April/May 2020 Issue of Food New Zealand

Official magazine of the 2020 International Congress of Food Science and Technology A pril /M ay 2020

NZ’s Authority on Food Technology, Research and Manufacturing

Featured in this issue: Overview: Ingredients for food manufacturers from local and international suppliers FIET Report: Pulsed Electric Field application in winemaking Traveller’s Tale: Daniel Burgess goes to PDMA Conference in Florida Kombucha: Part II – Kombucha today Consumer research: Chinese consumers’ preferences for fermented dairy foods

The official Journal of The New zealand institute of food science and technology inc.

Contents

NZ’s Authority on Food Technology, Research and Manufacturing

A pril /M ay 2020 | Volume 20, No.2 ISSN 1175 – 4621

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Editorial

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NZIFST NEWS UPDATE NZIFST collates information on Covid 19 for the food industry

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In-Brief

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FOOD SAFETY

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News, views and information from around and about

NZ Food Safety: COVID-19 and Food Safety FSANZ: Who can you trust in a crisis?

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OVERVIEW

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FIET Project 9:

Ingredients for food manufacturers

The use of Pulsed Electric Fields technology for the NZ winemaking industry

Sze Ying Leong, Phil Bremer, Patrick Silcock and Indrawati

Oey (University of Otago)

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PACKAGING

Shelf life, food waste and plastics

Gordon Robertson, FNZIFST

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 mailed to 2500 individuals, primarily in New Zealand, and overseas.

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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

10 Director and Editor Anne Scott, Peppermint Press Limited anne@foodnz.co.nz Director and Writer Dave Pooch, Peppermint Press Limited dave@foodnz.co.nz 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, David Everett, Rosemary Hancock

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RESEARCH

33

REVIEW

Chinese consumers’ preferences for fermented dairy foods Anne Marie Manzano, Di Lu, Joanne Hort and Li Day

Kombucha Today

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Anthony N Mutukumira, Kay Rutherfurd-Markwick, Xiaolei

Wang and Richard Archer

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OILS & FATS

Laurence Eyres, FNZIFST

38

TRAVELLER'S TALE

Thoughts on COVID-19 mitigation with oils and fats

Earle Travel Fellowship in Technology 2019 Report

Daniel Burgess

39 NZIFST News, including:

New Members Branch News

On the cover 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 Meat Industry Association of New Zealand Inc. Tim Ritchie, Chief Executive PO Box 345, Wellington Phone: 04 473 6465, Fax: 04 473 1731

Professional Development

Time to stay safe in our protective bubbles while the experts work to contain the Covid 19 pandemic

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

next issue: June/July 2020 Next editorial and advertising deadline: May 19, 2020 Features for June/July 2020 Overview: Laboratory consumables and equipment, rapid analysis technologies and instrumentation.

April/May 2020

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EDITORIAL EDITORIAL Covid Blues Richard Archer wrote this on 20th March. He is now in isolation on his property in South Taranaki.

I am sitting here at my desk at Singapore Institute of Technology marking “Reflections” written by groups of students on their first ever pilot scale build-and-operate lab. Singapore has just gone through 345 confirmed Covid19 cases with 32 new cases yesterday. New Zealand has just hit 39 with 11 new ones yesterday. I have measured my temperature and logged it. And I have just uploaded photos I took of each group in the class.

Including the group exiled to the next-door room so the limit of 50 students in the room was not broken.

The photos are for contact tracing in case…

I am just about to sanitise my hands and to go to the Food Hall for lunch from one of the hawker stands there. I will sit in an empty seat flanked by chairs with an A4 sheet taped to them asking students not to sit there to maintain social distancing. I’ll not let my chopsticks touch the tray or tabletop.

I am due to fly home tomorrow evening by Air New Zealand. The NZ Government says advance your return

Richard Archer, President NZIFST

date. My family says come home earlier. The NZ travel agency says my flight on Saturday is still scheduled: it doesn’t seem interested in earlier.

Singapore is a very controlled place. TV is for government messages more than sharp critique. There are jingoistic songs about uniting as one and supporting front-line health staff. A pretty woman appeals to us not to panic-buy. We see news articles about how well the supply chains are functioning. And many news items about how badly struck other countries are. Singapore has held its curve down very well while maintaining business not too far from usual.

I am writing this as a dot in time. Things spread round the world very quickly these days – ideas, news, fake news, people, computer viruses, coronaviruses. But hasn’t that always been the case? Samuel Pepys recorded in his famous diary news he gleaned in the 1660’s from “the exchange” from sea captains returning from abroad. Fresh news. One foreigner who gave false news had his nose slit as punishment. Pepys observed and recorded the great plague which came in from abroad. He related the death tolls published daily by the parishes and the mass burials at Lambeth.

Pepys was also in the food industry. For a decade or so he held a commission for victualling Tangier. He got rich on that one.

The King’s money was “sticky” – it tended to stick to people’s hands as it passed through.

Food gets to be centre focus again in times of crisis. People are stocking up ready for periods of isolation. I am – I will be entering 14 days self-isolation on Sunday. At least my personal panic-shopper is doing it for me. The grocery trade has never been hotter. Food companies are having to rev up to catch up. Fruit is having a resurgence as a healthy food in this time of ill-health. Apples will leave our shores in record numbers just as soon as we can get some reefers out of China.

And what of the people manning our wider food industry? That is nearly every worker in New Zealand – most people are only one degree of freedom away from the food industry – they support at least one agricultural or food company in some way.

What of us? We individually are carrying all the pressures and worries at work and at home. Pressures and worries on top of the normal ones. Who looks after us? Well, we do. We look after each other. I am seeing some tremendous good will being shown up here in Asia from one group to another. I hope to see it when I get home.

Richard Archer, FNZIFST, President NZIFST

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Food New Zealand

NZIFST

News just in from NZIFST

NZIFST collates information on Covid 19 for the food industry New Zealand is enduring an unprecedented crisis with COVID 19. Our Food Industry is an essential service that must provide safe, high quality products throughout the crisis.

To help NZIFST members get the best information and find answers to problems, we have launched the following three initiatives. All links are available on the NZIFST website, www.nzifst.org

Collating useful Information for the Food Industry on COVID-19 Links to provide members with easy access to websites that we believe provide creditable and timely information on issues the Food Industry is facing owing to COVID-19.

A dedicated Food Safety Information and Q & A site On the specific topic of Food Safety the NZIFST is working closely with the New Zealand Food Safety Science Research Centre (NZFSSRC) who along with MPI should be your primary source of information.

The Foodie Volunteer Army Source: Dreamstime Š Theo Gottwald

NZIFST has set up an informal group on LinkedIn offering a forum for New Zealand food businesses to ask questions or otherwise seek technical support. Possible topics include supply issues, ingredient substitution, personnel absence, or any acute technical issue due to current events. If you lack technical or operational staff, ask Jono to find you an expert.

Go to www.nzifst.org for links to this information April/May 2020

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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.

Plant-based protein plant to operate in Singapore The Singaporean Food Agency is backing Life3Biotech in the development of a production plant which will initially produce a plant-based ingredient made from a blend of legumes, grains, fungi and other whole foods.

They plan to produce 1200 to 1800 tonnes annually.

The pilot facility will officially launch in the fourth quarter of 2020, while plans to start another bigger production plant are also underway.

The facility plans to grow some of the crops need for the product, to be trade named Veego. The company’s spokesman sees the product fulfilling demand for meat alternatives which is an established trend in consumers’ search for healthy, low carbon footprint foods.

Big data reveals climate change impact on US crop yields From the IFT Weekly, ift.org A new Michigan State University (MSU) study published in Scientific Reports shines a light on how big data and digital technologies can help farmers better adapt to threats—both present and future—from a changing climate. Between 2007 and 2016, the U.S. economy took an estimated $536 million economic hit because of yield variation in unstable farmland caused by climate variability across the Midwest. More than one-quarter of corn and soybean cropland in the region is unstable. Yields fluctuate between over-performing and underperforming on an annual basis.

The researchers first examined soil and discovered that alone, it could not sufficiently explain such drastic yield variations. Using an enormous amount of data obtained from satellites, research aircraft, drones, remote sensors, and from farmers via advanced geospatial sensor

suites present in many modern combine harvesters, the researchers wove big data and digital expertise together.

What they found is that the interaction between topography, weather, and soil has an immense impact on how crop fields respond to extreme weather in unstable areas. Terrain variations, such as depressions, summits, and slopes, create localized areas where water stands or runs off. Roughly two-thirds of unstable zones occur in these summits and depressions, and the terrain controls water stress experienced by crops.

The researchers believe that this work, which was funded by AgBioResearch and the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA), will help determine the future of climate-smart agriculture technologies.

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Food New Zealand

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IN-BRIEF

New Zealand Health Survey Biomedical results 2014/15: New Zealand Health Survey The Biomedical Data Explorer presents results from blood and urine tests in the 2014/15 New Zealand Health Survey. Tests included biomarkers of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, liver function, nutrition, and immunity to measles and rubella. Results are available by gender, age group, ethnic group and neighbourhood deprivation.

Where possible, results are compared with the 2008/09 Adult Nutrition Survey.

The results come from a module in the 2014/15 New Zealand Health Survey. At the end of the main 2014/15 survey, about half of adult respondents were invited to take part in the biomedical module. This involved going to a local medical laboratory to provide a blood and urine sample. A total of 5,027 adults took part, which represents 67% of those invited. For more information about the biomedical module, see the Methodology section of the Biomedical Data Explorer.

There is a link from the Health survey page (https://www.health.govt.nz/publication/ biomedical-results-2014-15-new-zealandhealth-survey) to view the biomedical data in full. Published data can be downloaded from the Biomedical Data Explorer as a .csv file, or as a PDF using the ‘print view’ function.

Helping food manufacturers achieve the best results Navigating food safety and compliance regulations can be a challenge for New Zealand food manufacturers and having a trusted food assurance partner can make a significant difference to the process. AsureQuality provides a broad range of services encompassing inspection, verification, testing and certification to private, industry, national and international standards. Their 1800 dedicated people work across every point of our country’s food supply chain, sharing the knowledge and insights gained from over 100 years of experience.

Technology advances can also play a key role for businesses navigating certification standards and the latest methodologies and technologies enable the team at AsureQuality’s laboratory to provide fast and accurate test results. These technologies, together with expert knowledge for interpretation of results, provide a winning combination for food businesses utilising their services.

The specialist team at AsureQuality’s laboratory have extensive hands-on experience and are passionate about sharing their knowledge. This unparalleled depth and breadth of experience means that they are perfectly placed to provide technical advice and customised solutions through their Laboratory Advisory Services to help customers achieve optimum results. These services include root cause identification for contamination or spoilage, Standard Operating Procedure reviews, interpretation of test results, assistance with product design, shelf life determination, specific problem-solving and more.

Whether it’s navigating the new food safety regulations, or meeting stringent certification standards for export markets, AsureQuality have the experience, technology and capability to assist food manufacturers with all their food assurance requirements.

For more information go to: asurequality.com

April/May 2020

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IN-BRIEF

Meat vs plants? Hybrid strategy means you can have both From New Nutrition Business Amidst all the hype over plant-based foods, it’s easy to think that it’s the only strategy in town – and the only way to get around environmental concerns about meat and dairy.

From meatballs with mushroom to bread with beetroot, hybrid products deliver traditional foods along with a significant portion – at least 20% – of plant-based ingredients. Many successful products go up to 30% and more.

True, many people want to eat less meat and dairy and eat more plants, specifically vegetables. But many consumers don’t want to give up altogether on their favourite everyday foods – and nor do they want to miss out on the taste and nutritional benefits of meat or dairy.

The terms ‘blended and ‘hybrid’ are starting to be more widely used by product developers and strategists, and plants are increasingly showing up as a prominent ingredient in categories where you wouldn’t traditionally expect to find them. The new emerging blends are:

Between these poles, in the grey area where consumers’ best intentions meet their love of meat and dairy, lies an emerging opportunity: “hybrid” products.

• Plants + good carbs

“A ‘hybrid’ or ‘blended’ strategy gives flexitarian consumers permission to indulge in favourite foods like meat, dairy and bakery – they can eat them and feel no guilt,” says Julian Mellentin, director of consultancy New Nutrition Business and author of a newly-published strategy briefing on the hybrid opportunity. “And while it’s currently a niche opportunity, it’s already earning companies significant price premiums of up to 140% over regular non-hybrid products.”

These blends can be found in many categories including snacking, bread, cakes, burgers, dairy drinks, ice-cream, breakfast cereal and many others.

It’s early days and a white-space opportunity, but emerging steadily.

New Nutrition Business believes that within five years, hybrid products will have a 3%-5% market share in many categories.

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Food New Zealand

• Plants + meat • Plants + dairy

“A surge of creative product development means that within a few years a convenient vegetable content in bread and bakery, chips and snacks and many other categories will be everyday and unremarkable,” says Mellentin.

Hybrid strategy: Harnessing the health halo of plants is available at www.new-nutrition.com

MPI

COVID-19 and Food Safety New Zealand Food Safety is taking COVID-19 very seriously. We’re monitoring the situation and will provide guidance as needed to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all New Zealanders as it relates to food businesses and the primary industries.

It is highly unlikely that the COVID-19 virus can live on or in food for long periods of time, and there isn’t evidence of this happening to date.

As per 24 March government advice for the COVID-19 response primary industries, including food and beverage packaging, production and processing, are essential services. New Zealand Food Safety is continuing to support the food industry to deliver its essential services and package, process and produce food for New Zealanders at this time. MPI has set up a registration system for essential businesses who wish to operate under the level four COVID-19 alert.

For the most up-to-date information and guidance on COVID-19, go to: • Unite Against COVID-19 website for general advice: www. covid19.govt.nz • Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment for workplace advice: www.mbie.govt.nz/coronavirus-covid-19 • Ministry of Health’s guidance: www.health.govt.nz/our-work/ diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus • New Zealand Food Safety for COVID-19 and food safety information: www.mpi.govt.nz/coronavirus-and-food-safety • Ministry for Primary Industries’ Register for Safe Practice www. mpi.govt.nz/covid-19-essential-primary-sector-service-registration

FSANZ

Who can you trust in a crisis?

Glen Neal, General Manager Risk Management and Intelligence, Food Standards Australia New Zealand The purpose of regulation is to improve certainty, trust and confidence.

The FSANZ vision is ‘Consumers have a high level of confidence in the safety of food.’ In setting standards, providing advice and coordinating parts of the food system we seek to build confidence through going about our business in a transparent, science-based and independent manner. We have recently completed an overhaul of our performance measures that set specific metrics around not only how we engage and how we deliver our work but also to what degree our efforts may impact on consumers trust in the food system.

and command. It is about seeing a positive vision and calmly, clearly exercising your role in order to help achieve it. In Ashley we have a clear thinking, straight talking leader who is vastly experienced in the health system that he leads. He is well respected across that system and we are, I think, incredibly fortunate to have him in that place at this time.

So who do we trust in a crisis? I had the pleasure of working with our New Zealand Director-General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, at Auckland Regional Public Health in the 90s. He was assigned to help rescue a piece of work that had gotten away on me. We worked together to finalise a case-control study report into an explosive Campylobacter outbreak and I quickly learned that he was a kind, calm man who simply got stuff done. I have watched his health leadership career blossom to the point where he is now clearly in charge of an unprecedented public crisis.

So what are the opportunities in this particular crisis? As a workplace, FSANZ is well prepared to deliver in times of social isolation. We are a nimble little agency that has big connections around the world and we are deeply engaged with stakeholders in both Australia and New Zealand. Whilst food safety isn’t directly threatened by COVID-19 – in fact the SARS and MERS experiences have seen foodborne illness incidence reduce (more handwashing perhaps?) - our science-based expertise and connections with a broad set of stakeholders are key strengths that could see new opportunities seized upon. We have stepped up in recent years to play a bigger role than we are specifically entrusted with – and we will continue to step up and provide what is needed.

The difference between crisis management and crisis leadership is profound. One perspective is that management is about ensuring things are done right whereas leadership is about doing the right things. Crisis leadership involves more than just people, planning and procedure – it requires a blend of courage and creativity in order to take the risks that otherwise wouldn’t be taken. It requires collaboration, connectivity

We may have to adjust and adapt our delivery to reflect the unfolding situation. At times like this it is comforting to live in a food producing nation that has developed a strong resilience and a deep sense of what is just. I expect that a country that is full of leaders like ours will capitalise on the opportunities this crisis presents and we could very well realise an even brighter future.

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OVERVIEW

Overview – Ingredients for food manufacturers Looking for that special flavour, modifier, colour or wanting to reformulate to fit Health Stars? If you can’t find what you want in the following pages you will have a better idea of whom to ask when you have finished reading them.

AXIEO (DKSH Group) Axieo has a long history offering premium ingredients to all sectors of the food, nutrition and pharmaceutical industries in New Zealand and are now proud to be part of the global DKSH family.

To support consumer demand for natural products our supply partners are continuing to innovate and develop exciting new plant based ingredients. Roquette is expanding their Nutralys® pea protein platform to now include application specific and texturized products that are ideal for meat substitution, helping to improve appearance and bite while remaining allergen free and vegan.

The Lycored range of natural tomato products includes tomato solids and natural flavour enhancers (MSG replacement). Their super stable Lycopene and Beta-Carotene extracts provide colour under a wide range of pH and high temperature conditions, suitable for beverage applications.

CPKelco have launched NUTRAVA™ Citrus Fiber which is a highly functional and nutritious fibre ideal for replacement of traditional complex stabilisation systems. The benefits of adding functional fibre to consumer products are numerous and its use is gaining momentum.

Axieo fulfils Kiwi’s sweetness demands in both industrial and gourmet markets by providing chocolate and compound solutions, as well as cocoa powder, butter and liquor. We proudly work with Puratos, whose Belcolade range offers a broad selection of real Belgian chocolates including certified dairy free. The Carat range of versatile and affordable compounds and fillings is also available.

We also specialise in freeze dried and baked products in both savoury and sweet profiles from Chaucer Foods, utilising their global fruit sourcing power for the advantage of ANZ customers. Talk to us if you have enquiries as we have recipes, ideas and innovative concepts to share!

Further broadening the range of available ingredients we also partner with Bunge to bring a full suite of lecithin and bulk oils to the market.

We look forward to expanding our portfolio further now we are part of the DKSH Performance Materials group. We would love to hear from you!

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Food New Zealand

OVERVIEW OVERVIEW modifying glucose supply with fully available, yet low-glycaemic carbohydrates, such as Palatinose™ and ensuring the carbohydrate energy enters the body in a balanced way, with a slower blood glucose rise and less insulin release. Having a mild sugar-like sweetening profile, Palatinose™ can be used to replace sucrose, maltodextrin or other high-glycaemic carbohydrates, while maintaining taste. Being low-glycaemic and low-insulinemic, Palatinose™ contributes to better fat burning in energy metabolism. Hence, it is potentially providing longer-term benefits for glucose control, body composition and weight management.

Beneo A healthy way to satisfy a sweet tooth Sugar reduction and replacement are important tactics to fight the challenges of non-communicable diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other conditions. Hence, many healthcare experts have been encouraging consumers to cut down on their sugar consumption for many years. Some governments in the region are even going as far as taxing sugar-sweetened products.

However, it is important for consumers and food manufacturers to understand that sugar replacement needs to go hand-in-hand with lower blood sugar levels. Only then, can sugar replacement provide the benefits that they are aiming for. BENEO believes consumers can make healthier choices with products that contain ingredients that help to replace sugar, but can also reduce blood glucose response, support weight management and/or digestive health.

There are two ways to replace high-glycaemic sugars which cause a fast and high glucose release into the blood stream. The first is

The second method is to reduce overall glucose supply by sugar replacement, using partially (e.g. sugar replacer ISOMALT) or nonavailable carbohydrates (e.g. prebiotic fibres Orafti® Inulin and Orafti® Oligofructose). ISOMALT is the only sugar replacer made from pure beet sugar. It offers a mild sugar-like taste, while being lower in calories. Prebiotic chicory root fibres – inulin and oligofructose – contribute to better digestive health and inner well-being. They are the only plant-based prebiotics available on the market and make up two out of the only three scientifically proven prebiotics that exist. With a mild and natural taste, they can also be used to reduce sugar in food and beverages, but at half the calories of sugar, and all the nutritional benefits of fibre. Being low-glycaemic, they can also help reduce the blood glucose response of foods and drinks.

BENEO’s ingredients from natural sources support balanced blood sugar management as they allow manufacturers to improve on their recipes — bringing down their glycaemic response and/or lowering their calories, without compromising on taste. Tapping on these functional ingredients is a smart move and should be the direction that the industry moves towards, especially with today’s health-conscious consumer in mind.

Give green light to better food choices.

Build consumer trust with BENEO’s ingredients.

Where consumers in general aim for a healthy lifestyle with matching nutritional habits, now more than ever, they look for balance and moderation. When in the past a “diet” label on the Front-Of-Pack would be enough, today’s buyer takes a more holistic approach of health and wellness. People look for simple solutions and focus on familiar ingredients and inherent goodness. Brands can gain consumers’ loyalty by being open about their ingredients. Improve your product’s nutritional content with the naturally sourced, functional ingredients from BENEO.

Follow us on:

www.beneo.com

April/May 2020

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OVERVIEW

Caldic Caldic are ingredient solutions providers to New Zealand food manufacturers. We use our global network of Caldic companies throughout 17 countries, to find innovative and clean label ingredients to fit New Zealand’s market trends. We combine this with technical support, warehousing, and customised logistics to ensure we can provide a solution to the most challenging projects.

We specialise in the following areas: • Natural Antimicrobials from Third Wave Bioactives – Uniquely containing organic acids and peptides that have a bactericidal effect.

• Vegetable proteins – pea, almond, faba/fava bean, textured pea, rice, hemp and protein crisps.

• Organic, A2, Sheep and Goat milk specialities from Valfoo.

• Functional Food Fibres (e.g. carrot fibre binding 26x weight in water, no high shear needed).

• Natural colours, extracts and fruit and vegetable powders from Naturex.

• Prebiotic FOS from QHT, Organic options available.

• Antioxidant solutions – Product testing and shelf life predictions available to get maximum benefit out of Caldic’s own Dadex range.

• Fruit preparations, Fondants, allergen free glazes, and bakery blends from Puratos.

• Emulsifiers – e.g. Sunflower Lecithin. De-oiled Powder and liquid options available.

• Savoury solutions and vegan yeast extracts

• Nutritional solutions, Vitamins, minerals and functional premixes – Caldic’s own Daminaide Enrichment Blends

• Dairy flavourings from First Choice Ingredients (Dairy-type Compound Flavours for vegan/plant-based applications are also available) • Standardised and high potency Garlic and Onion powders.

• Inclusions for the dairy industry from Pecan Deluxe.

Invita Ingredients for Plant-based Products Evolving consumer demands challenge the way ingredients are used in successful NPD. The rise in plant-based products suggests three market segments: vegan, vegetarian and flexitarian but no matter which segment a product is designed for, the one common denominator is great taste.

Health and wellness is a key driver of initial product purchase.

Clean label ingredients that are ‘good for me and good for the planet’ will engage shoppers’ interest and speak directly to their motivators and values.

Many plant-based products pose as healthy, yet reading the ingredients list reveals otherwise. Educated consumers will ask “what is this product made of?” A simple way to answer this inevitable question is to start with the right ingredients – natural flavours and sweeteners, yeast extracts, prebiotic chicory root fibre, rice flour and starch, malt extract and colouring foods made purely from fruits and vegetables.

Now that you have the right ingredients there are endless

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Food New Zealand

Your contacts at Caldic are Steve Crockett for beverage and pet food and Dr Farnaz Faridnia for confectionery.

We look forward to discussing your next development! https://www.caldic.com/en-nz

possibilities for what to make, but how? Meat alternatives need a flavoursome and textural base that can be tailored to your unique brand, perhaps with a coating for contrasting texture and served with plant-based condiments. Also, dairy alternatives that deliver on taste, mouthfeel and nutrition for those consumers who regularly choose plant milks and desserts or just like a change.

The plant-based trend is fast becoming a mainstream way of eating for enjoyment and nutrition revealing the importance of expanding your ingredient know-how. Understanding the best ingredients involves application and technical expertise combined with industry knowledge and a quality reputation.

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 | Yeast extracts | Vitamin and mineral premixes |Prebiotic Chicory Root Fibre | Rice flours, starches and syrup | Colouring Foods | Malt extracts | Natural burnt sugar/caramel | Textured wheat protein | Probiotics

OVERVIEW OVERVIEW

GNT Coloring Foods provide the ideal clean-label solution Colour is crucial to the success of food and drink. It has a huge impact on how consumers view a product, influencing perceptions of its freshness, quality and taste. Ensuring food and drink products have the right appearance will frequently make the difference between them ending up in a shopping cart or being left on the shelf.

However, evolving consumer expectations mean it is no longer simply about colour performance. While shoppers will always gravitate toward products with the right visual impact, they also increasingly expect clean and clear ingredient lists. With a large proportion of consumers now rejecting artificial ingredients, clean-label colours are the logical choice.

EXBERRY® Coloring Foods are made from fruits, vegetables and edible plants using only physical processes such as chopping, boiling, blending and filtering – and never any chemical solvents. Our Coloring Foods are all vegan-friendly and can be used in almost any application, including snacks, soups, dairy, bakery, confectionery, beverages and a vast range of plantbased products.

Using Coloring Foods allows manufacturers the opportunity to tell a truly positive and transparent story about their products’ colours. Because the concentrates are made from recognizable and reassuring raw materials, they can be described on the label in an easily understandable way such as: “Coloring Food (concentrate from beetroot).”

With more than 400 vibrant shades available, EXBERRY® Coloring Foods make it possible to create truly Instagrammable products with 100% clean and clear labels – helping manufacturers ensure they are ticking all the boxes.

D M Dunningham Ltd ‘Dunninghams,’ is a 4th generation New Zealand, family owned business that has been supplying specialist ingredients to meat and fish industries since 1921. Dunninghams supply both consumer retail products including the Dunninghams Kitchen range, as well as bulk trade size products. Local and international customers include food processors, manufacturers, distributors, retailers and foodservice companies.

Examples of Dunninghams top selling ingredient products include wet marinades, dry rubs, sausage meals, crumbs, coatings and cures. All products are manufactured by Dunninghams in Penrose, Auckland, New Zealand.

April/May 2020

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OVERVIEW

Formula Foods New Zealand’s Flavour House Company 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 business 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.

From the mid 2000’s the instrumentation division grew from specialising in water activity [aw] to an extensive range of testing equipment.

In 2012 this became a separate business which after starting as ‘FF Instrumentation’, is now known as ‘Matt Solutions Limited’. www. matt.nz In 2018, due to growth of both Formula Foods and Matt Solutions new premises were designed and built to house each business separately, side-by-side in the new Wigram industrial subdivision.

Formula Foods has now transitioned into a 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. Shelf-life testing is now housed in the Matt Solutions facility.

The Australian flavour business was started in 2016, initially through a co-manufacturing agreement with a Queensland manufacturer, then in May 2019 became autonomous, based within our Australian instrumentation business premises - Graintec Scientific, www.graintec.

com.au. We have well-qualified and experienced flavour staff to cater for the growth in the Australian market. www.formulafoods.com.au 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.

With almost 33 years serving the food industry, Formula Foods endeavours to partner with its 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

NEW ZEALAND’S FLAVOUR HOUSE COMPANY NATURAL FLAVOURS MADE FOR YOU RIGHT HERE IN NEW ZEALAND CALL US TODAY ON 03 9622960 www.formulafoods.co.nz

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Food New Zealand

OVERVIEW OVERVIEW

Pacific Flavours and Ingredients DDW, The Color House Mother Nature supplies the raw materials, DDW adds more than 150 years of colouring expertise.

It is a brilliant partnership that offers a complete range of natural colours as well as the widest range of browns from the widest range of sources. It is our mission to work with our customers to create the quality, natural colour solutions that result in beautiful, consumer-relevant products. All of our products, people, and capabilities are solely focused on creating natural colours.

We start with colours from natural sources like fruits, vegetables, minerals, and seeds, apply scientific expertise, and back that with more than 150 years of experience. The result is not just beautiful natural colours, but natural colours that meet the needs of consumers and manufacturers alike. From ensuring traceability, to creating easyto-use colours in just about any form, to developing custom blends, we deliver functional products for manufacturers with the simple label needs of the market.

Switching natural colour suppliers or looking to convert from synthetics to naturals without impacting the colour of your final product? Our applications scientists have extensive custom blending experience and the latest colour measurement instrumentation, allowing them to provide the best matches possible while avoiding any major changes to your manufacturing process or final product.

You can also utilise our library of ready-made colour solutions. Each has been subjected to rigorous stability testing and is fully commercialised, which means your blend is ready to ship quickly when you need it. Can’t find the exact shade you’re looking for? That’s OK too. You can work directly with us to create a custom natural colour solution specific to your brand.

Work with colour experts who value your project as you do.

Established in 2003, Pacific Flavours and Ingredients Ltd is unique and highly specialised, focusing on the creation and sourcing of the highest quality flavours for the food and beverage industry.

Since 2015, we have been focusing on increasing our manufacturing capacity in New Zealand. Our capabilities include a nearly completed spray drying facility, comprising a small pilot spray dryer with a 1.5kg/hr capacity and a 200kg/hr spray dryer for commercial quantities scheduled for completion by September 2020. Accompanying this is a liquid blending facility, providing Pacific the capability to offer liquid flavour and extract manufacturing. Serious investment has been added, with reverse osmosis capability, pilot UHT line and spinning cone technology. This investment gives Pacific a great range of services to offer to our customers.

Our highly skilled team is constantly striving to source the best ingredients for our extensive flavour development projects. There is a growing, powerful local and regional food movement that directly connects consumers with how and where their food is grown.

Pacific Flavours is excited to be able to help our customers meet this new demand, with our New Zealand provenance extracts range.

These including liquid and powder extracts with regional claims. Some examples: Gisborne Orange, Lemon and Lime, Hawkes Bay Lemon, Lime, Apple and Pear, Waikato Raspberry, Otago Peach and Feijoa, NZ Green Tea Caffeine. Our extracts come from freshly harvested seasonal produce.

One of our most recent creations is a kiwifruit powder extract, KFPE, a unique protease with a controlled amount of actinidin. KFPE is a proven meat tenderiser allowing the processor to run a low temperature holding stage and inactivation without the need for cooking. It is natural, acid and salt tolerant, and has significant activity down to as low as 2°C and normal inactivation temperature of 38°C. At low dosage it may be considered a Processing Aid. Can be applied by injection and/or vacuum massaging, as a solution in water or without other spices or ingredients. The product has application in natural sausage casings, cosmetic industry, brewing industry, healthcare sector, and dry marinades.

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

Manufacturing flexibility means we can produce in modest volumes to suit any size of enterprise, from new start up to large multinational scale.

We are proud to be working alongside the major players along with some of the fastest growing young ventures in the food and beverage industry.

At Pacific Flavours, we believe quality is paramount for success. Our team ensures the highest international standards are met. We are forever learning and continuously improving and adapting to the changes occurring in an internal and external environment.

Providers of ü Flavours (liquid and powder) ü Proteins ü Sweeteners ü Enzymes ü Functional spice blends ü Snack seasonings ü Brines and cures ü Collagens ü Bakery Ingredients

ü Fruit pastes, Ice cream and Gelato bases ü Functional Nutritional Ingredients ü Omega oils and powders (marine & algae) ü Oleoresins, antioxidants & natural colours ü NZ Extracts ü Red Arrow Smoke flavours

www.pacific-flavours.co.nz

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OVERVIEW Chemiplas Chemiplas is your partner from concept, to finished product, to market.

Through our exclusive partnerships with global brands, we offer a broad range of high-quality ingredients to meet evolving consumer trends in bakery, beverage, dairy (including infant formula) food and nutrition.

Consumers are now demanding simpler labels and familiar ingredients – we can supply you with several clean label solutions and E numberfree preservation options.

For example: • ProBake NDV from Niacet is a clean label alternative to calcium acetate and calcium propionate with proven mould inhibition results in bread, showing greater efficacy at lower dosages than cultured wheat and whey.

• Provian NDV for clean label preservation of processed meat, poultry, fish and fresh ready meals is a 1:1 replacement for sodium acetate or potassium acetate and a 1:4 replacement for lactates. This dry free flowing powder is very soluble and so good for brines or marinades. It has proven excellent microbial inhibition, in particular against listeria monocytogenes, at low dosages. Provian NDV has zero sodium content.

• Another option for reducing sodium levels is our natural, clean label 1:1 replacement to regular salt, resulting in a 35% sodium reduction.

• Cargill SimPure plant-based starches leverage the unique properties of various botanical sources, including potato, tapioca or corn to offer label friendly solutions for manufacturing ready meals, dairy products, meat and meat substitutes.

CREATING SENSORY ADVANTAGES THROUGH: ECOM CANADA - HERB AND SPICE OLEORESINS • Natural Colours • Essential Oils • Liquid Seasoning Blends

NEKS GERMANY - OTEX ALL NATURAL ANTIOXIDANTS

from Green Tea and Mediterranean herbs for optimum protection of: • Meat, Fish, Poultry, all oils and fats • Baked products, Cereals, Snack Foods • Sauces, Dressings, Dips, Spreads

Established in 1976, Chemiplas is one of the largest privately owned suppliers of specialty raw ingredients in Australasia. We supply to manufacturers anywhere in New Zealand or Australia.

For more information on the Chemiplas product range or any other ingredients you’re looking to source, please see www.chemiplas.co.nz or contact Anna Hinstridge in our Food Division.

Scios Natural herb and spice Oleoresin extracts, essential oils and liquid seasoning concentrates form the core of the Scios business. A long association with respected extract supplier, Ecom Canada, supported by experienced local application technicians and product development facilities has placed Scios in a leadership position in this segment of the flavour market.

The goal of the Scios business is to deliver value to food manufacturers through enhanced product quality and consistency and reduced product formulation costs as well as ingredient logistic advantages – reduced inventory volumes, standardised ingredients with long shelf life and process simplification.

An increasing number of food manufacturers are replacing fresh and dehydrated (flake and powder) herbs and spices with Ecom natural extracts. Key products from the Ecom range include Garlic and Onion Oleoresins for processed meats and baked products and celery, paprika, black pepper, coriander, ginger, basil and a variety of chilli extracts for the condiments industry.

Ecom are also specialists in supply of natural Oleoresin-based seasoning blends, many of which are available ex Scios stock. Examples include: barbecue, Cajun, chai, chicken herb blend, Italian, Mediterranean, frankfurter and sriracha. Ecom have also developed an extensive line of Asian spice blends including Chinese, Thai and Korean. Popular examples include Szechuan, Five Spice, Thai ginger, Thai red, green and yellow blends and Korean barbecue.

Natural colours also form an important part of Scios/Ecom business and include: annatto, carrot, paprika and turmeric oleoresins.

A new, more stable all natural blue colour “Linablue” has also recently been added to the Scios range.

Only available from: Scios Limited, Telephone: 07 377 3514 Email: blkirk@xtra.co.nz Web: www.scios.co.nz

Scios is also an experienced specialist in the field of herbbased natural antioxidants based on extracts of oregano and herbal teas. These products are a very valuable “clean label” tool for protecting quality of foods and maintaining shelf life through control of oxidative rancidity.

Contact Bruce Kirk www.scios.co.nz

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Food New Zealand

OVERVIEW OVERVIEW

BRENNTAG Brenntag are the industry’s leading distributor and service provider for food ingredients.

Linking formulation expertise, market knowledge 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 & Ice cream | Bakery & Bread | Chocolate & Confectionery | Functional Food, Food Supplements, Dietetic Foods | Meat, Poultry & Fish | Convenience Food, Ready Meals, Soups & Sauces | Fruit & Vegetable Processing | Beverages | Pet Food.

Our Food & Nutrition teams are geared to turning trends into marketable products, always having the fingertip at the pulse of the newest developments and trends.

SENSE THE DIFFERENCE

We are at home everywhere in the world

Brenntag New Zealand Limited 75 France Street Eden Terrace Auckland 1010, New Zealand Phone: +64 9 275 0745 Info-nz@brenntag-asia.com www.brenntag.com/food-nutrition

Brenntag Food & Nutrition is well positioned to cater to its business partners’ needs at a local level. Thanks to our strong infrastructure in 73 countries and 28 application & development centres, we are engrained in the local culture and business. You will benefit from this extensive market, industry and product know-how, including our understanding of regulations, policies, challenges and developments.

We are passionate about Food & Nutrition.

From bringing you the right ingredients and

innovative solutions, through to optimising your formulation and supply chain, our team lives and breathes the world of food.

We are the partner who puts your needs in the centre of everything we do. We have a broad and deep product offering, and work with the best suppliers in the industry. We reduce your compliance burden with a dedicated quality and regulatory team and seek to lead the way in safety and responsibility, managing the many complexities of the food industry.

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OVERVIEW

Ixom (Bronson and Jacobs) Food ingredients and flavours Ixom, under the brands of Bronson and Jacobs and Keith Harris, supplies a comprehensive range of ingredients which spans the full breadth of applications in the food, beverage and nutrition sectors. The goal is to provide B&J customers with competitive advantage through sound technical expertise and creative directions coupled with latest innovations.

Keith Harris has been a leading supplier of locally formulated and manufactured flavours into the food and beverage markets for over 80 years. We innovate, partner, develop and deliver market concepts which see our customers create and maintain a competitive edge. The Keith Harris range of natural flavours is extensive, from the browns to the fruits. Our vanillas are second to none - we search the Globe to bring the best vanilla extracts and natural raw materials to deliver the exact profile required. We also supply a comprehensive range of exquisite and authentic dairy flavours, covering the full spectrum of applications including; cheese, butter, yoghurt, sour cream, sugar reduction, mouth feel and masking.

Bronson & Jacobs are proud to be the trusted link between customers and some of the world’s leading ingredient manufacturers.

• Aquamin Marine Minerals • Edlong Dairy Technologies • Marcel Hydrocolloids • Borregaard Vanillin • Yantai Andre Pectin

Our key end markets Bronson and Jacobs and Keith Harris supply products and flavours that have helped launch many iconic brands, some of which you may use every day. We have an innovative range that spans all food and beverage applications, supported by a qualified team of professionals with extensive industry and technical expertise.

Bakery | Infant nutrition | Dairy | Beverage |Confectionary and snack foods | Sauces and seasonings | Pet Food | Fats and oils For more information visit the website http://www.ixom.com/ourbusiness/products/food-beverage-nutrition

Sensient Technologies We Bring Life to Products Sensient Technologies is a leading global manufacturer and marketer of natural extracts, colours, and flavours. Our Auckland factory has been supporting the New Zealand food industry since 1984. Our product development team and manufacturing site take international trends and technologies from our global business and transforms them into local products, concepts and innovations for New Zealand customers.

With robust local technical knowledge paired with marketing expertise, the NZ team has developed many solutions for customers, meeting their needs in sugar reduction, natural extracts, colouring foodstuffs, natural colours and tailored flavour requirements. We export our kiwi made flavours and solutions to the greater AsiaPacific region.

Natural colours are increasingly playing a vital role in the food industry. It is an area though, which has been known to be subject to adulteration. Recently a customer to Sensient Australia asked for a match to a sample of a natural blue colour. Through Sensient’s global expertise in food colours, a comprehensive identification analysis identified it as Copper Phthalocyanine or Phthalocyanine Blue, a non-natural pigment approved for industrial paints.

Certasure is a self-certification programme developed by Sensient Colours to protect from adulteration. We test every batch of nonartificial colour to ensure that they are truly from their botanical source and have none of the ingredients, pesticides, microbes, and metals that they should not. We have strict manufacturing and supply chain standards and can ensure that you will receive the right product with no adulterants every time.

With the majority of our products being manufactured in New Zealand, the team are able to supply with short lead times and small MOQs. To take advantage of local supply with global resources, please contact Nicolas Sawyer.

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Food New Zealand

OVERVIEW OVERVIEW Dupont As the health halo around dairy continues to be widely recognised, consumers around the world are also increasingly discerning, expecting a multitude of benefits in health, indulgence, convenience, and affordability.

In addition, given increasing concerns about obesity in both adults and children, low-fat and low-sugar options, with the same decadent taste and texture, are still crucial in the diary category.

For decades, DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences has delivered essential food and beverage innovation, supplying healthy, safe and sustainable ingredients to deliver what consumers love, around the world, every day.

With our deep consumer insights, passion to solve and broad DuPont™ Danisco® range, we know we can create the best solutions for you and empower the world with essential innovation.

Dairy is an important category and one that needs flexibility and innovation. Our extensive toolbox can help you solve daily challenges and leverage future opportunities. From enhancing shelf life and controlling spoilage to improving oxidation and digestive health, we have your dairy solutions covered.

Our range of products for Dairy innovation include: GRINDSTED® solutions, in the form of functional blends and texturants, can create the ideal texture, performance, and stability in any dairy application.

Our probiotic cultures are scientifically proven to help keep the digestive system running smoothly and to support the body’s immune system; adding health benefits to your dairy products, beverages, confectionery and frozen desserts.

CHOOZIT® cheese cultures offer a uniquely broad spectrum of acidifying and ripening culture solutions.

YO-MIX® yogurt cultures satisfy a variety of texture and flavor profiles Danisco® VEGE cultures for plant-based fermented food and beverages.

HOLDBAC® protective cultures enabling clean label for both dairy and plant based fermented products.

For more information, visit: https://www.food.dupont.com/dairy.html

Langdon Ingredients Already Australia’s largest herbs and spices processor and leading supplier of food ingredients, Langdon Ingredients’ New Zealand business is celebrating 25 years in 2020.

Thailand and the UK, Kenny says: “It helps us bring food trends and first class products back to our customers here in New Zealand more quickly,”

“Most businesses claim anything over 10 years as something of ‘heritage brand’, but for Langdon Ingredients, we’re still just a teenager compared to our Australian business which has been operating for over 167 years,” says Kenny Pihema, Langdon Ingredients NZ Business Manager.

Indeed, Langdon Ingredients’ relationship with Canadian Lallemand is an example of business partnerships with some of the world’s leading specialty ingredients providers.

The company is still family-owned and managed. CEO Chris Langdon’s great-great grandfather, Henry Joseph Langdon, started the company in 1852 to supply the Victorian goldfields with imported goods like soap, shovels and even champagne and chocolate.

Of their global network, which also includes in Singapore, 200318_LI_AD_Print.pdf 1 18/3/20 2:10 businesses pm

As the exclusive supplier to the Australian and New Zealand markets of Lallemand’s range of yeasts, starches, probiotics and other functional ingredients, the Langdon product development team is working with customers to reimagine and co-create innovative products.

With onsite warehousing, Langdon Ingredients NZ offers a full procurement service; from identifying and sourcing ingredients, to landing and managing biosecurity protocols and product development.

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OVERVIEW

Sherratt Ingredients Sherratt Ingredients is a New Zealand owned, managed and focused ingredient supplier to local food manufacturers. We supply product development and application expertise, and locally manufactured customised ingredient solutions alongside a range of imported ingredients.

A powerful combination of experience, expertise and market leading facilities means we are uniquely positioned to provide support and advice to local food manufacturers with a particular focus on the meat and poultry, seafood, soups, sauces and condiments, and dairy and bakery sectors.

We work as partners with our customers to solve their problems and provide ideas.

We also continue to work closely with our foreign supplier principals to add their expertise, knowledge and experience to local customers.

For more information please contact us to see how we can assist in developing and growing your business.

Tate & Lyle Innovative calorie and sugar reduction solutions.

Taste is a main driver when choosing foods and beverages. Research indicates that consumers show a strong interest in reducing sugar and calories in their diets, but ultimately, taste drives purchase decisions.

Tate & Lyle develops ingredients that provide nutrition, health and wellness solutions including a strong portfolio of low and no-calorie sweetening ingredients.

Stevia: To meet the increased demands for innovative low and no calorie sweetening solutions, Tate & Lyle established a joint venture in 2017, with one of the largest privately held, fully integrated global stevia ingredient companies, Sweet Green Fields (SGF).

Through the partnership, manufacturers have access to an exceptional line of stevia solutions, including the OPTIMIZER™ range, which provide great taste with lower cost-in-use, plus breakthrough proprietary extract range of INTESSE™, OMEGA™ & TASTEVA®.

The portfolio also includes the newly launched ZOLESSE™ Natural Flavour, which is designed to be used as a flavour modulator.

ZOLESSE™ is labelled as a natural flavour and has been developed to deliver a clean taste profile in a range of applications.

PUREFRUIT™ Monk Fruit Extract PUREFRUIT™ Monk Fruit Extract is 20

Food New Zealand

a sweetener that provides natural, great-tasting, zero-calorie sweetness extracted from the monk fruit.

At around 160-200 times the sweetness of sugar, this ingredient allows for sugar reduction up to 100% in certain foods and beverages.

Tate & Lyle’s natural calorie and sugar reduction solutions are suitable for Baked goods | Beverages | Cereals | Confections | Dairy | Desserts, ice cream | Dressings, sauces | Frozen foods | Nutritional supplements | Processed fruits and vegetables | Snacks

OVERVIEW OVERVIEW

ADM ADM named one of 2020 World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere Ethisphere is a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices.

The recognition honours companies that take the long view, with a purpose-based strategy, and strive to create positive change throughout their global communities.

“Each day, our world-class team of 40,000 works to enrich the quality of life for people the world over and it’s absolutely paramount that every aspect of that work follows the highest standards of honesty and integrity at all times,” said ADM Chairman and CEO Juan Luciano. “We are extremely proud to be recognised for our company-wide commitment to ethical business practices, transparency and corporate citizenship.”

Givaudan has developed fat encapsulation technology for juicy plant-based burgers

Givaudan Your Innovation Partner for Protein Givaudan is developing the future of food by providing flavour and taste solutions for new culinary concepts in meat and plant proteins.

With a strong focus on consumer insights and desires, we developed a wide range of maskers and flavours, mastering high-moisture extrusion technology, and recently developing new, unique solutions to address juiciness and fattiness while reducing calories and fat content.

Givaudan has just launched a new, cutting edge fat encapsulation technology for plant-based burgers. This innovation allows for a reduction of up to 75% of the fat content and 30% of the calories when compared to current market products. In addition to improving a product’s nutritional value, this innovation in fat encapsulation provides the benefit of increased authenticity and impact through flavour stabilisation.

Consumers are becoming increasingly interested in how healthy plant-based burgers really are.

Today, market products use 10% vegetable oil to provide fat perception, however the vegetable oil drips out during the first moments of cooking, leaving behind a dry product. Our flavour encapsulation technology traps vegetable fat in a starch matrix that fully delivers fat and flavour impressions during consumption while reducing fat by 75%. This gives consumers the great taste of animal fat which coats the mouth and offers longer flavour stability and lower raw product smell, recreating the enjoyment of real meat. This holistic approach delivers consumers the best plant-based burger experience.

With methodology and scoring grounded in Ethisphere’s proprietary Ethics Quotient®, the World’s Most Ethical Companies' assessment process includes more than 200 questions on culture, environmental and social practices, ethics and compliance activities, governance, diversity and initiatives to support a strong value chain. The process serves as an operating framework to capture and codify the leading practices of organisations across industries and around the globe.

All companies that participate in the assessment process receive an Analytical Scorecard providing them a holistic assessment of where their programmes stand against the demanding standards of leading companies. The full list of the 2020 World's Most Ethical Companies can be found at https:// worldsmostethicalcompanies.com/ honorees.

To find out more about our fat encapsulation technology, visit https://www.givaudan.com/ flavours or contact Leanne Misener, Head of Marketing at Givaudan Australia.

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FIET

Destemming the Sauvignon Blanc grapes by hand

FIET Project 9: The use of Pulsed Electric Fields technology for the NZ winemaking industry Sze Ying Leong, Phil Bremer, Patrick Silcock and Indrawati Oey (University of Otago) We first reported the Pulsed Electric Fields FIET Project update in the Aug/Sep 2018 issue. Here is an update specifically on the wine project.

Introduction In winemaking, Pulsed Electric Fields (PEF) technology is applied to the grapes upon entering the winery or after destemming and prior to maceration/fermentation. PEF technology is effective in disrupting vacoules and increasing the permeability of the cell membrane, which 22

Food New Zealand

helps to increase the total amount of compounds extracted from grape skins (e.g. pigments, bioactives, volatile precursors, primary metabolites and phenolics) and shorten the time to achieve the desired colour and flavour during maceration. In addition to PEF-assisted extraction, this technology also gives the winemaker the ability to tailor the sensory properties of the wine by modulating phenol and tannin release, react to biological or seasonal variation, and increase varietal expression. Therefore optimising PEF processing conditions for each grape variety is crucial to achieve the targeted sensory properties for that particular wine.

PEF chamber

FIET

Exit from PEF chamber

4

4

Grapes

Entry into PEF Chamber

PEF chamber

PEF wine trial (Sauvignon Blanc 2019) at the Department of Food Science, University of Otago (Dunedin) using a pilot plant scale PEF equipment

Inside the PEF chamber cabinet

Figure 1. The concentrations of specific groups of anthocyanins extracted from Merlot grape musts during a 4-day cold maceration process as a function of PEF pretreatment of grapes at increasing specific input energies at electric field strengths of 33.1 or 41.5 kV/ cm. Data presented as mean ± standard deviation (n = 3). n.d. indicates below detection limit

Scope of research Funding provided by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) through the Food Industry Enabling Technology (FIET) programme (2015-2021) is enabling us to translate our laboratory-based research into commercial reality. To date we have carried out three trials using high-throughput (up to 1 tonne per hour) PEF equipment with New Zealand companies, and assessed extraction efficiency as well as the flavour profiles of the resulting wines. Together

with our wine industry partners, we have observed potential industry benefits associated with PEF processing including improvements in the consistency of the wine quality between ferments and across seasons, as well as an increase in the expression of varietal sensory character.

PEF application in red winemaking In the first trial, a continuous PEF system (KEA-WEIN developed by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany) was used at a commercial winery to process 10 tonnes of grapes originating from the Hawkes April/May 2020

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FIET

Figure 2. The proportion of different chemical classes (acids, alcohols and esters) of volatiles found in the headspace of Sauvignon Blanc wines (2019 harvest) vinified using either untreated or PEF-treated grapes Bay region. Merlot grapes used in this trial have a high proportion of anthocyanins protected inside cell vacuoles at the grape skins [1].

Up to 9 different PEF processing conditions (high-intensity electric field strengths (>30 kV/cm) combined with energy inputs ranging from 4.7 to 49.4 kJ/L) were tested to examine the rate of anthocyanin release during maceration [2]. Anthocyanins with different chemical features were extracted instantaneously (no maceration) due to PEF treatment, and the amounts extracted after 4  days of maceration were significantly higher than the amounts extracted in the absence of PEF treatment (Figure 1). This result demonstrates the reduction in the skincontact time during maceration stage that can be achieved for PEFtreated red grapes.

The PEF-treated Merlot musts were further processed in the winery, following standard commercial winemaking practices. In this trial the evolution of the phenolic profiles, volatile fingerprints and oenological attributes were assessed in the Merlot musts prior to maceration, the fermented juice upon the completion of 7-days macerationfermentation and in the finished wine after malolactic fermentation under commercial winemaking practices [3]. Data collected from the trial has provided comprehensive insights into the complex (bio)chemical reactions that occur throughout red winemaking using PEFtreated grapes. We observed that the volatile, phenolic and oenological profiles between wines were differentiated from each other due to the intensity of PEF-specific energy input applied to Merlot grapes prior to winemaking. Sensory descriptive analysis was also used to describe and characterise the flavour, odour, taste and aftertaste of the finished red wines. An ongoing wine storage study will help to further understand how different chemical constituents in these wines vinified with PEFtreated Merlot grapes change/evolve as a function of storage time.

PEF application in white winemaking The effect of PEF processing in the making of Sauvignon Blanc wine has also been investigated using a pilot plant scale PEF equipment 24

Food New Zealand

(continuous mode, ELCRACK HVP 5 from German Institute of Food Technologies) housed in the Department of Food Science, University of Otago (Dunedin). PEF-treated and untreated grapes were fermented under controlled conditions and the concentration of dissolved solids, pH, amount of yeast-assimilable nitrogen, and total acidity was monitored. The wine was bottled and after a period of aging the levels of phenolics (flavanols, flavonols, stilbenes and phenolic acids), volatiles and polyfunctional thiols (i.e. 3-mercaptohexan-1-ol, 3-mercaptohexyl acetate, and 4-mercapto-4-methylpentan-2-one) in the finished wines were determined.

Juice obtained from either untreated or PEF-treated grapes, had a similar initial Brix value prior to yeast addition. During fermentation, juice from PEF-treated grapes appeared to experience an enhanced rate of sugar utilisation, compared to juice from untreated grapes. The phenolic composition and volatile compound profile of the final wines from untreated and PEF-treated grapes differed, with those vinified with PEFtreated grapes containing higher concentrations of esters (Figure 2).

Significance of the research Application of PEF technology on grapes prior to fermentation is a fast (microsecond), continuous, nonthermal, low-energy, gentle extraction technique that has the capability to extract a significant amount of phenolics and major metabolites from the grapes. These results have been demonstrated consistently on different types of New Zealand wine grapes over the last 5 years during our trials. Our trials have shown that PEF processing can significantly reduce the maceration time required for red wine production. The final wines produced from PEF-treated red and white grapes at certain PEF intensities have enhanced specific varietal aroma and flavour notes compared to their untreated counterparts. Up-scaling this technology to an industrial scale is very feasible.

FIET

Future works and updates The use of PEF technology for winemaking is a promising means to enhance the wine expression typical of grape variety and region. Our findings have been published as peer-reviewed articles [2, 3] and also shared with the wine industry at the New Zealand Romeo Bragato National Wine Conference in years 2018 and 2019.

We plan to continue our research on Sauvignon Blanc and investigate producing “lighter” wines (<10% alcohol by volume) with PEFtreated grapes. The main challenge for low-alcohol wine production has always been to maintain the same flavour profile as a typical fullstrength wine. Therefore, there is an opportunity for PEF technology to produce high-quality, low-alcohol wines, without compromising flavour or varietal expression. Younger readers can also look forward to trying a bottle of PEF-treated Merlot wine which we contributed to the University of Otago 150th anniversary time capsule to be opened in year 2069.

In parallel to this wine trial, the second part of the FIET 9 project involves assessing the potential of using PEF for deep-fried potato products. This is supported by Potatoes New Zealand and potato industries. Ongoing experiments are being conducted by PhD student Jess Fitzgerald (supervised by Associate Prof Burritt (Botany) and Prof Oey (Food Science)) to understand how Liberibacter infection is affecting the quality of fried potato products and how PEF technology can reduce the impact of the infection on the quality of final products.

Team members under FIET Project 9 Otago research team members: Indrawati Oey, Pat Silcock, Phil Bremer, David Burritt, Sze Ying Leong, Graham Eyres, Biniam Kebede, Stephanie Then, Nerida Downes, Ian Ross, Peter Zhao.

Students: Jess Fitzgerald (PhD), Mylene Arcena (MSc), Jessica Schueller (MSc), Camille Buck (intern) and Quentin Beaufils (intern).

In collaboration with Mohammed Farid (University of Auckland), Samantha Baldwin (Plant and Food Research), Elea (Germany) and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany).

References 1. Leong, S.Y., D.J. Burritt, and I. Oey, Effect of combining pulsed electric fields with maceration time on Merlot grapes in protecting Caco-2 cells from oxidative stress. Food and Bioprocess Technology, 2016. 9(1): p. 147-160.

2. Leong, S.Y., et al., Influence of Pulsed Electric Fields processing at high-intensity electric field strength on the relationship between anthocyanins composition and colour intensity of Merlot (Vitis vinifera L.) musts during cold maceration. Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies, 2020. 59(102243): p. 1-11.

3. Arcena, M.R., et al., Feasibility of using integrated fingerprinting, profiling and chemometrics approach to understand (bio) chemical changes throughout commercial red winemaking: A case study on Merlot. Food Research International, 2020. 127: p. 108767.

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 partners, Massey University (the host), Riddet Institute, University of Auckland, University of Otago, Plant and Food and AgResearch. Funding is $18m over six years (2015-2021) and targets pre-commercialisation activities. If you are interested in more information, then please contact either Ross Holland (R.Holland1@massey.ac.nz) or Professor Richard Archer, Chief Technologist, (R.H.Archer@massey.ac.nz).

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April/May 2020

25

Packaging

Shelf life, food waste and plastics Gordon Robertson, FNZIFST Introduction Globally, some 1.3 billion tonnes of edible food go to waste every year, equal to more than two tonnes of wasted food per hungry person per year. In the UK it has been estimated that around 70% (by weight) of wasted food arises in households. It is recognised that shelf life prolongation could play a key role in reducing food waste but the real relationship between shelf life and food waste is not well understood for lack of actual consumer data.

Many consumers intuitively know that the quality of most foods and beverages decreases over time, and therefore there will be a finite length of time before the food becomes unacceptable, this time being referred to as shelf life. Visible date labels became widespread in the 1970s in many countries in response to consumer demand for transparency regarding food freshness. Today, date marking of packaged foods is used to guide consumers on how long food can be kept before it becomes unacceptable or unsafe to eat.

Regulations and conventions on date marking The date marking of foods is regulated by the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code – Standard 1.2.5 ‘Information requirements – date marking of food for sale’ which specifies the required wording and form. Food for sale must be date marked on labels with either a ‘use by’ or a ‘best before’ date and is the responsibility of the food manufacturer. An exception is given for bread that has a shelf life of less than 7 days which may be labelled with the ‘best-before’, ‘baked-for’ or ‘baked-on’ date. Unless the food is an infant formula product, date marking is not required if the ‘best before’ date of the food is 2 years or more which is the case for many canned foods. A food must not be sold after its ‘use by’ date. Section 1.2.5—5 does not prevent the addition of a packed-on date or a manufacturer’s or packer’s code on the label of a package of food. In many countries 75% of shelf life must remain on receipt of the food into supermarket warehouses.

The ‘best before’ date, sometimes shown as BBE (best before end), is about quality and not safety. The food will be safe to eat after this date but may not be at its best. A ‘use by’ date on food is about safety; foods can be eaten until the ‘use by’ date but not after.

While most countries have standardised their date labelling, the US does not yet have federal regulations standardising the use of date labels on foods other than infant formula. Food date labels such as ‘best before’ and ‘use by’ are largely unregulated, although voluntary industry standards have recently been developed and are coming into effect. Anheuser-Busch began promoting freshness dating as a ‘born 26

Food New Zealand

The term ‘often good after’ used on a food package on’ date in 1996 and considered its beer to be fresh for four months (110 days) from the ‘born on’ dates on the bottles or cans. In 2009, this was extended to 180 days after they were taken over by InBev. In 2015 the ‘born on’ date was replaced with a 'freshest before' date.

In May 2019 Dr Frank Yiannas, Deputy Commissioner with the US FDA, released a letter to the food industry in which he noted that food waste by consumers often results from fears about food safety caused by misunderstanding of what the descriptive phrases on food date labels mean, along with uncertainty about storage of perishable foods.

It has been estimated that confusion over date labelling accounts for approximately 20% of consumer food waste in the US. The FDA regulates approximately 80% of the foods in the US and they strongly support industry’s voluntary efforts to use the ‘best if used by’ phrase as a quality-based date label. The FDA is not addressing the use of a ‘use by’ product date label for safety reasons at this time. However, labelling is not enough and the FDA supports ongoing consumer education efforts by industry, government, and non-government organisations to educate consumers on what quality-based date labels mean and how to use them to further reduce food waste in the home.

According to the European Commission, approximately a third of food waste created at the household level could be linked to consumer misunderstanding of the meaning of date marking. A study in Milan found only 47% of consumers could correctly understand the meaning of the ‘best before’ date.

Recently the term ‘often good after’ has been introduced as a result of collaboration between Danish food waste start-up Too Good To Go and a number of food manufacturers, including Unilever, Carslberg and Arla Foods. Too Good To Go CEO Mette Lykke has claimed that 53% of Europeans don't know the difference between 'best before' and 'use by'

Packaging

when it comes to food labelling. Many in Denmark where she lives think that ‘best before’ means ‘worst after’ and throw food out to be on the safe side. This is a concern as food waste contributes to 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Recognising that many consumers in its core markets of the UK, Denmark, Sweden and Germany are left bewildered by food labels and unnecessarily bin perfectly fine food, Arla has changed the date labelling on milk cartons and other fresh dairy products from only stating ‘best before’ to also adding ‘often good after’ in order to encourage consumers to smell and taste the products before deciding whether to consume or throw them out. These initiatives tie directly into their commitment and contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 which means cutting food waste at retail and consumer levels by 50% by 2030 from a 2015 baseline and reducing it as much as possible in the rest of the food chain. Unilever has adopted ‘often good after’ for its three new Knorr rice noodle mini dry meals launched in Scandinavia, and Carlsberg has added it to certain beers.

In the UK the Food Standards Agency recommends that for uncut fresh produce, ‘best before’ should only be used where this is judged to be necessary/useful in order to help consumers eat - rather than waste - the product. In May 2018 UK supermarket Tesco announced that they would remove ‘best before’ dates from selected fruit and vegetable lines in a bid to reduce food waste.

Plastic not so fantastic?

The past 3 years has seen the demonising of plastic packaging, following Sir David Attenborough’s BBC TV series Blue Planet II, that demonstrated the damage that plastics are causing to marine life. China’s ban on accepting plastic packaging for recycling and reports of plastic waste shipped from developed to developing countries where it often ended up in rivers and oceans has generated a consumer backlash to plastic packaging. Solo longdistance yachtswoman Dame Ellen MacArthur (founder of the eponymous Foundation) has warned that there will be more waste plastic by weight in the sea than fish by 2050, unless the industry cleans up its act. Manufacturers have responded to consumer concerns by committing to make 100% of their packaging recyclable, compostable or reusable by 2025, with a particular focus on avoiding plastic waste.

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Given that ten rivers (two in Africa and the rest in Asia) discharge 90% of all plastic marine debris, a more useful approach would have been to support efforts in these countries to keep packaging waste out of rivers.

FoodNZ_AprMay2020_90.5w x 260h_3mmBleed.indd 1

28/02/2020 3:24:00 PM

April/May 2020

27

Packaging Left: Gerber’s first-of-its-kind, single-material pouch made from PP for its baby food products

Alternatives to plastic – not all good news Nesquik All Natural was launched in Europe in March 2019 in a paper pack with a barrier coating that is plastic-free and fully recyclable. The new pack has a shelf life of 9 months compared to 18 for the previous plastic/alufoil pack, and the price is 40-50% more expensive per kilo, partially offset by offering a smaller 168 g pack size. The new pack contain 25 servings and is expected to be used in the home well-within six months, even by "very low users" so the 50% reduction in shelf life is not considered a problem. This follows on from the launch of the Nestlé YES! Bar in the UK in 2018 using a recyclable paper wrapper in a highspeed 'flow wrap cold seal' packaging line. No Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) have been provided to demonstrate the environmental benefits (if any) of the new packaging compared to the old.

In March 2020, Gerber, a subsidiary of Nestlé, announced the launch of a first-of-its-kind, single-material pouch made from PP for its baby food products. It replaces the traditional retortable pouch made from a laminate of three materials: PET/alufoil/PP with the alufoil layer providing a moisture, light and gas barrier. Clearly the PP in the new pouch must be coated in some way to improve its barrier properties.

No details have yet been released about the PP or the shelf life of foods in the new pouch.

In May 2019 Unilever launched a new pack for ice cream in Italy consisting of a compostable and recyclable tub and lid made of certified PEFC paper coated with a layer of PLA, that can be recycled in the paper stream or disposed of in the organic waste stream and sent to industrial composting sites. The new pack results in a weight reduction of 23%. In March 2020 Unilever launched a 1 L ice cream pack in Finland made from paperboard coated with plant-derived LDPE. The new pack can be recycled in Finland’s carton recycling system.

Again, no LCAs have been provided to demonstrate the environmental benefits of the new packs over their plastic predecessors or if there is any change in shelf life.

In Australia Woolworth’s has replaced a PET tray for truss tomatoes with one made of moulded sugarcane pulp fibre. The pack uses 90% less plastic than a conventional APET clamshell punnet and combines a home-compostable sugarcane tray with printed lidding film. As well as being home-compostable, it is also recyclable in the paper stream.

When discussing the sustainability of packaging, its protective function is often neglected and the focus revolves around the type and amount of material used for production. Just 1.5g of plastic film for shrink wrapping a cucumber can extend its shelf life from three to 14 days, and selling grapes in plastic bags or trays has reduced in-store wastage of grapes by 20%. Despite these obvious advantages, many consumers demand plastic-free fruit and vegetables, seemingly oblivious to the benefits.

28

Food New Zealand

Nesquik All Natural was launched in Europe in March 2019 in a paper pack with a barrier coating that is plastic-free and fully recyclable

Conclusions There is no doubt that more consumer education about the meaning of ‘best before’ and ‘use by’ dates would reduce household food waste. While replacing plastic packaging with other materials might quieten the Twitterati, using an evidence-based approach to find the balance between protection of food and packaging material use could lead to an overall saving in resources, reduction in waste and environmental impacts, and increase in overall system efficiency. The food industry also has a responsibility to ensure that ‘best before’ dates are not conservative and adding the phrase ‘often good after’ could be helpful. Educating consumers what date labels mean and how to use them should be a priority in efforts to reduce food waste.

The current anti-plastic campaigns and focus on recycling rather than overall sustainability risks distorting outcomes; changing the focus from recycling to overall sustainability of packaging remains a real but crucial challenge.

Glossary of material acronyms PET

Polyethylene terephthalate

PP Polypropylene PEFC

Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification

PLA

Polylactic acid

LDPE

Low density polyethylene

APET

Amorphous polyethylene terephthalate Dr. Gordon Robertson, FNZIFST is a food packaging consultant and Adjunct Professor at the University of Queensland. gordonlrobertson@gmail.com

Research

Chinese consumers’ preferences for fermented dairy foods Anne Marie Manzano1, Di Lu 2, Joanne Hort 3 and Li Day2 1. AgResearch Limited, Lincoln Research Centre, Lincoln, New Zealand 2. AgResearch Limited, Grasslands Research Centre, Palmerston North, New Zealand 3. Feast Lab and Riddet Institute, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Introduction China is New Zealand’s (NZ) largest export market for dairy (26%, US$3.4bn (United Nations, 2017)). Despite consistent sales growth, Chinese annual per capita consumption of major dairy products remains low compared to other countries (see Table 1). China’s large population and low consumption are an opportunity for an increased presence of NZ dairy imports.

Table 1: Annual per capita volume consumption for major dairy products in China, Japan and United States. Source: (Chen, 2018) Per capita consumption

Milk (litres)

Yoghurt (kg)

Cheese (kg)

China

14.3

3.43

0.02

Japan

36.8

9.66

1.46

United States

51.7

4.92

6.89

Demand for fermented dairy foods such as yoghurt and cheese has grown rapidly during the last two decades (Liem et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2016). More Chinese consumers are showing interest in and acceptance of these products, even though dairy is not part of the traditional diet in large parts of the country. Rise in income, education and marketing are reported to be contributing factors to the increased prevalence (Fuller et al., 2007; Wu et al., 2020). In urban areas particularly, consumers have easy access to a wide variety of products.

Innovations in fermented dairy products could promote a shift towards capturing even more value from yoghurt and cheese.

In October 2017, AgResearch, the Riddet Institute and Callaghan Innovation started a new MBIE Endeavour Research Programme called “Accelerated evolution: A step-change in food fermentation”. Its goal is to create a step-change in how premium NZ fermented foods are developed. Using accelerated microbial strain improvement methods and emerging techniques in phenomics (the physical and biochemical

traits that comprise phenotypes), we can fast-track the evolution of a cohort of food grade microbial strains and pressure them to produce metabolites during fermentation that affect the sensory and physical attributes of foods, such as novel flavours and textures. This ‘pipeline’ of methods will facilitate a new approach to product design and lead to a generation of clean-label fermented food products.

The programme’s industry partners are supporting it with aligned projects. They are interested in developing fermented foods with differentiated flavour and texture profiles, to appeal to Asian export markets such as China. The initial stage of these projects was to evaluate consumers’ preferences for fermented food products.

Methods An online survey was designed to evaluate Chinese consumer preference and familiarity with fermented dairy foods, particularly drinking yoghurts and cheeses. The survey also measured their purchasing and consumption habits, and the importance of different product attributes.

The survey questions were prepared in consultation with Miraka (a NZ dairy company) and COFCO Nutrition Health and Research Institute (NHRI) in China. Collaboration with scientists from the COFCO NHRI Consumer and Sensory Science group ensured that the questions were accurately translated into Chinese and could be understood by Chinese consumers within their cultural context.

Five hundred online participants (250 from the northern city Beijing and 250 from the south-east city Shanghai) were recruited by COFCO using their online platform and their panel database of consumers.

Potential participants were asked to complete the survey if they met the following screening criteria: • consumed fermented dairy products more often than monthly, and; • knew something about NZ. The survey began with a set of demographic questions. Respondents April/May 2020

29

Research

were then asked to describe their average monthly purchasing habits of yoghurt and cheese products, as well as their consumption habits, with a combination of multiple-choice questions, verbal frequency scale matrix questions and written responses.

These questions were followed by a set of Likert Scale matrix questions, asking respondents to rate the importance of different product attributes when shopping for a yoghurt or cheese product. A forced ranking scale question was also posed, to understand Chinese consumers’ concerns with buying fermented dairy products. Respondents were asked to select ten statements from a set of concerns that might prevent them from purchasing more fermented dairy products, and to rank these statements from highest (1) to lowest (10) severity.

Survey data were analysed using frequency tables, in order to see the distribution of results clearly. These percentages were graphed using stacked bar charts, to visualise which attributes had the greatest proportion of “positive” responses, such as always, very important, and highest ranked.

Results and discussion Table 2 summarises the demographic data collected for all respondents, who were predominantly between 25 – 54 years old. Most were married with children and university educated. For approximately half (44%), their family’s gross annual income sat near or above China’s national average of CNY154,000 (around NZ$34,000 ) (Sohu, 2017).

Purchasing and consumption habits Yoghurt and cheese are purchased four times per month by 45% and 36% of respondents, respectively, and on average, respondents spend CNY85 (NZ$19) on yoghurt and CNY129 (NZ$29) on cheese per month.

Table 2: Demographic profile of the total sample (n=500) Percent (100%) CITY

(multiple selection)

50

Alone

5

Shanghai

50

Spouse

89

Children

80

Parents / in-laws

14

Grandparents / in-laws

0

GENDER Male

50

Female

50 EDUCATION

AGE

Primary school

0

18 – 24

2

Junior high school

0

25 – 34

30

High school

5

35 – 44

18

Vocational

13

45 – 54

44

Bachelor’s degree

71

55 – 64

6

Graduate degree

11

65+

0 FAMILY INCOME (CNY)

(gross, annual)

Less than 50,000

0

FAMILY COMPOSITION Single, no children

6

50,000 – 69,999

0

Single, with children

2

70,000 – 89,999

3

Couple, no children

2

90,000 – 109,999

6

Couple, with children

90

110,000 – 129,999

22

130,000 – 149,999

24

150,000 and above

44

Yoghurt is regularly consumed two to five times per week by half of the respondents (48%), and more than once a day by a third (34%) of respondents. Cheese is consumed once a week by 41% of respondents.

This reflects the consistent growth of yoghurt sales in China, maintaining an annual retail sales growth of over 20% since 2014 (Chen, 2018), driven by the fastest-growing segment, ambient drinking yoghurt, with sales up 13% in 2019 (Euromonitor, 2019). However, as the rate of Food New Zealand

LIVING SITUATION

Beijing

When asked to select which products they usually purchase, for yoghurt, drinking yoghurt was selected by most respondents, with ambient (79%) being more popular than chilled (66%). Spoonable yoghurt was selected by over half of the respondents, and ambient (62%) was also the more popular choice than chilled (57%). For cheese, processed cheese and particularly cream cheese (66%) was more popular amongst respondents than unprocessed (natural) cheese (39%).

30

Percent (100%)

growth slows due to increasing maturity, this may pose challenges with introducing a competitive offer amongst the clear consumer habits and preferences being formed.

Meanwhile, these responses also reflect the growth of the much smaller emerging cheese segment in China. Cheese sales reached CNY6.5 billion in 2019, compared with yoghurt sales of CNY149.3 billion (Euromonitor, 2019), and saw a growth rate of 15-25% from 2015-2017 (Chen, 2018). This has largely been driven by growth in processed cheese snacks, in response to the increasingly busy nature of modern urban living. However, unprocessed cheese is still seen as a Western-style product, and its strong flavour can be unattractive for

Research

Yoghurt - Which attributes are the most important to you when shopping for a fermented dairy product? eVery important e Somewhat important e Neutral e Not so important e Not at all important e Don't know

many Chinese consumers who are unfamiliar with it.

In general, there is still a lack of awareness of cheese and its potential uses, and there is a strong opportunity to increase exposure to cheese, to lead to greater consumer familiarity.

% of total sample 0% 20%

60%

80%

100%

71% 68%

Freshness

65%

Manufacturing date and expiry date 56%

Health content

Product preferences and concerns Figure 1. lists respondents’ ratings of the desirability of different product attributes when shopping for yoghurt and cheese. The results suggest that “quality “and “freshness” are most important. 71% and 68% of respondents rated the quality certificate to be a very important attribute, followed by freshness (68% and 67%) and the manufacturing date and expiry date (65% and 67%). “Freshness” may have been perceived by respondents as strictly a concept of time rather than closeness to natural state or non-preserved, which may be linked with the cultural importance placed on the manufacturing and expiry dates. This is consistent with concerns for freshness described by Zhong, Carng, & Zeng (2019), as meaning immediacy and localness for Chinese consumers. As the date of domestic products will always be “fresher” than imported products, this perception may limit exporters’ competitiveness with domestically manufactured products.

40%

Quality certificate

56%

Nutritional value

47%

Organic, free range, natural Brand / word-of mouth

44%

Flavour, texture

43% 36%

Environmental effects of production

32%

Variety, new products/new flavours Country of production origin

31%

Social responsibility of production

30%

Sales price

20%

Packaging design/small packs/convenient

20%

Figure 1a: Responses to "Which attributes are the most important to you when shopping for a yoghurt product?" (n=500), % of total sample Cheese - Which attributes are the most important to you when shopping for a fermented dairy product? eVery important e Somewhat important e Neutral e Not so important e Not at all important e Don't know % of total sample 0% 20%

Tables 3a and 3b list respondents’ highest ranked concerns, preventing them from purchasing more yoghurt and cheese. Over a third of respondents (35%) ranked the use of artificial preservatives / additives as one of their top three concerns, followed by the products being unhealthy, particularly its high fat content.

Respondents were also worried about food safety, such as spoilage and fear of disease / contamination. Taste, as expected, is still an important factor, with 24% and 21% of respondents ranking not liking the taste as one of their main reasons for not purchasing more products.

40%

60%

Quality certificate

68%

Manufacturing date and expiry date

67%

80%

100%

67%

Freshness 57%

Health content Nutritional value

57% 45%

Organic, free range, natural Brand / word-of mouth

41%

Flavour, texture

40%

Environmental effects of production

36%

Country of production origin

28%

Variety, new products/new flavours

28%

Overall, Chinese consumers are looking for products they Social responsibility of production 26% perceive to be natural, premium (organic, sustainable) Sales price 22% and healthy, while still being tasty. This is consistent with Packaging design/small packs/convenient 19% market research results which suggest health-related factors are the main areas consumers are willing to payFigure a 1: Responses to "Which attributes are the most important to you when shopping for a fermented dairy Figure 1b:%Responses to "Which attributes are the most important to product?" (n=500), of total sample premium for, and claims such as low fat or fat free, and Figure 1:you Responses "Which attributes are the most important(n=500), to you when a fermented dairy whentoshopping for a cheese product?" %shopping of totalfor sample no-additives, are most valuable (Chen, 2018). product?" (n=500), % of total sample Page 2 of 2

Table 3a: Responses to "What prevents you from purchasing more yoghurt products?"

YOGHURT

(ranked 1-3, top 7, % of total sample)

It contains artificial preservatives/additives

35

Unhealthy

32

Spoilage

27

Fear of disease/ contamination

25

Do not like taste

24

No natural sign It has high fat content

Table 3b: Responses to "What prevents you from purchasing more fermented dairy products?"

Page 2 of 2 CHEESE

(ranked 1-3, top 7, % of total sample)

It contains artificial preservatives/additives

35

It has high fat content

26

Fear of disease/contamination

25

Unhealthy

25

Spoilage

24

22

It has high sugar content

23

19

Do not like taste

21

April/May 2020

31

Research

Figure 2 lists respondents’ ratings of the importance of various attributes in a hypothetical ideal yoghurt product. The attributes rated very important by most respondents reflected their major concern with the use of artificial preservatives/additives in fermented dairy products. Around half of respondents selected it was very important that their ideal product did not contain “bad” artificial ingredients such as preservatives (61%), additives (56%), artificial colours (53%) and gelatine (42%). Gelatine may have been noted as an added thickener and associated with the yoghurt achieving its texture artificially. Whereas being fermented (33%) may have been linked with the yoghurt achieving its texture naturally.

eVery important e Somewhat important e Neutral e Not so important e Not at all important e Don't know % of total sample 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 61% 56%

Preservative free No additives

53%

No artificial colours 43%

Number of added probiotic bacteria

43%

Made with organic milk

42%

Without gelatine

42%

Texture

36%

Made with milk from sustainable farms

Therefore, respondents described their ideal yoghurt product as: • processed “naturally,” e.g. has reduced sugar content (32%), which may have been related more with the use of artificial sweeteners (as opposed to health concerns); • healthy, e.g. has added probiotic bacteria (43%), which may have been recognised for their natural health benefits as “good” bacteria; and

33%

Fermented

32%

Reduced sugar content Added calcium

32%

Reduced fat

31% 28%

Added protein

28%

Added fibre

27%

No fat Lactose free

26%

No cane sugar

25%

Reduced lactose Sourness

25% 23%

GE Free

22%

Full cream

21%

Includes cereal Includes fruit bits

20% 18%

• produced with premium ingredients, e.g.

17% Fruit flavour, no bits organic (43%) and sustainable milk (36%), 15% High level of sweetness where the terms “organic” and “sustainable,” may have been perceived as premium, “green” Figure 2: Responses to "What does your ideal yoghurt look like? attributes, and associated with a high-quality Figure 3: Responses to "What does your ideal yoghurt look like? (n=500), % of total sample (n=500), % of total sample product.

The sensory property most important in their ideal yoghurt was its texture (42%). This is in line with market research which reports that textural descriptions can help to extend consumption occasions and enhance the indulgent appeal of yoghurt, such as thick textures, which are often associated with being premium (Waikl, 2019). However, this question offered a limited list of sensory properties for selection and did not include taste. As surveys require concise questions and brief responses, focus groups, which provide the time and discussion required for participants to offer their own sensory descriptions, would reveal more regarding consumers’ ideal sensory attributes.

Conclusion With the stable growth in China’s dairy market over recent years, Chinese consumers attracted to the health and nutrition benefits of dairy products, have begun to establish a consumption habit for yoghurt products and an increasing familiarity with cheese products.

With freshness top of mind for most consumers of drinking yoghurts and cheese, overseas brands will need to find solutions to address consumers concerns for immediacy and localness, to compete with domestic brands. Focusing on natural processing will add to the health appeal of fermented dairy products and create premium options.

Ensuring the sensory properties match with Chinese consumer expectations will also be key, while innovating in textures and format will add further occasions for increasing consumers’ consumption of yoghurt products and exposure to cheese products.

Acknowledgement We thank our industry partner Miraka, particularly Dr Brendan Haigh, and the staff of COFCO for their input into the design and implementation of this survey, particularly Dr Cairui Qu and Dr Fei Guo. 32

Food New Zealand

References

Chen, S. (2018, May 14). China's yoghurt and cheese markets experience steady high value retail sales growth. Retrieved from Mintel: https://www. mintel.com/press-centre/food-and-drink/chinas-yoghurt-and-cheesemarkets-experience-steady-high-value-retail-sales-growth Euromonitor. (2019). Passport: Cheese in China.

Euromonitor. (2019). Passport: Yoghurt and sour milk products in China.

Fuller, F., Beghin, J., & Rozelle, S. (2007). Consumption of dairy products in urban China: results from Beijing, Shangai and Guangzhou. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 51(4), 459-474. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8489.2007.00379.x Liem, D., Bolhuis, D., Hu, X., & Keast, R. (2016). Short communication: Influence of labelling on Australian and Chinese consumers’ liking of milk with short (pasteurized) and long (UHT) shelf life. Journal of Dairy Science, 99(3), 1747-1754. doi:10.3168/jds.2015-10516 Sohu. (2017, December 27). 2017 China's average annual income of working families announced, Page 4 ofsee 4 if your family has achieved the standard?

Retrieved from Sohu: https://www.sohu.com/a/213066782_222858 United Nations. (2017). UN comtrade database. Retrieved from http:// comtrade.un.org Waikl, A. (2019). A year of innovation in yoghurt, 2019. Mintel.

Wang, Q., Hansen, J., & Xu, F. (2016). China’s emerging dairy markets and potential impacts. 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2 (p. 13).

Boston, Massachusetts: Agricultural & Applied Economics Association. doi:10.22004/ag.econ.235833 Wu, X., Hu, B., & Xiong, J. (2020). Understanding Heterogeneous Consumer Preferences in Chinese Milk Markets: A Latent Class Approach. Journal of Agricultural Economics, 71(1), 184-198. doi:10.1111/1477-9552.12327 Zhong, S., Carng, M., & Zeng, G. (2019). Constructing freshness: the vitality of wet markets in urban China. Agric Hum Values. doi:10.1007/s10460-01909987-2

REVIEW

Kombucha Today Anthony N Mutukumira1, Kay Rutherfurd-Markwick2, Xiaolei Wang1 and Richard Archer1, . School of Food and Advanced Technology,

1

. School of Health Sciences, Massey University University,

2

This is the second of three articles on kombucha and its place in the beverage industry today.

This is the second of three articles on kombucha and its place in the beverage industry today. The three articles are intended to help manufacturers understand some of the issues and problems around kombucha production and storage with a view to helping to maintain the long-term credibility of kombucha, across the industry.

In our first article we explained the range of yeast and bacteria that are contained in the SCOBY starter and the waves of organisms and metabolism which dominate as the oxygen levels, redox potentials and pH all decrease during fermentation. Sugar is metabolised by the micro-organisms and organic acids and flavoursome compounds are produced. Ethanol is also produced and then may be partially converted to acetic acid (Figure 1). Bacterial cellulose is elaborated and adds another layer to the SCOBY. Dark pigments in the tea lighten and carbon dioxide is produced in several phases which carbonates the beverage.

Tea fungus

Fermented tea broth

What is kombucha?

Kombucha is a slightly sweet, mildly acidic, slightly alcoholic and sparkling beverage consumed around the world. It is made by fermentation of sugar-sweetened cold tea by a symbiotic starter culture of yeast and bacteria termed a SCOBY. For centuries, kombucha was

Kombucha tea fungus and liquid broth

Watch-outs for those producing Kombucha products • Labelling. These include generic labelling requirements, (such as name and address of supplier, name of the food, statement of ingredients and date marketing, and nutrition information) and other labelling requirements associated with both nonalcoholic and alcoholic beverages.

• Alcohol content. %ABV governs which labelling requirement apply. Testing procedures and equipment used to assess alcohol content should be validated to ensure that suitable testing methods are being used by skilled operators.

Alcohol needs to be controlled across the entire shelf life and considered when determining the products’ shelf lives.

• Claims not permitted under FSANZ 1.2.7 Nutrition content, health & related claims. Of note, nutrition content or health claims are not permitted on beverages containing more than 1.15% alcohol by volume.

• Claims made under FSANZ 1.2.7, substantiation is to be held by the company making the claim • Therapeutic claims (referring to the prevention/diagnosis/cure/ alleviation of a disease, disorder or condition) are not permitted on foods

• Probiotics, FSANZ 1.2.7 Nutrition, health & related claims allow nutrient claims for probiotics subject to the following: • the substance and its amount must be declared in or near the NIP • qualifying with adjectives such as high or low are not permitted • Ingredients considered to be non-traditional food for Australia and New Zealand and would need to consider section 1.5.1 Novel Foods. Look at the FSANZ Novel Foods Reference Group or the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods

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REVIEW

a cottage product made and consumed locally, not packaged and distributed. Today, different flavours of kombucha are made in small industrial fermenters, bottled and sold worldwide through various channels. However, some manufacturers have struggled to maintain the ethanol below safe levels over the shelf life of their kombucha product, even if it was under the legal limit when it left the brewery. And some manufacturers seem so convinced of kombucha’s recuperative powers that their label claims are more imaginative than informative.

Industrial production of kombucha Commercial kombucha producers face different challenges to those experienced by the traditional home brewer. Large-scale producers need a profit margin and the fermenter and production time are major costs to the business. Thus, a short and efficient fermentation process is desirable for the business. However, a shorter process is likely to compromise the overall quality of the final beverage and may result in the retention of high ethanol levels.

A manufacturer may use a non-purpose built, large, deep vessel for the fermentation, rather than the traditional small jar which is usually covered by a clean micro-porous cloth for natural aeration. A large vessel is likely to have a relatively small opening or may be equipped with a fermentation lock to prevent contamination. It is also unlikely to be agitated, and if it is the agitation will be gentle so as not to break up the SCOBY. In short, most large-scale manufacturers have systems that are not optimised for oxygen uptake which translates into a (fermentation) process that is not optimised for conversion of ethanol to acetic and gluconic acids.

These two factors predispose kombucha made on large scale for profit to retaining higher residual sugar, higher ethanol and lower acid contents than a longer duration home-fermented kombucha might typically yield.

Product stability challenges during distribution When kombucha is kept in an open container, there is potential for some of the ethanol to be oxidised to acetic acid. However this possibility is inhibited by bottling, which prevents oxygen ingress, and since ethanol is stable, the levels will not go down during distribution.

Commercial kombucha manufacturers must sell product, and since cellar door sales are unlikely to be high enough, the manufacturer needs to distribute through supermarkets, the route trade, farmers’ markets or internet sales. Under these circumstances, most manufacturers lose control of the conditions under which the kombucha is stored.

Is it really stored and transported at a chill temperature at all times?

If shelf life was the only parameter impacted by storage temperature, this issue would only impact profit. However, kombucha is a very low alcohol product sold to people expecting it be just that; and for some people too much alcohol is a safety issue. If beverages contain alcohol in excess of 1.15%ABV (NZ) or 0.5%ABV (depending on the jurisdiction in Australia) they need to be declared as an alcoholic beverage, and licensing requirements including excise duty would apply. Hence the kombucha manufacturer can unwittingly be evading taxes, which may pose a threat to their on-going business.

As long as live yeast and residual sugar remain in the final kombucha that leaves the brewery, there is the potential for the drink to form more ethanol. One gram of residual sugar in a bottle can make up to 0.5 g of ethanol (i.e. each 1.0 g/100 mL of residual sugar can convert to up 34

Food New Zealand

to an additional 0.5 %ABV over time). Manufacturers then have three choices to control this: • They can sell the product with zero shelf life; i.e. only sell the product for consumption on-site • They could pasteurise the contents of the bottle to kill the yeast, along with most of the organisms which they might consider to be probiotic and therefore of health benefit • They could ensure that the bottle is kept very well refrigerated for the duration of its shelf life.

The safest approach, however, would be to ensure that there is not enough residual sugar in a bottle of kombucha to cause the ethanol level to rise above the level claimed on the label.

Regulatory and food safety issues Regulations aim to help keep consumers safe and accurately informed via truth in labelling. All fermented beverages for sale in New Zealand must adhere to the relevant regulations in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, the NZ Food Act 2016, the Fair-Trading Act, the Advertising Standards Code and, depending on the alcohol content of the products, the Liquor Licensing Acts. In New Zealand, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is the agency with responsibility to interpret and enforce the standards code and the NZ Food Act. MPI can direct any non-compliant company to change its labelling and, if deemed necessary, can prosecute the company. The Ministry is particularly alert to non-compliant kombucha currently.

The fermented beverage industry ‘straddles’ both the food and the alcohol industries. Producers need to determine if their products meet the definition of an alcoholic beverage, or the definition of a food, and ensure compliance with the most appropriate regulations. The public health and safety risks of alcohol hidden in ‘non-alcoholic’ beverages is of concern to governments and regulators. A Consumer article published in June 2019 stated that “due to the presence of alcohol and caffeine, the beverage is unsuitable for children or pregnant and breastfeeding women.” Statements such as this are based on Consumer and others having measured ethanol levels of over 2.5% in certain kombucha products which claim to have negligible alcohol and numerous unsubstantiated health benefits. Instances such as this may lead to negative health consequences, but more importantly are potentially damaging to the kombucha industry itself as it leads to a general lack of trust in all kombucha products.

When considering exporting kombucha consideration to the jurisdiction should be applied. The Food Standards Code provides a good summary of alcohol labelling requirements in its appendix to Standard 2.7.1 (Table 1).

Nutrition content, health and related claims are regulated in the Food Standards Code under Standard 1.2.7. This provides guidance on the types of health claim that can be made and under what circumstances the various regulations apply. Nutrition content claims require that certain criteria are met in order to justify the claimed benefit. It is important that relevant and accurate testing is carried out to determine label content. General level health claims must be based on scientifically substantiated food health relationships, and high-level health claims must be founded on pre-approved relationships such as ‘low in saturated fatty acids and reduced blood cholesterol’.

REVIEW

Health benefits of kombucha The popularity of kombucha may be attributed at least in part to its proposed health benefits which include; energising and detoxifying attributes, alleviating digestive problems, cancer prevention, alleviation of inflammation and arthritis, and enhancement of immunity although evidence from clinical trials to support these purported benefits is lacking. Several studies have reported that tea kombucha has high antioxidant activity which increases as fermentation progresses, potentially due to the generation of low-molecularweight substances (ascorbic acid and D-saccharic acid -1,4- lactone) and structural modifications of tea polyphenols by enzymes produced by yeast and bacteria during fermentation. Certain health benefits from kombucha consumption may be attributed to its antioxidant properties due to the presence of polyphenols such as catechins from the tea used as the raw material for kombucha fermentation.

Table 1: Labelling requirements under Standard 2.7.1 Statement of Alcohol Content <0.5% ABV

≥0.5% to ≥1.15% ABV

>1.15% ABV

2.7.1-3(1b) (Applies to alcoholic beverages) The statement of alcohol content must be expressed in words to the effect ‘CONTAINS NO MORE THAN X% ALCOHOL BY VOLUME’

Kombucha tea has also been shown to exhibit antimicrobial activity against a range of pathogenic microorganisms (e.g. Aeromonas hydrophila, Enterobacter cloacae, Salmonella typhimurium, Helicobacter pylori, Staphylococcus aureus, Yersinia enterolitica, Escherichia coli, Campylobacter jejuni, Shigella sonnei, Samonella enteritidis, and Candida albicans). This antimicrobial effect is mainly due to the presence of organic acids, particularly acetic acid, in the fermented kombucha. However, antimicrobial activity has been observed after thermal denaturation or pH neutralisation of the kombucha, suggesting the presence of antimicrobial compounds other than acetic acid. The Lactobacillus spp. in kombucha can secrete bacteriocins and plantaricin; which are small thermally stable peptides capable of inhibiting the growth of Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens under acidic conditions.

However, thorough investigations of lactic acid bacteria species in kombucha are still lacking.

Many commercial kombuchas claim to contain probiotics. According to the FAO/WHO: “probiotics are live microorganisms promoted with claims that they provide health benefits when consumed, generally by improving or restoring the gut flora”. To provide health benefits, those live organisms should be higher than 106 at the time of consumption and must at least transiently colonise the human gut. To date only relatively few micro-organisms have been proven to confer probiotic benefits and even fewer products have been shown to contain relevant probiotics in sufficient quantities to gain regulatory approval for a probiotic health claim. The presence of a few thousand unidentified live, microorganisms does not render the product as probiotic. Hence a number of manufacturers may be at risk if they are making such health claims.

Conclusion Kombucha as a traditional health-promoting fermented beverage, which is prepared with tea, sugar and a symbiotic consortium of yeast and bacteria. The fermented beverage contains a large number of nutrients from tea, such as polyphenols, minerals, amino acids

2.7.1-3(1c) (Applies to ‘beverages’) The statement of alcohol content must be expressed in words to the effect ‘CONTAINS NO MORE THAN X% ALCOHOL

BY VOLUME’

2.7.1-3(1a) (Applies to ‘food including alcoholic beverages’) The statement of alcohol content must be expressed in one of either: mL/100g mL/100ml % ALCOHOL BY VOLUME

Statement of the number of standard drinks >0.5% ABV 2.7.1-4(1) (Applies to ‘beverages’) Must include a statement of the approximate number of standard drinks

and alkaloids, which may contribute to the health-promoting effects (antioxidant and antibacterial activities). Moreover, fermentation products, such as acetic acid, gluconic acid, ethanol, glycerol and glucose play important roles in the sensory attributes of kombucha.

However, the constituents of the final products of kombucha may be significantly affected by fermentation conditions and conditions experienced during distribution, thereby compromising their health benefits and overall quality.

The kombucha sector of the New Zealand beverage market is possibly the most exciting and buzzy niche. However, some manufacturers do not yet have their manufacturing and supply chain under adequate control to remain within regulatory bounds. Kombucha, inadequately controlled, can contain levels of alcohol dangerous to some. The industry has already lost some manufacturers as a result of this. If we want the kombucha industry to continue to thrive in New Zealand we would like to avoid loss of others.

For more information and for the full reference list email: a.n.mutukumira@massey.ac.nz Acknowledgment: Labelling advice was received from Brenda McKellow, who is an experienced beverage consultant, and can be reached at email: brendamckellow@xtra.co.nz The third article in this series will cover methods of, and pitfalls in kombucha analysis.

Dr Tony Mutukumira and Associate Professor Kay RutherfurdMarkwick are working on kombucha at the Food Fermentations Laboratory, Massey University, Auckland Campus. They have generated some microbiological and chemical analytical methods for the analysis of kombucha to assist producers.

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OILS & FATS

Oils and Fats News A regular round-up of news and opinion from the Oils and Fats Group of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry.

Laurence Eyres, FNZIFST COVID-19 As the disease begins to dominate all aspects of our day-to-day lives it’s hard to envisage that one day we will return to normal and get back to other issues.

Whilst not giving medical advice I have been giving some thought as to how we can support our natural resistance to this type of RNA virus.

There are several well documented articles in the literature that point to certain natural ingredients being of benefit in prevention or alleviating symptoms of respiratory ailments.

These are as follows: Zinc: Several countries, including New Zealand, are deficient in zinc due to its low levels in the soil. Taking a supplement containing 15 mg per day may have some benefit. Good thinking and advice from Dr. Bob Corish. https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal. ppat.1001176 Vitamin D: As we are less exposed to sunlight in modern times it would be advisable to take a Vitamin D3 supplement. Low levels of this Vitamin leave us susceptible to infection.

Antioxidants from blueberries and blackcurrants are well known defence ingredients.

Other powerful antioxidants include polyphenols such as Hydroxytyrosol from quality virgin olive oil. They have proven to be anti-inflammatory.

We can always stick to Manuka honey the old stand-by, if we can afford it.

The other lipid product of benefit is of course soap. Dr. Bronner’s liquid soaps are concentrated and contain essential oils such as peppermint and lavender. www.drbronner.com, Your online pharmacy may have stocks and be able to deliver.

Other health benefits of Virgin olive oil As people age, the more their brains could benefit from the action of an important component in olive oil. New research has revealed the deeper effects of hydroxytyrosol (HTyr): Not only does it protect brain functions from ageing, but it may even restore the vitality of brain neurons, and multiply them.

The antioxidant activity of hydroxytyrosol activates a sort of cleaning treatment for nervous cells.

Italian scientists at the National Research Centre (CNR) investigated how hydroxytyrosol works in those portions of the brain that generate 36

Food New Zealand

new neurons throughout life. They discovered that HTyr impacts brain activities far beyond its well-known neuroprotective effects.

Researchers at the CNR Biochemistry and Cellular biology Lab (CNRIbbc) were able to show how the administration of the compound in the elderly may reverse neuronal ageing, combining the protection of the active neurons and the generation of new ones.

“Hydroxytyrosol oral consumption by young and older animals shows, within a month, not only how the new neurons generated by the brain in that timeframe are protected, but it also hints how in older animals it stimulates the multiplication of stem cells”

CBD-a complex mixture of chemical species This is another emerging natural product that may have some benefit in our armoury of weapons against infection.

A new study of the first 400 patients in Aotearoa New Zealand assessed for medical cannabis suggests potential benefits for thousands of people beyond currently recognised uses.

The study, a collaboration between the University of Auckland and GP Dr Graham Gulbransen, who opened the first medical cannabis clinic in Aotearoa New Zealand, examined the records of 400 patients assessed for treatment at Dr Gulbransen’s west Auckland clinic "Cannabis Care".

Products containing cannabidiol (CBD oil), an active compound derived from the cannabis plant which does not give people a ‘high’, were legalised for prescription by doctors in New Zealand in 2017. CBD is FDA-approved for the treatment of two childhood seizure disorders, but early evidence suggests it could also help treat anxiety and chronic pain and may reduce psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia. Due to a lack of large-scale, controlled studies in humans, there are no prescribing guidelines.

The new study found that CBD oil taken for four weeks significantly improved the self-reported quality of life most for patients living with non-cancer chronic pain and anxiety-related mental health conditions.

Patients with cancer or neurological symptoms also experienced improved quality of life, but to a lesser degree. Because symptom assessments were subjective, it is not possible to determine how much of this was due to placebo effect.

“Our findings show that CBD is well-tolerated in most patients and can markedly ease symptoms in a range of hard-to-treat conditions, and that there are people keen to access this and self-fund the medication (about $300 per month),” says Professor Bruce Arroll, senior author in the study and head of the Department of General Practice and Primary Healthcare at the University of Auckland.

OILS & FATS

Products containing cannabidiol (CBD oil), an active compound derived from the cannabis plant which does not give people a ‘high’, were legalised for prescription by doctors for some conditions in New Zealand in 2017.

“The study has limitations due to drop-out and other factors, but the findings are consistent with other evidence and underline the need for more research to allow us to fully realise the therapeutic potential of medical cannabis.” N.B. only GP’s can currently prescribe CBD.

Lipid mediators - the ethanolamides The resolution of neuroinflammation is a process that allows for inflamed tissues to return to homeostasis. In this process the important players are represented by lipid mediators. Among the naturally occurring lipid signalling molecules, a prominent role is played by the N-acylethanolamines, namely N-arachidonoylethanolamide and its congener, palmitoylethanolamide or PEA. PEA possesses a powerful neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory power with no known adverse side effects.

The discovery of the cannabis receptors and the nuclear peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors was the beginning of a completely new understanding of many important homeostatic physiological mechanisms in the human body. These discoveries were necessary for us to understand the analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity of PEA, a body’s natural fatty amide. PEA is a nutrient known for more than 50 years. PEA is synthesised and metabolised in animal cells via several enzymes and has a multitude of physiologic functions related to metabolic homeostasis. PEA was identified in the 1950s as a therapeutic principle with potent anti-inflammatory properties.

Since 1975, its analgesic properties have been noted and explored in a variety of chronic pain states. Since 2008, PEA has been available as a nutraceutical. A literature search on PEA meanwhile has yielded over 350 papers, all referenced in PubMed, describing the physiologic properties of this endogenous modulator and its pharmacologic and therapeutic profile Step by step emergence of insight These four periods are: • 1954–1979, when PEA was found to be an nonspecific immunologic resistance enhancer, with anti-inflammatory properties and anti-influenza and anti-common cold indications • 1980–1992, “a silent gap”, with unanswered questions related to the mechanism of action of PEA.

• 1992–1998, due to the work of Nobel prize winner, LeviMontalcini, PEA was recognised as a mast cell modulator, and then (wrongly as it appeared later) as a CB2 cannabinoid agonist.

• 1998 onwards, when PEA was identified as having high affinity for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPAR-α), transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1, and the GRP 55 receptor.

It has also been found to be a nonspecific immune enhancer in respiratory tract infections After commercialisation of PEA in the early 1970s, six clinical studies of the effects of Impulsin in the treatment of respiratory tract infections were published. In 1974, Masek et al published the results of two double blind, controlled trials including 1,345 healthy subjects, of which 41 failed to complete the trial.* The goal of these trials was to evaluate the efficacy of PEA in upper respiratory tract infections. The subjects were to take 600 mg PEA three times daily or placebo for 12 days. In the first trial, 468 employees of the Skoda car factory, all suffering from influenza-like symptoms, such as fever, headache, sore throat, myalgia, nasal discharge, productive or dry cough, malaise, and fatigue were randomised to receive PEA 600 mg or placebo three times daily for 2 weeks. The second trial, which was prophylactic, included 918 volunteers aged 16–18 years and living in an army unit. Treatment was identical to that in the first trial for the first 2 weeks, after which a continuation dose of PEA 600 mg or placebo was administered once daily in a double-blind fashion. *Journal of Pain Research 2013:6 N.B. The Oils and Fats Group have sponsored a fourth year Food Tech. project at Massey University on delivery systems for PEA

WCOF 2020 Sydney Despite the lower than expected attendance at this conference in Sydney, the participants enjoyed a stimulating and informative conference with specialist courses on frying, and nutrition held concurrently.

There were interesting papers from New Zealand presenters who included Professor Marie Wong speaking on why Extra Virgin olive oil is an excellent cooking oil. Allan Woolf describing Plant and Food avocado work in Kenya. Dr Mikhail Vyssotsky spoke on NMR of lipids, Geoff Webster on rice bran oil, Matt Miller on near IR of marine lipids and Glen Neal gave an update on hemp oil. A jolly fatty time was had by all.

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TRAVELLER’S Tale

Earle Travel Fellowship in Technology 2019 Report - Daniel Burgess Daniel Burgess Every now and then life will offer an opportunity that sounds truly amazing, and when I was fortunate enough to learn of the 2019 Earle Travel Fellowship, I knew this was one I could not let pass me by. The Fellowship is intended to allow a recently graduated engineer or food technologist to travel overseas and increase their knowledge and skill.

Luck was certainly on my side as to my absolute thrill I was awarded the Fellowship!

Objectives My objectives to start with were to meet with experts, attend the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) Conference to learn about the latest in best practice New Product Development (NPD), attend the AI & Big Data Expo to get exposure to the state-ofthe-art in this rapidly growing industry, and visit key industries in order to get an update on practices and ways that successful companies approach problem solving. The following brief report shows that in the 3 intense weeks in the USA in November 2019 I achieved much more than these and have gained lasting benefits and made valuable contacts.

PDMA Conference PDMA is a global community of professionals made up of product development and management practitioners and academics. The PDMA 2019 Annual Conference and Research Forum was held in Orlando, Florida. The 2019 theme was Disruption by Design and the 4-day event included presentations on the latest research and papers for the Journal of Product Innovation Management (JPIM), a 1-day workshop on Design Thinking, 2 days of presentations by speakers on tracks of Business-To-Business (B2B), Business-To-Consumer (B2C), Services, and Software and AI including many motivating keynote speakers. There were ample opportunities for networking including several receptions, one of which was held at Walt Disney’s EPCOT Theme Park. I have come away from the PDMA conference with a treasure trove of new information and resources, as well as connections to many professionals.

The Design Thinking 1-day Workshop was an inspiring and knowledgepacked way to learn tools to help place the customer at the heart of the design process.

FABTECH FABTECH is described as North America's Largest Metal Forming, Fabricating, Welding and Finishing Event, and in 2019 it was held at the McCormick Convention Centre in Chicago, Illinois. The expo was a massive event, far bigger than anything I have seen in Auckland, with over 1800 exhibitors and 40,000 attendees. Highlights for me were seeing the state-of-the-art technologies on display for Additive Manufacturing, and Robotics and Industrial Automation. I have come away from the FABTECH expo inspired with solutions that could be applied in manufacturing, as well as contacts and resources.

The size of the FABTECH expo was breath-taking. Shown here is a panoramic view from the centre of one of the three exhibition buildings.

AI and Big Data Expo The AI & Big Data Expo and IoT Expo was held over 2 days at the Santa Clara Convention Centre in Santa Clara, California. This was a moderate sized event (350 exhibitors, 500 speakers, 13,000 attendees) which 38

Food New Zealand

held multiple conference tracks on subjects such as AI Technology Solutions, Big Data Business Solutions, Data Analytics for AI & IoT, and Enterprise AI. The Internet of Things (IoT) Expo was held at the same location, and I found this particularly valuable, being able to connect with companies who build solutions for IoT and electronics. One nice thing about the AI & Big Data Expo is because I had purchased the premium pass I was provided audio recordings and presentation files for all the speakers, so if any of these subjects are of interest to colleagues at my company or PDMA-NZ members, I am able to share these easily.

I also had the opportunity to visit some companies including Tomorrow Lab, a small but leading Product Design firm based in New York.

Through contacts I was able to tour one of the Nvidia offices in Santa Clara, California (Nvidia is a graphics processing chip manufacturer), and toured the Facebook office in Austin, Texas.

This trip was a wonderful mind-expanding experience that has given me a wealth of new knowledge and insights, so I would like to express my utmost appreciation to Professors (retd) Dick and Mary Earle for the Fellowship grant, along with the selection committee for the opportunity. I strongly recommend that other engineering/tech graduates apply for this awesome grant.

Applications invited for Richard & Mary Earle Travel Fellowship Award 2020 The Earle Travel Fellowship is an annual grant of up to $15,000 that helps fund overseas travel for young Engineers & Food Technologists and Food Scientists, creating an opportunity for them to increase their professional knowledge and innovative skills.

The Travel Fellowship is awarded annually. It is envisaged that the skills gained and the contacts made through visiting overseas research and development institutes and attending international conferences and training workshops will enable successful candidates to improve technology in New Zealand.

Applicants for the Earle Travel Fellowship will be engaged in the study of or gaining practical experience relevant to either: Product Development & Innovation Management or Process Development in bioprocessing or food processing.

Applicants must be: • New Zealand citizens or permanent residents with at least three years proven residence in New Zealand immediately preceding the year of selection.

• Members of a professional organisation recognised by the Earle Technology Trust Board (e.g. NZIFST, Engineering New Zealand, IChemE, PDMA).

• Aged under 40 years but with a preference given to candidates under 35 years of age.

• Employed in one of New Zealand’s technological industries (products or services), or an associated research organisation.

Closing date for applications is Friday 22 May 2020.

For more information and an application form contact: Rosemary Hancock (Executive Manager NZIFST) email rosemary@nzifst.org.nz

NZIFST

NZIFST News

Latest update It’s distressing for all involved with the 2020 Vision International Congress of Food Science and Technology to see our plans disrupted by Covid 19. It was all going so well, programme complete, registrations beginning to roll, menus salivated over, excitement building.

NZIFST’s Executive and Board, the Local Organising Committee, IUFoST and our event organiser, Avenues Event Management, are now working to minimise disturbance in the flow of organising this stimulating and rewarding event. There are many scenarios – from stay-with-date to cancellation; from virtual conferencing to

postponement – but we will keep you as informed as we can.

Even before Covid 19, the Congress organisation was challenged by construction delays moving the completion date of our preferred venue, the NZ International Convention Centre. Happily, this situation caused us to pencil in a booking to the Auckland Aotea Centre so that by the time of the NZICC’s fire, our new venue was already confirmed and adjustments to arrangements well under way. We have no doubt that this new, admittedly much greater challenge, will also be overcome.

We look forward to running the event, as soon as possible and making it memorable.

NZIFST Directory executive manager

president

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

vice president Phil Bremer phil.bremer@otago.ac.nz TREASURER

Grant Boston grant@boston.net.nz

As a member of NZIFST you will benefit from Professional development programmes Networking at regular branch meetings, seminars and the Annual Conference

and gain Information through ‘Food New Zealand’, ‘Nibbles’ and our website Recognition through awards, scholarships and travel grants

JOIN NZIFST NOW! https://nzifst.org.nz/join-us

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NZIFST EHEDG NZ & Food Engineering & Hygienic Design SIG News Who could have predicted the global changes to everything when we held our first very enthusiastic committee meeting for the New Zealand Regional Section of EHEDG (European Hygienic Engineering Design Group) in early February? Right now, we would have been in the final preparation stages for running the second Certified EHEDG Advanced Hygienic Design Course in Christchurch from April 6th to 8th. Well before Monday’s announcement to go to Level 4 Covid-19 response, we made the decision to postpone the course. This was doubly disappointing because we had an over-subscribed course with very positive feedback from the first course in November last year and significant interest in this and future courses. The course has been tentatively re-scheduled for September 22nd – 24th.

In addition to the Advanced Hygienic Design Course in Christchurch we had also planned to run a second course in Auckland in November, along with other seminars and one-day basic courses at sites to be determined. The restrictions on gatherings have placed a temporary hold on these plans, but we are still in the process of establishing working relationships with sector groups of Engineering New Zealand, albeit by phone and electronic meeting platforms. We had also approached the NZIFST branches with the offer of presenting to a Branch Meeting, ideally aligned with a supplier in the region, but those plans too are on hold. We will continue to monitor the situation closely regarding meeting plans and explore other opportunities to provide direct support to industry – please follow the website for information.

As we all come to terms with major adjustments to our personal lives, most of the readers of Food New Zealand face significant challenges of continuing to manage our businesses as essential services. While it certainly won’t be “business as usual” it is more important than ever to apply and maintain the highest standards of Good Manufacturing

Practice (GMP) to ensure the provision of safe food for the public, regardless of the difficulties that you will undoubtedly face regarding staffing, resources, supply and simple communication. Attention to the principles of hygienic design are fundamental to the operation of an effective Food Safety Management System, as without best practice hygienic design, food manufacturing operations cannot deliver effective cleaning and sanitation.

This is a good time to refresh your understanding of what is meant by hygienic design and the key overview requirements. The link below is to the EHEDG Guideline Document #8 – ‘Hygienic Design Principles’: https://www.ehedg.org/guidelines/free-documents/. This Guideline prompts the key questions for food manufacturers to ask regarding their own food safety risks driven by hygienic design. Following on from the Principles guideline, EHEDG has published over 40 detailed Guidelines on specific elements of best practice hygienic design, including examples of poor and best practice solutions. The Guidelines are free to businesses that register as Company members, or at a discounted price for Individual members.

For information on EHEDG membership, please contact me at info@ ehedg.co.nz or go direct to the membership application page at https:// www.ehedg.org/membership/.

One of the key objectives of setting up a New Zealand Regional Section of EHEDG has been to develop a New Zealand network for dissemination of hygienic design information to the NZ Food Industry stakeholders, and very importantly to provide a forum for discussion of issues relevant to New Zealand. The EHEDG NZ website – https:// ehedg.co.nz/ - is still undergoing development, but considerable focus is planned for providing a much more active site with the current restrictions on face-to-face meetings which we had planned for the year.

David Lowry – Chairperson of EHEDG NZ Regional Section

New members NZIFST welcomes the following new members and re-joined Professional Members.

Former Professional Members re-joining Vivek Gargi

Fonterra Australia Pty Ltd

Development Technologist

Essendon, Australia

Peter Silan

Retired

Retired

Auckland Auckland

New Members Matt Andrews

Hibiscus Solutions

Account & Applications Manager

Kriscindra Cross

Proper Crisps

Quality Assurance & Food Control Plan Manager Nelson

Ursula Hosking

Frucor Suntory

Senior Scientist

Auckland

Rex Johnstone

Beca

Technical Director

Christchurch

Laura Jones

ADM Nutrition

Sales & Marketing

Auckland

Darshika Narayan

ADM Nutrition

Applications Technologist

Auckland

Keira Nesdale

Pacific Process

Project Engineer

Auckland

Carla Perna

G S Hall

Quality Assurance Technologist

Auckland

Elisa Weiss

Nutritionist

Create Nutrition Ltd

Auckland

New Graduate members Elizabeth Geddes

Colmar Brunton

Sensory Client Executive

Auckland

Stephen Giteru

University of Otago

Teaching & Research Fellow

Otago

Charlotte Hitchings

Goodman Fielder - Longburn

Technical Assistant

Palmerston North

Danielle Merton

The Pure Food Company

NPD Technologist

Auckland

Arjun Puthussery Vasudev

Christchurch

New Student members Hwui Eun Jung at Waikato Institute of Technology, Maru Gawat, Zicheng Huang, Ripudaman Kaur, Kizzy Rennie, Dhaval Patel and Thomas Sun at Massey University Turitea, Ha-Young Kim and Siqi Li at Massey University - Albany, Sanika Pathak at University of Otago, Sumesh Thenkaramaharaj at Massey University - Wellington, Lucy Todd at University of Otago, Vanessa Ung at University of Auckland and Vishnu Gunasekaran at Auckland University of Technology

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NZIFST

Branch news

branch events along with other local and national events of interest.

Members also have the opportunity to post their own interesting reads and generate discussion on the page. As part of this initiative, a subpage for local Food Technology students has also been established to strengthen their links with NZIFST. Amanda Thompson

2020 student welcome reception On March 5th, Central Branch held our annual student welcoming event at Massey University in Palmerston North. This event was a great opportunity for professionals and students to network and learn more about becoming an NZIFST member. Attendance comprised 24 students and 8 members for a gathering of 32 techies.

Waikato Branch members enjoy sampling Canary Enterprises' products

Waikato Tour of Canary Enterprises, Te Rapa, Hamilton On March 2nd eighteen Waikato Branch members were treated to a tour of the Canary Enterprises facilities at Te Rapa. Canary processes butter, cream cheese, cheese and AMF sourced from Fonterra into butter sheets, flavoured butters, ghee, cheese portions, and cream cheese sachets in consumer packs.

We enjoyed a comprehensive presentation on the history of the business and the development and processing of each product. Canary was founded in 2001 with the aim to process and package dairy products for catering end-users. Their target market was the airline industry but this has expanded into the restaurant, catering and hotel trade. The business outgrew its initial premises and has expanded into adjacent premises to accommodate more packaging machinery, a test kitchen, a re-packing facility and more staff.

A joint venture with Lewis Road Creamery has been very successful; retail butter pats with light and unsalted offerings have seen good sales. Introduction of blending technology has allowed development of spreadable butters. Presently the business is the major supplier into the Asian and Middle Eastern airline industry.

At first, we mingled over delicious Mexican food and home-brewed craft beer and then enjoyed guest speaker Sara Brough engaging the audience with her journey, post-university. Sara studied Food Technology at Massey and on completion of her degree joined Whittaker’s Chocolate as NPD technologist. Her great projects included the development of Creamy Caramel and Dark Salted Caramel chocolate blocks. This might sound straightforward, however there were some real challenges as Sara explained in a talk that gave the audience great insights into real-world NPD approaches and scale up.

To explore a new aspect of the industry, she recently joined RJ’s liquorice as a Process Technologist. Sara provided further insights into professional life and the type of challenges she had to face. She also educated students regarding the flexibility of the Food Technology degree and the many opportunities that it creates depending on your interests: information many students appreciated hearing. There was a positive outcome of students from different year groups studying various degrees, including Food Technology, Engineering, Horticulture and Plant Science.

All round a lovely evening that everyone enjoyed.

Milli Kumar, Central Branch Student Representative

Of course, we had to sample the products. Cheese, cream cheese, butters and flavoured butters were all sampled and appreciated. Many noted that the cheddar pats had excellent flavour and we all tried the many and varied products. Thanks to Margaret McCracken and to Canary for opening the doors to the group.

Good to see a wide range of members – new and not-so-new, attending these visits. It may be our last for a while but we will be up and running ASAP after the crisis is over.

Colin Pitt – Branch Chair

Central Please "Like" our Facebook page NZIFST Central now has a presence on Facebook. To encourage member engagement and to reach a wider audience, the Central Branch recently created a Facebook page! We will be posting upcoming

Massey University Food Technology students are welcomed back to Palmerston North after their summer break April/May 2020

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NZIFST

NZIFST President, Richard Archer talking to Nelson Branch members in February

Allen Foegeding: “Properties based food design” On Thursday March 19, NZIFST Central held what might be our last face-to-face branch meeting for a wee while given the strictures of Covid-19 controls imposed 48 hours later. A surprisingly large group of 18 members met in Palmerston North (virtually joined by about 4 more in Wellington and an individual member already in personal isolation) all keeping a sensible physical separation of course.

Our guest was distinguished US food scientist Dr E. Allen Foegeding, whose talk was entitled “Properties Based Food Design”. Allen has a long association with New Zealand and especially Palmerston North and has previously presented to our local branch meetings. Having been in New Zealand since December, Allen was declared Covid-19clean which facilitated his presence in person.

The thrust of Allen’s talk was how a range of physical, compositional, rheological, nutritional and other food science tools might be (and are) harnessed to effect the “Ideal Food System” that best delivers affordable foods meeting the demands of an exploding human population. Allen reminded us that “engineered” foods are not a new concept with quaint post-WW2 TV advertisements for margarine extolling the similarities of this butter mimetic with its natural counterpart. Current moves to alternative sources like novel grains, fermented micro-algae, insects – and even cell-cultured alternatives to traditional foods were simply the extension of that history. The availability of recent developments in altering and measuring food structure is an enabler not previously available which should better support targeted development of nontraditional food alternatives that better deliver the properties we associate with the traditional food being copied.

In late February eighteen Nelsonian's gathered at the Honest Lawyer to sink a few handles for the good of the nation. Thanks again to Foodcom for sponsoring rations. Prof Richard Archer took centre stage to update us on FIET projects and the goals of NZIFST for the coming year. We appreciate our organisation's President connecting with the regions.

I know Richard enjoyed hearing from the technologists with the best work-life balance in the country (well, we think so!). Nelsonian's are always impressed by anyone who can shoot a deer from their sofa after Christmas lunch (not sure about the sofa - but we shouldn't let facts get in the way of a good story!)

David List

Canterbury Branch barbecue We like to start each year with a branch barbecue and this year we gathered again at the Halswell Quarry on 16 February. Despite the strong winds and the threat of rain, more than 16 branch members, guests and families joined the fun.

Robyn Marshall (Tegel Foods) and Craig Houston (Anzco), were on the grill. Hats off to these chefs and the sumptuous meats which included a “meat free meat patty”. These meats were complemented by bread, salads and cold drinks. After the meal some members went for a walk in the quarry. All in all, a lovely, relaxing afternoon out before everything got seriously different!

The session ended with a food-structure experiment on the physics of cheese mastication. Samples of different aged cheeses (thanks Fonterra) were compared for their breakdown on chewing. So far as this participant was able to tell the sole valid conclusion was that we all chew differently!

Allergens meeting cancelled!

As it is probable that we will all be anchored to our personal bubbles for the next who-knows-how-long, on behalf of all the Central Branch Committee I wish you all a safe transit through the period of CV-19 L4 restrictions, however long that may be, and we’ll see you hale and hearty on the other side. Stay safe, stay well.

Bread making courses

Allan Main, FNZIFST 42

Nelson

Food New Zealand

Katherine Campbell from Eurofins Technology in Australia was to have presented on this subject on 17th March but, like many meetings all over the country, this had to be cancelled because Katherine was to have flown in from Melbourne.

Small Class French Baking courses were made available to Canterbury members at Vic’s Bakehouse in Ferrymead in Christchurch. Vic's Bakehouse is a small artisan bread bakery committed to baking high quality bread using traditional bread-making techniques, such as allowing time for the doughs to ferment naturally with minimal yeast

NZIFST

Left to right, branch members Craig Houston, Jasmin Estrera and Kerin Houston with Laurie Brunot from Vic’s Bakehouse (second from right) at the bread making course and hand moulding all bread. They have been making bread since 1999 and have a dedicated group of local customers.

The maximum for a class was 8 people, so six of us met on the 15th March and were ably instructed by the passionate bakery tutor Laurie Brunot who served us coffee and fresh bagels for breakfast and then helped us to make a range of delicious breads. During the lesson we all learnt, hands-on, the techniques of kneading, folding, shaping and scoring dough. Laurie demonstrated the benefits of folding and time in place compared with more aggressive kneading, which showed us that great food is worth planning and waiting for. Laurie included some tips about overnight fermentation of dough in the fridge if we are busy during the day.

We made a range of products including brioches, ciabatta, tomato bread and focaccia. At the end of the class we all went home loaded with the fresh delicious bread we had made along with the recipes and encouragement to try them at home.

The small class size and industrial kitchen made the experience very personal as well as practical, and it was a great way to get to know the other members in the group. It was wonderful to be under the instruction of such a patient and able tutor and to support an established local business.

A second class is planned for 17th May COVID-19 willing. I would thoroughly recommend one of these courses to anyone passionate about baked goods. Laurie runs courses throughout the year on different breads. Their website is below. https://www.vics.co.nz/baking-classes Our hearts go out to all whose businesses are being affected by the COVID-19 virus and we trust that we all get through this time before too many weeks have passed. Surely by August, when the IUFoST meeting is scheduled, the travel restrictions and large meeting cancellations will have ceased. The future is so uncertain!

Winna Harvey (FNZIFST) and Paulette Elliott (FNZIFST)

From L to R: Dr Chris Bloore, Dr Sze Leong, Prof.

Indrawati Oey, Dr Biniam Kebede and Jane Bloore enjoying refreshments in the Bloore’s kitchen after Chris’ presentation

Otago/Southland A summer BBQ and powder explosions On a ‘summery’ evening in February, a small group from the OtagoSouthland branch was kindly hosted by Dr Chris Bloore (NZIFST Fellow) for an informative and entertaining seminar about powder explosions and conflagrations. Chris shared amusing anecdotes and explosive videos backed up by solid science from his 20+ years of experience as a dairy consultant. The group then huddled around Chris’ new grill for a classic Dunedin BBQ, which was a great opportunity to relax with colleagues and discuss food science and technology. Thanks very much to Chris for hosting and to Anne Gatenby for the liquid refreshments.

Tour of Common Ground Espresso On the 11th March, a group visited Common Ground Espresso in Dunedin for a coffee roasting demonstration and tasting. Logan, from Common Ground, talked the group of caffeine addicts and coffee connoisseurs through the art and science of coffee roasting, including how beans are selected and how the roast profile can be controlled for maximum quality and consistency. A coffee cupping tasting was put on for the attendees with an array of single origin coffees and the same coffees roasted with different profiles to illustrate the quality differences. The group left the tour well wired and with a much better appreciation of coffee roasting and tasting.

Thanks to Logan for a very ‘stimulating’ event and to Common Ground for hosting the group.

Graham Eyres, MNZIFST April/May 2020

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he t n o s ew n t s e t a ook or l l f d m n o a c l .

20 Zea 0 2 w t e s N o f . n e u i i l . s b i r w s e w s s i o hw sp gan c a r t o a n e o w h o e s T as nt. , e Pleas s v s e e r s i g on f th C o e s h u t t a g st nin n u r o t d forwar

COME TO NEW ZEALAND IN AUGUST 2020 AND DISCOVER WORLD-LEADING FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

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www.iufost2020.com