Food New Zealand December 2019/January2020 Issue

Official magazine of the 2020 International Congress of Food Science and Technology D ecember 2019/J anuary 2020

NZ’s Authority on Food Technology, Research and Manufacturing

Featured in this issue: International Congress of Food Science and Technology 2020 - Keynote Speaker Overview: Laboratory Supplies: equipment, instruments, consumables, hardware, glassware, rapid test equipment and kits FIET Report: Creamed Pomace dietary fibre product

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

Contents

NZ’s Authority on Food Technology, Research and Manufacturing

D ecember 2019/J anuary 2020 | Volume 19, No.6 ISSN 1175 – 4621

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Congress 2020

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Editorial

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In-Brief

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FOOD SAFETY

Come to Auckland for 2020 Vision World Congress of

Food Science and Technology in co-operation with IUFoST

News, views and information from around and about

MPI: Strategy, Summit and Awards A New FSANZ Act

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OVERVIEW

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RESEARCH

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Laboratory and testing resources

Spotting the differences between milks from different animal species

Jessica Gathercole, Hanh Nguyen, Xing Li,,Michael Agnews, and Li Day

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FIET PROJECT

Creamed Pomace – a smooth-textured dietary fibre product from apple pomace

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Richard Archer, Marzieh Eblaghi, Florencia M. Yedro, Erin O’Donoghue, Lee Huffman and John Bronlund

Contacts

Director and Editor Anne Scott, Peppermint Press Limited anne@foodnz.co.nz

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.

A digital edition is shared internationally.

Visit www.foodnz.co.nz to subscribe.

Copyright © 2019 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.

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, bill@pixdesign.co.nz

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

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

Regular Contributors Laurence Eyres, Ali Spencer, Dave Pooch, David Everett, Jenny Dee, Rosemary Hancock

ENDORSED BY THE MEAT INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF NEW ZEALAND

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Food New Zealand

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OILS & FATS A regular round-up of news and opinion from the Oils and Fats Group Laurence Eyres, FNZIFST

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MIA NEWS MIA Innovation New Zealand Roundtable for Sustainable Beef launched World Iron Week Ali Spencer, MIA

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CAREERS

John Lawson, Lawson Williams Consulting Group

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EARLE LECTURE

Allan Main, FNZIFST

Be the Expert and more!

A Future for New Zealand Food

36 NZIFST News, including:

36 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, Fax: 06 356 1687 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

New Members Branch News

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STUDENT ESSAY

From the farm to the lab: a future with in-vitro meat Shiyu Ouyang, Massey University Albany

On the cover The universal laboratory apparatus used for millennia - a flask and a gas flame.

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

next issue: February/March 2020 Next editorial and advertising deadline: January 22nd 2020 Features for February/March 2020 Analytical services, Consulting services, food safety plans, audits

December 2019/January 2020

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Congress 2020

Professor Sir Charles Godfray, Director of the Oxford Martin School and Professor of Population Biology at Oxford University will anchor a plenary session at the Congress

First Keynote Speaker confirmed The Technical Programme Committee is pleased and proud to announce that Professor Sir Charles Godfray, FRS, Director of the Oxford Martin School, will anchor a plenary session, Overview of Sustainable Food – the Challenge at 2020 Vision, the 20th World Congress of Food Science and Technology in Auckland, NewZealand. Sustainability of the food supply is one of the key themes of the Congress.

Charles Godfray is a population biologist with broad interests in science and the interplay of science and policy. He has spent his career at Oxford University and Imperial College in the UK and is currently Director of the Oxford Martin School and Professor of Population Biology at Oxford. He has joint UK and New Zealand citizenship and his mother grew up on a dairy farm near Kaikoura.

He is looking forward to making a contribution to this event.

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Food New Zealand

“I hugely enjoy visiting New Zealand, both because it’s a world leading centre in agricultural and applied ecological research, and also to catch up with many colleagues and family. I’m always impressed by quite how alive everyone is in New Zealand to contemporary agricultural and ecological issues, much more so than in the UK.” His research has involved experimental and theoretical studies in population and community ecology, epidemiology and evolutionary biology. Current and recent projects in his group have included studies of the aphid microbiome and how it affects the insects’ susceptibility to parasitoids and fungi, and modelling the genetic control of the mosquitoes that transmit malaria in Africa. In the past he has worked with AgResearch scientists in New Zealand on modelling the biological control of pasture pests.

Congress 2020

He is particularly interested in food security and chaired the UK Government Office of Science’s Foresight project on the Future of Food and Farming. He currently chairs the UK’s agricultural and environment (Defra) ministry’s Science Advisory Council and recently chaired a review of the UK Government’s bovine TB control strategy. At Oxford he co-directs the Wellcome-Trust funded Livestock, Environment & People (LEAP) project which seeks to explore the myriad ways that changing patterns of consumption of meat and dairy affect human health, the environment, the economy and livelihoods.

Dr Jeremy Hill, Fonterra’s Chief Science & Technology Officer and also Professor of Sustainable Food Systems at Riddet Institute, says, “We are delighted to have someone with Sir Charles Godfray’s knowledge and expertise present the opening talk of the session and join our panel discussion. Sir Charles will bring a broad international context to the conversation as we explore the challenges and opportunities of providing the nutrients required by the growing global population.”

Looking ahead Watch these pages for news as the work continues to present a memorable World Congress continues.

By the close of abstract submissions on 31st October, the Technical Programme Committee was gratified to have received many more abstracts that expected from all corners of the world and are now engaged in the enormous task of assessing these and allocating suitable papers to sessions. Author notification is scheduled for early December and the final programme will be posted on the IUFoST 2020 website, www.iufost2020.com by 28 February 2020.

What is the Oxford Martin School?

Since 2005, the Oxford Martin School has aimed to sow the seeds of change, acting as a ‘kickstarter’ for experimental and novel research. More than a decade on, many of these programmes have matured into independently funded institutes, allowing the school's researchers to focus on new collaborations, experimentation and new ideas.

The School’s academics work across more than 30 solutions-focused, pioneering research programmes that cut across disciplines to find solutions to the world's most urgent challenges. From renewable energy to ocean sustainability, and from the future of work to tackling inequality, they foster ground-breaking collaborations between researchers working at the frontiers of knowledge.

The unifying theme is that the research must be of the highest academic calibre, tackle issues of global significance, and could not have been undertaken without our support.

Underpinning all research is the need to translate academic excellence into real-world impact, from innovations in science, medicine and technology, through to expert advice and policy recommendations.

Sponsors We are proud to have the support of the following key sponsors.

Platinum Partner: Fonterra Cooperative Group Limited Gold Partner: New Zealand Food Safety Silver Partners: AgResearch Limited, BioMérieux, The Tatua Co-operative Dairy Company, Tetra Pak and Zespri Bronze Partners: Cawthron Institute The University of Auckland is the 3MT Thesis partner Riddet Institute is the Young Scientist Award partner A full list of sponsors and exhibitors is available on the website (see QR Code).

December 2019/January 2020

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EDITORIAL EDITORIAL Universities of Tomorrow Where do food technologists come from? From universities in the main. Ours, mostly from New Zealand universities, but some come from the Philippines or Thailand or the UK or elsewhere.

But our universities are in trouble. Around the world they seem to be in a similar mess. University administrations spend more and more on analysts to understand why they are so expensive and unproductive. Teaching departments are progressively starved of personnel. Teachers are measured more and more by research performance, yet research funding is isolated more and more into specialist research centres. Teachers and researchers are being combed either side of a parting. Progressively, retiring teachers are being replaced by cheaper, short-term, contract staff. Digital techniques are being treated as an end in themselves rather than an educational tool. And courses are being compressed into one-size-fits-all, generic lumps in defiance of the increasing heterogeneity of new students.

This pattern seems ubiquitous. Governments are increasingly sceptical of the value they get for their money.

So what is the answer?

Richard Archer, President, NZIFST

This is almost exactly how the car manufacturing industry was in the 1970s. They had a large number of separate companies making a large number of models. Traditional European and American strength was challenged from Japan and Korea. Quality was so-so and innovation patchy. Cars were neither cheap nor efficient. Workers were striking and companies losing money. Then what happened?

If today’s vice-Chancellors had sat round the collective Automotive Board table then, this is what they would have done: • Remained as independent competitors • Reduced the number of models and colours so they could shed staff to reduce cost • Ignored their customers' desire for diverse models • Used emerging automation tools to standardise, reducing flexibility • Progressively lost revenue and ultimately failed And here is what they actually did: • Amalgamated and cooperated so that they could each make fewer components • Reduced the total number of components and sub-assemblies • Increased the numbers of models - they developed mass customisation by mix and match • Adopted new automation tools to increase flexibility • Offered new products rapidly to meet rapidly changing markets

The car industry now offers more models, of higher quality at lower real cost than ever before – and is profitable. Today’s globalised, flexible and responsive car industry is a huge success.

The car industry adopted principles such as “Lean”: they sought out waste and got rid of it. To find the true source of waste they empowered individual workers and low-level managers. They gave them data, information and simple analytical tools.

They did not merely sit in a remote office and attempt to model reality from a position of ignorance.

Yes, university education and car manufacture are very different. But they are both complex organisations bound by the same laws of psychology and economics. I strongly believe an intelligent university could learn much from the car industry.

Even now, very few universities worldwide can afford the 20-plus specialist staff that you need to teach comprehensive food technology well. We should cooperate and joint-venture so that each university provides a lead in only 4 or 5 specialist areas and prepares top grade curriculum material for the others in the club. Increase the number of degree offerings but decrease the number of teaching modules you use. Be flexible as needs change and watch the future.

It is not hard to find waste in a university: the most valuable item is academic time –“Lean” should be easy. Don’t save printer ink or paper or air miles if it costs you more in academic hours. This is what the car industry discovered so crisply – ironically with the help of some smart universities!

Richard Archer, FNZIFST, President

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Food New Zealand

IN-BRIEF

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

Whitestone’s Farmhouse wins Bronze Whitestone Cheese Co. received a coveted Bronze award for its Farmhouse cheese, a pressed white mould semi-soft cheese, at the World Cheese Awards, 2019.

This was Whitestone’s first and original cheese that launched the company in 1987. Farmhouse is a pressed cheese with a white mould rind, unusual in the world of cheese.

With entries representing 42 nations from six continents at the World Cheese Awards this year, Whitestone Cheese has gained an internationally recognised seal of approval from a truly global cheese event. Visiting Italy for the very first time, the competition formed part of Bergamo’s annual FORME festival, taking place alongside the brand new international dairy trade show, B2Cheese.

Simon Berry, Whitestone Managing Director is very proud. “To achieve an international bronze is fantastic recognition for our original cheese that has gone unchanged since the late 80s and also for our founding team and their pioneering development back in 1987. We will enjoy celebrating this success with all team over the coming weeks.”

Exploring what Kiwis eat A new partnership aimed at exploring what Kiwis eat and why will be undertaken in a partnership with Bayer New Zealand and the New Zealand Nutrition Foundation (NZNF).

Coined as the Bayer Food Focus Project, the partnership brings together Bayer and the New Zealand Nutrition Foundation (NZNF) with expert help from the Foundation’s Board members, Elaine Rush, Scientific Director and Emeritus Professor of Nutrition at Auckland University of Technology (AUT), and Niki Bezzant, nutrition writer and commentator.

The project will consist of two key parts: the use of a new innovative technology, the Veggie Meter, to establish a benchmark of Kiwis’ vegetable and fruit consumption; and an online questionnaire to understand which foods New Zealanders are commonly consuming.

The Veggie Meter, originally developed in the US, measures participants’ levels of beta-carotene through a fingertip reading device. The technology accurately and painlessly measures whether people are getting enough beta-carotene from plants to be considered healthy. This will be the first study in Australasia to use the Veggie Meter technology.

“Much of New Zealand's nutrition data is out of date. This creates

challenges for researchers, the food industry and policymakers when looking into what needs to be done to improve the food system and health outcomes for Kiwis,” says Professor Elaine Rush.

“We want to find out what the average level of plant Vitamin A is among our population as this will give us a benchmark against the recommended intake, as it’s reported that only four out of ten New Zealand adults consume the existing recommendation of five plus a day.”

Although the Bayer Food Focus project does not profess to be an update on the decade old Adult Nutrition Survey carried out by the Ministry of Health in 2008-09, it does hope to plug some of the gaps felt by the industry.

“We should uncover some interesting findings that shed light on our dietary habits as a nation, and perhaps, make people stop and think about their own food consumption,” says Niki Bezzant.

Having access to a valid measure of the quality of foods eaten and gaining up-to-date insights into what and why certain foods are being consumed over others, can help us better address these issues and find actionable solutions to make health and wellbeing a priority for all,” concludes Sarah Hanrahan, Chief Executive Officer of the NZNF.

December 2019/January 2020

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IN-BRIEF

10 Key Trends in Food, Nutrition and Health 2020 Plants still hot but meat’s not off the menu – health-conscious consumers want it all People love plants. With their “naturally functional” halo, consumers of all ages want to eat more of them – and in more convenient forms.

From cauliflower pizza to beetroot bread, plant-based is a trend that’s growing for the long term.

But people also love meat. Despite vocal attacks on meat’s health and sustainability credentials, which made it look as if the meat category was set for long-term decline, consumption has increased in both the US and in Europe in recent years.

“Consumers’ perception of meat as a tasty and high-quality protein is driving the reinvention of meat and will secure its permanent place on the plate – and as a snack,” says Julian Mellentin, a consultant to the food and beverage industry and author of the report 10 Key Trends in Food, Nutrition and Health 2020. This annual trend analysis identifies – for the first time – meat as a growth opportunity, alongside plantbased.

the influence of other key consumer trends identified in the report, including protein, lower-carb and the rebirth of fat.

Consuming fewer carbs – which by definition means eating more fat and/or protein, often in the form of meat – is growing in popularity, fuelled by diet patterns such as keto. And low-carb eating is now legitimised by science. Fear of the ultimate ‘bad carb’ – sugar – is now mainstream. A massive 80% of US consumers say they are limiting or avoiding sugar in their diets, and there are similar levels of concern in Europe and South America.

It's a reflection of the fragmentation of consumer beliefs that, alongside a growing demand for low-carb products, honest indulgence is also a big growth driver: “In the midst of the focus on health and nutrition, let's not forget that most people buy bakery products for pure pleasure,” adds Mellentin. “Natural ingredients, provenance and great taste all matter more than nutrition.”

The 10 Key Trends identified in the report are: 1. Digestive Wellness 2. Good Carbs, Bad Carbs 3. Plant-based

“People want plants, but we’re not all turning into vegans,” says Mellentin. “In a world where consumers hold fragmented beliefs, there’s room for both plants and meat.”

4. Protein

“With plant-based getting all the attention, and meat under attack, creative meat producers are taking steps to reinvent their category, for example with sustainability, provenance and convenience,” he adds.

For example, US sales of meat snacks grew 6.7% in 2019 to $4.5 billion (IRI).

7. Meat Reimagined

And Nielsen data shows that meat brands that communicate about provenance, sustainability and animal welfare are growing fast and earning premium prices. US sales of meat with health or environmental claims are growing rapidly, led by “organic” up 13.1% and “grass-fed” up 12.2%.

And there are four “Mega Trends” that are a must-do for all companies in all categories:

It's a transformation that will be welcomed by consumers, who love to hear that something they enjoy is also good for them – as happened with red wine and chocolate. And they’re particularly receptive right now to positive messages about meat, says Mellentin, thanks to

5. Sugar - Reinventing Sweetness 6. Rebirth of Fat 8. Provenance and Authenticity 9. Energy 2.0 10. Mood

1. Naturally Functional 2. Fragmentation 3. Snackification 4. Sustainability The report “10 Key Trends in Food, Nutrition and Health 2020” is available at www.new-nutrition.com

FOOD TESTING Cawthron delivers industry leading analytical testing, reliable results and market changing insight.

• Method development and validation team • IANZ (ISO) accreditation • Food safety • GMP certified for Nutraceuticals • Export certification • Label claims 8

Food New Zealand

Ph: +64 3 548 2839 www.cawthron.org.nz

IN-BRIEF

Engineering the future of safe food and beverage production Engineering doesn’t necessarily spring to mind when you first think about food, beverage or dairy production, but for the team of engineering experts at AsureQuality providing services to the dairy, food and beverage industries, it’s what gets them up in the morning.

AsureQuality engineers work with customers as independent assessors and evaluators: “We walk the whole journey with our customers - from when they first start to even think about building a manufacturing plant and register their Risk Management Plan, right through every single step of the production process,” says Samuel Brooks, Business Manager Food and Dairy. “We provide the necessary independence, from a regulatory point of view, that our customers require, along with a huge depth and breadth of engineering expertise on tap, which has enormous benefits for our customers.”

The engineering team are hyper-aware that their primary role is to help customers protect food safety and they take this very seriously: “Any time we work with a customer, our ultimate objective is to form a partnership on the ground floor, so that we never have to be the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. That is always going to be a risk when you are dealing with food safety. At the end of the day its about having us involved right from the start. Getting it right up-front is worth every cent of investment - the cost further down the line

can be enormous to a business. We work hard to help customers avoid that.”

Recent projects undertaken have been diverse and include heat treatment assessments and audits, product testing, gap analyses and premise evaluation for a wide range of customers and covering everything from dairy, fruit juice, plant-based beverages, wine and beer, to cooking stocks, soups and other liquid products.

While a significant part of their work is in the dairy industry, due to growing demand for convenience foods and products with a good shelf life, they now work with many customers in the food and beverage sector, where their expertise in UHT and heat treatment applications can deliver real value. In recent examples they were able help a fast-growing business to increase their production levels, and another customer to increase product shelf life, all while maintaining food safety and product integrity.

“We are here precisely to make things as efficient, seamless and pain-free as possible for customers so that they can get on with what they excel at – taking the very best that our country has to offer to both domestic and international markets.”

For more information: www.asurequality.com

First Compostable, Ovenable film Futamura, the global leader for sustainable cellulose films, has launched a new product to market, ‘NatureFlex™ 30NVO’, an ovenable grade of its landmark compostable NatureFlex™ films.

NatureFlex™ 30NVO is made from renewable wood pulp sourced from responsibly managed forestry. It is the first certified compostable, heat-sealable film to market, which offers the heat resistance required for conventional and microwave ovens. The new ovenable film offers a host of benefits including heat sealability on both sides, semipermeability to moisture, a good barrier to oxygen and mineral oils, grease and oil resistance, superb dead-fold, and is inherently anti-static.

In addition to its technical properties, NatureFlex™ 30NVO is ideal for printing and is suitable for lamination to other biopolymers to further enhance barrier and sealing properties.

Dr Lucy Cowton, Sustainability Manager, Futamura Cellulose Films, said, “This product has been under development for some time and undergone stringent internal trialling. We receive a lot of requests for an ovenable film so know it is a requirement within the marketplace, particularly at a time when brand owners are looking to switch from single-use plastic packaging.”

About Futarama Futamura Chemicals Company Limited is a major producer of plastic

NatureFlex™ NVO is being trialled by a number of brand owners and is ideal for hot food-to-go items such as pies, pastries, hot baguettes, wraps and paninis and cellulose (NatureFlex™ and Cellophane™) films. Following the acquisition of Innovia Films cellulose business, Futamura has a global footprint with production sites in the UK, USA and Japan.

December 2019/January 2020

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IN-BRIEF

In discussions of body weight and obesity, milk and other dairy products can be targeted for their apparent high sugar content, leading many to mistakenly believe that dairy should be limited to avoid weight gain through consumption of excess sugar. As part of the 2019 IDF (International Dairy Federation) World Dairy Summit, several highlevel international speakers addressed the sugar question, discussing the latest science on dairy and sugar in our diets.

Milk, plain yogurt, and other unsweetened dairy products contain the naturally occurring sugar lactose. Unlike added sugars, which contribute plenty of calories but no nutritional value, lactose in dairy is part of a nutrient-dense package, providing an abundant supply of high-quality protein, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, iodine, and vitamins B2 and B12.

The sessions concluded that there is no evidence that sugars naturally present in milk and dairy foods (lactose and galactose) have adverse effects on health. In fact, a growing body of research indicates that dairy may play a protective role against certain non-communicable diseases, including type 2 diabetes.

Nutritionists and scientists have increasingly begun to consider that the effects of milk and dairy foods on health extend beyond the benefits of the individual nutrients they contain. In a process known as the Dairy Matrix, the different structures and textures of dairy products have an impact on how these nutrients are absorbed in the body. This could have important positive impacts for health.

“Scientists investigating the health effects of the Dairy Matrix have already noted its positive impact on bone health and some noncommunicable diseases. Going forward, greater understanding of dairy food structure and nutrient absorption could pave the way to developing innovative dairy products that improve the nutritional status. It’s imperative that when discussing dairy within diets, a ‘whole food’ rather than an ‘isolated nutrients’ approach is taken,” says Dr David Everett, Chair of the IDF Standing Committee on Dairy Science and Technology and Leader of the IDF Action Team on the Microstructure of Dairy Products 10

Food New Zealand

Safe Food Fourth edit ion

Safe Food is a food safety textbook designed to help food workers better understand the causes of food-borne illnesses and the control measures required to prevent them.

Pip Duncan

Since 1992, Safe Food has provided clear, concise and practical guidance around food safety, with set learning outcomes, application Food safety practices for the food wo rker exercises and summary points to help the reader better understand what they have learnt and how to apply it in the workplace.

– lti Aw

Author in

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Dr Michel Donat, Team Leader, IDF Action Team on Flavoured Dairy says, “The global obesity crisis is something that the dairy sector takes very seriously. However, the discussions at the IDF World Dairy Summit show it is wrong to assume that the natural sugars in milk and dairy products are the same as other added sugars. The dairy sector needs to help consumers to become educated on the sources of sugar in their diet and learn to strike the right balance between nutrients and sugar intake.”

Safe Food Fourth Edition published

ard

Furthermore, studies have clearly indicated a differential role for foods that are inherently nutritious such as milk and yogurt. When children and adolescents consume dairy products such as flavoured milk and yogurts, the quality of their diet improves, and in the case of studies looking at the impact on weight, no adverse effects were found.

The IDF is the leading source of scientific and technical expertise for all stakeholders of the dairy chain. Since 1903, IDF has provided a mechanism for the dairy sector to reach global consensus on how to help feed the world with safe and sustainable dairy products. A recognised international authority in the development of sciencebased standards for the dairy sector, IDF has an important role to play in ensuring the right policies, standards, practices and regulations are in place to ensure the world’s dairy products are safe and sustainable.

Mu

From the International Dairy Federation

About IDF

g

Misconceptions about dairy and sugar

nin

With recent changes to the management of food safety in New Zealand food businesses, this timely fourth edition has been updated to reflect the current guidelines, including new sections on the HACCP approach and New Zealand Food Safety Legislation.

Safe Food is an excellent resource to help businesses successfully develop and manage their Food Control Plans and can be used to fulfil the learning outcomes of a number of NZQA unit standards, such as; 167 (Practise food safety methods in a food business under supervision), 168 (Demonstrate knowledge of food contamination hazards and control methods used in a food business), 20666 (Demonstrate basic knowledge of contamination hazards and control methods used in a food business) and 27955 (Apply food safety practices in a food-related establishment).

Structured in short easy-to-read chapters with simple illustrations and colour-coded tables, this textbook can be read cover-to-cover quite easily, or in stages, making it a great tool for food workers short on time, or throughout the staff induction process. The index allows the reader to easily find particular topics providing a great kitchen resource for all food enthusiasts, and the application questions give a practical and interactive element which lends itself well to group education sessions.

SAFE FOOD: Food safety practices for the food worker. 4th edition,

by Pip Duncan. Published by Food Advisory Services, New Zealand, ISBN 978-0-473-46715-9. Available at www.safefood.nz, RRP $25 (plus postage).

IN-BRIEF

Five students will undertake R&D internships with Comvita this summer. Comvita is one of 70 F&B companies that have secured R&D Experience Grants from Callaghan Innovation

F&B companies set for major R&D boost this summer More than 120 university students will work on research and development (R&D) projects in F&B companies around the country over the next couple of months. Projects will span everything from identifying potential business efficiencies using data analytics to exploring the nutritional value of crickets.

The nationwide boost to R&D skills and capacity is being supported by Callaghan Innovation’s R&D Experience Grants, which provide funding for a science, technology, engineering, design or business student – or new graduate – to work on a company’s R&D project for ten weeks at the end of the university year.

Food & Beverage Business Innovation Advisor, Braden Loveridge says applications for the R&D Experience Grants are growing each year as companies realise the value of the summer internships.

“These internships give companies the opportunity to bring fresh skills and talent into their business, and to dedicate extra resource to existing R&D projects that they’re hoping to progress more quickly, and it’s all funded by the grant,” says Loveridge.

“In some businesses the student interns will be working on brand new R&D projects, because the company has an area of research or potential opportunity that they’ve been wanting to explore but they haven’t had the time or capacity.”

“For students, these internships provide a really unique opportunity to gain R&D experience and to understand how exciting and innovative the sector is – that’s a real positive for everyone working in food and beverage.”

More than 70 F&B companies from across New Zealand, including businesses in Tauranga, Auckland, Canterbury, Nelson and the Waikato, have secured support for 125 student internships – a massive increase on the 21 companies who secured funding for 46 internships last year.

In total more than 520 companies around New Zealand have secured 2019/2020 R&D Experience Grants and more than 1300 students will work on R&D projects – up from 660 internships in 2018/2019.

Companies applying for this year’s R&D Experience Grants included first-time applicants and businesses that have already built the summer internships into their annual planning and are using them as a valuable tool to find news skills and talent.

“We had five student internships supported by Callaghan Innovation’s R&D Experience Grants last summer and we’re being joined by another five students this year,” says Comvita’s Head of Research, Jackie Evans. “Having the support for these internships gives our R&D capacity a real boost and we’ve been really impressed by the calibre of the students who have worked with us.”

This year’s interns, who will work at Comvita’s Paengaroa HQ in the Bay of Plenty, include students who are studying data science

and computing, engineering, pharmacy and food technology, from Waikato, Canterbury, Auckland and Massey University.

“We’re really excited about the breadth of skills these students are bringing,” says Dr Evans. “This year the projects will explore how we can use data analytics to unlock efficiencies in our business, researching the gut health benefits of Manuka honey and the use of technology to preserve the unique bioactive properties of our Manuka honey during processing.”

Dr Evans says the internships give the students valuable real-world experience and opportunities, and are a great way to introduce new talent into the business. “We had a postgraduate student join us as an intern, with the support of an R&D Career Grant from Callaghan Innovation, and she has stayed on with the business.”

BWL from the Wairarapa is one of the F&B companies who applied for the R&D Experience Grant for the first time this year and their student intern will be helping to build the case for crickets as a food source.

"We're excited to be working with a food technology student over the summer break to take the first steps in our research to identify and extract some of the health-promoting compounds in crickets,” says BWL Future Foods Manager, John Hart.

“Early overseas research has delivered some promising results about the abilities of crickets to improve gut health – and we’re looking forward to seeing what we can achieve through our Callaghan Grant over the next few months.”

Callaghan Innovation’s Group Manager for Food & Beverage, Katy Bluett says the R&D Experience Grants are just one of the ways her team is able to provide support to F&B companies wanting to invest more in R&D or identify new opportunities to innovate.

“Our R&D Career Grant and Fellowship Grants are another great way to advance R&D projects and to bring fresh talent into F&B business.

These grants can support longer internships with postgraduate students.”

Other support offered by Callaghan Innovation’s F&B sector team includes ‘Getting Started’ and project grants, business advice, programmes, networking opportunities and events. In 2020 Callaghan Innovation’s Food & Beverage sector team are looking to team up with NZIFST to offer several new opportunities including a Driving Innovation workshop, industry treks of smart factories, and more Student Grants evenings around the country.

For full details on Callaghan Innovation’s Student Grants visit: www. callaghaninnovation.govt.nz/grants/student-grants or to get in touch with the F&B sectors team email North Island braden.loveridge@ callaghaninnovation.govt.nz or phone 027 274 5839 & South Island paul.hamilton@callaghaninnovation.govt.nz or phone 027 580 4539.

December 2019/January 2020

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MPI

Photo: New Zealand Food Safety

Strategy, Summit and Awards

What’s new at New Zealand Food Safety? We’re pleased to share details about our upcoming Summit, and an update on our Strategy and sponsored Awards.

New Zealand Food Safety Strategy A consultation was held by the New Zealand Food Safety team to test our draft strategy with food businesses, academics, partners, iwi, industry representatives and consumers.

We received 307 submissions, with 62% of these from consumers. Our online survey was a success with 83% of submitters using this as their vehicle for providing their thoughts on the draft strategy.

We are now analysing the submissions to discover what else should be included in the strategy and what needs to be amended to make sure the organisation is focused on the future and is clear about how we will continue to deliver for New Zealand consumers, food businesses, and our trading partners.

The final strategy will be launched at the Food Safety Summit on 10 December in Auckland.

Director-General Ray Smith (second from right) presented the New Zealand Food Safety-sponsored Primary Sector Products Award to (from left) Dan and Jacqui Cottrell, and Dan’s sister Georgia Cottrell. industry on topics such as food innovation, international regulatory frameworks, consumer confidence, and many more.

It’ll be an interactive day facilitating conversations between speakers, panellists and our delegates.

We warmly invite you to register at www.foodsafety.govt.nz/summit.

Food Awards We’re excited to announce our winner for the Primary Sector Products Award category in the 2019 New Zealand Food Awards is Kiwi Quinoa Limited (Retail Pouch of Wholegrain Quinoa).

On 23 October in Auckland, this award was presented to the Cottrell family from the Rangitikei region by Ministry for Primary Industries’ (MPI) Director-General Ray Smith.

And congratulations to The Pure Food Co from Auckland for taking home the Supreme Award (they were our 2017 MPI Food Safety Culture Award winner).

MPI/New Zealand Food Safety has supported the New Zealand Food Awards since 2000. The Awards are owned and organised by Massey University.

NZ Food Safety Summit 2019 The New Zealand Food Safety Summit will be held at the Grand Millennium Hotel in Auckland on 10 December 2019.

This is a rare opportunity to engage with international and domestic speakers and hear from some of the most influential players in the food 12

Food New Zealand

Our sponsored Primary Sector Products Award is open to all food and beverage products where producers, researchers, and manufacturers have added value through the introduction of new varieties, cultivars, or breeds; or new or alternative harvesting, processing or packaging to extract or create new or innovative primary sector products.

Please visit our website for more information on how to enter our 2020 Awards, including the Significant Contribution to Food Safety Award (New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology Awards)– www.mpi.govt.nz/scholarships-and-awards/

FOOD SAFETY

A New FSANZ Act Glen Neal, General Manager (Food Standards), FSANZ, New Zealand

Friday 15 November will go down as a red-letter day for the TransTasman food regulatory system. The 10 Ministers (8 State/Territory, 1 Australian Commonwealth and the NZ Minister for Food Safety) agreed to an ambitious reform package for a system regarded as performing well but in need of a freshen-up.

The centrepiece of this reform will be an assessment of the range of functions performed by FSANZ, including a review of the empowering statute, the FSANZ Act. The Act sets out our purpose, functions and the matters we must have regard to when setting standards. I am sure everyone will agree the first priority will remain the protection of public health and safety.

Food safety isn’t that sexy these days. It’s pretty much taken for granted.

This is a generally a good thing as consumers can be confident that the safety of their food is underpinned by science-based rules.

FSANZ is a binary operator in an increasing tertiary environment. We have one major lever to pull - to adjust the Code or not. Whether we are talking enzymatic processing aids or an overhaul of infant formula standards, we have to follow similar processes. I am sure Ministers have better things to do than turn their minds to whether or not pullulanase should be allowed to be used in starch preparations.

A more proportionate approach to the work we do is long overdue.

Spending less time on, and having slicker processes for, enzymatic processing aids is probably sound. As is being able to spend more time on more complex and inherently riskier approvals also makes sense.

Novel foods and health claims are other areas where, with additional functionality we can better protect consumers, provide more certainty for regulators and better support food innovation.

However, a few issues have arisen that perhaps weren’t contemplated when the Act was first considered and then conceived in 1991.

The Act is highly prescriptive and more than a little clunky in terms of its operation and we’d welcome a more permissive, enabling riskproportionate-approach to our work.

Perhaps an obvious example is the rise of the obesity epidemic and the accompanying sequelae. Sure the role of nutrition and its impact on public health is no recent phenomenon but the role that FSANZ can and should play in tackling this critical problem is an issue that needs to be made clear.

The FSANZ Act review will be run by the Australian Department of Health as they are the owner of this policy. Rest assured we have a range of ideas in the chute and will work closely with the Department throughout. Keep an eye out for opportunities to have your say throughout 2020 - and possibly beyond.

Food safety isn’t that sexy these days.

It’s pretty much taken for granted.

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Wine Safety Auditing Wine Safety Auditing

‘Specialising food ‘Specialising in foodinand wineand safety management programme auditing’ wine safety auditing’ P: +64 7 889 3500 | PO Box 168, Morrinsville 3340, NZ | www.qasltd.co.nz

•• Food and WineinSafety We specialise FoodAuditing and Wine Safety Auditing • Food Safety Programme Management • We are MPI approved for the following; • We are an ISO17020 - Recognised agency Accredited (Food Control Inspection BodyPlans, National Programmes and Wine) • We are aparty MPI verifiers approved food auditing - Third and wine verification have (Food Control Plans,agency; National Programmes MPI approvedand foodWine) safety programme - Evaluators (Food Control Plans) auditors and wine verifiers

December 2019/January 2020

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OVERVIEW

OVERVIEW: Laboratory and testing supplies – Do you need instruments, test kits, consumables or hardware?

Look no further

Acorn Scientific Acorn Scientific has been supplying New Zealand laboratories with specialised scientific products since 1997 and are the exclusive New Zealand suppliers for a number of overseas manufacturers.

We sell and service a wide range of laboratory equipment and products and specialise in sterilisation, hygiene monitoring, electrochemistry, refrigeration/freezing and data-logging solutions. We select our ranges based on quality and reliability.

We also offer some unique products for niche applications from years of experience supplying the food industry.

Acorn Scientific is a privately-owned New Zealand business with a relatively new management team who are committed to providing expertise and products for customer solutions.

The products we supply to the food industry include: • Sterilisation: Rodwell and Icanclave autoclaves. 3M and Excelsior sterilisation monitoring supplies.

• Water purification: Heal Force laboratory water purification systems.

• Microbiology products: 3M Petrifilm plates for quality indicator testing and sampling products.

• Hygiene monitoring: 3M Clean-trace rapid hygiene monitoring products including both ATP and protein detection technology.

We are the service agent for 3M luminometers.

• Allergen testing: New range of 3M Allergen testing products.

• Data-logging: Vaisala temperature and humidity environmental monitoring products and data logging for pasteurisation monitoring (Star-Oddi) and other specialist applications.

• Electrochemistry: pH and conductivity monitoring and other electrochemistry testing products from TPS, Jenway, Ionode, Hanna and others.

Vaisala temperature and humidity environmental monitoring and data logging equipment

• Refrigeration/Freezing: Arctiko, So-Low, Haier and CLST. All cooling applications.

• Wine testing: Vintessential enzymatic test kits.

• Separation and handling: Glenammer high quality laboratory sieves.

• Safety cabinets: Heal-Force Class ll Biological Safety Cabinets and 14

Food New Zealand

Laminar Flow Cabinets , Monmouth fume cupboards.

• General: We also offer a general range of laboratory products including Centrifuges, Incubators, Shaking Water Baths, Ovens, Incubators, Spectrophotometers UV and Visible, Stirrers, Ultrasonic Cleaning Baths, Shakers.

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Alphatech Systems

Eagle Eye Power Solution’s SG-Series Digital Hydrometers and Density Meters measure the specific gravity, density and density-related values of your sample

Alphatech Systems are suppliers of a wide range of products for food testing in New Zealand.

Our hand-held and benchtop meters include Colorimeters, conductivity, digital pocket test thermometers, DO, Iodine checker, Ion, multi-parameter meters, pH, salinity, temperature, TDS, and turbidity meters.

Other types of equipment for analysis include Cell counters, hydrometers, Iron mini colourimeter, refractometers, thermometers and titrators!

General equipment includes Auto analysers, Autoclaves, balances, centrifuges, callipers, desiccators, heating mantles, incubators, ovens, magnetic stirrers, microscopes, moisture analysers, PCR Thermal Cyclers, pipettes, shakers, spectrophotometers, timers and water baths, RO and Type 1 Water Purification, Static Control and Elimination and Automatic thermogravimetric Ashing Analysers.

We have enzymatic and colorimetric test kits for Acetaldehyde, Acetic Acid, Total Acidity, Volatile Acidity, Primary Amino Nitrogen, Ammonia Nitrogen, Ascorbic Acid, Anthocyanins, Chloride, Citric Acid, Copper, Dissolved Oxygen, Gluconic Acid, Glycerol, Iron, L-Lactic Acid, L-Malic Acid, Nitrogen, Protein, Protein stability, Residual Sugar, D-glucose/D-Fructose, Sucrose, Tartaric Acid, Sulphur Dioxide - total and free and standard solutions.

Our broad consumable range includes chemicals, cups for measuring and drying, cuvettes for spectrophotometers, electrodes/ probes [pH and other, spear tips for food/semi-solids], filters, glassware, microbiology, pH buffers and solutions, PCR Tubes and Plates, pipette tips, plasticware, and plastic pipettes [food-grade “wine thieves”]!

If you require any laboratory equipment or consumables, visit Alphatech Systems at www.alphatech.co.nz Alphatech Systems also offers Eagle Eye Digital Hydrometers/Density Meters including Continuous Density Measurement and Automatic Process Control.

Eagle Eye Power Solution’s SG-Series Digital Hydrometers and Density Meters measure the specific gravity, density and densityrelated values of your sample. Results are ready for storage, printout or export to a PC. The SG-Series is commonly used in the food and beverage industry and additional field applications. Common Applications Include oils, syrups, alcohol, beer, milk and fruit concentrate.

Inline, online and in-tank density measurement offers real-time monitoring and automatic controlling. Eagle Eye Power Solutions offers multiple models and options for in-tank density monitoring.

Online measurement indicates the exact status of the process, allowing for immediate changes when the conditions require it.

Continuous measurement reduces mistakes and losses that are associated with individual or grab samples.

For more information, visit Alphatech Systems at www.alphatech. co.nz

RapidOxy 100 from Anton Paar Anton Paar has launched RapidOxy 100, a compact, stand-alone instrument which artificially accelerates the oxidation process of fluid, solid, and semi-solid samples by using increased temperature and an excess of pure oxygen.

RapidOxy 100 applies a unique method with excellent reproducibility and repeatability. Testing takes place in a closed system: pressure is accurately monitored, leading to a high precision of test results.

Oxidation stability is an important quality criterion for the food industry.

The variety of applications is almost unlimited – whenever it makes sense to investigate the oxidative stability of a sample. RapidOxy 100 provides ease and speed of application for shelf-life examinations, optimisation of mixtures, screening of the type and concentration of antioxidants (e.g. flavours and fragrances), research and development, testing of ingredients and final products as well as for quality checks on incoming raw materials.

With its high temperature range up to 180°C, RapidOxy 100 delivers results in a fraction of the time compared to other accelerated aging methods. High sample throughput is made easy – right from the immediate test start – by placing a very small sample amount of usually only 5mL or 4g into a glass dish, without any sample preparation. The intuitive user-interface guides the user through the test run. No other chemicals are needed and no other waste than the sample occurs.

5.7” capacitive touchscreen display that shows the pressure curve monitoring during the measurement as well as the temperature, pressure and time in real time. Equipped with two USB ports, RapidOxy 100 ensures easy data transfer (.rtf, .csv). An optional PC app makes data handling and further processing convenient. RapidOxy 100 easily finds space in every lab, thanks to its small footprint of 20cm by 40cm.

For easy and intuitive operation RapidOxy 100 features a large

www.anton-paar.com/nz-en/contact/

Your New Zealand representative is Simon Lewis.

December 2019/January 2020

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OVERVIEW

Food Safety and Food Quality at bioMérieux Dairy

Produce

Knowing that a dairy product is free of pathogens and bacteria requires consistent, effective and reliable technology. bioMérieux provides this technology for the Dairy industry through microbiology testing solutions that offer a rapid, streamlined laboratory workflow with consistent and reliable results.

Produce has a short or limited shelf life and every minute is essential in ensuring fruits and vegetables maintain a safe and consistent quality. Rapidly detecting pathogens in produce that deteriorates quickly keeps your business running smoothly. bioMérieux has a history of providing microbiological testing systems that not only provide fast, accurate and consistent results, they are flexible to fit within your specifications.

Meat, Poultry and Seafood These products can be risky due to their shorter shelf life and high risk pathogens. Delays can lead to spoilage and product losses, making reliable and timely microbiological testing methods of the highest importance. At bioMérieux, we can assist with a comprehensive range of pathogen detection systems that fit within your company needs and improve upon traditional testing methods.

Processed Foods As processed foods travel further over longer times, manufacturers must ensure that these products are consistently safe. Qualitycontrol systems must effectively test for pathogens across the entire production and operational process. To help you safeguard processed food safety, bioMérieux's pathogen testing systems can ensure that your customers and brand are protected.

Beverage Beverages such as beer and other alcoholic products must comply with strict regulations when it comes to safety testing. Customers expect consistent quality when it comes to their favourite brands, so maintaining this quality over the long-term is essential for business success. bioMérieux is highly experienced in providing solutions for pinpointing bacterial contaminants throughout the entire production process.

Partner with bioMérieux to improve consumers’ confidence and protect your brands. http://www.biomerieux-industry.com Contact Mediray, our New Zealand Distributor: www.mediray.co.nz

ATA Scientific Essential analytical tools for measuring food quality The Phenom Desktop Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) is an essential tool in studying the relationship between food processing conditions and morphological changes to the food components that can influence foods’ nutritional values.

The new Generation 5 Phenom desktop SEM is easy to use and offers superfast imaging with fully integrated X-ray analysis to enable both food structures to be physically examined and their elemental composition determined. With the fastest time to image (less than 30 sec from sample loading) up to 150,000 times magnification and <8nm resolution, the Phenom SEM is an essential tool for any laboratory.

The Malvern Mastersizer particle size analyser is used to determine particle size and size distribution for foods and additives. Particle size defines mouth feel and is important for controlling manufacturing costs.

The Mastersizer 3000 is the premier instrument on the market for design, performance and software user experience. With a dynamic range spanning 0.01 to 3500 microns, the Mastersizer 3000 delivers precise, robust wet and dry particle size measurements tailored to the operator’s application needs. A small footprint, exceptional dry dispersion capabilities and intuitive software designed to ease user workload have resulted to its enduring appeal and propelled the system as the unit of choice.

The Malvern Zetasizer Pro and Ultra is used for the measurement of particle and molecular size, particle charge and particle concentration.

The system can be used to determine optimal concentrations of food additives for desired taste and smell performance or to improve emulsion stabilisation of flavourings.

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Food New Zealand

The new Generation 5 Phenom desktop scanning electron microscope

Built on the market-leading Zetasizer Nano range, the new Zetasizer Ultra delivers enhanced speed and ease of use, accelerating sample throughput. Multi-Angle Dynamic Light Scattering (MADLS) technology provides higher resolution, more complete particle size distributions and calibration-free particle concentration analysis to enable even greater insight into your samples. www.atascientific.com.au

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Get the riGht solution for your lab.

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Quality Indicators Detection

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Quality Indicators

Commercial Sterility Testing

Pathogen Detection

TEMPO®

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BACT/ALERT®

CHEMUNEX®

TEMPO®

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VIDAS®

December 2020 Contact Mediray, our NZ Distributor: www.mediray.co.nz Tel: 0800 6332019/January 472.

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OVERVIEW

Bio-Strategy can recommend multiple solutions for the food industry R-BIOPHARM are proud to support the New Zealand Dairy and Food Industries with their extensive range of test kits for allergens, mycotoxins, vitamins, enzymatics, microbiology and hygiene, hormone and anabolics, antibiotic residues, GMO and Animal Species Identification. They offer a range of technologies suitable for basic production control and for final product testing.

The QIAGEN mericon portfolio of food safety testing products is the broadest on the market. This versatile and proven technology is based on real-time PCR. QIAGEN offers products for all workflow stages, from sample preparation to target detection, and have fully automated protocols using innovative instruments for a range of throughputs.

The range of instrumentation available from Bio-Strategy in New Zealand

C. Gerhardt are the world’s leading developers and producers of analysis systems for food and animal feed, raw materials and plant matter. They focus on developing and producing automatic systems for reference analysis (Kjeldahl), rapid analysis (Dumas method) and sample preparation (Hydrolysis) - in accordance with the international quality standard ISO 9001.

Heidolph heating, shaking, stirring and mixing products are used to manufacture, analyse and ensure the quality of food, pharmaceutical and nutrition products and are produced to the highest standard.

AlphaMOS specialises in sensory metrology and is the worldwide leader of smell, taste and visual industrial analysers, supplying electronic noses, tongues and eyes for QA/QC and product development in food and beverage, packaging and pharmaceuticals

Hamilton Company’s sensors are developed to be the solution for process analytics in the food and beverage industries. Their optical DO and pH process sensors offer these key benefits: • Lower operating costs, tighter process control • Seamless calibration, troubleshooting and connectivity • Quick recovery from SIP, CIP or autoclaving LAB-PLAS’s Sterile TWIRL’EM Sampling Bags are the bags of choice for New Zealand dairy and much of the New Zealand food industry.

Their NEW range of TWIRL’EM Ecolo Biodegradeable bags provide an excellent economical biodegradable green alternative to rigid containers. www.bio-strategy.com

High-Tech analytical solutions from Foss FOSS is a global provider of high-tech analytical solutions used in different segments of food industry: Dairy. NIR and FTIR analysis or automated reference analysis support manufacturers in many aspects of the complex dairy process. From optimising fat content in ice-cream mix to screening incoming raw milk for adulteration, analytical technology used at key measuring points helps to streamline production and save money.

Meat. NIR analysis of meat and in-line X-ray analysis as well as reference analysis: meat analysis takes many forms from the lab to the production line. Robust instruments designed for testing fat directly in the meat production line are becoming increasingly essential for profitability while at-line and lab NIR solutions are providing new levels of accuracy and sophistication in measuring multiple quality parameters to meet labelling requirements and consumer preferences.

Wine. FTIR testing of wine and grape must for multiple parameters including Sulphur dioxide is complementing tradition. Even in an industry driven by tradition and sensorial know-how, like wine, adding a new level of automation helps ensure quality and consistency.

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Food New Zealand

Instruments from the Foss Range Grain. NIR and reference analysis of grain and flour and all manner of oilseeds, beans and pulses. Grain is where FOSS started, with a grain moisture tester in 1956, and continues today with the latest in connectivity and in-line options to check product quality.

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The Detectamet Elephant Pen won’t go undetected!

Food Tech Solutions – A Focus to Food Safety!

We are a niche supplier of quality testing solutions predominantly for food, dairy, beverage, and research industries within New Zealand.

With beginnings in milk quality, we have a long history of working closely with leading milk processors, helping position New Zealand as a global leader in the dairy industry.

Since 1998 our warehouse in Auckland has supplied and serviced customers nationally and internationally. We have fulfilled demands within the food industry for superb products that contribute to Food Safety and quality programmes monitoring manufacturing cleanliness, ensuring New Zealand produces only high quality products with a maximum shelf-life, whilst minimising recalls!

Our Product Range: • ATP Detection Systems – Superior science for advanced hygiene control programs – Charm

• Texture Analysis - Food profiling, physical packaging testing – Stable Micro Systems • Allergens – Wide range of ELISA and rapid tests for foods and environmental swabs • Metal Detectable Products – Detectable safety products Detectamet We work closely to support our clients, delivering solutions, ongoing relevant training and instruction, provision of rapid essential technical support, loan instruments, educational seminars, focus groups, and regular instrument demonstrations.

Please Contact: Jo Kelly-Tuckey, General Manager, for any inquiries. www.fts.co.nz

• Pasteurisation Confirmation – Milk (cow, goat, sheep), soft cheeses – Charm • Product sterility testing – EPIC. UHT, ESL (milk, cream, soft dairy) and personal – Charm • Rapid Antibiotic Residue Testing - Raw milk and other food matrices – Charm • Enzymatic Test kits (substrates/enzymes) - Wine, beverage, food, biofuel – Megazyme • Instruments - Automation – Rapid wine component analysis Awareness Technology Inc.

Leaders in

Petfood Testing

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December 2019/January 2020

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OVERVIEW

John Morris Group John Morris Group specialises in the supply, installation and servicing of scientific testing and analysis equipment.

Our food and beverage solutions monitor food quality and composition using accredited methods.

We can provide solutions for: • fast automated solvent extraction of pesticides • acid digestion measurement for extracting trace metal contaminants • compositional analysis to measure fat/protein/water/ash more accurately than NIR/FT-NIR systems, while still being simple, safe and rapid approaches • sample preparation for automated SPE, dioxin, pesticide, mycotoxin analysis • measuring physical properties such as brittleness, hardness, firmness, stickiness of food products to meet the textural characteristics desired by consumers • measuring powder flowability through hoppers to ensure crisps are evenly seasoned • flow measurements of fluids, semi-solids, and even solids for processability, formulation changes, and ageing phenomena • particle characterisation to prepare stable colloidal dispersions, measure particle size and molecular weight distribution

Metrohm Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) provides experience and knowledge to the food and beverage industry, earned through years of supporting customers with a complete line of instrumentation.

Metrohm’s solutions comprise methods and instrumentation for modern titration, ion chromatography, pH and conductivity measurement, NIR and Raman spectroscopy, reagents, material testing, research instruments and more.

Analytical chemistry makes sure that consumers obtain safe and sanitary food in compliance with regulatory requirements. From the process point of view, analytical chemistry helps the manufacturer to improve yields and optimise quality by offering robust, efficient, and sensitive instrumentation. We offer you not just the most advanced equipment, but rather complete solutions for the particular tasks at hand. Represented in all major cities, the company aims to exceed your expectations when it comes to instrument quality, technical advice and strong after sales support. We also provide BioSystems and Retsch exclusively in New Zealand.

• colour measurement for food and beverages, sugar solutions, honey, beer and more

BioSystems Food Safety reagents detect high interest parameters in the food and feed industries related to labelling, toxins, additives, sugars and many others. BioSystems reagents are based on chemical complexes, enzymes or antibodies that bind the analyte with high affinity, offering sensitivity and accuracy at affordable costs. The Enology system, consisting of automatic analysers and a complete line of dedicated reagents, provides optimal control throughout the winemaking process.

• measuring salts and sugars, moisture in honey, a perfectly brewed coffee and when cooling oil needs replacing.

Retsch is the leading solution provider for neutral-to-analysis sample preparation and characterisation of solids. Based on a century of experience, Retsch develops size reduction and sieving equipment, which is characterised by excellent performance, operating convenience, safety and a long lifetime.

If you need to dry, grind, mill, cut, weigh, count, pump, ferment or incubate it, come speak to John Morris Group.

To learn more, visit www.metrohm.co.nz

If it’s an instrument for in-line, at-line, or for on the farm, search up it on the John Morris website.

Our products and knowledgeable staff help companies maximise profitability and product quality by optimising their process control.

Your contact is Kieran Pickles – Sales and Marketing Manager www.johnmorrisgroup.com

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Metrohm ANZ

Food New Zealand

MITech mitech.nz 100% - Leak detection and seal integrity testing of food packages is an unbeatable argument. MITech offer market leading solutions from WITT Test whether your package is leak-tight.

With WITT systems for packaging leak detection, quality assurance and its The Witt Leak Master Pro documentation become complete. The quality of the goods which reach the consumer is thus ensured and verifiable. Unnecessary returns, loss of reputation, legal consequences and, in the worst case, the loss of the customer,

OVERVIEW OVERVIEW

can be avoided easily and reliably by leak-testing of packages.

Packages should be absolutely leak tight. However, even with the utmost care in the process, faulty packaged products cannot be completely avoided. Defects in the sealing process or in the material can easily lead to leaks, sometimes microscopically small. Over many years, therefore, package leak detection or seal integrity testing of packaging has established itself as an integral part of quality assurance for food packaging and other sensitive packaged products.

Sanitation Verification.

Designed for You.

With its LEAK-MASTER® range, WITT offers definitive solutions for leak detection and seal integrity testing of packages. These are certified quality systems for all types of packages - with modified atmosphere (MAP) or vacuum. To optimise your quality assurance, you have the choice between package leak detection equipment for random or inline tests - on a CO2 detection basis or as a bubble tester using a water bath Talk to the technical sales experts at MITech.

Mettler Toledo – x-ray inspection Food manufacturers can identify very small contaminants in a quicker and more reliable manner with the X34 x-ray system from the product inspection division of Mettler-Toledo.

The X34 x-ray inspection system provides detection of metal, glass, high-density plastic, mineral stone and calcified bone fragments across a wide range of packaged products, eliminating costly product recalls and protecting brand reputations. The system also comes with advanced software that enables automated product setup, dramatically decreasing the chance of human error and greatly reducing the number of false rejects. This makes for more efficient and profitable operations, while delivering excellent return on investment.

It also reduces operator training, increases production uptime and ensures product safety.

The X34 is a single lane x-ray system designed for the inspection of a wide range of small and medium-sized packaged products. It features a 100W ‘Optimum Power’ generator, which automatically maximizes detection sensitivity, and an advanced 0.4mm detector for the accurate detection of very small contaminants. These technologies ensure that power and contrast levels are optimized for every product and delivering power savings to the end user.

The X34’s optimized detection and automated set-up complements Mettler-Toledo’s existing vertical x-ray range. Other systems include the compact, easy-to-use X33 for effective contamination detection with a low Total Cost of Ownership, and the X36, highly configurable, advanced integrity inspection solution for applications with multiple lanes.

For more information about the X34, visit http://www.mt.com/ xray-packagedproducts

Ngaio Diagnostics Ngaio Diagnostics is a well-established New Zealand company with a wide range of solutions for the food industry in the fields of hygiene and allergy testing. Ngaio represents some of the world’s leading brands in these fields. Hygiena’s latest ATP monitoring system, the Ensure Touch, is proving extremely popular in New Zealand with many systems placed. It features a touch screen for easy use, Wi-Fi connectivity and cloud based result storage enabling results to be viewed from any location.

The Ensure Touch meter can also be used with Hygiena’s MicroSnap range for quantitation of bacterial counts in food and environmental samples. This unique system has tests available for TVC, E.coli, Coliform and Enterobacteriaceae, enabling same day quantitative bacterial counts.

Hygiena also supplies ProClean swabs for detection of protein residues on environmental surfaces as well as Insite Listeria and Insite Salmonella environmental tests. The new Insite L. mono Glo test detects both Listeria species and Listeria monocytogenes within 24 – 48 hours. No special equipment is required.

There is a wide range of gluten tests available for both food and environmental samples, some suitable for lab use and some suitable for food production facilities without laboratories.

Mettler-Toledo’s X34 provides improved detection sensitivity for error-free product inspection

Solus Scientific manufactures a range of Elisa kits for detection of Listeria, Salmonella and E.coli in both food and environmental samples. These kits are used globally in medium to high volume labs.

The recently released Solus One range offers next-day results for both Salmonella and Listeria in a cost effective way. All Solus kits are able to be automated to reduce labour costs and increase through put.

For further information on these products please contact Stef Silvester, Technical sales Consultant at Ngaio, www.ngaio.co.nz December 2019/January 2020

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OVERVIEW

The Buchi NIRFlex Fiber Optics Solids Analyser in operation

Onelab

• Production Process Control via NIR-online

Effective measures against food fraud, efficient and healthy food processing and the development of functional food and nutraceuticals are just few of many challenges in modern food and beverage production and analysis. BUCHI, via Onelab in New Zealand, offers classical reference methods and near infrared spectroscopy for food analysis, but also visualisation of production processes using spray drying and encapsulation. Some of the range we offer:

• Food additives/contaminants/residues

• Proximate analysis • Nitrogen/Protein determination • Fat extraction

Thermo Fisher Scientific The science behind food safety and consumer confidence. The FUTURE starts here.

Thermo Fisher Scientific is a global leader in science with a strong commitment to the food industry, with a farm to fork outlook and a desire to drive productivity and safety in this diverse market.

Thermo Fisher Scientific is unrivalled in its breadth of offering, from self-manufactured products to leading third-party brands to help you ensure your product is safe. When you look beyond the extensive products portfolio, you will discover a wealth of technical support, product specialists, application notes, engineers, videos and much more to assist you in meeting your food testing goals.

No matter where you are on your testing journey Thermo Fisher Scientific can assist with: • Microbiology: Equipment and reagents for traditional culture and microbial identification, petrifilm and chromogenic media for accelerated identification. Validated real time PCR (rtPCR) solutions for rapid screening and identification of biological pathogens.

• Environmental: Rapid screening technology for surface cleanliness and sterility testing. ELISA’s and analytical applications to detect allergens. Sampling technologies including air samplers and settle plates. Traditional, inline and rapid solutions for water quality and sterility testing.

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Food New Zealand

• Drying (food and beverage) - including newly released Freeze Dryers Additionally, Onelab offers a complete range of laboratory and process optimisation equipment and consumables from a wide range of international manufacturers including METTLER TOLEDO, Milestone, Integra, Interscience, Omni International, SSI Bio, Technoplas, Labconco, Liebherr, AMS Alliance and many others. Contact us at Onelab or via our website www.onelab.co.nz Onelab, where Results matter.

• Physical Characterisation: Entry level through to advanced equipment to accurately measure viscosity, colour, water activity, acidity, density, turbidity, weight and shelf life.

• Chemical Contamination: Traditional and advanced analytical mass spectrometry (MS) for the analysis of residues and contaminants. Inorganic mass spectrometry (ICP-MS and IRMS) for the analysis of trace elements.

• Physical Contamination: X-ray and metal detection equipment.

• Authenticity and Origin: Inorganic mass spectrometry (ICP-MS and IRMS) for the analysis of isotopic ratios for geographical fingerprinting. Molecular diagnostics for rapid microbial detection and GMO testing with PCR. Next generation sequencing (NGS) to determine the biological species.

• Sample Management: Sample collectors, data management and long-term storage of retention samples.

• Service and Support: Preventative maintenance and servicing for equipment and instruments, training, product support, validation reports and trouble shooting.

• Labelling: Traditional analytical techniques to determine, fat, saturated fats, protein, ash, moisture, carbohydrates, sugar, and sodium composition. Advanced and automated equipment and reagents including molecular spectroscopy, discrete analysers for determination of nutritional composition.

Research

Spotting the differences between milks from different animal species Authors: Jessica Gathercole¹, Hanh Nguyen², Xing Li²,³, Michael Agnews², and Li Day² AgResearch, Lincoln, Christchurch 7674, New Zealand. 2. AgResearch, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand. 3. School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150090, China

1.

Introduction Milk and dairy products are an important source of nutrition. Besides cow milk, which contributes the most volume produced globally and in New Zealand, milks from other animal species such as goats and sheep attract premiums due to their superior nutritional attributes and health benefits (e.g. increased digestibility and low allergenicity) [1, 2]. Goat and sheep milk and their derived dairy products command a higher price than cow milk-based products. There have been cases wherein cheaper cow milk was added into a more expensive milk/ product without a proper declaration, known as “adulteration” [3].

Reliable methods are therefore required to verify milk origin to ensure the authenticity of the high-value dairy products to protect the rights of consumers and the value of New Zealand exports of these high-value products.

Milk from different species contains different proportions and concentration of caseins and whey proteins [4]. Besides the differences in protein concentrations, milk proteins from different species are known to have minor differences in their primary structures [5]. These are caused through amino acid substitutions in various parts of the protein, which may mean that milk proteins from different species could contain unique peptides and protein variants, leading to specific chromatogram protein profiles and molecular masses, that could be used to identify species adulteration of milk products.

To date, several analytical methods have been used for milk species differentiation and quantification including isoelectric focusing, immunological, electrophoretic and DNA-based techniques [3].

However, these methods are either laborious or unable to identify milk species adulteration in dairy products, partly due to the modifications of milk components obtained during processing of dairy products.

In this study, both reversed phase-high pressure liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) and nano-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (nLC-MS) based methods were used to investigate milk protein chromatogram profiles and unique peptides, respectively.

RP-HPLC provides the chromatogram protein profile fingerprints of milk from different species in a relatively short time and with simple sample preparation, while the analysis of peptides with nLC-MS allows identification of specific unique peptides with or without modifications.

The quantification of the levels of cow milk added in a milk mixture with the intensity of the unique peptides was also determined. The methods established and the results obtained in this study provide useful tools for investigating the differences in milk proteins from different species.

Methods Cow, goat and sheep milk samples were collected from local farms in New Zealand. Milk chromatogram protein profiles were obtained using RP-HPLC with a C8 column and UV detection. Unique peptides between milk proteins from the three different species were determined in silico and experimentally for sheep and cow milk using nLC-MS with a C18 nano column. Two peptides from β-lactoglobulin (β-Lg) were found to be suitable markers for cow and sheep milk.

Mixtures of milk containing 0, 1, 5, 10, 30 and 50% cow milk in sheep milk were used for the determination of the correlation between the proportions of cow milk in milk mixtures with the intensity of the unique peptides. Milk samples were prepared for nLC-MS analysis by separating into whey and casein; urea extraction of the proteins; methanol-chloroform purification; followed by reduction, alkylation and digestion with trypsin. Samples were identified using Mascot and the Swissprot Bos Taurus and Ovis aries databases. The correlation between cow milk concentration in mixtures of cow-sheep milk and the intensity of unique peptides was established by plotting the sum of the intensity of all unique peptides against the percentage of cow milk.

Research Findings Cow, goat and sheep milks generate distinctive RP-HPLC chromatogram protein profiles Milks from cow, goat and sheep generated RP-HPLC chromatogram protein profiles with distinctive features (Figure 1). As expected, cow milk exhibits the major protein peaks of α, β and κ-caseins (α, β, κ-CN) and whey proteins (α-lactalbumin (α-La) and β-Lg) (Figure 1A). The RP-HPLC profiles obtained from the goat and sheep milks are distinctively different from that of cow milk, in terms of peak numbers December 2019/January 2020

23

Research

Figure 1.

RP-HPLC chromatograms showing protein profiles of cow (A), goat (B) and sheep (C) milk.

Ten technical replicates (n=10) were performed for each milk type and typical chromatograms are presented

and occurrence/shape (Figure 1B-C). Nine major peaks, which correspond to caseins and whey proteins, were identified for goat and sheep milk. β-CN in cow milk appeared as two connecting peaks (Figure 1A), corresponding to the two major variants, β-CN A1 and A2. Only one corresponding β-CN peak (peak 8) was observed in goat or sheep milk (Figure 1 B -C). Our previous study showed that only one β-CN variant was found in sheep milk, which has the amino acid proline at the position 67 (P67), homologous to β-CN A2 in cow milk [6]. Peaks 5 and 6 in goat milk (Figure 1 B), which likely correspond to αs1CN, were considerably lower in intensity than in cow and sheep milk, consistent with the lower αs1-CN concentration reported for goat milk [7].

Three protein peaks, namely α-La, β-Lg A and β-Lg B, were found in the whey protein regions

Figure 2. Protein alignment between cow, goat and sheep β-Lg (without signal peptide).

Regions containing unique peptides are highlighted in green (cow), blue (sheep) and purple (goat) (retention time 17 min onwards) of cow milk, but only one main peak (peak 9) was identified in this region in the protein profiles of goat and sheep milk. In the region between αs1-CN and β-CN, goat milk featured one additional peak (peak 7) (Figure 1B) while sheep milk featured two small additional peaks (peaks 6 and 7) not found in cow milk (Figure 1C). They could be α-La [8, 9] or other minor whey proteins. Due to the lack of standards of individual proteins from goat and sheep, the protein identities will need to be further confirmed using mass spectrometry analysis of individual peaks. The above findings demonstrate that distinctive protein profiles from cow, goat and sheep milk can be generated using RP-HPLC, which can be used to identify milks from these species.

Cow and sheep milk proteins contain unique peptides as predicted in silico and confirmed using nLC-MS

Figure 3. Typical mass spectra showing the unique peptides between cow and sheep milk. (A) TPEVDNEALEK125-135 (sheep)/TPEVDDEALEK125-135 (cow) and (B) LAFNPTQLEGQCHV149-162 (sheep)/LSFNPTQLEEQCHI149-162 (cow). Green circles indicate unique amino acid substitutions 24

Food New Zealand

Research

One approach to detect and quantify species adulteration in milk is to measure the abundance of molecules unique to that specie. Because of the primary sequence differences in cow, goat and sheep milk proteins, unique peptides can be found to be associated only to the milk of one origin after tryptic digestion (a step used in preparing samples for nLC-MS). This can be determined initially in silico by aligning the same protein from sheep, goat and cow (Figure 2). Two peptides in bovine β-Lg are expected to differ from goat and sheep milk: TPEVDDEALEK125-135 (amino acids (AA) 125-135 of the 162 AA-long protein) and LSFNPTQLEEQCHI149-162 (amino acids unique to bovine β-Lg are shown in bold and underlined).

To confirm that these peptides can be experimentally observed, cow and sheep milk samples were analysed by nLC-MS. Figure 3 shows the mass spectra between the sheep and cow peptides for both unique peptides examined. The amino acid substitutions were found in different sized peptides due to non-specific cleavage and peptide modifications.

The correlation between the intensity of the unique cow peptides and the level of milk adulteration was next investigated using nLC-MS for cow-sheep milk mixtures with concentrations of cow milk in sheep milk ranging from 0 to 50%. The results are presented in Figure 4.

The best correlation was obtained with the peptide LSFNPTQLEEQCHI149-162 with a R2 value of 0.974.

This peptide, however, was not observed consistently in the sheep-cow milk mixtures containing 1% cow milk, indicating the method may not be suitable if cow milk is present at less than 1% in sheep milk, which is most likely to be a case of contamination rather than deliberate adulteration. As the corresponding peptide in sheep and goat milk is identical, this peptide could also be used as a suitable marker to detect adulteration of cow milk in either sheep or goat milk. The other unique bovine peptide examined was TPEVDDEALEK125-135. The abundance of this peptide showed good correlation (R2= 0.9997) to cow milk concentration in mixtures ranging from 1% up to 30% cow milk in sheep milk.

Figure 4. Correlation between total intensity of unique peptide and the concentration of cow milk in the sheepcow milk mixtures. Each data point is the average of duplicates. Error bars indicate ± standard error>

Conclusions

3. Poonia, A., et al., Detection of adulteration in milk: A review.

International Journal of Dairy Technology, 2017. 70(1): p. 23-42.

Milk proteins from different species (cow, goat and sheep) generated distinct RP-HPLC protein profiles and contained peptides unique to either cow milk or sheep and goat milk that can be detected by nLCMS. Two peptides were identified from β-Lg that can be used to confirm cow (TPEVDDEALEK125-135 and LSFNPTQLEEQCHI149-162) or sheep milk (TPEVDNEALEK125-135 and LAFNPTQLEGQCHV149-162).

The developed RP-HPLC method could be used as a rapid scanning tool to profile protein fingerprints of milk from different species for milk differentiation and identification. The nLC-MS method could be used to detect adulteration and quantify the level of adulteration down to a limit of 1%.

4. Park, Y.W., et al., Physico-chemical characteristics of goat and sheep milk. Small Ruminant Research, 2007. 68(1-2): p. 88-113.

References

8. Madsen, D.A., Fractionation and purification of goat milk proteins.

Project Report, 2014, Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Aalborg University, Denmark. p. 40.

1. Hodgkinson, A.J., et al., Allergic responses induced by goat milk α S1-casein in a murine model of gastrointestinal atopy. Journal of Dairy Science, 2012. 95(1): p. 83-90.

2. Balthazar, C.F., et al., Sheep milk: Physicochemical characteristics and relevance for functional food development. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 2017. 16(2): p. 247-262.

5. The Uniprot Databse. The Uniprot database [cited 20 Jan 2019]; Available from: http://www.uniprot.org.

6. Maes, E., S. Clerens, and L. Day, Sheep milk β-casein resembles A2, in Food New Zealand. 2019, New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology Inc: Auckland, New Zealand. p. 26-28.

7. Morgan, F., et al., Characteristics of goat milk collected from small and medium enterprises in Greece, Portugal and France. Small Ruminant Research, 2003. 47(1): p. 39-49.

9. Trujillo, A.-J., I. Casals, and B. Guamis, Analysis of major ovine milk proteins by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography and flow injection analysis with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Journal of Chromatography A, 2000. 870(1): p. 371-380.

December 2019/January 2020

25

FIET

FIET Project: Creamed Pomace – a smooth-textured dietary fibre product from apple pomace Authors, Richard Archer, Marzieh Eblaghi, Florencia M. Yedro, Erin O’Donoghue, Lee Huffman and John Bronlund We first reported on the Pomace Creaming FIET project in the June/July 2018 issue. Here is an update – we are in the commercialisation phase now.

Introduction “Eat more fibre” remains a powerful message. It’s not surprising, since for most of us, fibre can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and gastrointestinal diseases [1].

And “give me a good fibre ingredient” also seems to be a powerful message within the industry. Food manufacturers want fibre lighting up the label, but they also want an ingredient to be affordable and to perform. A baker may want water-holding capacity, a juice-maker may want a stable dispersion. Most want a smooth texture without the sharp edges that apple tissue can carry.

We started in FIET, four years ago, to look for a simple, robust process to take pomace such as from apple through to a stable food ingredient for sale. Early discussions with potential end users steered us toward a smooth, almost fat-mimetic texture and toward water-holding capacity in baked goods. And of course we wanted to deliver fibre both soluble and insoluble. New Zealand’s 10,000 – 15,000 MT of apple pomace made it the prime target to start with.

Scope of research Under the FIET programme, our research team from Massey University and Plant & Food Research has developed a very effective process and resulting product with a creamy texture and neutral flavour. It comes in powder form and is nicely hot-water soluble. We have run the process successfully at pilot scale with the heat treatment in batch mode and now are ready to run the process continuously.

We have done one trial to prove that we can make a light fawn coloured product (not dark brown which we can also achieve by paying little heed to enzymatic browning). And we did one trial which proved the powdered product to be nice and dispersible in hot water.

Part of the work was to investigate how much wet milling the product needs in order to be smooth on the mouth and what the impact of pectin chain length is. This showed, as we expected, that finer particles (within reason, because round, unbroken whole cells are good) and longer pectin chains, give a smoother result – or so say the 84 volunteer taste panellists.

Process The process is relatively simple, provided you know how. We need to catch the pomace just as soon as it is generated and strip out stalks, pips and labels. We mill it just enough to make it pumpable and then give it an in-line heat treatment. By tweaking temperature and time, we have a flexible and versatile process, able to be tuned to various raw materials and end products.

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Food New Zealand

The research team, l-r, Richard Archer, John Bronlund, Florencia Yedro, Marzieh Eblaghi, Erin O’Donoghue and Lee Huffman The hydrothermal treatment has several jobs: killing microorganisms, deactivating enzymes, solubilising pectins, softening the cell wall and “ungluing” cells from each other. But too much heat for too long can have undesirable effects on the appearance, flavour, colour, and nutritional value. The sweet spot is not large and depends on the product desired.

After heat treatment we can concentrate the pomace a little by flash evaporation and then dry it to a powder.

We proved all this process - one step at a time – in the lab. That gave us the kinetics of each of the desirable and undesirable reactions. We then scaled it up about 100 fold and proved to ourselves at pilot scale that the kinetics are right and that each step works. We think we know the process well enough for it to be largely a matter of engineering from now on.

Commercialisation The engineering and technical company, Aurecon and particularly Aurecon’s Brent Dingle, are taking on the process to provide full-scale plants to juicing companies with a pomace problem and potential ingredient markets. Brent presented the process to the assembled food engineers of the world at ICEF13 Melbourne in September. But before supplying to the world, we have several New Zealand juicing companies (not all New Zealand owned I must admit) keen to see a plant built and to understand its economics.

The next step is to feed the continuous pilot plant enough pomace to generate enough powdered product for applications work. One key application is to use the creamed pomace as a drying aid and encapsulant for spray drying juice or honey - this is being developed

FIET

One option: pilot concentrating creamed pomace to a paste ... ... and another option: pilot drying creamed pomace for milling to a powder

under FIET Project 8. The buying public is getting nervous about â&#x20AC;&#x153;maltodextrinâ&#x20AC;? (which surely must be a synthetic and nasty additive) as a drying aid for sticky materials. We are backing creamed pomace as a natural, label-friendly alternative.

Future perspective The process is largely optimised, at least at small scale. We need now to generate some engineering data to support design and building of the first units. And we need to move on to applications work to support the first purchaser of a plant.

References 1. Anderson, J.W., P. Baird, RH Jr Davis, S. Ferreri, M. Knudtson, A. Koraym, V. Waters, C. L. Williams. 2009. Health benefits of dietary fiber.

Nutrition Reviews. 67(4), 188-205.

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).

December 2019/January 2020

27

OILS & FATS

Oils and fats news Laurence Eyres, FNZIFST A regular round-up of news and opinion from the Oils and Fats Group of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry. and Rice Bran Oil—Chemistry, Processing and Utilization (ed. Cheong, L.-Z. and Xu, X.), Elsevier, 2019. The contributors, who are all experts in their fields and include two authors of the review article "have been diligent in seeking out the latest information," according to Geoff Webster of Foodinc Food Industry Consultants in Auckland, New Zealand, who noted that "it is great to see the number of references to work published in 2017 and 2018," and that "the wide geographical spread of the contributors adds to the strength of this book." You can read his review of the book at https://www.aocs.org/store/shop-aocs/ shop-aocs?productId=232365172.

WCOF 2020 Sydney February 8-12 Plans are now finalised for this upcoming conference that promises to be excellent in terms of up-to-date research. It is not too late to get in and register.

The specialist seminars on infant formulae, frying and olive oil are particularly relevant to today’s workers in these fields.

One can view the whole programme and register on the website below.

A sponsor and exhibition partner has been quoted to say “This is one of the best programmes and list of speakers I have seen in a while..." – Dagmar, Bruker Optik Gmbh” Full registration via the website entitles delegates to: • Admission to all Congress sessions 9 - 12 February 2020 • Morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea daily • Delegate materials • A ticket to the Opening Ceremony held on Sunday 9 February 2020 • A ticket to the Congress Gala Dinner held on Tuesday 11 February 2020 A wide range of topics will be addressed including oil production, processing and nutrition, olive oil and marine oils as well as presentations on related products including animal nutrition and surfactants. It is expected that over 300 delegates will attend ensuring a diverse range of interests.

The ISF Lectureship Series is a biennial event held in conjunction with a major global oils and fats research meeting. This is only the second time Australia has been invited to host these lectures, and as always will include a plenary lecture by the winner of the 2020 Kauffman Award who is Dr Richard Cantrill of AOCS. The 2020 Congress will be held at the brand-new International Convention Centre in Sydney and promises to be an outstanding event with some outstanding speakers and a high-quality social and accompanying person’s program to match. http://wcofsydney2020.com/program

Rice Bran Oil There is a review article on rice bran oil in China in the latest edition of Inform magazine. You can find the latest information in Rice Bran 28

Food New Zealand

Also in the last issue of Food New Zealand Geoff has a wealth of knowledge on rice bran oil and also on the rice bran stearine which can be of use as a hardstock in spreads. He is now an active member of FoodInc. Inform Magazine, October 2019,12-16

Omega-3 in consumer beverages Coca-Cola will give a January launch to Gomega, a nutritional beverage that contains 32mg of DHA omega-3s, which is found in tuna and other fish. The so-called "superfusion" drink will be available in the US in Berry Acai, Strawberry Guava and Mango Passionfruit variants. It also contains vitamin C and less than 2g of sugar.

The beverage will be the first from Coca-Cola to contain omega 3 and one of only a few on the market. OmegaWater claimed to be the first omega 3 beverage when it was launched in the early part of this decade. More recently, health and wellness companies have released nutritional drinks containing the fatty acid, including Swedish company Veg of Lund and its range of My Foodie organic beverages.

BMC Genomics. 2018; 19: 808.

Health and wellness companies have released nutritional drinks containing Omega-3, including Swedish company Veg of Lund and its range of My Foodie organic beverages

OILS & FATS Phthalates GOED has learned that the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) in China plans to implement a new regulation designed to reduce dietary exposure to phthalate esters. According to the Announcement, limits for three phthalates in fats and oils are being proposed, including: DEHP (1.5 mg/kg), DINP (9 mg/kg) and DBP (0.3 mg/kg). The fats and oils affected include edible oil products and animal fats, so it is thought that fish oil will be subject to the new limits.

GOED has summarised information obtained from members on the levels of dioxins and PCBs, as well as of the process contaminants 3-MCPD and glycidyl-esters, in EPA/DHA omega-3 oils (details were presented at the recent member meeting at SupplySide West). GOED received the original data from 18 members; anonymous data can be viewed for dioxins and PCBs and MCPD. https://goedomega3.com/

Gut health, saturated fat and cardiovascular disease Studies indicate that dietary fat quantity and quality influence the gut microbiota composition which may as a consequence impact metabolic health. This systematic review aims to summarise the results of available studies in humans on dietary fat intake (quantity and quality), the intestinal microbiota composition and related cardiometabolic health outcomes.

Individuals who consume a typical Mediterranean diet are less prone to anomalies in gastrointestinal microbiota, a growing body of evidence suggests.

Now, researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), in

the United Kingdom, are working to add to this collective knowledge.

Haleh Moravej, a senior lecturer in nutritional science at MMU, and a team of students at the university have launched the MetMUnch initiative in order to do so.

“Scientists have known for a long time that there is a connection between our gut and brain via nerves, but now we have gut bacteria entering the arena,” Moravej told Olive Oil Times.

“They communicate with the brain in three different ways,” she added, “They send signals up the vagus nerve directly to the brain, influence immune cells in the gut that produce chemicals that travel in the blood, and some can get through the blood-brain barrier to the brain.”

Clinical Nutrition Volume 38, Issue 6, December 2019, Pages 2504-2520

USFDA looks at Olive Oil Standards At last one of the biggest global markets for Extra Virgin olive oil is re-examining regulated standards. It is widely accepted that the IOC standards are outdated and have not kept up with increasing consumer awareness of quality and measures to eliminate fraudulent behaviour.

AOOPA, which represent California, Florida, Georgia and Texas olive growers, and Deoleo are asking the FDA to create standards of identity across the various grades of olive oil. The petition also includes other tests to determine freshness and shelf life, and outlines “modern advancements in analytical testing methodologies.”

The Australians, after a great deal of detailed and pragmatic research, came up with their standard which has now been in place for several years. The large supermarket chains have embraced the standard and overall quality in Australia is now much improved over previous years.

Tetra Pak® Homogenizers High performance homogenization

Visit our website to find out more www.tetrapak.com

December 2019/January 2020

29

MIA

Meat Industry Association News Ali Spencer Once the stuff of science-fiction, the future is coming to a meat industry workplace near you in the not-toodistant future. The Meat Industry Association (MIA)’s Kaylene Larking spent time last month strapped into an Exoskeleton, new wearable technology being trialled to reduce injuries in meat processing.

It’s all part of Larking’s day job as research partnerships manager for the trade organisation which she has run Kaylene Larking for MIA Innovation Ltd since 2015. She helps lead the MIA’s continual quest for new science and technology to invest in to improve products, food safety and the health and safety of the sector and the jobs of its people.

“It’s really neat to see some brand-new emerging technology, see the potential of it from my desk and watch it come to life when showing it to people,” says Larking.

A roadshow was organised in November for meat industry people to learn more and try on the new technology. This was led by MIA, but primarily funded by WorkSafe, with which the trade association signed a partnership agreement in 2018.

The Exoskeleton, from US company SuitX, is designed to provide strength and support for mechanical and repetitive tasks, reducing injuries and increasing productivity. It has potential for being especially useful during periods of repetitive carton lifting and stacking at height in the meat processing works.

Two beta-prototype models of the spring-loaded non-mechanical device were shown: one worn like a backpack to assist shoulder movements; the other a version for the back that is worn like a harness. Both fit a wide range of sizes and can be used independently or together as the job requires. There are no cables to have to contend with, it does not require batteries, can be donned and doffed easily and the worker will be able to move naturally, but with extra strength and safety.

The robotic exoskeleton originated in the US medical world following its invention by a researcher looking for a way to help his paraplegic friend to move again. After expanding into use by the military, it is now entering industrial processing where it is finding a niche. Studies have shown the units reduce muscle activity by 45% during tasks.

Along with AsureQuality, the MIA has been following the technology for some time and had been liaising with Australia’s Meat & Livestock Association (MLA) on a number of industry-good projects, where it makes sense for them to work together, Larking relates.

“MLA had done a lot of the groundwork, establishing that SuitX was the most reliable company to work with,” she says.

After its members saw the technology at the IFFA meat processing trade show in Germany last year, MIA invited the Australian agent, Biosymm, to New Zealand. It was also helpful that Biosymm are physiotherapists with a focus on injury prevention in the workplace, so they understand the stresses bodies are under during strenuous activity and see SuitX as a valuable tool to reduce the risk of injury.

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Food New Zealand

Larking trying out the shoulder unit. It was: “Quite remarkable,” she says

Enthusiastic response Larking was thrilled at the interested and enthusiastic turnout to the seminars, which saw about 110 representatives from MIA’s member companies and other invited guests attending the six sessions, held from Hamilton through to Invercargill.

“The awesome thing was that, for anyone who wasn’t quite sure of the technology, as soon as they tried it on they could see what the benefits were going to be.”

For many, it was “a lightbox moment,” she says. They could see the Exoskeleton is a handy tool allowing the unit to take the strain of lifting things.

“It’s designed to make you use your muscles properly. You can’t lift more weight but it gives you support and assistance for the dangerous aspects of the job.”

More work is required to customise the Exoskeleton for use in a meat processing environment, especially the hygiene areas, and also to determine how it might work with other protective gear used by workers.

“It’s not perfect yet, because it’s still in development, but Biosymm will provide a whole heap of support to help us customise the suits to our requirements,” says Larking. “Where a company might have been thinking you need a robot to do a job, we can now power people up to help them so they don’t get injured. That’s wonderful.”

While v3 of the Exoskeleton can be bought directly off the shelf now for

MIA

Jim Curran of Alliance Group’s Lorneville Plant near Invercargill trying out the slimline back unit at one of the roadshows between $7,000-9,000 for use in coolstores and non-hygiene areas, she is hoping to see the final New Zealand customised version available for use in processing plants in about 12-18 months.

Making science readily available for people Larking’s delight at the response – a career highlight for her – highlights her passion for translating science from a meaningless jumble of jargon to the layperson into practical applications.

“One thing I really like about my job is that I get the chance to look at the science and make it useful and readily available for people,” she says, admitting she’s always “been a bit of a science nerd.”

Research Consortium run by Beef + Lamb New Zealand, later managing the Johne’s Research Consortium, which finished its work around three or four years ago. She still manages the Johne’s Advisory Group.

As manager for MIA Innovation Ltd – the industry’s 50:50-funded research partnership with Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment – Larking is responsible for leading and focusing 90% of the meat industry’s science research. She works closely with MIA Innovation manager Richard McColl and the Food Safety Science Research Centre.

Hailing from Whakatane, the former co-dux of Whakatane High School graduated with a BSc honours degree in chemistry from Victoria University of Wellington in the early 1980s.

Larking is a big fan of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, machine-learning, visioning and non-invasive testing systems to help with that.

DSIR snapped up the new graduate and her expertise grew as a scale up chemist in its industrial processing division, where she worked on moving chemistry from the laboratory bench into commercial scale drug production. She spent a lot of time in a full air-supplied body-suit there, because of the toxicity of the substances with which she was working.

“When we talk about wanting to make the meat industry better, a lot of the things that we’re aiming at – that our consumers expect of us – need these new technologies to bring them to fruition,” she says.

“With most of our processing done in rural communities, it’s an opportunity to make manual labour jobs into high-end jobs to which people want to attain. It’s got to improve our businesses,” she says.

Another career highlight came during her 20 years at DSIR/Industrial Research Limited from working on the development of a drug that is used today in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. At a particularly difficult stage of the early work, working with stainless steel reactors and 100 litre rotary evaporators – not the usual two litre versions used in normal laboratory work – she remembers a colleague remarking that if their work saved one person, getting through that day would be worth it. Now in commercial production, that product is extending the lifetimes of patients being treated for cancer.

Another big project she’s involved in developing is work by the MIA looking ahead at what a meat plant will look like in 20-25 years. Still in the early design stage, the project will help assess which of these emerging technologies, some of which are at the high-risk end of science, are going to be relevant for the sector.

When DSIR/IRL closed, she segued into managing the Meat Biologics

“But I would like to think that we’ll be using some of them – such as artificial intelligence and visioning systems, combined with genetics and other pre-slaughter data about the animals – wisely in our meat plants within the next 10-15 years, to make improved products and create better and safer jobs for our workforce.”

December 2019/January 2020

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MIA

Minister Damien O’Connor

New Zealand Roundtable for Sustainable Beef launched The New Zealand Roundtable was officially launched by Minister for Agriculture and Trade and Export Growth, Damien O’Connor, who was pleased to see the collaboration evident across the meat sector. “I believe it is an important factor in growing confidence from our global consumers who are increasingly discerning about their food choices,” he said. “With ambitions of being the world’s best food producers, we need to encourage more collaboration and innovation.”

The New Zealand beef sector has joined a prestigious global group aiming to produce the world’s most sustainable beef.

• The website includes promotional material and resources i.e. posters, social media, email signatures, leaflets, booklets and recipes via Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s recipes.co.nz.

• All Beef + Lamb NZ promotional material on our websites and social media directed people back to the iron week website.

• The resources section on ironweek.co.nz was updated to include a new fact sheet titled Hepcidin: The Puppet Master of iron absorption. This sat alongside existing brochures, posters and recipes.

The New Zealand Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (NZRSB) is part of the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef was launched at an event in Christchurch in mid-November. It has committed to ensuring the beef sector is economically viable, socially responsible and environmentally sound. Founding participants include: ANZCO, Beef + Lamb NZ Ltd (B+LNZ), Greenlea Premier Meats, Fonterra, McDonald’s, Silver Fern Farms, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and farmer food producers. The MIA is acting as Secretariat.

• The available social media image resources were used on Facebook and Instagram.

The NZRSB will work with other countries on a range of programmes and initiatives to encourage and promote sustainable beef production methods. Its launch shows the red meat sector’s commitment to improving the sustainability of beef production by prioritising the planet, people and animals, says Tony Egan, managing director of Greenlea Premier Meats and member of the group which established the roundtable.

• 89% new visitors; 11% returning

“The collaborative nature of the New Zealand Roundtable for Sustainable Beef is central to pulling activity together on behalf of the industry, listening better to our community voices and their views on our beef production and sharing knowledge.”

World Iron Week

Ironweek.co.nz campaign analytics: The analytics for the ironweek.co.nz website were captured from either side of the campaign week – 21st August through to 4th September: • 5,462 visits • Average duration 1.48 minutes • Users: 89% female; 45% aged between 18-34 years; 55% between 35-65 years • Channels to the website: 59% referral; 33% direct; 13% organic; 5% social In keeping a focus for this year’s campaign, the iron status of teenage girls was brought into focus. With this in mind, a press release and podcast was created titled The Silent Epidemic: Iron deficiency is suffocating our teen girls and has had 1,784 listens to date. We will continue to look for further opportunities to bring this podcast to the attention of those that are close to this demographic – parents, teachers and sports coaches.

Fiona Windle, Beef + Lamb New Zealand Ltd

– a brief outline and review of activities Here are a few stats from our World Iron Awareness Week campaign that might be of interest, and may help you decide on how you get involved next year.

The dedicated campaign website was promoted via various channels including the Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Nourish E-Newsletter for health professionals and educators, What’s for dinner? EDMs to consumers and Retail Meat NZ to retail sector. Other supporters also promoted the campaign through their communication channels in various ways.

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Food New Zealand

Reserve the date Here are some dates for your 2020 diaries: • Meat Technology Workshops – Palmerston North, March 2020 • Red Meat Sector Conference 2020 – Venue to be decided, 26-27 July 2020.

Careers

Be the Expert and more!

John Lawson, Lawson Williams Consulting Group On a day to day basis we work with a lot of experts. Food technologists, research scientists, quality specialists, engineers, demand planners, procurement specialists, production managers, technical sales specialists.

The list goes on. Being an expert within your industry or organisation is a key factor in getting ahead in your career. The key, though, is being a “recognised expert”, so attendance at conferences and participation in relevant professional organisations like NZIFST is an excellent way of building your recognition in your area of specialisation.

In today’s organisations however expertise alone doesn’t count. In essence you need to be seen to “get things done”, and this is where a lot of technical people come unstuck, we rely too often on the facts, the stats or the detail and forget how to influence.

There is clear value in having influence at work: you get more done and advance projects you are responsible for and ultimately this leads to being more noticed. It is useful to recognise that it is harder today to gain influence in the modern work environment because people are more distracted. They are overloaded with information and have lower attention capacity. And yet it is more important than ever to command influence because of the increased pressure on results. We simply must get things done.

Here are some tips on building influence to get things done. We all need to be more conscious about doing these things.

Listen up and ask questions Most of us run around with to-do lists in our heads and it shows: we are often distracted or preoccupied and ready to reach for our phones when talking to others. Develop a discipline of focus when talking to people and they will be more ready to back you and adopt your idea.

Another guideline is to ask questions as often as you make statements, so your recognised style is synonymous with inquiry and dialogue.

Build more connections This doesn’t mean trying to win a popularity contest, its simply about building better and wider rapport with your colleagues. In today’s busy work environment, you want people to at least hear you out and not switch off soon after you start talking. Work on “personal connections” with your colleagues, allow them to get to know you so the next time you are needing their support they will have positive intentions or motives towards you.

Mind your body language We all make judgements about people from the way they appear and act. We have a lot of hard wiring which leads to us naturally assessing whether we trust a person or not. Often this relates to how they look and behave so don’t forget about your body language and use it to convey the right message.

Give people what they want Increase your influence by authentically reframing an issue into a benefit to the people you want on your side. What are their needs, perspectives and temperaments? Do some homework and find out what they need to hear and what will capture their attention. For each person you must answer the question “What’s in it for me.”

Map your strategy Its not scheming, its strategising. Create an organisational chart of decision-makers related to your project or issue. Consider at each level if you can influence or whether you need others to influence on your behalf.

Be Consistent Consistency at work means to always meet or exceed expectations.

Your level of consistency manifests most obviously in whether or not you keep your promises and meet your commitments. People will more likely support others whom they feel can be relied on, so do things like arriving when you say you are going to, being consistently open and communicative, and meeting deadlines.

To be more successful at work today we all need to be more influential.

For most of us it requires us to be more conscious of our sub-conscious.

We need to think and be more proactive in doing the things that lead to people supporting what we want to achieve at work rather than relying on the natural way we behave and hoping for the best.

Successful careers today more often require proactive strategies around influence.

Specialist Recruitment - Permanent and Contract

John Lawson is founder of Lawson Williams Consulting Group. He initially studied Biotechnology at Massey and is a professional member of NZIFST. He now enjoys leading a team of recruitment consultants, helping people like you develop satisfying careers.

www.lawsonwilliams.co.nz December 2019/January 2020

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Earle Lecture

“A Future for New Zealand Food” the 2019 Earle Lecture Presented by Dr Kevin Marshall Allan Main, FNZIFST The Earle lecture is a biennial award presented to a distinguished recipient who has made notable contributions to the impact of engineering and technology in New Zealand. It is hosted jointly by the Manawatu Branches of the Royal Society of New Zealand and the Institute of Professional Engineers and honours the contributions of Dick and Mary Earle, well-known to NZIFST, recognising their immense contribution to biotechnology and food technology regionally, nationally and globally.

Early in October Dr Kevin Marshall, a long-standing Wellington member of NZIFST and the JC Andrews Awardee in 2006, delivered the 2019 Earle Lecture in Palmerston North on the subject “A Future for New Zealand Food”. In his opening comments, Kevin confessed to having known the Earles for his entire career with his professional and personal paths intertwining with Dick and Mary’s since the 1960’s.

Indeed Kevin admitted that his first ever job application as a fresh BE graduate was to Dick and Mary at the Meat Industry Research Institute of New Zealand ... he was declined! A short while later when Kevin enrolled at Massey University for his post-graduate degree it was under the supervision of Prof Dick Earle.

Kevin has since experienced a long and distinguished career spanning an extensive cross-section of our key food export industries including dairy, fruit, meat and seafood. Kevin’s assessment of the prognosis for our food future derives from the insights enabled by that that deep knowledge of the New Zealand food industry, leading him to an alternative scenario from zealots who proclaim that our food future is vegan, and all animal farming in New Zealand must stop. Unlike those who proclaim doom unless we frame an animal-free future for Kiwi food, Kevin anticipates our core platform of animal-based food exports will be retained but reframed to a more sustainable model, supplemented by alternative uses of land in a few areas where overintensification of animal farming cannot be sustained even with better control practices.

In preface to his lecture, Kevin professed his belief (informed by his personal GP) that there are “no bad foods but there are certainly bad diets” implying that public and individual health responds to managing long-run consumption rather than maligning single foods. Later reflection identified that this philosophical tenet likely embodies a broader Marshall doctrine that oversimplification of issues by distilling them to isolated factoids commends ineffective solutions to problems and causes irrational choices to be made. That position seemed to be reflected in the underpinning logic of Kevin’s analysis of the prognosis for animal-sourced foods in our future that followed.

Kevin openly acknowledges that there are immense challenges ahead for our traditional food industries but is sure that these are not and must not be insurmountable. Indeed, in Kevin’s estimation the future for our animal farming food industry continues to be “exciting”.

The Earle Lecture 2019 was presented by Kevin Marshall

Not a popular view - a considered one Kevin admitted that this alternative view is not popular with the vocal echelons that name-call those professing that animal farming can be performed sustainably as “denialists” and then attack farmers as “social pariahs”. Kevin exemplified this citing the reception given his colleague Fonterra’s Dr Jeremy Hill who was recently on the end of a media roasting after presenting to a proteins conference a similar fact-informed assessment supporting a future, albeit a reframed future, for animal farming in New Zealand. Coincidentally, during this Earle Lecture I was seated with an anonymous local farmer and the relief with which Kevin’s alternative message was received was apparent on his face. At the conclusion of Kevin’s presentation this same farmer professed that this was “the first public meeting on the future of NZ farming I have attended where I have not felt hated”.

Kevin’s lecture wove a path through familiar factoids and instead of declaring a bankrupt future for dairy and meat farmers arrived at New Zealand applying technological know-how to navigate a pathway that delivers sustainable animal farming to provide fully sustainable animalderived foods, particularly dairy and meat to premium markets.

Kevin’s initial focus was a situation analysis assembling the generally agreed factual context framing future global food needs and requisite sustainability boundaries. This analysis drew on (and cited) a plethora of reports published in recent years generally delivered by multi-disciplinary international assemblies of subject experts. These collective assessments intersect at a consensus requiring substantially

It is not the world that is threatened, but the world as we know it, and time is short 34

Food New Zealand

Earle Lecture

Our New Zealand animal farmers operate at the most efficient, least environmentally impactful end of the sustainability spectrum.

more food (an increase of 70% in food supply by 2050) of higher nutritional quality whilst reducing the net environmental burden currently incurred. Intrinsic to that consensus was an expectation that Western consumers would substantially reduce consumption of animal-derived foods (meat and dairy). However in parallel with that reduction, emerging nations were anticipated to increase consumption of (sustainably produced) animal-based foods, particularly dairy products, in order to provide nutritional sufficiency. Indeed, under the Eat-Lancet scenario for universal nutritional sufficiency, global dairy production is required to double whilst meeting full sustainability standards.

Kevin willingly conceded that these expectations undoubtedly present immense challenges for the world but addressing the conundrum is not optional – it must be achieved for the future of our species. It is not the world that is threatened, but the world as we know it, and time is short.

However, Kevin’s treatise pointedly observed that the analysis of the global burden of animals-as-food producers is constructed around global average data for environmental impact with wide-ranging local deviations from those averages. At the unsustainable extreme is the practice of growing foods appropriate for human consumption to feed confined animals for inefficient conversion to meat and dairy. Simply to replace current worst performing sources of animal-sourced food with the best-in-world achievements is to contribute a global improvement.

Relative to alternative sources of equivalent products, our New Zealand animal farmers operate at the most efficient, least environmentally impactful end of the sustainability spectrum. This reality is enabled by fortuitous natural advantages (eg a temperate climate supporting year-round forage growth allowing continuous free-range grazing) and technology gains enabled by highly educated, collaborative and motivated farmers being fast adopters of emerging science and technology. That same capacity of Kiwi farmers to adopt new technologies will facilitate ready implementation of environmental impact mitigation technologies as they emerge keeping our animal products at the leading edge of sustainable animal production.

So rather than a threat to our established animal-based foods farming industry Kevin infers current pressures provide opportunity for a significant number of New Zealand’s farmers who already operate at the upper decile of global environmental efficiency to deliver nutrientdense foods with demand in excess of what can be supplied from our geographic footprint. After all as Kevin observed, at best we can only feed a population of only 50 million (or half of one percent) of the world’s 10 billion people. For the foreseeable future it is assured that world-wide demand for animal protein foods will exceed what can be sustainably produced on our land, even if consumption is limited to a rare luxury for affluent consumers. Our future positioning with animal-derived foods will be to affluent premium niches founded on accountability to its clean-green-sustainable heritage. Critical to that opportunity will be providing robust evidence of sustainability and ensuring authenticity through tools of provenance traceability.

And what of the plant-based alternatives? Are they the solution they purport to be?

Not all proteins are created equal Lately a flood of foods mimicking milk and meat has populated supermarket shelves in New Zealand supermarkets belatedly following the “analogue” trend present in other countries for many years. While these products are positioned as equivalents to traditional animal-derived foods, indeed they even wear their names – “milk”, “cheese”, “chicken”, “burger”– a quick review of their nutritional panels demonstrates that even at the most superficial standard of delivery of macronutrients most of these products fail to provide the nutrients for which these foods have become staples. A label review of protein levels provided by non-dairy products parading in the dairy case as equivalents to regular cows’ milk quickly shows that most provide significantly less crude protein than derives from the traditional product. The data shown in this address considered New Zealand market examples of almond, soy, rice, coconut and oat consumer “milks”; only the soy example approached the crude protein level of commercial cows’ milk. Almond “milk” provided a quarter of the protein content, oat one-eighth and rice and coconut had effectively no protein.

Milk is a dietary staple due to its delivery of essential nutrients, notably protein and calcium. But the unsuspecting shopper selecting a nondairy alternative is potentially doing so oblivious to the short-changed nutrition that choice provides. When comparisons are made on the basis of cost per gram of protein, every non-dairy option is more expensive than basic dairy.

That deficiency is evident even before attention turns to protein quality, a more opaque matter that is not directly evident to the consumer.

As scientifically literate consumers we are the exception in realising that not all proteins are created equal. The reference standard for food protein quality is the digestible indispensible amino acid score (DIAAS). DIAAS data consistently shows that animal-derived proteins have a higher sore than plant-sourced proteins, so requiring higher consumption of plant proteins to provide nutritional equivalence.

Applying these standards to the protein delivery of dairy and non-dairy consumer products, nutritional equivalence for the protein provided implies soy beverage has twice the climate impact and oat milk 8 times the impact of true dairy milk.

This might be the appropriate time to cite Douglas Adams from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Planet: “All you really need to know for the moment is that the universe is a lot more complicated than you might think, even if you start from a position of thinking it's pretty damn complicated in the first place.”

Kevin is eager to ensure that the complexities are not swept under the carpet and ignored. To do so may cause irrational choices, like totally replacing our animal economy with crops and trees with resultant economic and social turmoil. The choices we make need to be informed and evidence-based.

Hitherto Kevin suggests that such balance has not been evident in the discussion.

December 2019/January 2020

35

NZIFST

NZIFST News

Dr Bronwen Smith – in memoriam Dr Bronwen Smith passed away on 1st August 2019, dying of lung disease. Bronwen grew up on a farm near Whangarei and like all farmers was very practical and could turn her hand to many things.

She came to the University of Auckland as a mature student, having spent time demonstrating the latest electric sewing machines, which involved travelling around New Zealand. By all accounts she was very good at it and Pfaff were disappointed when she left for academia.

Bronwen did her PhD with Professor Philip Harris, investigating the structure and function of plant cell walls (dietary fibre) of pineapple, onion, cabbage and ryegrass. With help from Dr Roger Newman of IRL she did pioneering work using solid-state NMR to understand how the polysaccharides that make up plant cell walls interact with each other to form such complex structures. Enjoying research, she was pleased be appointed, in 1997, as the first Postdoctoral Fellow in Food Science when Food Science started at the University of Auckland and then became the first lecturer in Food Science. She developed the programme along with Laurie Melton, and was Deputy Director prior to her retirement at the end of 2012, due to ill health. Bronwen was a

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

Bronwen Smith with Laurie Melton on her last day at the University in Auckland in 2012 - enjoying a good laugh tower of strength in the struggle to set up the Food Science programme.

She was an accomplished lecturer and researcher but most of all she excelled at mentoring students. She supervised dozens of BSc (Hons), MSc and PhD theses as well as Postgraduate Diploma dissertations. If a student was required to hand in their thesis first thing on Monday morning and Bronwen found out at 5.00pm on the Friday that wasn’t going to be possible, she would spend the whole weekend helping them in order to meet the deadline.

Bronwen also made a major contribution to starting the Wine Science programme at the university, involving herself in designing the wine making factory and research laboratories at the Tamaki campus as well as planning the course work. She was involved with the Forest and Bird Society and put together a number of submissions on their behalf and was also a member of Auckland Botanical Society.

I found her one of the hardest working, most dedicated people I have met at any university. She contributed to lecturing, research and pastoral care with a total commitment that is seldom equalled. The students always came first. Only after she resigned, due to ill health, did people realise her huge contribution to establishing and maintaining Food Science at the University of Auckland. Effectively it required two people to replace her. She was an excellent colleague and wonderful friend. While always serious about her work she enjoyed a good laugh often at her own expense. As a former PhD student said “I will always remember her radiant calm, positivity; her loyalty; and her scientific rigour. Her beatific smile and encouraging words have stayed with me after all this time."

She is sorely missed by her colleagues and her former students.

Laurie Melton, FNZIFST

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Food New Zealand

NZIFST

Branch News Auckland An evening with Kay McMath – learning how to judge Ice Cream In October, the Auckland branch welcomed Kay McMath, ice-cream judge extraordinaire. Kay was going to teach us a little bit about what is involved in judging the Ice Cream Awards. The whole event was members-only and fully-booked, so it’s no surprise that there was an atmosphere of excitement throughout the entire evening. Kay began by giving a background to the Ice-Cream Awards, and a history of icecream in New Zealand. Turns out, New Zealanders consume around 26 litres of ice cream each, per year, well ahead of Australians and Americans. Even with an active domestic market, the export of ice cream is a significant market, with exports of over 9000 MT of icecream going mainly into Japanese, Vietnamese and Pacific Island markets, equating to $40 Million in sales.

Ice-cream manufacture in New Zealand predates commercial refrigeration. In 1866, the Empire Hotel in Wellington used ice obtained from frozen lakes in the US. A few years later, some of our iconic ice cream brands were established. Rush Munro’s and Peters Ice Cream cropped up in 1930, Tip Top in 1935 (the name was derived from a diner’s compliment). By the 1950s, we had 49 different ice cream companies. The 1950s saw the introduction of the Jelly Tip and the Topsy. Hokey Pokey ice-cream came from using the broken pieces from Cadburys Hokey Pokey bars.

As for the New Zealand Ice Cream Awards, the event is now in its 23rd year and Kay has judged for 16 years. This year there were 308 different ice cream entries within 13 different categories. In recent years there

Judging ice-cream is a serious business!

New members NZIFST welcomes the following new members and welcomes and congratulates those who have joined or been upgraded to Professional Membership. Welcome also to new student and Graduate members

Members upgrading to Professional Farnaz Fardnia

Technical Sales Manager

Caldic New Zealand Ltd

Auckland

Minnie Karki

Nestle New Zealand Ltd

Technologist - Product & Packaging

Auckland

Biniam Kebede

University of Otago

Lecturer

Otago

Maneeshs Mohan

Lincoln University

Lecturer

Lincoln

James Natzka

Quality Manager

Dominion Salt

Tauranga

Hiren Soni

Fonterra NZ Ltd

Technologist

Christchurch

Maria Averion

Graincorp Foods

QA & Systems Team Leader

Auckland

Vladimir Blazek

ADM Nutrition

National Sales Director

Auckland

Jane Coad

Professor

Massey University

Palmerston North

Kriscindra Cross

Proper Crisps

Quality Assurance & Food Control Plan Manager

Nelson

Sumon Saha

Ziwi Limited

R & D Technologist

Mt Maunganui

Annalise Stewart

Invita NZ Ltd

Applications Technologist

Auckland

New Members

New Student Members Paige Woodall

University of Otago

Olivia McLeod

University of Otago

Zoe McNamara

Havelock North High School

December 2019/January 2020

37

NZIFST

Jasmin Estrera thanks Chris Brown after his presentation

Canterbury Ensuring quality fruit, vegetables and nursery stock exports

Auckland Branch Committee members, left to right: Bethany Glenn, Sarah Leakey, Nick Parker, Bonnie Lam with Anand Mohan, pictured at the Auckland Branch Christmas Garden Party has been a huge increase in the numbers of gelatos and sorbets; mainly due to the higher price they demand, with a lower milk solid content requirement.

As for our judging/tasting workshop– Kay started us off with with a standard Vanilla, typically of 10 – 11.5% fat, good to calibrate and tune your palate. Next were the premium ice creams and gelatos. Third tasting was the open creative entrants from this years Awards. Last year’s winner was Kiwi Onion Dip ice-cream, with chips supplied for tasting. Kay commented on how truly creative people get in this category – such as creating salmon and dill flavours.

Naturally, there is a Kid’s category, complete with their very own ‘Yum to Yuck’ scale for judging.

The one thing our table learned is that all the ice-cream entries that we tried were gold award winners – they were all delicious!

While we were tasting, we had forms in front of us – exactly the same as those used for judging. The criteria are: appearance, body and texture, and flavour. There are 21 different judging notes to look out for within these 4 categories – all adding to 100 points.

Margie Hunt, Auckland Branch Chair

Christmas Party The members of the Auckland Branch began their end of year celebrations early with the annual Christmas Party in mid-November. It was held at the well-known Cornwall Park Bistro. Just over 60 members attended in their best 'garden party' attire. The evening began with petanque and canapes, and was closely followed by a lovely Christmas feast. There was a number of games across the evening, which was wrapped up with a brilliant group get-to-know-your-industry-mates game. A big thanks is owed to Cornwall Park Bistro for hosting us, and to the committee for all their hard work throughout the year!

Bethany Glenn 38

Food New Zealand

On 30 October a group of members gathered at Tegel Foods for a presentation from Chris Brown from AsureQuality. This talk was arranged by Jasmin Estrera who works at Meadow Mushrooms and whose experience working with AsureQuality suggested that this subject may be of interest to members.

New Zealand exports produce valued at billions of dollars each year.

MPI seeks the services of IVAs (Independent Verification Agency) to help ensure the country’s excellent reputation for export is maintained.

Chris Brown is the IVA Operations Leader for AsureQuality. Chris is an expert on phytosanitary certification, which is the movement of fruits, vegetables and nursery stock, whilst preventing the spread of plant pest and diseases around the world.

Chris described the evolution of AsureQuality and its functions today in auditing, food contaminant testing, biosecurity, diagnostics etc.

AsureQuality describe themselves as “Global experts in food safety and quality”.

There was lively interest in biosecurity and especially fruit fly incursion and how this could be controlled should it occur.

The FODMAP diet On 12 November, a large group of 20 to 30 members and other interested colleagues gathered at ESR to hear Leigh O’Brien from Dietary Specialists speak to us on the Fodmap diet, a dietary intervention for irritable bowel syndrome.

Most of us were strangers to this diet, and Leigh spent some time explaining to us the symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and the pain and discomfort that people suffer with this condition. She then described what Fodmaps are. This acronym stands for Fermentable Oligo-, Di- and Monosaccharides and Polyols. These molecules draw water into the small intestine where they are fermented by the microbes in the gut, producing gas. The colon distends because of the increased gas and fluid with resulting bloating, diarrhoea, wind and pain for people with IBS. In a low Fodmap diet those sugars are reduced. It is an elimination diet for 6-8 weeks with various Fodmaps being reintroduced one at a time, in a very structured way, over 8-12 weeks. The diet is very personalised and works best with input from a dietitian. The gut microbiome is affected on a low Fodmap diet, reducing numbers of Bifidobacterium in particular, so phase one of the diet needs to be well planned to prevent deficiencies.

NZIFST

Central Branch members at Salt and Wood Brewery, Waikanae, enjoying their “not Christmas dinner" Bob Olayo, branch chair, thanks Leigh O’Brien after her presentation on Fodmaps Leigh discussed the published research which addresses the efficacy of this diet and ongoing research in both Australia and New Zealand.

Monash University and the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital have strong programmes addressing this diet.

Leigh’s presentation produced lively discussion and questions and her audience were well informed by the end of the evening.

This had been a great networking and educational evening. Our year will finish with a Christmas dinner on 26th November.

Winna Harvey, FNZIFST

Central FSANZ; “Trends in Processing Aids” On August 15, our “after work” meeting featured Branch Chairman Ben Sutherland, Principal Food Technologist at FSANZ providing an update on processing aids, that mysterious set of food additives that may generally be omitted from an ingredient list (but not from allergen statements). Ben informed us that a processing aid is one of the materials listed in Schedule 18 of the Code that is present in a food in order to perform a technological purpose during food production but does not perform a technological purpose at the time of sale. Leading examples are enzymes, catalysts, antifoam agents, ion exchange media, filtration media, fining agents, vegetable peeling agents, etc.

Processing aids are required to be used at the minimum effective level within GMP. Ben described the rigorous process for approving a new processing aid which is driven by ensuring there is a technological need within assured food safety. In recent years the number of approved processing aids has grown rapidly, largely due to an influx of applications for new food enzymes. It was noted that application of GM technologies has abated this rush of applications, and Ben outlined the review processes for such applications which also weigh up the nature of the host organism and the genetic modification technology applied to effect the host GMO. Ben concluded his presentation with some examples of processing aid usage in foods, and a discussion on consumer misconceptions about processing aids (e.g. assuming that any “processed food” by definition contains processing aids).

Salt and Wood Brewery visit and dinner This was marketed as “not our Christmas dinner” after previous years’ events scheduled closer to Christmas found many members were too busy to attend. Wellingtonians arrived at the Waikanae venue by train minutes before the brewery tour kicked off at 5.00pm, while the Palmerston Northers were able to get in a round of beer and snacks before the arrival of their Capital cousins.

We were pleased to be hosted by Brewer Paul, who was quick to note other brewers in our midst. He talked us through the brews and aspects of the business, fielding numerous technical beer-making and business-related questions. The craft was evident in the wide range of styles that fully supplied the Salt and Wood and several other local establishments, businesses wider afield and internet sales. Nine beers are available in the range, including kettle soured ales, barrel aged and wild fermented beers. Relatively small batches are brewed in a typically adventurous manner. The dark stout “Iron Sands-Oat Rye Stout” was a notable treat as were many of the pale ales. Many sampled the beers shortly afterward in the form of a 6 glass tray, choosing from the sampling notes.

Then the big decision on which beer should be enjoyed with a meal of choice.

The various meat cuts are smoked on site and barbequed in large and tasty servings. There was no further technical fare, no one missed the quiz, or any serious challenges and simply, enjoyed food, art beer, and conversation at the end of another working week.

John van den Beuken, FNZIFST

Kevin Marshall – A Future for NZ food When Dr Kevin Marshall presented his Earle lecture in October, he vowed that he was “on a promise” to wife Julie that this would be his last such public presentation. Always up for a challenge, NZIFST Central Branch Committee determined to persuade Kevin to re-present this lecture to our members, many of whom did not have an opportunity to attend the original presentation. We succeeded in that persuasion and Kevin presented his Earle Lecture to a live audience of 19 members and guests in Wellington and to virtual attendees in Palmerston North (19 people) and several others in a range of locations including FSANZ Canberra.

The content of the Earle lecture is covered elsewhere in this edition on page 34. The lecture has been recorded with the intention of it being made available to NZIFST members elsewhere.

This was an extremely interesting presentation that provoked a great deal of discussion from the assembled group. On this experience other branches might consider approaching FSANZ to run a similar session with your members.

Kevin’s views were well-received by our members who enjoyed hearing that despite significant challenges, there remains a positive future for the New Zealand Food Industry and it remains an essential plank for our future economy.

Allan Main, FNZIFST

Allan Main, FNZIFST December 2019/January 2020

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NZIFST

Lee Neville from Hastings District Council gave HP/ PB branch members an overview of progress on the establishment of a food innovation hub in Hawke’s Bay

Hawke’s Bay/Poverty Bay Food and beverage industry supporters update On Thursday 17 October, members of the Hawke’s Bay/Poverty Bay branch gathered at the Hawke’s Bay Business Hub to hear three presentations from local support organisation for the food and beverage industry.

The first speaker was Lee Neville from Hastings District Council. Lee is the council’s economic development manager and gave us an overview of progress on the establishment of a food innovation hub in Hawke’s Bay. The Food Innovation Hub has recently received a $12 million investment from the Provincial Growth Fund, which has in turn kicked off an investment drive led by Lee, to gather a $6 million investment from local businesses.

The proposed innovation hub, which would be modelled, at least in part, on the Waikato Innovation Park would look to address key trends identified in the research feasibility and business case study: • Environmentally sustainable production and packaging • Plant-based production • Functional food and beverage • Waste stream utilisation The hub would establish a variety of services in Hawke’s Bay, including co-working and hot-desk space, seminar facilities, a “food hall” to display food processing equipment available in the region and a possible centre of entrepreneurship in association with the Eastern Institute of Technology.

Looking more broadly, the food innovation hub would look to become a centre of excellence for the entire Hawke’s Bay and East Coast region, generating jobs and income while supporting local businesses.

Exciting times ahead!

successful, with over 30,000 hub sign-ins since its inception. September 2019 was a record for sign-ins, with over 1013 registered.

Finally, we heard an informative update from Nicky Solomon of the NZ Food Innovation Network (NZFIN). NZFIN is a national network driving and developing innovative food products. They act as a “dating agency”, setting up start-ups and entrepreneurs with local businesses.

At the conclusion, we adjourned to the Urban Winery for nibbles and a drink, and a dancefloor side view of the local salsa dancing scene, which appears to be thriving in Napier!

Many thanks to the Hawke’s Bay Business Hub for hosting us, the Urban Winery for the food and drinks, and to the speakers for their informative presentations.

Pete Revington

Next up we heard from Rachel Campbell from Business Hawke’s Bay (BHB). BHB acts as the business-led economic development agency for the region. They have three main work streams: “attract”, “build”, and “connect”.

Nelson

The “attract” stream is all about bringing business to Hawke’s Bay, as well as targeting people and skills and helping businesses target investment opportunities.

David List discussed Food Tech volunteering opportunities and his recent experience supporting a social enterprise in Java. Aliet Green is a coconut palm sugar processor with a fair-trade ethos.

Under “build”, the BHB helps start-ups, or existing businesses further develop their brand or products. A significant example Rachel described was the goat and sheep ecosystem. BHB helped create a working group in Hawke’s Bay looking at the extensive opportunities the sheep and goat sector can offer, not just in dairy, but also in fibre and meat.

David’s 4-week assignment was organised by Australian Business Volunteers and financed by an Australian Aid Friendship Grant. He was able to identify hundreds of thousands of cost-savings simply by studying mass balances, overheads and rework. He worked with accounts, production and NPD to improve systems. David is keen to enthuse others to volunteer when opportunities arise with NGO’s like VSA or ABV. He was chuffed to find three Massey classmates from the 1980s in the audience.

Finally, through the “connect” stream, BHB offers several networking and training events, as well as being part of a collaborative group that set up the Hawke’s Bay Business Hub. The Hub has been wildly 40

David List evaporating palm sugar in Central Java

Food New Zealand

17 Nelson Region members met in mid-October at the Honest Lawyer in Stoke, with Foodcom sponsoring nibbles.

David List, Innovation Manager, Sealord Group Ltd

NZIFST

Waikato branch members in high vis and safety hats ready for the Food Innovation Waikato tour

Waikato Branch members listen attentively to their host, Bill Neal, right, at SweetAs Popcorn

Waikato

rotating drum coater. Product is sifted to sort any unpopped kernels and then it is immediately bagged and packed.

Food Innovation Waikato’s drying facilities.

Twenty Waikato branch members braved the wind and rain to tour the Food Innovation Waikato site at Ruakura. Despite the weather we had a very informative tour around the present 500kg/hour drier facility, looking into the drier room, blending, packing, re-con, boiler room.

Outside we saw milk reception, the tank farm, effluent treatment. This drier has been such a successful enterprise for FIW and the Innovation Park that it runs 24/7/365 on high-value sheep and goat dairy products (Infant Formulae, Nutritionals etc) to the extent that it has proven necessary to build a new facility, right next door, to raise the capacity of the site.

Donning hard-hats we then toured the new building to see the progress of the project. The new drier will produce 1500 kgs/hr and will free up the smaller drier for its original purpose – trial runs, small production batches, experimenting with drier settings to optimise a variety of products. Some clever design attributes in this new section: the experience of the FIW staff and the builders (TetraPak) has brought some elegant solutions to areas such as powder tipping, the fluid bed design and packaging. It will produce infant formula with all the necessary constraints, so we were lucky to see it before it goes “redline.” However, we were invited back to see the finished product this time next year. Watch this space.

Well done FIW for another great night. Dave Shute and his staff have been doing such a good job and creating so much value for shareholders, the Innovation Park and NZ Inc. that they have made it necessary to employ twenty more people to staff the site. That’s a successful enterprise.

SweetAs Popcorn Fifteen Waikato branch members had a very informative tour around the SweetAs Popcorn site in Frankton. We were treated to a short video showing the history of the company, the products and the markets.

Starting from a small food market stall and expanding as sales grew, the company now occupies a complete block in Frankton and is looking to expand its capacity further as markets grow. We then toured the factory which has a great set-up for viewing through windows while the staff went about the business of producing the very PoPular product – see what I did there?

The history of domesticated corn goes back at least 5,600 years to Central America. Different varieties are used that pop into diverse shapes that take coatings differently, fit into packages differently and require variations in the cooking protocol to achieve a successful pop. Lots of questions and answers going back and forth led to fresh contacts being made with members with specific expertise to offer SweetAs and to show the benefits of the NZIFST network.

SweetAs cook in oils that are varied depending on the target market.

Coatings are applied with the oil or immediately after popping in a

Of course, we were treated to the tasting table. SweetAs have differentiated their flavours with combinations like Manuka Honey and Chocolate, Sweet and Salty, Salt and Vinegar. They do a cheese flavour, caramel, Sea Salt and are constantly experimenting with product development. They also use tasting panels at their larger customers to provide feedback on flavours for sale into supermarkets, service station franchises, theatre chains.

SweetAs made the point that they are a Kiwi business and wish to keep their operation local and grow it here. The founder/owner Bill Neal is passionate about his business and is involved in all aspects including product development – who wouldn’t be? SweetAs are exporting to America and Asia as well as getting good sales in NZ and are on the threshold of expanding the business again to cope with growing demands.

This is a business that is literally exploding.

Ecolab tank farm and Brewraucracy Brewery.

Fifteen NZIFST members gathered at Ecolab in Te Rapa to tour the newly built tank farm. Ecolab have invested eight million dollars into a state-of-the-art load/unload facility on their manufacturing site. The old facility is being de-commissioned right next door and all the lessons learned in its growth and development were incorporated into the new facility. Safety is paramount with all manner of E-stops, showers, bundling and emergency contingencies available to keep staff and the site secure.

The tanker unload bay has two-storeys to load in from the top and load out via pumps from the bottom. The various tanks in the farm are matched to the product they hold, and we were able to climb the cat-walk to view the site from above to see how product is moved around and then transferred to the adjacent manufacturing site. This is a very impressive facility that shows Ecolab’s confidence in the manufacturing sector in New Zealand and their ongoing intention to be part of the market. Thanks to Jo Thomson from Ecolab for hosting.

We then adjourned to Brewraucracy BrewHouse for pizza and beer tasting hosted by Greig McGill, who gave us a tour of the brewery and a quick lesson on his brewing methods. Greig brews a variety of styles and his interesting views on the economics of hop supply were a surprise to many. Greig uses mostly American hops as New Zealand grown hops are so popular and consequently, expensive, that a small to mid-sized brewery like his cannot afford to use a lot of the locally grown product. NZ brewers are importing American and European hops while the northern hemisphere pays a premium for NZ hops as they are so aromatic and sought-after. Going by the reaction of the group, Greig’s beers are fine, whatever the source of his hops.

Another great evening with NZIFST with more activities planned for next Colin Pitt December 2019/January 2020

41

STUDENT ESSAY

From the farm to the lab: a future with in-vitro meat Shiyu Ouyang, Massey University Albany This article was awarded third prize in the Food Tech Solutions NZIFST Undergraduate Writing Competition 2019. The annual competition is open to undergraduate food science and food technology students who are invited to write on any technical subject or latest development in the food science and technology field that may be important to the consumer.

Introduction As global population grows, the demand for meat is expected to increase (OECD-FAO, 2016). Meanwhile, human health, animal welfare and environmental impact are still the main issues that will affect global meat production and consumption (OECD-FAO, 2016).

Problems such as animal diseases raise questions and concerns and the meat industry needs to find a way to address these issues. In-vitro meat, also known as “lab-grown” meat, is produced from isolated animal cells instead of living livestock (Bhat & Fayaz, 2011). Although this technology is still premature, its potential applications may help solve the problems that currently exist in the meat industry.

What is in-vitro meat?

Unlike meat produced from living animals, in-vitro meat is “grown” from animal cells in a culture medium to produce tissues that resemble muscles (Bhat & Fayaz, 2011). These cells are known as satellite cells, which proliferate when stimulated, and form fibre-like structures similar to muscle tissue (Lincicum, 2010). Although it is difficult to replicate complex meat products such as steaks, it is possible for invitro meat to replace low-end processed meats (Pluhar, 2010). In fact, an artificial hamburger has already been made in the laboratory using synthetic meat (Mattick & Allenby, 2013). At this stage, it is not practical to produce in-vitro meat products due to high costs, but the technology still provides an interesting opportunity for the future meat industry (Mattick & Allenby, 2013).

Human health A major advantage of in-vitro meat is that, compared to conventionally produced meat, it is a more reliable source of food. The growth of farm animals is often affected by seasons, climate changes, disease outbreaks and many other factors that are difficult to predict or control (Bhat & Fayaz, 2011). In-vitro meat is not susceptible to these factors, and is therefore a potential solution to food security problems around the world. Compared to plant-based meat substitutes, in-vitro meat may be a better source of nutrients. Plant-based meat alternatives may be lower in protein than real meat, and may also be higher in fat and carbohydrates (Bonny, Gardner, Pethick & Hocquette, 2017). The fat content of in-vitro meat can be modified by the culture medium: unhealthy fats can be replaced by healthier fats and functional nutrients such as vitamins can also be added to the meat (Pluhar, 2010; Bhat & Fayaz, 2011). Therefore, it is possible that consuming in-vitro meat can help reduce the risks of cardiovascular diseases and other illnesses caused by high dietary fat intake.

Foodborne diseases are a major concern for both consumers and 42

Food New Zealand

legislation makers. For example, after the swine flu outbreak in Europe, Russia stopped importing all pork products from the EU (OECD-FAO, 2016). The use of antibiotics has also raised concerns regarding food safety. It is believed that replacing existing meat products with invitro meat can prevent these issues, as in-vitro meat can be “grown” in a controlled environment, and thus lower the chance of chemical contamination (Bhat & Fayaz, 2011). In reality, a completely sterile environment can be difficult to achieve, especially on a large scale, and the use of antimicrobial substances may be inevitable (Bonny, Gardner, Pethick & Hocquette, 2017). In other words, the safety of invitro meat affects how it will be manufactured on an industrial scale, and as this technology remains experimental, it is unknown whether in-vitro meat will be a clean and safe alternative for consumers.

Existing legislation framework is unable to regulate the production of in-vitro meat (Lincicum, 2010), and if it is to be mass-produced, new legislations must be in place to ensure its safety.

Animal welfare Animal suffering related to factory farming has been widely reported, and although there is legislation in place, law enforcement is often not enough to prevent the problems (Lincicum, 2010). As no livestock is required to produce in-vitro meat, inhumane treatment of farm animals can be prevented. The production of in-vitro meat, however, does require a continuous supply of satellite cells, as the proliferation of the stem cell is limited (Lincicum, 2010). Therefore, mother cells will have to be obtained from living animals, which still raises some concerns regarding animal wellbeing (Pluhar, 2010). If this can be done in a noninvasive and painless way, then the ethical benefits of in-vitro meat will certainly outweigh the concerns regarding obtaining cells from living organisms, allowing humans to consume meat without farm animals being treated brutally.

Environmental impact The obvious advantage of producing in-vitro meat is that it does not involve raising or slaughtering animals, and thus reduces the usage of land and agricultural materials such as animal feeds. It also eliminates by-products such as feathers, intestines and skin from the production process, and is therefore considered to be more efficient than conventional meat production. It is claimed that in-vitro meat requires 99% lower energy and 90% lower water inputs, compared to traditional meat manufacturing process (Tuomisto & de Mattos, 2011). Another aspect that needs consideration is greenhouse gas emission, which directly contribute to global warming. To most consumers, it may be surprising to find out that the meat industry is a major producer of greenhouse gases, contributing to 18% of total emissions around the

STUDENT ESSAY

Although it is difficult to replicate complex meat products such as steaks, it is possible for in-vitro meat to replace lowend processed meats

world (FAO, 2006). It is estimated that greenhouse gas production of manufacturing in-vitro meat is 40% lower than that of traditional meat (Tuomisto & de Mattos, 2011).

However, some researchers argue that the environmental impact of producing artificial meat cannot be accurately estimated, as the interactions between humans, farm animals and the environment is complicated (Mattick, Landis & Allenby, 2015). For example, byproducts can often be further processed into other commercial goods, and eliminating these by-products means that they will need to be replaced by synthetic materials, which may in turn have unexpected impacts on the environment. As the technology is yet to be applied on an industrial scale, it is difficult to perform an analysis on its environmental effects without making assumptions, and thus the estimations may deviate from reality (Mattick, Landis & Allenby, 2015).

Consumer acceptance One of the greatest challenges faced by in-vitro meat is the resistance from consumers. Indeed, words like “artificial” and “synthetic” have never been consumers’ favourites, and the idea of consuming a slab of meat “grown” in the laboratory can be difficult to accept. A study involving participants from several European countries revealed that some participants would reject the product simply because of its synthetic nature, while others are concerned about the safety, nutrition value, appearance and taste of the meat (Marcu et al., 2015). However, the potential benefits of in-vitro meat may attract consumers who are concerned with animal welfare and environmental issues (Verbeke, Sans & Van Loo, 2015). To vegetarians who value the health benefits of foods, in-vitro meat may not be very appealing (Verbeke, Sans & Van Loo, 2015). As many questions about in-vitro meat are yet to be answered, it seems early for consumers to make a decision. As the technology evolves and the product improves, consumer perception of in-vitro meat may change over time.

Conclusion In-vitro meat is a potential solution to problems associated with the production and consumption of conventional meat. Although experiments on in-vitro meat remain tentative at this stage, it is possible that a variety of meat products can be engineered and produced in the

laboratory environment and if production can be achieved on a mass scale it is possible to commercialise synthetic meat to replace existing meat products. However, such a transformation will require the meat industry to overcome both technical and market barriers. Furthermore, the environmental impact of in-vitro meat needs to be carefully evaluated, and effective legislation must be in place to regulate the production process.

References Bhat, Z. F. & Fayaz, H. (2011). Prospectus of cultured meat – advancing meat alternatives. Journal of Food Science and Technology, 48(2), 125140.

Bonny, S. P. F., Gardner, G. E., Pethick, D. W. & Hocquette, J. (2017).

Artificial meat and the future of the meat industry. Annual Production Science, 57, 2216-2223.

FAO. (2006). Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/3/a-a0701e.pdf Lincicum, M. (2010). Synthetic Meat: An Ethical, Environmental and Regulatory Analysis. Retrieved from https://dash.harvard.edu/ handle/1/8789567 Marcu, A., Gaspar, R., Rutsaert, P., Seibt, B., Fletcher, D., Verbeke, W & Barnett, J. (2015). Analogies, metaphors and wondering about the future: lay sense-making around synthetic meat. Public Understanding of Science, 24(5), 547-562.

Mattick, C. S. & Allenby, B. R. (2013). The future of meat. Issues in Science and Technology, 30, 64-70.

Mattick, C. S., Landis, A. E. & Allenby, B. R. (2015). A case for systemic environmental analysis of cultured meat. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 14, 249-254.

OECD-FAO. (2016). OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2016-2025. Paris, France: OECD Publishing.

Pluhar, B. E. (2010). Meat and morality: alternatives to factory farming.

Journal of Agriculture and Environment Ethics, 23, 455-468.

Tuomisto, H. L. & de Mattos, M. J. (2011). Environmental impact of cultured meat production. Environmental Science and Technology, 45, 6117-6123.

Verbeke, W., Sans, P. & Van Loo, E. J. (2015). Challenges and prospects for consumer acceptance of cultured meat. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 14(2), 285-294.

December 2019/January 2020

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