtual reality Continuing the technology and engineering theme for the day, Ben Conway from Aurecon, walked us through a virtual continuous mozzarella processing operation built for Fonterra as an example of how design and project management is reaching into the future.

Aurecon is an engineering, design and advisory company, that uses leading edge virtual reality and augmented reality in engineering, design and build projects for industry: the days of hand drawing and redesign as you go are long gone.

Ben's presentation included a video of the augmented reality capability that can be built into a project enabling engineers to actively ''walk through" a site and check operational parameters without getting their feet wet (so to speak).

And if you would like to do something similar on the farm - see just how well your plantings may absorb nitrites (or which varieties work best on your farm), for example, Science Impact Leader, Soil & Water, Seth Laurenson and his team from AgResearch have just the tool for you with Hyperfarm.

Hyperfarm is an app designed to aid in designing prosperous and sustainable foodscapes by offering an objective viewpoint to a farmer or horticulturalist on the full potential of a particular land use. A fully descriptive video is available at https://vimeo.com/482876150. It's inspiring stuff!

In conclusion MIA funds significant research, through various channels, into the meat industry. The industry is steadily building expertise in automation and gathering data to inform future developments. This workshop is their annual report to the industry and gives a snapshot of work behind the scenes and provides an avenue for feedback from industry.

NZIFST Careers

Food Technology in schools Jenny Dee FNZIFST, Careers Coordinator Food industry support for Year 12 and 13 Food Technology students at Carmel College This is the 12th year we’ve been mentoring Sandy Goonan’s senior Food Technology students through their product development projects. Having a real food industry client and role model has made a huge difference to her students. Many of her Year 13s achieve NZQA Technology Scholarship for their projects, and quite a few have been inspired to go on to study food science/technology/engineering at university.

We’d like to acknowledge the following people who have agreed to mentor Sandy’s Year 12 CREST teams and Year 13 students, and their employers for supporting them: Anand Mohan, Auckland University Annalise Stuart, Invita Annie McDonald, Hubbards Bonnie Lam, Vitaco Health Brad O’Callaghan, Foodbowl Chelsea Whiteman, Frucor Suntory Jessica Chong, Delmaine Joy Chemelil, Tegel Mitchell Thompson, Much Moore Neala Hart, Frucor Suntory Nick Parker, Sensient Technologies Renee Reid, Walter & Wild Sandi Kathriarachchi, Walter & Wild Sarah Leakey, Sensient Technologies Tania Thamrin, Fonterra We’re delighted that four of our mentors (Annalise, Bonnie, Chelsea and Neala) were themselves mentored by the food industry at school, when they did the NZIFST/CREST Food Innovation Challenge.

New video featuring a Food Technologist on the Careers NZ website Late last year we were approached by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) to find a young food technologist for them to interview for the Careers NZ website. The video they produced is an excellent introduction to a career as a food technologist. It’s now online, at: Choose one of these links

Joy Chemelil (left) and Megan, on a visit to Tegel. Joy mentored Megan's product development project at Carmel College Our sincere thanks to Ashleigh and the team at Fonterra Palmerston North for their support.

Can you help?

Role models needed for TEC’s Inspiring the Future careers programme in schools In 2020 TEC trialled a new careers programme in a small number of primary and intermediate schools. When their research showed that most children under 13 see themselves in one of just nine jobs, Inspiring the Future was created to broaden children’s horizons, and help challenge stereotypes.

TEC is now rolling out the programme across the country. They are looking for role models to share their career story in schools. Would you like to help?

Both in-school and online events are available. For role models, the online option means that: • events only require a couple of hours of your time • no travel is required

on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jufStF3KbOY,

• you can show students your workplace and some equipment you use in your job

on the Careers NZ website (at the bottom of the page) Food Technologist (careers.govt.nz)

• you can participate in events anywhere in the country – perhaps in a school you attended.

and their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/careersnz/ videos/4106065192761684

For details of what’s involved, and to sign up, refer inspiringthefuture.org.nz.

April/May 2021

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NZIFST Conference 2021

For three days early in July (6th - 8th) NZIFST members will have a long awaited opportunity to meet and mingle at our Conference. Supporting the theme, Food With Care, the committee has secured well connected, plenary speakers who will set the scene for the conference sessions. The opening Plenary, on Tuesday 6th, will be anchored by Professor Dame Juliet Gerrard FRSNZ, HonFRSC, the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, discussing challenges from the past year and for the future.

Jeremy Hill, Chief Science Officer Fonterra Cooperative Group

Challenges from Covid within our industry will be discussed in concurrent sessions, and in further depth from industry representatives, including David Sutton, National Quality Manager & Corporate Counsel, Goodman Fielder New Zealand Limited. David is a hugely knowledgeable and engaging

NZIFST Directory EXECUTIVE MANAGER

Rosemary Hancock P O Box 5574, Terrace End, Palmerston North, 4441 Ph (06) 356 1686 Mob 021 217 8298 rosemary@nzifst.org.nz

PRESIDENT

Richard Archer r.h.archer@massey.ac.nz

VICE PRESIDENT Phil Bremer phil.bremer@otago.ac.nz TREASURER

Grant Boston grant@boston.net.nz

David Sutton, National Quality Manager & Corporate Counsel, Goodman Fielder New Zealand Limited will discuss the nuances of dealing with a pandemic in food manufacturing

Opening Plenary speaker Professor Dame Juliet Gerrard FRSNZ, HonFRSC Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor Kaitohutohu Mātanga Pūtaiao Matua ki te Pirimia

speaker with a food science and law background. He'll be discussing the nuances of managing a food manufacturing operation in a pandemic - "there is no black and white, only shades of grey". A speaker from the retail side of our industry is in the pipeline to cover that viewpoint.

Jeremy Hill, Chief Science & Technology Officer, Fonterra Cooperative Group & Professor, Sustainable Nutrition, Riddet Institute, Massey University will be looking towards food production technologies in the future. Professor Hill has worked for Fonterra and its predecessor companies for over 30 years, the last 14 as Fonterra’s Chief Science & Technology Officer. He is an inventor on numerous patents covering different aspects of dairy science, technology, health and nutrition and has published over 100 scientific papers. His experience and expertise is immense and his contribution will give attendees valuable insights.

Our closing plenary speaker, Dr Kevin Marshall, is a company director and consultant in technology, research and development. He has more than 50 years experience in senior executive and governance roles in primary industry research and development. He is a biotechnologist/ chemical engineer with governance, management and hands-on experience in driving R & D to meet strategic, commercial objectives.

He will give the closing plenary address, bringing the threads of the Conference together. Registration is now open at https://nzifst.org.nz/ page-18129. Early bird prices close 31 May. Come and re-connect, face-to-face.

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Food New Zealand

Company director and consultant in technology, research and development, Dr Kevin Marshall will close the conference

NZIFST New Members NZIFST welcomes the following new members and new student members.

New Members Dion Thompson

Callaghan Innovation

Research Scientist

Christchurch

Marie Quayle

Sanitarium NZ

Regulatory & Standards Scientist

Auckland

Justin Soares

Food Nation Ltd

GM NPD & Operations

Auckland

Rebecca Long

Consultant

Labelling and food safety

Nelson

Zara Beckingsale

Synlait

Technologist

Palmerston North

Annabelle Kuan

Chemiplas

Quality & Regulatory Affairs Officer

Auckland

Geoff Duncan

DIALOG Fitzroy

Project Engineer

Lower Hutt

Erlene Dimaandal

Sherratt Ingredients

Quality Technologist

Auckland

Dulcie Tan

Tip Top

Quality Auditor

Auckland

Beverley Peacock

Life Health Foods Ltd NZ

Senior QA & H&S Manager

Auckland

Marikit Santos

JC Sherratt & Co

Quality Technologist

Auckland

Aoife Storan

Invita NZ

Applications Technologist

Auckland

Stephen Mansfield

Quality Auditing Specialists

Auditor

Morrinsville

Michael Roberts

Quality Auditing Specialists

Verifier/Consultant

Marton

Cynthia McKee

Quality Auditing Specialists

Verifier/Consultant

Taumarunui

New Student Members Auckland University of Technology: Grace Queenin, Teguh Santoso Diksha Chadha. Lincoln University: Subha Sasidharan Nair Massey University: Indika Bandara, Hannah Revell, Kelly Ngan, Zara Wilson, Nurhazwani Salleh, Yiying Huang, Brooke Morgan, Hannah Spencer, Suchima Gonapinuwala, Teresa Sumich, Kallpanna Gunasakaran. The University of Auckland: Nilushika Thambugala University of Otago: Emily Cairns, Stephanie McLeod, Emma Roberts, Nicholas Horlacher, Charlene Li, Emily Chin, Ella Zwagerman, Oscar Arlidge, Helena Odinot, Josiah Preddy, Emily Fanning, Amelia Wells, Fatemeh Jalil Mozhdehi, Rebecca Roberts, Hugh Chapman Wintec: Sana Pardehi, Ann Vilson

NZIFST Special Interest Group Hygienic Design News from EHEDG

David Lowry, Chairperson EHEDG New Zealand Finally, and certainly not wanting to put any sort of hex on the event after all the Covid disruptions, it will be great to have the food industry and equipment manufacturers, packaging companies and suppliers to the food industry get together in person at the Foodtech Packtech Expo in April. Always an opportunity to showcase equipment and product innovation, the Expo represents a chance to renew or make acquaintances and to promote process solutions hopefully representing best practice hygienic design. EHEDG New Zealand will have a strong presence at the show, sharing a stand with NZIFST (Stand 2032 in Hall 2) and is delivering a Hygienic Design seminar session on Wednesday from 9:30 – 11:00 am. We would love for you to join us, make contact and discuss the benefits of membership and opportunities for training and input.

EHEDG NZ will also have a presence at the NZIFST Conference in Palmerston North in June, where we will share a display stand with a New Zealand EHEDG member company – EMC Industrial Group, and David Lowry, EHEDG New Zealand chairperson will deliver a paper in a Food Safety session. NZIFST and EHEDG share a close link through a Memorandum of Understanding as not-for-profit Industry Good organisations to the Food Industry. If you are a member of one organisation and not the other, I encourage you to investigate membership through info@ehedg.co.nz or https://nzifst.org.nz/ Membership

Following the successful running of the second EHEDG Advanced Hygienic Design Course in Christchurch in November, Shane Mason (Engineering Manager for Pentair and EHEDG NZ Committee member) and David Lowry (Lowry Food Consulting Ltd. and EHEDG NZ Chairperson) have graduated as EHEDG Authorised Trainers.

Presentation of the EHEDG guideline training portfolio is only able to be delivered by EHEDG Authorised Trainers, so achieving this status is both a recognition of the professional expertise of the trainers and, more significantly, opens up opportunities to run more training courses in NZ and Australia. With the limitation on international travel enforced

by Covid, the opportunity for face-to-face delivery of training packages from overseas presenters has been limited, but now that opportunity has opened up. EHEDG New Zealand has yet to finalise a training timetable of courses for 2021, but there will definitely be at least one Advanced Course run in the second half of the year with the potential for more dependent on interest. <boldcolour> Need a tailored training course?

EHEDG New Zealand is seeking interest from Companies and Industry Sectors in running ‘tailored’ training courses of one to one and a half days focusing on the specific modules of most direct relevance to them.

These would include the core hygienic design principles modules with specific application modules selected from the portfolio. For example – open food processes may select the conveyor, air handling, waterstorage and reticulation modules while beverage processors may choose the valve, pumps and homogenizers, and pipe couplings and seals modules. Please contact David through info@ehedg.co.nz or dave@lowryfc.co.nz, or better still, lets talk at Foodtech Packtech regarding your needs and considerations.

Looking forward to an exciting second quarter of the year.

April/May 2021

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NZIFST

Dr Hester Cooper FNZIFST, talks to FoodNZ about her career

Spotlight on Hester Cooper FNZIFST, Consumer Researcher This is the first of a new Q&A Series: NZIFST Fellows sit down with FoodNZ and tell some of their career story.

1. How do you describe yourself and your expertise?

I keep it simple for people who are not familiar with the field – it prevents their eyes from glazing over! Usually I describe myself as either a consumer researcher or a freelance market researcher. The latter description usually conjures up a vision of me clutching a clipboard and accosting the public on a street corner. Sensory evaluation is a complicated field to explain – it gets limited to “taste testing” in the minds of many.

2. Tell me the pathway that you followed into that skillset.

As an undergraduate, I became very interested in food and the food industry but decided against teaching or becoming a dietician (my original career choice.) A friend’s decision to do a Master’s degree at London spurred me to look at potential courses related to food and consumers in Canada. That led me to apply to the Department of Consumer Studies at the University of Guelph where I did my M.Sc. and got my grounding in the field of sensory evaluation.

3. Where did you get your early experience in this area?

I began my career at NZDRI (now Fonterra Research) working mainly with trained sensory panels on a wide range of dairy products and ingredients. During that time I also did advisory work for the then Dairy Board on a number of consumer studies overseas. I then moved to Colmar Brunton Research to establish their sensory services, allowing me to go beyond the food industry and to enjoy meeting the challenges of the wider world of sensory evaluation.

4. What qualifications do you hold?

I hold a B.H.Sc. from the University of Otago, an M.Sc. from the University of Guelph and a Ph.D. from Massey University. I am a Fellow of NZIFST and of RANZ (Research Association of New Zealand).

5. Please tell us about some of your experiences….

For the past 30 plus years, I have been a contractor – first with Colmar Brunton Research and then as a freelance researcher. For a contractor there is no second chance, you have to ensure that the project is carried 48

Food New Zealand

out on time and provides the client with quality information. Fieldwork is where the most hair-raising experiences lie.

You have to be fast on your feet to react to swift changes in circumstances or an environment which can be extremely challenging.

In one drinks test we ran in Fiji, the refrigerator in which the drinks had been stored overnight just stopped functioning. Temperature is critical in this type of test and there was a very hurried trip to the local garage to buy large quantities of ice which, in combination with several chilli bins, became our makeshift refrigerator. I have made up milk powders in a school in the Philippines where my only water supply was the drinking fountain in the middle of the playground. In Hong Kong, I had to keep 10 different milk powders at an even temperature when my “test kitchen” was a kettle, water from the men’s urinal, two buckets on the floor acting as my sink and 10 thermos flasks. Thermos flasks are a wonderful friend for keeping samples both hot and cold. Simple technology can often save the day.

Then there is the question – “Have I thought of everything?” I remember suddenly realising in a test on hypo-allergenic skin creams, that I had no idea what to do if someone in the test had an allergic reaction to one of the products. Calendula oil was the answer, said the client and provided it. It was used several times before the end of the test, despite all products being considered “ hypo-allergenic”.

Overall, I think you just have to plan and organise very thoroughly.

6. Words of Wisdom for anyone interested in pursuing a career in your area.

Sensory evaluation is a field about people, people’s reactions, people’s foibles. If you don’t like people or you aren’t interested in people, this isn’t the right career choice for you. In addition, you need to have a strong grasp of statistical principles. You don’t need to do everything yourself but the way in which people react to stimuli drives professional statisticians crazy. It isn’t always logical and doesn’t follow the same rules as other data. The hours are often unfriendly if you are working with consumers, and deadlines are often very tight. On the plus side, people never cease to amaze and surprise me. It is a field which can keep you stimulated and interested through decades of work.

Hester's contract consumer research company is Brilliant Reflections, her email is hester@brilliant.co.nz.

NZIFST

Branch Reports

Glen Neal, GM Risk Management and Intelligence, FSANZ, introduces his presentation for Auckland Branch

Auckland Risk = OMG x WTF We hosted Glen Neal, General Manager of Risk Management and Intelligence at FSANZ, talking about some highlights from a memorable year that included reviews of sugar and alcohol energy labelling, regulatory reforms of food systems with constantly changing foods, future for FSANZ and the mystical arts of communicating risk to consumers. All with the promise that he would do his best to keep the majority of us awake throughout.

First up Glen talked about how food is constantly evolving and FSANZ is doing its best to keep up. We are seeing new novel foods that require new understanding of risk. For example: the Impossible (bleeding) plant-based burger, already approved in by the FDA, Hong Kong, Singapore and Macau with new hyper processed and GM derived ingredients. Also Rapeseed protein isolate, as an alternative to dairy protein, with new mustard allergy considerations and then there's the Review of PWL and HMOs in infant formula.

Added sugar is under review in 2021 to help inform consumers in their dietary choices. The two big technical issues with any changes are how do you define it and how do you find it. FSANZ is working on targeted consultation, with some suggesting adding an additional added sugar column to the NIP. With these new foods and projects, we have also seen a new Minister for Food Safety appointed. Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall brings her years of experience in infectious diseases to other positions including, Minister for Seniors, Associate Minister of Health and Associate Minister of Research, Science and Innovation.

Energy labelling of alcoholic beverages Energy labelling of alcoholic beverages is being investigated again, brought on partially by the increase in low carbohydrate and sugar claims which Ministers are concerned can be misleading. Initial steps will include understanding consumer's behaviour, looking at current consumption, studying approaches overseas and technical issues in

determining energy content. The review will likely be completed in June 2021 with changes to follow.

Glen went on to talk about the current FSANZ review that is going to be a "root and branch” examination of all aspects of role, legislation and resourcing with FSANZ getting a bigger proposed role with amendments to the Food Treaty possibly following.

Communicating risk The main topic of the night, and something Glen talked about with passion, was the communication of risk. It is often a problem that an average person’s conceptualisation of risk and concerns are not factored into expert risk assessments. Without respecting the valuable contributions of both the experts and the public, risk management efforts are destined to fail. Glen spoke of how valuable a simple phone call with a concerned member of the public could be in alleviating mistrust and fear. More importantly, bombarding these people with the most reliable and accurate facts was far less valuable than listening, validating and respecting their fears.

Another issue, described as “The Basic Dilemma in Risk Communication” is that the risks that kill people and the risks that alarm them are completely different. The risks that create a greater outrage and fear often sit on the lower end of the spectrum of hazards.

These include GM, pesticides and additives – as opposed to the almost apathetic response the presence of Salmonella and Campylobacter get from the public. This may have something to do with those who are now recognised as experts in modern times. Previously, expertise was the domain of our leading scientists but now many people get their information from social media pundits and influencers who are often more interested in clicks than facts.

There were plenty of questions from attendees on the night thanks to some great hot button issues. A big thank you to Glen from the Auckland Branch for taking the time to visit. We hope to hear back from you soon.

Nick Parker

April/May 2021

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NZIFST

Prof Richard Archer (left) and Prof Benoit Guieysse (centre) share their insights with returning Massey University Food Technology Students at the March student welcome function

JC Andrews Address With the Covid-19 pandemic causing widespread disruption to the 2020 NZIFST Conference and Awards ceremony, the winner of the 2020 J. C. Andrews Award, Professor Phil Bremer, was unable to give his address until six months later - in Auckland, and via Zoom elsewhere in the country.

The Auckland branch of NZIFST was thrilled to host Professor Bremer at our March 2021 meeting, where he was invited to give his J. C. Andrews address. The address was simultaneously broadcast via webinar to Institute members outside Auckland, especially Professor Bremer’s colleagues gathered to watch at a Southland branch meeting in Dunedin.

Paul Harrison FNZIFST

visible and auditable, which is important in an unexpected event of a product recall.

There was further information on the amount of food products recalled in 2020 (via GS1’s ProductRecallNZ), with recalls due to undeclared allergen(s) topping the list, followed by microbial contamination.

Overall the branch gained insight into the importance of data and how GS1 New Zealand can streamline business operations.

The committee has an interesting programme planned for the next few months and looks forward to another year of varied events for our members.

Jasmin Estrera and Winna Harvey FNZIFST

Central

Canterbury

Innovations in Remote Verification

Our first get-together for the committee after the holiday break had to be cancelled because of COVID restrictions on gatherings. Instead we held our committee meeting by Zoom on February 15th.

Chris Hewins of the Food and Beverage Team at New Zealand Food Safety is leading a range of Remote Verification initiatives, that not only provide efficient verification options but in Covid times aim to provide verification services in lockdowns. It is entirely appropriate that Chris gave his presentation remotely from his home in Marton and NZIFST members joined around the country with hubs in Palmerston North and Wellington.

Our first event of the year entitled: “Case study: Dude where’s my stuff?

A digital approach to Product Recall communications” was held on 18 Feb 2021.

Dude where’s my stuff?

The branch was happy to welcome our guest speaker Joe Drysdale, GS1’s ProductRecallNZ Manager. With Auckland at Level 3 and travel restricted, our face-to-face meeting in Christchurch turned into a Zoom meeting, where 17 members attended from all over the country.

Discussing an interesting and timely topic, Joe explained the importance of standardised data, and why integration with other systems is powerful at ensuring the delivery of safe products for consumers. He also talked about why an industry group got together to build a digital system, ProductRecallNZ, for recall communications.

Chris outlined the challenges of verification and opportunities for innovation. The challenges come from the wide distribution of businesses and verifiers around the country, additional costs due to travel and accommodation – all to ensure food is safe. Remote verification requires establishing trust and relationships with the food business, so that the technology and the process works to meet the objectives of verification.

When communicating with dozens, hundreds or even thousands of customers, an inefficient, manual process is daunting, gone are the days of relying on emails, faxes or phone calls.

During development Chris setup field trials to find the right mix of practical verifiers, keen businesses, hardware and software, connectivity, and a process to follow through that allows analysis and report back. All at an acceptable cost and use of time resources.

Going forward, businesses need to meet certain rules such as good compliance history and not be a food exporter which requires onsite verification.

Joe detailed how retailers and suppliers need to have a comprehensive list of their customers, sites and inventory. This data needs to be

A video clip highlighted field trials checking out smart phone, camera, Skype and laptop technologies. While food business staff involved

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Food New Zealand

NZIFST

Glen Neal, centre, is pictured chatting with branch members at Te Awanga Estate winery on a glorious Hawkes Bay day showed some nervousness, they were quietly confident. These were real life experiences, with real businesses, verifiers and NZFS staff, with plenty of smiles and enthusiasm despite some technology, camera and connectivity frustrations. While the potential was clear from the beginning, clearly things tended go better as techniques and verifier capabilities developed with experience. Overall, the project showed how innovation can be achieved with good work and good communication. Well done Chris and team.

Chris noted that NZFS has information for businesses interested in remote verification. By using Skype on a smartphone or other devices, remote verification could save remote food businesses substantial time and cost. https://www.mpi.govt.nz/food-business/running-a-food-business/ verifying-your-food-business/remote-verification/ John van den Beuken FNZIFST

Welcome back students Each year, as hazy summer days fade into autumn the Massey University magnet draws back its students to Palmerston North from around the nation.

Students on the Food Technology course provide an enrichment to our local NZIFST Central branch meetings so we always make sure to make them welcome on their return with a function directed to their interests (and not just food and beer). On the evening of March II a feast of Asian dumplings accompanied by a brew from the Massey micro-brewery was laid out for the students and Branch members to meet and mingle.

An excellent attendance of both students and members allowed good engagement between the generations.

Of course there is no such thing as a free dumpling and certainly not free beer so the students were subjected to a hard-sell pitch from members to take student membership of NZIFST. Many students appeared satisfied that joining was an appropriate way to invest the equivalent of 4 flat-whites of their scarce resources, so we look forward to welcoming them to future branch events.

Spirulina production

Guieysse, Professor of Environmental Engineering at Massey University and an entrepreneurial businessman. Benoit has established New Zealand’s first and only producer of spirulina, Tahi NZ Grown Spirulina, on the Manawatū coast at Himatangi. Spirulina is a spiral-shaped bluegreen biomass of cyanobacteria, farmed as a nutritional supplement or whole food. Prof. Guieysse applied his microbial engineering skills to set up the Tahi spirulina farm and has been in commercial production for the last 2 years. He described the history, cultivation and nutritional strengths of spirulina. Given the trendy image of spirulina, many of us were surprised to learn that there is evidence of spirulina consumption in Africa for over 3,000 years and that it comprised a common food for the Aztecs.

Benoit is manufacturing dried spirulina for direct sale to New Zealand consumers using a fine mix of French flair with Kiwi ingenuity for repurposed equipment plus a solid grounding in science and technology and while he confided that the business is still in its shaky growth phase we were left with the impression that if anyone can, Benoit can!

Thank you to the committee and particularly Lara for once again providing an excellent opportunity to cement our links with the future of our industry whilst expanding our own knowledge of local food enterprise.

Allan Main FNZIFST

Hawke's Bay/ Tairāwhiti The Hawke's Bay/Tairāwhiti branch held their first event for the year in February at the picturesque location of Te Awanga Estate winery.

Whilst enjoying a drink we were lucky enough to hear from Glen Neal, the GM, Risk Management and Intelligence, FSANZ. Glen spoke about the highlights for their team in 2020 in terms of reviews, applications, proposals and enquiries they completed as well as what's ahead for 2021. He was able to update us on where things are at with added sugar labelling, menu board labelling, emerging research, the FSANZ Act review plus many more topics of interest as well as answer some burning questions from our local members. A really interesting session, finishing with some valuable networking with the FSANZ team.

Rachel Campbell

The other attraction for the evening was a presentation by Benoit April/May 2021

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Peter Molloy, Tauwhare Road Berry Farm co-owner, describes his operation to attentive Waikato Branch members

Waikato Tauwhare Road Berry farm, Matangi In February, twenty-three Waikato branch members visited the Tauwhare Road Berry Farm and were treated to a very informative and entertaining tour from co-owners Peter and Debbie Molloy. The business is co-owned with the Jiang family. Comprehensive notes were supplied, and Peter told us about the history, innovation, successes and failures, discoveries and sheer hard work that have gone into making this business thrive. The property is 6.5 hectares total with 4 hectares under plastic canopies. Eighty percent of product is sold locally via supermarkets and independent retailers. The rest is sold at the gate.

Berries are grown hydroponically in Haygrove plastic tunnel houses with 0.7 hectare in strawberries, 2.3 hectares in raspberries and 1.0 hectare in blackberries. The tunnels are 8.5 metres wide and 80 metres long, with 59 tunnels in total. The growing medium is coconut fibre (coir) in plastic film enclosures and the plants are supplied with a locally developed nutrient mix and water. Peter and Debbie have pioneered this growing model, having moved from a conventional, ground-based system when the Waikato Expressway project bulldozed their former enterprise.

The tunnel house system extends the growing season into the higherpriced shoulder months (October to June) and yields are higher than ground-based cultivation. The growing tables are at waist height which further aids harvesting and adds efficiencies. Yields are 1kg per plant for strawberries versus standard 600 grams per plant for ground cultivation.

Approximately 40,000 strawberry plants are under cultivation in the peak of the season. Raspberries yield 4 kilograms per plant with 8000 plants per hectare grown. Blackberries grow from October to January and yield 5 kilograms per plant with 4500 plants per hectare. Future 52

Food New Zealand

plantings are forecasted to produce up to 10 kilograms per plant over an extended season.

Peter says the downside can be that the houses can concentrate heat, and hence pests and (dry condition) diseases can become established if the system is not stringently managed. Waste disposal, storm-water run-off and (end-of-life) plastic disposal or re-cycling are all issues that have to be managed. The houses get hot in the peak of summer, yields and quality drop, water use rises, staff get grumpy, management gets put under pressure.

On the positive side is the ability to recapture and re-use water and nutrients (none escape into the soil profile), higher yields, provision of nearly full-time employment for the staff, smaller environmental footprint, and the ability to tightly control pest management. The exclusion of rain brings benefits in control of water and possible disease vectors. Birds are a nuisance and a cost. Proximity to neighbours can also bring problems at times.

Management of irrigation nutrients is by a mixture of batch and an automated direct injection system, an Autogro computer, sensors and weather station. Water is supplied from three on-site wells. The reticulation from the mixing IBC’s is run from the controller with sensors reporting various conditions and making adjustments as required. To aid light maximisation (and maintain tidy conditions) reflective white weed-mat is laid in many of the tunnel houses.

Overall, the system is relatively low-cost, and the farm is profitable after only five years of operation. Berry varietals are from publicly available cultivars and selection has improved fruit size, sugar (Brix) content, total yields and flavour profiles.

There is further scope for enhanced management of enclosed systems like the Tauwhare Road Berry Farm: machine vision to show pests,

NZIFST

Waikato Branch members enjoyed a visit to Allied-Faxi in March water and nutrient stress, leaks etc., are all areas for further study.

Automated harvesting is a possibility. Peter is consulting on other berry growing developments and is optimistic for the future.

Faxi proposed using the empty cheese plant to accommodate a new ice-cream factory. The plant was built and installed by TetraPak and has been quietly and successfully operating since opening in 2016.

We enjoyed the best at the end: a berry-infused soft-serve ice-cream for the attendees. We thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience. There was plenty of talk of avenues for further study and development and we thank the hosts for their hospitality and communication.

We were greeted by Richard Gray from TetraPak and factory manager Anthony Chen. Richard and Anthony took us through a presentation showing how ice-cream is manufactured on site: from milk reception, separation, and pasteurising, to batching, mixing, overnight aging, freezing, and packaging. Various flavourings and inclusions like fruit pulp or chocolate are added during the process.

Colin Pitt FNZIFST

March FED talk Membrane separation in the food industry We successfully hosted the March FED (food exploration and discussion) talk by Richard Gray on the 2nd of March at 6.00 pm with the presence of 26 participants both via Zoom and in person. Richard Gray is a senior project manager and membrane specialist at Tetra Pak who has over 30 years of experience in the food industry.

The talk provided insights on the basic filtration principles, types of membranes, pros and cons of each membrane and their application in the food industry. At the end of the talk questions were raised by the NZIFST members related to concentration efficiency, the possibility of separation of non-dairy proteins, use of metal membranes, etc.

Chathurika Samarakoon

Allied-Faxi Ice-cream Kerepehi, 18th March 2021.

NZIFST Waikato Branch is on a roll. For the second time in as many visits we were treated to ice-cream by the hosts. What better way to finish a site visit than ice-cream?

Ten members from Waikato and Auckland branches toured the AlliedFaxi ice cream plant at Kerepehi on 18th March. The Kerepehi site was formerly a NZ Co-op Dairy Company dryer and cheese plant. In the early nineties NZ Co-op closed the site and it lay unused until Allied-

The freezing process takes place inside a rotary, scraped-drum freezer which discharges into the packaging systems. Air is added to assist with texture and to attain the correct density. Product goes into 250 ml cups along with a spoon or into 5kg bulk packs for use in food manufacturing. The plant also packages frozen cream in 10kg bags.

We were able to view the entire manufacturing plant and process from the viewing galleries above the factory. We also saw the refrigeration plant, boiler-room, CIP kitchen and had a more detailed and close-up look at the packaging and palletising areas.

Almost all product is exported to China via refrigerated shipping containers. The various logistics issues over the past year have presented a challenge to Allied-Faxi. With such a sensitive and perishable product everything has to connect in this supply chain. However, demand is high and the product meets premium standards so the factory has a bright future. The plant employs 40 people and supports the local economy and farmers.

A very enjoyable afternoon where we were offered ice-cream and other treats and had an entertaining and educational tour of the plant.

Thanks to Allied-Faxi and TetraPak for hosting us and especially thanks for the delicious ice-cream. Good to see a large turn-out for a tour that took place outside of the main metropolitan areas.

Colin Pitt FNZIFST

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Student Essay

Wool on a plate?

Wool keratin as an alternative source of protein

Rochelle Gounder, Student, University of Otago This article was awarded 4th prize in the Food Tech Solutions NZIFST Undergraduate Writing Competition 2020. The annual competition is open to undergraduate food science and food technology students who are invited to write on any technical subject or latest development in the food science and technology field that may be important to the consumer.

Why do we need new sources of protein?

The current growth in global population and changing sociodemographics places rising pressure on our resources to provide not only more but a greater variety of food (Henchion et al., 2017). The increasing demand for sustainability in food production systems has sparked the search for alternative sources of proteins, commonly from novel plant-based products, insects, microorganisms or through tissue culture to replace conventional animal-based sources which have been known to negatively impact the environment as well as raise some concerns around health. Although there has been a large support for these alternative non-animal-based proteins in terms of sustainability, consumer acceptance might be a challenge (Henchion et al., 2017).

As a country that relies primarily on its agricultural industry for economic growth, it is unlikely that meat production in New Zealand will decrease in the foreseeable future, especially if there is a high level of consumer acceptance for meat as a regular source of protein (Johnson, 1999). Due to the improbability of a decrease in meat production despite the irrefutable scientific evidence on its impact on the environment, is it then not advantageous to discover ways to expand the benefits of animal production by maximising the use of all available resources in each animal?

Animal keratin offers high yields The biological structural components of various inedible parts of agricultural animals such as skin, nails, claws, hooves, hair, horn and feathers are made up of keratin (McPherson & Hardy, 2011). Pure keratin comprises up to 90% by weight of wool (Shorland & Gray, 1970). Wool has a high protein content by weight of raw material compared to most alternative sources of protein such as insects and microorganisms, thus making it much more efficient as well as cheaper to process wool and obtain proteins (Sharma & Kumar, 2019).

Since wool is mostly comprised of keratin, to obtain 1kg of keratinderived protein (KDP) from wool we would need about 1.1kg of raw material (90%) (Sharma & Kumar, 2019). This is a significantly lower ratio compared to other common sources of protein such as chickpeas which would require about 3.3 - 4kg of raw material to obtain 1kg of protein (25-30%) (Zhang et al., 2012). Additionally, wool as a raw material can be obtained without killing the animal, is available all year during any season and is highly stable so it can be transported or stored for a long time without being degraded (Shorland & Gray, 1970).

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Wool Keratin has potential as a source of edible protein

Advantages of wool keratin Keratin is a tough, insoluble, triple-helix shaped protein strand made up of keratinocytes and is present in various parts of the body to provide protection from harmful environmental factors (Sharma & Kumar, 2019). A synthetic treatment of keratin has been shown to improve hair strength in keratin-deficient humans. Moreover, keratin extracted from wool using controlled hydrolysis and applied to animal diet has been shown to improve digestive health by regulating the faecal microbial composition (Choudhury et al., 2018). This improves faecal short-chain fatty acid production which promotes intestinal homeostasis. Intestinal health regulates overall health and wellbeing in mammals with intestinal microbiota being a key factor. Additionally, wool keratins are

Student Essay

rich in cysteine which has been shown to be beneficial in enhancing antioxidant status and fighting chronic inflammation (McPherson & Hardy, 2011). Cysteine-rich proteins such as keratin can act as a safe and useful nutraceutical or functional food. Furthermore, wool keratins have barely any taste, odour or colour once extracted from the raw material, hence they offer great capacity for flexibility as an ingredient in processed foods, medicines and cosmetics for both human and animal use (Choudhury et al., 2018).

Challenges with wool Tons of waste wool keratin discarded each year contribute to environmental pollution and resource waste which suggests that it is not only beneficial but also challenging to recover and reuse waste wool (Liu et al., 2017). Extraction of keratin from wool requires efficient dissolution of keratin. However, the compact packing of secondary structures in the polypeptide along with the intermolecular and intramolecular disulfide crosslinks and hydrogen bonding, not only make the protein highly stable giving it excellent properties such as durability and elasticity but can also make it challenging to dissolve wool keratin (Liu et al., 2017). Various chemical, mechanical and enzymatic methods such as reduction, oxidation, sulfitolysis, acid-alkali hydrolysis, enzymatic hydrolysis, microwave hydrolysis, superheated water or steam explosion have been used to extract keratin from wool (Liu et al., 2017). Although some methods have resulted in toxic residues and degradation of essential amino acids that make up the valuable protein, some have shown promise.

Another challenging factor is that wool is sourced from agricultural animals which have been known to require a substantial amount of resources such as land, water and fossil energy as well as contribute to the accumulation of greenhouse gases (Henchion et al., 2017).

This may affect consumer acceptance of the highly functional keratinderived proteins present in wool.

Potential uses of wool keratin Wool keratin has been studied for several decades in the medical, pharmaceutical, biotechnological, cosmetic and food industries for its wide range of properties such as stability, durability, flexibility and functionality which are a result of its unique molecular structure (Sharma & Kumar, 2019). Moreover, keratin-derived protein extracted from wool can be converted into a digestible protein-rich flour or powder which can be incorporated into food products such as baked goods, protein shakes, nutraceutical supplements, pet food, agricultural animal feed and many more (Shorland & Gray, 1970; Choudhury et al., 2018). Apart from being incorporated into food products, wool keratins may also be beneficial for purposes such as drug delivery, medicines, cosmetics and bioplastic (Sharma & Kumar, 2019).

Conclusion The ever-growing population and crucial need for a sustainable food supply compels us to make the most of the resources we have available and consider all possible options for the sustainability of our future. So far, evidence suggests that wool keratin offers potential as a suitable functional and nutritional ingredient in processed foods for humans and animals. However, more human trials and consumer acceptance surveys might be beneficial for the future of wool keratin-derived protein.

References Choudhury, S. D., Bermingham, E. N., Young, W., Barnett, M. P. G., Knowles, S. O., Harland, D., Clerens, S., & Dyer, J. M. (2018). The effects of a wool hydrolysate on short-chain fatty acid production and faecal microbial composition in the domestic cat (Felis catus). Food & Function, 9(8), 4041-4520. doi:10.1039/C7FO02004J Henchion, M., Hayes, M., Mullen, A. M., Fenelon, M., & Tiwari, B. (2017).

Future protein supply and demand: Strategies and factors influencing a sustainable equilibrium. Foods 6(7), 1-21. doi:10.3390/foods6070053 Johnson, R. (1999). The contribution of agriculture to the national economy of New Zealand. Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society. doi:10.22004/ag.econ.123821 Liu, X., Nie, Y., Meng, X., Zhang, Z., Zhang, X., & Zhang, S. (2017).

DBN-based ionic liquids with high capability for the dissolution of wool keratin. RSC Advances, 7(4), 1981-1988. doi:10.1039/C6RA26057H McPherson, R., A., & Hardy, G. (2011). Clinical and nutritional benefits of cysteine- enriched protein supplements. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care, 14(6), 562-568. doi:10.1097/ MCO.0b013e32834c1780 Sharma, S., & Kumar, A. (2019). Keratin as a protein biopolymer, extraction from waste biomass and applications. Springer Series on Polymer and Composite Materials (pp. 1-122). doi:10.1007/978-3-03002901-2 Shorland, F., B., & Gray, J., M. (1970). The preparation of nutritious protein from wool. British Journal of Nutrition, 24(3), 717-725. doi:10.1079/BJN19700073 Zhang, T., Jiang, B., Miao, M., Mu, W., & Li, Y. (2012). Combined effects of high-pressure and enzymatic treatments on the hydrolysis of chickpea protein isolates and antioxidant activity of the hydrolysates.

Food Chemistry, 135(3), 904-912. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2012.05.097

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www.nzifst.org.nz

NZIFST Conference 2021

Registration now open at https://www.nzifst.org.nz/page-18129.

Contact rosemary@nzifst.org.nz for more information

Reconnect face-to-face with your peers Join us for • Poster and Oral competitions • Food Industry Awards • Industry Exhibitors

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Food New Zealand

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