Food New Zealand December2021/January2022

D ecember 2021/J anuary 2022

NZ’S AUTHORITY ON FOOD TECHNOLOGY, RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURING

A TECHIE'S VIEW OF “TE ARANGA PAERANGI – FUTURE PATHWAYS” FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE: Overview: Consultant services and supporting technology Research: In vitro antiviral effects of milk-derived bioactive whey proteins Current Research: Bioactive lipids and brain health

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

RESEARCH, SCIENCE AND INNOVATION

Contents

NZ’S AUTHORITY ON FOOD TECHNOLOGY, RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURING

D E CE MBE R 2 0 21/JA NUA RY 2022 | VOLU M E 2 1 , N O . 6 IS SN 2 7 4 4 - 7 3 0 8 ( ONLINE) ISSN 1175- 4621 ( PR I N T )

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EDITORIAL

5 NEWSBITES News, views and information from around and about

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OVERVIEW

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FOOD SAFETY

FSANZ Update

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FOOD SAFETY

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NZFSSRC

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SLIDING ON

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MPI: New Zealand Food Safety Update NZ Food Safety Science & Research – where to next?

Tha’s gorra eat a peck o’ muck afore tha dies Professor John D Brooks, FNZIFST

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OPINION

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“Te Aranga Paerangi – Future Pathways” Allan Main, Principal, MAINly Consulting Ltd

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

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

An online edition is shared internationally.

Visit www.foodnz.co.nz to subscribe.

Copyright © 2021 Peppermint Press No part of this publication may be reproduced or copied in any form by any means (graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping information retrieval systems, or otherwise) without the written permission of Peppermint Press. The views expressed in this journal are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent the view of the Publisher, the Scientific Review Board, NZIFST or MIA.

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Analytical, food safety and consulting services

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TE ARA PAERANGI FUTURE PATHWAYS GREEN PAPER 2021

Food New Zealand

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

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

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

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PACKAGING

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AIP releases findings from 2021 Salary Survey Packaging Design for Recycling Guide

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RESEARCH

In vitro antiviral effects of milk-derived bioactive whey proteins

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Nerida Kelton, Executive Director AIP

Katharine Helen Adam, Rodney Claycomb

Quantec Ltd., Waikato Innovation Park

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L & N NEWS

Laurence Eyres FNZIFST and Mike Eyres B.Sc

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OILS & FATS Oils and Fats Update

Laurence Eyres FNZIFST

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GLOBAL FORUM

The UN Food Systems Summit 2021

Anne Perera, FNZIFST

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REPORT

IFT ELN 2021

Sarah Leakey, MNZIFST

42 NZIFST NEWS, INCLUDING:

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2022 Conference News EHEDG

New Members

Branch Events

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STUDENT ESSAY Don’t lean on meat

Helen Liu Student, Massey University, Palmerston North

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

Professional Development Networking – connecting with your peers Regular information about your industry

Minister of Research and Science, Hon Dr Megan Woods and her Associate Minister, Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall have released their Government Green Paper “Te Aranga Paerangi – Future Pathways”. Allan Main reviews the paper from his Techie viewpoint.

Note that all opinions expressed are the author’s personal views and should not be attributed to any other party or entity.

Photo 10479643 / Farm New Zealand © Dennis Richardson | Dreamstime.com

Recognition through awards, scholarships, travel grants

Next editorial and advertising deadline: January 20, 2022

www.nzifst.org.nz/join/

Features for February/March 2022 Overview: Laboratory consumables and equipment, rapid analysis technologies and instrumentation Research report from Callaghan Innovation

April/May 2021

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Editorial

EDITORIAL We all know that change is inevitable and although adapting to change can be challenging the end result can be surprisingly rewarding. In pondering on what to write for this editorial I mused that perhaps the Food Industry is in the midst of unprecedented (I love that word) change. I know, that's a big call given the occurrence of historical technological innovations such as the invention of machine power or refrigeration, or the occurrence of social movements such as the 40–hour week and the rise of worker rights, or the advent of political changes such as the opening of markets or economic changes such as free trade agreements.

However, the challenges and changes currently facing the food industry, both locally and globally, are not trivial.

They include complex and wide ranging issues such as the impact of climate change on food production and security, the rapid increase in awareness, expectations and actions focused on enhancing sustainability and how this will impact on what foods are produced and where and how they are produced, processed, packaged, marketed and distributed. There are also the, as yet, unclear implications associated with living with the SARS-

Phil Bremer, President NZIFST

CoV-2 virus in the community and how its presence will impact on food processing and how this, in turn may impact on market access. Other more narrowly focused changes include technological innovations such as the whole genome sequencing and advances in bioinformatics. These will continue to change the way in which foodborne disease outbreaks are detected, contained and resolved as well as facilitating the identification of the source of the outbreak and helping in the determination of what went wrong. Consideration must also be given to social and environmental concerns which have resulted in the increasing need for food rescue organisations which play an important role in feeding the hungry and preventing food going to landfall.

It is self-evident that any one of the issues or challenges mentioned above has the potential to dramatically impact on the direction and actions of the food industry. When it is considered that many of these issues are interrelated, their impact on the food industry over the next few years becomes impossible to predict. Indeed when considering this point, I was reminded of a recent interview I heard on National Radio, during which an economist (presumably a “leading” or “top” one as they seem to be the only ”experts” worthy of being interviewed) freely stated that when it comes to predicting market trends they frequently get the timing, magnitude and direction of change wrong. Hence, if you have read thus far, in the expectation that I have an answer, I am afraid that I will disappoint. I am not able to predict the future, but I do feel confident in predicting that the food industry in 2 or 5 or 10 years’ time will be substantially different from what it is today.

As NZIFST members, many of you will have a role to play in informing, shaping, managing and adapting to the coming changes. I sincerely believe that the connections, relationships and knowledge you develop through the NZIFST will help to maximise the gains while minimising the pains associated with change.

In closing, while there appears to be some debate on whether the phrase “May you live in interesting times” is a curse or a blessing, such are the times we are living in. I wish you all well.

Phil Bremer, FNZIFST, President, NZIFST

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Newsbites

Newsbites Newsbites 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.

Onion industry gets a boost Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has announced a government investment of $2.83 million in a programme to enhance the competitive advantage of New Zealand’s onion industry.

Last year, onions brought $137 million of export revenue into the country. The industry is targeting a $31 million increase in export value by 2027.

Onions New Zealand and the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures (SFF Futures) fund will jointly invest $6.02 million in a six-year integrated programme called "Humble to Hero: Transforming the New Zealand Onion Industry.

Kudos Awards Finalist, Dr Megan Grainger, is focused on defining a signature ‘fingerprint’ for New Zealand manuka honey to discriminate it against non-New Zealand honeys

Manuka Honey fingerprint scientist recognised As a university student Megan isolated and identified MGO, the compound behind the Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) which indicates the honey’s special qualities. She went on to develop the first model to predict MGO concentration from freshly harvested honey, a tool now used heavily by apiarists. Her work has also refined understanding of a key test used to detect adulteration of honey and she is focused on defining a signature ‘fingerprint’ for New Zealand manuka honey, exploring the cause of an enzyme reaction which is used as an indicator of poorly stored honey; and examining the cumulative impact of toxins on bee health. This is fascinating work on an indigenous, and valuable, New Zealand product.

The Kudos Science Excellence Awards is New Zealand's premier regional science competition, recognising top scientists from the Greater Waikato Region and Bay of Plenty. This year the gala awards dinner takes place in Hamilton on December 2.

"The programme will work with industry, by investing in targeted research and boosting sustainable growing practices,” Damien O’Connor said.

“Consumers around the globe are increasingly looking for values-based products that are light on the environment and sustainably produced.

This programme seeks to differentiate our onions from those produced in the rest of the world,” Damien O’Connor said.

“We’re aiming to be the champion nation for producing top-quality onions with low inputs. This will include showing we have a reliable and traceable product, tackling industry greenhouse gas emissions, exploring smarter options to reduce waste, and embedding sustainable growing systems more widely. Each of these will add layers of value to discerning consumers.

“The ‘Humble to Hero’ programme complements our 'Fit For a Better World roadmap to increase exports, lower emissions, improve the environment and employ more people in the food and fibre sector – helping to boost economic recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic."

“Through the SFF Futures the Government has to date co-invested more than $142 million into 163 industry projects worth almost $313 million in total.”

Damien O’Connor said New Zealand has been exporting onions since the 1960s.

December 2021/January 2022

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Newsbites

Producing cannabinoid extract – new technology

The Ligar bead, centre of new technology for extracting Cannabinoids from Cannabis

Ligar, a New Zealand-based deep-tech company and Maratek, a Canadian-based engineering company, have partnered to launch a revolutionary cannabis purification system that uses world-first molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) to selectively target and capture cannabinoid molecules to produce a higher quality extract, more efficiently, safely and economically.

The high-performance cannabis system was unveiled at MJBizCon in Las Vegas, the world’s largest B2B cannabis event. The successful launch follows an extensive research and development programme which includes numerous scientific breakthroughs, including the development of "smart" MIP beads, which can be optimised to target and recover high-value molecules and remove contaminants in fluids across a wide range of food applications.

The boom in cannabis production led Ligar, one of the first companies in the world to manufacture MIPs at scale, to apply its novel purification technology to cannabis extraction. Joining forces with Maratek, a market leader in engineered cannabis and hemp extraction equipment, the partners have developed a cannabis MIP system that can produce large volumes of cannabis extract at a higher quality and lower cost than traditional complex manufacturing processes.

The MIPs capture cannabinoids from crude extracts while letting the fats, waxes, lipids and contaminants pass through – eliminating the need for winterisation and distillation. The result is a high-quality full-spectrum concentrated Mipillate™ extract that contains all of the different cannabinoid types present in the crude extract, including the acid forms.

Ligar’s Managing Director, Aiden Tapping says, “We’re extremely proud to be bringing our MIP system to the cannabis extraction market in partnership with Maratek.”

Nigel Slaughter, chief exploration officer of Ligar, says the Ligar team has been working on its cannabinoid processing systems for over six years, with many thousands of hours of development time, trials, analysis, testing, system design, and regulatory compliance processes.

“Our many pilot trials, from benchtop scale to large volume processing, have helped us design and manufacture systems that optimise MIP performance and are automated for simple operation. We’ve also demonstrated we can manufacture the MIP beads consistently at scale using methods that maintain international food contact compliance approvals.”

The reusability of the MIPs has been tested over thousands of process cycles. Each 1mm MIP bead in the system contains around ten quintillion (100,000,000,000,000,000) molecular binding sites, all shaped like the target molecule. The MIP beads trap molecules and filter them out, and then the beads are flushed out and reused.

Aiden Tapping concludes, “A decade ago, we started with some fantastic science and a concept that worked in the lab – with powders that are difficult to use – and have progressed through to a commercial deeptech product manufactured in a user-friendly bead format. Today, Ligar is recognised globally as being at the forefront of molecularly imprinted polymer technology, thanks to the incredible support from our loyal and dedicated team who have developed world-leading expertise on manufacturing and using MIPs at scale, and our fantastic partners and investors.

“We’re excited for the future as we have a highly versatile MIPs platform technology for capturing and removing molecules for a wide range of applications. Ligar is already gearing up to launch the next application of its technology which, for the first time, allows winemakers to effectively remediate wine tainted by wildfire smoke, specifically removing the smoke molecules while retaining the positive characteristics.”

Northfork and New World launch online shoppable recipes service Foodstuffs has partnered with top recipe shopping technology provider, Northfork, to provide shoppable recipes through their New World stores, integrating Northfork’s technology to deliver customer-facing shoppable recipes on its online shopping website, alongside meal planning functionality.

Thanks to Northfork’s easy-to-implement widgets, the rollout of the new technology at New World has been rapid and painless. Paul Bartlett, head of customer products said, "We searched the globe for a partner with the right level of data sophistication and future thinking technology that would enable the rich customer experience we were looking for and Northfork exceeded our expectations in that regard”.

Erik Wallin, co-founder of Northfork, said: “New World’s strategic, structured approach and best-in-class validation criteria meant we could move ahead rapidly with the implementation. Our widgets

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Food New Zealand

are designed to deliver a fast, efficient process that swiftly puts Northfork’s technology and expertise into clients' hands."

Pippa Prain, head of marketing and customer experience at New World, explains: “This is a key strategic initiative that will inspire customers to discover new recipes and enjoy the weekly shop like never before, they can now add all ingredients from each recipe to their cart in one click, making online shopping fast! Plus, you can see all the nutritional information and how much each recipe is estimated to cost – so you can manage your budget even easier.

Despite being on opposite sides of the world, the partnership has been extremely effective. So much so, in fact, that the partners are already discussing further ways in which Northfork’s technology can continue to support New World’s position as a leading grocery retailer and deliver multiple benefits to their customers, suppliers and third-party publishers.

Newsbites

The VERYX® belt-fed digital sorters from Key Technology are specifically designed to benefit fruit and vegetable processors producing multiple products

Key Digital Sorters for wet-end vegetable processing “In order to fully utilise their factories, many fruit and vegetable processors will typically handle three or more seasonal products throughout the year. In high changeover environments processors need production flexibility. The VERYX digital sorter is field proven to help customers achieve consistent sort performance and ensure product quality, day in and day out,” said Heat and Control Sales and Operations Manager of New Zealand, Scott Burrows.

Veryx is the world’s only belt-fed sorter that can inspect product entirely in-air with top and bottom sensors in order to detect and eliminate all foreign material (FM) or reject the exact amount of product defects to make grade.

The units can be configured to sort virtually any product. Recipes can be uploaded for each product type and/or for each final product specification, as defined by the processor.

For processors of both canned and frozen vegetables who are sorting a variety of wet products prior to blanching, Key tailors each beltfed sorter with sensors, sensor positions, lighting, ejection system, product handling and software dedicated to the processor’s products and objectives. Capable of detecting colour, size, shape and structural properties of every object, including the presence or absence of chlorophyll, Veryx removes insects, animal parts, paperboard, wood, rocks, plastics, glass and extraneous vegetative matter (EVM) such as weeds and other plant materials, as well as product defects.

Different sizes are available to satisfy a range of production capacity requirements.

Essential for all processors, especially those handling a variety of different products, Key’s expertise in both sorting and product handling enables them to design the ideal integrated system for each application.

Data about the sort process and about each and every object flowing through the sorter, whether the data is used to make sort decisions or not, is available to reveal patterns, trends and associations. This data can help a processor better manage incoming raw materials and optimise processes upstream and downstream of the sorter to achieve the next level in operational efficiency.

About Heat and Control Established in 1950, Heat and Control is a privately-owned company with a global team that has built an extensive knowledge bank and developed a wealth of experience and expertise. Access to production and technical support from a network of engineers, food technicians, field service technicians, skilled tradespeople, and support teams provide food manufacturers with confidence to achieve production goals. www.heatandcontrol.com December 2021/January 2022

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Newsbites

Halal certified red meat exports jump Shortage of Muslim butchers Halal-certified red meat exports increased 13% during the 2020-2021 season with most product going to non-Muslim markets, according to an analysis by the Meat Industry Association (MIA).

New Zealand exported a total of 471,072 tonnes of halal product during the season (12 months ending 30 September) – 46.5% of total red meat and offal exports. This compared to 417,323 tonnes during 20192020.

Demand has more than doubled since 2015-2016, when halal-certified red meat exports totalled 232,328 tonnes.

Halal certification is a market access requirement in regions such as the Middle East, whereas in other countries, certification is a response to consumer demand.

Sirma Karapeeva, chief executive of MIA, said the growth in halalcertified exports highlighted the critical importance of the halal sector and its small but important workforce in New Zealand. “As an industry, we need some 250 qualified Muslim butchers in order to operate halal processing at capacity.

Our challenge is that New Zealand’s Muslim community is very small and it limits our opportunities to fully recruit domestically.

2022 MIA Scholarships available Applications close 8 December Students considering a future career in New Zealand’s red meat industry are encouraged to apply for a 2022 Meat Industry Association (MIA) Scholarship.

Applications are now open for four MIA undergraduate scholarships, providing $5,000 a year for each year of study, and one post-graduate award of $10,000 a year for each year of study up to a maximum of three years for both. The association also runs a mentoring programme connecting the scholars with industry leaders.

MIA chief executive Sirma Karapeeva says the programme is aimed at scholars from across a wide range of study areas, who are looking to contribute their skills to New Zealand’s largest manufacturing industry.

“Our scholarships provide a great pathway into a productive, innovative and progressive sector. Attracting skilled people and supporting their development is essential to the success of the industry. That in turn is critical to the prosperity and wealth of the country.

“The red meat industry is New Zealand’s second largest goods

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Food New Zealand

Approximately 100 New Zealand resident halal workers are recruited each year through a national recruitment drive."

“Despite this, we have to look to migrant workers to fill the remaining approximately 150 halal butcher positions around the country, which represent less than 1% of the total meat industry workforce, but contribute to around 40% of our sector’s export revenue.

COVID-19 has made this increasingly difficult. “In discussions with government, we have consistently set out the arguments for allowing a very small number of migrants to come to New Zealand to support our industry to continue to contribute to New Zealand’s economic wellbeing.

“While the Government made some changes to immigration settings with the residence pathway in September, the industry is seeking an enduring solution that would facilitate the entry of migrant halal butchers such as a special visa category for them.”

“Halal processing is now a cornerstone of the industry’s business model of breaking down the carcass and the flexibility to export different cuts from a single carcass to the best-returning markets.

“This focus on meeting the needs of a wide range of global consumers has proved critical during the COVID-19 crisis when meat processing and exporting companies were able to re-direct exports away from markets under pressure and weather the worst of the global disruption.”

exporter and its importance to the economy has been underlined by its resilience and continued strong performance during the global pandemic.”

Current MIA scholars range from undergraduates in their first year of study through to those undertaking Masters or PhD programmes.

They include students of agribusiness, commerce, marketing, food sciences, veterinary science, engineering law, design technology, and musculoskeletal health.

Scholars may also have the opportunity of part-time or vacation work in the meat industry.

More than 25,000 people work across a wide range of jobs in meat processing throughout New Zealand and predominantly in the regions. The industry provides very competitive salaries, long-term employment and strong career pathways.

It is also one of the biggest trainers of New Zealand workers, with approximately 4,500 people undergoing NZQA accredited courses annually.

Scholarship applications must be submitted by 8 December. For further details and to download an application form, see the ‘Join the Industry’ section at www.mia.co.nz, or contact Kaylene Larking on 04 473 6465.

Newsbites

Using House of Science kits students learn about acids and bases, pH and indicators and make a pH indicator from red cabbage

Schools Science programme looking for sponsors House of Science is a charitable trust which provides primary and intermediate schools with fun, hands-on, science resource kits. The goal is to empower teachers to deliver great science lessons, which inspire their students’ interest and understanding of science.

Founder of House of Science, Chris Duggan, was recently interviewed

by The Project for their Change Maker series: Change Maker – The charity "all about raising scientific literacy" in young Kiwis | Newshub Despite its importance, science is not directly funded in primary and intermediate schools, and we’re now seeing less than 50% of schools having a satisfactory science programme (ERO 2021).

House of Science bridges this gap by providing comprehensive, bilingual science resources to primary and intermediate schools and professional learning for teachers. Science is critical for our economy – these children are the workforce of the future.

In 2020, a pilot was run with 5 schools, 35 teachers and 931 students in a new region. The quantitative and qualitative data collected overwhelmingly demonstrated that the House of Science programme had a positive impact on student learning, attitudes to science and teaching capacity. As a result of that pilot, a new branch opened in that region this year, and it’s growing fast.

Teachers love the kits, as they provide all the resources they need to do 5 or more activities with 30 students. There are currently 38 kits available, with more in development.

House of Science kits enable students to learn how the senses of sight, smell and taste work together to give flavour to foods role of gelatine in thickening foods, extract gluten from different flours and observe how heat can change the texture, taste and nutritional content of popcorn. There are even dried crickets to taste!

• Development of Mighty Microbes was funded by the NZ Microbiological Society. Students learn about good and harmful microbes, the human microbiome and good handwashing. They learn about the use of microbes to produce foods, make yoghurt and ferment yeast in an incubator.

• Moo to You was developed in collaboration with DairyNZ. Students learn about milk production from pasture, grow pasture and make silage. They learn the difference between monogastric and ruminant digestion, the nutritional value of mammalian milks and plant-based “milks”. They’re introduced to the composition of cow’s milk, the effect of homogenisation on milk and the difference between raw and heat- treated milk.

House of Science currently operates in sixteen regions around he country, from the Far North to Christchurch, with four new branches planned for next year. Their kits are heavily subsidised, so cost is no barrier for any school, ensuring equity. Industry and community support, through sponsorship, helps keep costs low and is a great way of giving back to your local community, and introducing young people to the science of food.

• In Sweet & Sour students learn about acids and bases, pH and indicators. They make sherbet, pH indicator from red cabbage and test the pH of common foods.

If you’re interested in sponsoring a kit or your local branch, donating food ingredients or helping in some other way, refer https:// houseofscience.nz for contact details. Or contact Jenny Dee, who is the Manager of the Hawke’s Bay branch of House of Science, jenny.dee@ houseofscience.nz. All donations will be gratefully received. Our thanks to Davis Food Ingredients, who have donated ingredients for the Food for Thought kit.

• In Super Sense students learn how the senses of sight, smell and taste work together to give flavour to foods.

All contributions will be gratefully received, and supporters acknowledged on our homepage.

• Food for Thought was developed in collaboration with the Riddet Institute. Students make curds and whey, learn about the

Our thanks to Davis Food Ingredients, Hawkins Watts, Hansells Masterton and Gregg’s for their support.

Five kits are related to the food processing industry.

December 2021/January 2022

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Newsbites

Oterra™ appoints Caldic as distribution partner Oterra has appointed Caldic New Zealand Ltd as its distribution partner for its world leading range of natural colours and colouring foods. The exclusive partnership agreement with Caldic will create new opportunities for Oterra’s natural colour portfolio by expanding its reach across New Zealand. Oterra, formerly known as Chr. Hansen Natural Colors, is the global leader of naturally sourced colours for food, beverages, dietary supplements and pet food.

The Caldic team has a reputation for efficient and high-quality service across New Zealand with leading manufacturers in food, beverage, and petfood industries. Customers will have access to Oterra’s indepth knowledge and insights about pigments and applications, while Caldic brings vast experience in product development and exceptional customer service to the table. Together this supports customer innovation and accelerates go-to-market strategies.

leading solution provider of dairy, bakery, savoury, nutritional and beverage ingredients, with an experienced team to assist in managing the promotion and distribution of Oterra. They are the ideal partner in our local market, with established relationships with manufacturers and a successful track record in driving market growth of high-quality products.”

Caldic New Zealand’s Managing Director Steve Crockett said: “We are delighted to be appointed as Oterra’s distribution partner. New Zealand food manufacturers are looking for plant-based and natural colour solutions, supported by good technical knowledge in order to get the most vibrant and stable colours possible. Oterra’s colour range fit this brief perfectly. With the assistance of the Oterra colour specialists and Caldic’s local food technologists, we look forward to partnering Oterra and our customers to develop a wide variety of food innovations.”

Oterra ANZ Business Unit Manager, Faye Bowyer said: “Caldic is a

Hawke's Bay branch for New Zealand Food Network The New Zealand Food Network (NZFN) has opened its Hastings operation, enabling it to provide an even greater level of support for food insecure communities throughout the region, in the wake of New Zealand’s second nationwide lockdown and resulting surges in demand.

The new branch, the NZFN’s third, has been launched in partnership with T&G Fresh, one of the Network’s founding food donors, which has donated its premises to the cause, and will be helping to facilitate donations and surplus fresh produce from local growers in the region.

It will not only service the Hawke’s Bay region including Waipukurau, the East Coast and inland rural areas that have traditionally been hard to reach, but also Tairāwhiti/Gisborne, Manawatū, Palmerston North and the rest of the lower North Island.

The branch will support six of the NZFN’s existing food hubs including Nourished for Nil, The Salvation Army, Hastings and Just Zilch, amongst others – through which it will reach approximately

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74,000 Kiwis a month, a number that will continue to grow as more food hubs join.

T&G Global Chief Executive, Gareth Edgecombe, says “T&G is really pleased to be extending our partnership with New Zealand Food Network through our Fairgrow charity, supporting NZFN’s mission to provide greater support within the Hawke’s Bay region and to other lower North Island communities. As Aotearoa’s leading fresh produce company, T&G is committed to ensuring fresh fruit and vegetables can be donated to people across Aotearoa who need it most, and we are proud to be extending this support even further via our Fairgrow charity.”

The NZFN acts as New Zealand’s food rescue facilitator, collecting and safely storing bulk food donations, with food then able to be requested on an as-needed basis (and at no cost) by over 50 food hubs around the country, without compromising their existing supply channels. Since its launch in July 2020, it has rescued and redistributed over 4.4 million kilos of food and provided over 12.5 million meal equivalents.

Overview

Overview: Analytical, food safety and consulting services Food New Zealand takes a closer look at services to our industry that support food safety, new product development, processing advances and laboratory systems, among other requirements.

The important business of food safety AsureQuality New Zealand has a global reputation for a high standard of quality and safety in food, with our food producers working hard every day to protect this. Because of their hard work and dedication, it can be easy to overlook the invisible hours that go into making sure that the food we eat is safe and true-to-label. If correct food safety principles are not applied at all points in the food supply chain or production process, the consequences can be catastrophic, compromising the safety of customers and causing potentially irreparable damage to a brand’s reputation. The seriousness of such a situation is extremely challenging for any business whilst simultaneously managing the enormous task and cost of product recalls to remove potential for further harm.

Aotearoa’s producers and manufacturers are very aware of these consequences and work hard to ensure they are safeguarding not only their customers, but also their own and New Zealand’s reputation.

AsureQuality’s nationwide team supports food businesses through a broad range of food assurance services including industry training, audit, certification, and laboratory testing services.

The new global and local regulatory focus on having a good food safety culture highlights that food safety is everyone’s business. Having staff trained to understand food safety hazards and who are committed to a food safety culture is key for minimising these risks. The AsureQuality Academy is a Private Training Establishment (PTE) holding a Category 1 status with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) and providing a wide range of industry training for the food sector. Their courses include Building a Food Safety Culture, Auditing, and HACCP which support businesses in keeping their staff well trained and their customers safe.

AsureQuality’s Laboratories provide a comprehensive range of testing services to support food producers and exporters in meeting food safety, supplier, and Overseas Market Access Requirements. Their laboratory facilities are ISO/IEC 17025 accredited, with government and customer approvals providing a full range of microbiology and chemistry testing services. They offer next day microbiology testing results for Listeria, Salmonella, Cronobacter, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Coliforms and Enterobacteriaceae, with next day confirmation for Listeria, Salmonella and Cronobacter. They also provide an accredited FT-NIR testing service for fat, protein, ash, and moisture.

December 2021/January 2022

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Overview

Catalyst Intellectual Property Catalyst Intellectual Property is a vibrant and energetic team of senior practitioners, all with proven track records in intellectual property protection, strategy, management, and commercialisation.

We understand the IP needs of the food industry well, and are proud to have several major New Zealand food industry companies as our clients, including The a2 Milk Company, Synlait Milk, and Goodman Fielder.

In addition to our experience in private practice at large New Zealand and Australian firms, we have also previously held inhouse roles in industry and universities. Greg Lynch was previously an in-house patent attorney at Nestlé’s headquarters in Switzerland and was immersed in a range of food-related technologies.

Garth Hendry was the IP Manager at Otago Innovation Limited (the commercial arm of the University of Otago) for six years. John Mansell and David Koedyk make up our team of experienced advisors specialising in technology innovation in the biotechnology and chemistry fields. Toby Larsson Hogman and Laura Hollingsworth are our experts in manufacturing, product design, packaging and other engineering technologies.

We enjoy flexible and proactive partnerships with our clients.

Whether you need advice on inventions, patents, registered designs, copyright, trade secrets, trademarks and branding, or technology commercialisation agreements – we can help. We also have extensive experience with IP portfolio management, freedom to operate analysis, IP strategy development, IP due diligence and auditing, as well as licence agreements and other forms of technology transfer agreements.

If you think your idea is worth protecting, get in touch. We would be pleased to help.

Assured Audits New Zealand Ltd Looking to change your food safety verification agency, or about to apply for registration of your Food Control Plan or National Programme and need the programme evaluated or verified?

If so, Assured Audits can help guide you through the process.

We're a proudly kiwi owned food industry focused audit company that has been working with small to medium New Zealand businesses since 2002.

We work throughout New Zealand, bringing strong technical and practical expertise to food safety management programme verifications/evaluations. Our experienced team can provide sector focused services covering most food and beverage products and manufacturing processes.

When you work with us you can expect a seamless evaluation or verification service. This starts with your initial enquiry, right through to completion of the evaluation or verification process.

You will generally deal with the same person from the moment you decide to nominate us as your regulatory auditors/verifiers. That's because we believe in forming strong relationships and want to partner with you over the long term, to achieve your business goals.

IANZ and ISO 17020 Accredited/ MPI Recognised To assure you of our competence and professional standing, we undergo independent annual audits of our food safety management programme auditing systems, quality systems, and auditors.

Understanding your business – valuing long term partnerships

We hold ISO 17020 accreditation with IANZ as an Inspection Body, together with Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) recognition as Food Act verifiers and evaluators.

Being owner operators ourselves, we understand what it means to provide a quality, efficient and personal service.

Get in touch now via our website (www.assuredaudits.co.nz) to discuss your requirements.

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Food New Zealand

Overview

Callaghan Innovation As New Zealand’s crown agency for innovation, Callaghan Innovation empowers food and beverage businesses with services ranging from targeted Research and Development (R&D) support, to grants and networking opportunities.

Callaghan Innovation’s Biotechnologies team are experts in helping Kiwi companies develop new food and health products derived from sources such as dairy, plants, and honey into high-value nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, pharmaceuticals, and food ingredients.

They provide world-leading science and skills to help businesses optimise manufacturing processes and get products to market faster.

For example, Callaghan Innovation’s experts can help protect your products against food fraud with their Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Food Screener, and help you validate claims with specialist lipid analysis, including phospholipids.

Formula Foods – Shelf Life Testing Managing shelf life and the impact of technological advancements The globalisation of the supermarket – where “in season” has become a moot term – is a result of the drastic increase in product shelf life through the technological leaps-and-bounds of packaging.

So, what is shelf life? Shelf life is the recommended maximum time that a product can be stored while remaining fit for use, consumption, or sale. This assumes proper conditions are maintained and is determined through the degradation mechanisms specifically applicable to the product. Factors like moisture, light, or transmission of gases are considered as parameters during the modelling process. For food and beverage producers and packaging companies, ensuring a long and stable shelf life is a necessity to remaining competitive within their markets.

For products like red meat, seafood, pasta, cheese, and baked goods, modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) has been the

The Biotechnologies team have increasingly worked with companies looking to operate more sustainably by reducing or re-purposing waste products. This work is valuable in protecting New Zealand’s natural environment, and often has the additional advantage of boosting productivity or creating additional revenue streams.

Award-winning Wairarapa producer, The Olive Press, has worked with Callaghan Innovation to clean up effluent waste. Now, it is clean enough to not only be discharged but also used in a trademarked supplement and bulk animal feed.

In the Hawke’s Bay, the Parkers Beverages Company have recently secured an R&D grant to explore how their craft beer waste stream could be repurposed into fermented products like vinegars.

If you’re looking to get a new food product to market, validate a new claim, or reduce your product’s waste, head to www. callaghaninnovation.govt.nz

unseen, but not unsung, hero in extending product shelf life and helping suppliers to reduce food waste. MAP technology functions by modifying the gas surrounding a packaged good with a blend of oxygen, carbon dioxide, or nitrogen whose composition is specifically controlled to meet the needs of each product. However, despite the effectiveness of MAP, package integrity remains key to ensuring that the materials used are high-quality and effectively meet applicable standards.

Ametek Mocon is an industry leader in package testing instruments, including permeation analysers, headspace gas analysers, leak detectors, and on-line MAP gas analysers and gas mixers. Their commitment to package testing takes you from QC at your lab to the packaging line where analysers actively assist with the QA of each product.

Interested in learning more about how Ametek Mocon can help prolong your products' shelf life? Contact the team at Formula Foods who will support you in discovering the shelf life of your product, and ensuring your package is appropriate for the job.

December 2021/January 2022

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Overview

ESR ESR offers a service (GenomESR) that combines the use of state-of-art sequencing technology and scientific expertise, to help identify sources of bacterial contamination of food and water, and identify areas where control measures are needed.

Foodborne illness affects the health of many New Zealanders each year. The potential impact of foodborne outbreaks on a food business can also be devastating, bringing serious economic loss and potentially affecting New Zealand’s international reputation as a food-producing nation.

Harmful or ‘pathogenic’ bacteria can enter the food chain at any point. Finding the source of pathogenic bacteria in the food chain is important to minimise illness and control outbreaks.

Next-generation sequencing technology provides a fast and cost-effective way to determine the entire DNA make-up or ‘whole genome sequence” (WGS) of a microorganism.

Analysis of genome data can accurately identify microorganism species and explain the genetic relationship between microorganism isolates, improving the ability to detect and trace pathogen sources and help solve contamination problems.

For example, the WGS of Listeria monocytogenes or Cronobacter sakasakii from food can be compared with ingredient and food processing surface samples from other food processing sources.

WGS analysis of samples collected over a longer time period can also identify whether a contamination event within a production environment is due to a persistent or new microorganism.

ESR is a partner of PulseNet International (PulseNet Aotearoa), an international network of laboratories dedicated to tracking enteric foodborne infectious diseases and is also partner of the New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre.

ESR is a New Zealand Crown Research Institute specialising in science related to communities including food safety. We help safeguard people’s health, protect food-based economies, improve the safety of freshwater and groundwater resources, and contribute expert forensic science to justice systems.

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Food New Zealand

Foods Connected Foods Connected is a transformative Supply Chain Management Software created by food professionals, for food professionals. Our one-stop-shop software solutions give customers the control to manage and track performance across their food business, ensuring that they have the right supplier, the right product and the right quality, at the best price possible.

The Foods Connected platform is compiled of 7 intuitive solutions across Food Safety and Quality, CSR, Procurement and Supply Chain, Reporting and Analytics, Specifications and NPD, Supplier Compliance and Traceability.

Our system is fully configurable to meet customer needs. Each of our solutions is designed to work independently but with the ability to integrate with the rest of the system as well as with existing ERP’s and other internal systems.

Foods Connected is 100% paperless and mobile, allowing users to view the status

of checks, manage supplier information and analyse real time reports with ease whether on-site or in the office, without the masses of paper! Additionally, our powerful BI dashboards provide the information, reports, and insight customers need, when they need it, in a clear, visual, and user-friendly format.

Our 60+ years of combined experience working with food manufacturers, food retailers and food service providers of all sizes, means we understand the changing problems and opportunities that the food industry faces and have designed ready-made simple but innovative solutions to quickly deliver value. As well as this we have a team of dedicated implementation managers on hand to offer tailored training and ensure that the transition of your data on to our digital platform is a breeze!

We pride ourselves on our customer retention rate with a global customer base, delivering a system that is driving modern food businesses forward, increasing efficiency and keeping food operations as simple as possible.

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Overview

foodinc Want to be proactive and improve the Health Star Rating of your food?

Need help formulating a new product, or reformulating an existing one?

Are you about to design and build a new factory, or develop new process and plant?

What about your Food Safety and (or) Risk Management Plan - time to update?

You will find the support you need amongst the members of foodinc. foodinc is a network of independent food technology consultants, operating since 1997. All members are respected experts in their fields and adhere to a strict code of ethics, hence confidentiality is guaranteed.

Primarily based in Auckland, they work all over New Zealand and overseas and can operate as individuals or as a team of experts with complementary skills.

Foodinc has a strategic alliance with the FOODBOWL and consultants are available to clients who are considering using this and other Food Innovation Network facilities. foodinc – your choice of independent food industry experts: Martyn Atack, David Bayliss, Marion Cumming, Anny DentenerBoswell, Wolfgang Hiepe, David Lowry, Cameron Russell.

Please note that we welcome approaches by other experienced independent food industry consultants who have an interest in joining our supportive network.

Visit www.foodinc.co.nz for more information and to contact members of foodinc.

Eurofins Food and Water Testing NZ Really local. Truly global.

Eurofins Food and Water Testing NZ offers an unmatched scope of independent analytical testing and support services to customers across the food, water, and agricultural industries. Our extensive laboratory network is spread nationally with facilities in Auckland, Taupo, Hastings, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, offering customers easy access to all our services.

Through our international network, we draw on a portfolio of over 200,000 analytical methods for characterising the safety, identity, purity, composition, authenticity, and origin of food and agricultural products. Our testing services are supported by the highest level of scientific expertise, fast turnaround times, and competitive pricing and include: microbiology, food nutrition, general chemistry, pesticide residues, potable and process water, environmental and physical and chemical contaminants.

We believe in listening to, and working closely with our customers to understand their needs,

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Food New Zealand

and delivering tailor-made solutions to help them achieve their goals. We offer the dairy, meat, seafood, apiculture, food processing and petfood sectors a unique range of analytical techniques to assure quality and safety standards, and provide solutions to support product development, compliance, and market access.

Our extensive IANZ accreditations in the areas of potable water, sewage and effluent, trade waste and environmental analysis, have enabled us to provide sampling and analytical testing services to councils and other organisations around New Zealand for over 25 years. We offer the full range of 140 drinking water tests for MAV compliance/GV checking.

Eurofins New Zealand has evolved out of local laboratory acquisitions into what it is today; a national collaboration of scientific expertise and innovation, driven by a team with a deep commitment to contributing to a safer and healthier world. While our roots are local, our expertise is global. When you partner with us, you are partnering with an international laboratory network of 900 facilities in 50 countries.

Overview

iMonitor Create a smart manufacturing floor by digitising paper processes Paper-based processes can delay product release times significantly as paper forms typically pass from department to department several times during a single production run. Moreover, food manufacturers often use multiple paper forms during production, each containing the same product information at different stages. On average, a typical production team uses 14 paper-based processes, and a quality assurance team uses 24.

Accelerated product release times The iMonitor manufacturing software eliminates this time-consuming and failure-prone paperwork completely. With the help of iMonitor, food and beverage manufacturers can now create a smart production floor by digitising those paper-based quality and production checks and building intelligent workflows between different departments, enabling them to access data much quicker.

Manufacturers can, therefore, improve process times by reducing

double entries of common data points. For instance, production and laboratory records can be easily collated into one simple workflow, accelerating product release times, reducing warehousing costs and enabling longer shelf life of final products.

As iMonitor stores all data recordings securely in the cloud, manufacturers get full visibility and control of all quality, compliance, and production processes across all production sites to uncover potential process improvements. Rather than entering data into separate platforms like Excel to generate trends, manufacturers now have direct access to all data in one place.

The manufacturing software creates a single source of truth, offering real-time, actionable data insights to analyse trends and prioritise processes. For instance, manufacturers have a complete overview of aggregated production data, such as the number of batches made or the number of issues that have occurred.

Digitisation of paper-based processes on the production floor holds significant opportunities for food and beverage manufacturers in terms of increase in quality, productivity, reduction of waste and business risks.

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Overview Mätt Solutions – Mould Control

cause mould to grow inside, no matter how impermeable the packaging.

With all the innovative food science and modern packaging in the industry, why does mould keep showing up in packaged goods?

Temperature changes can cause a bump in water activity levels. That change means water that was already in the product but unavailable to mould spores becomes available. The result? A mouldy product inside an expensive package.

Mould reproduces by releasing microscopic spores into the air. These spores are like tiny bunkers that protect the mould until environmental conditions are ideal for growth.

Spores – and other microorganisms – are everywhere. The air we breathe, the things we touch, even in the packaged foods we eat – usually in small enough amounts that they won’t matter. But given the right environment, a single mould spore develops into a mat of unappealing fur – often in a day or less.

Looking for solutions to a mould problem in your product? Contact the team at Mätt Solutions. They are experts in protecting against mould growth.

There are numerous tools to protect against mould growth: packaging materials, nitrogen flushes, water activity levels, water content levels, manufacturing methods, killsteps, hurdles, and plenty more. It can be easy to drown in the overlapping variables.

The trend toward natural foods can make the battle against mould even tougher. When consumers demand that preserving ingredients go, food can become vulnerable.

To align with customer desires, companies quickly formulated preservative-free, “clean label” products. But a clean label often comes with a shorter shelf life, and several companies faced issues with mould or unappealing textures. Not all clean label products are at risk. With the right tools and know-how, formulating a natural product with an acceptable shelf life can be fairly simple.

It can seem like a simple and easy solution to over-package the product, but, somewhat counter-intuitively, environmental changes outside can

Produco: Comply with Us Produco provide expert food safety and regulatory compliance consultancy services to dairy, food and beverage, horticulture, honey, seafood and transport industries.

We're highly experienced in assessing the regulations that your products require, meeting standards such as FSSC22000, BRC, SQF, ISO9001 and ensuring compliance to domestic and overseas export regulatory requirements.

Our team of senior quality assurance managers and specialist advisors are agile and capable project managers who deliver your business-critical projects, fill recruitment gaps, and backfill while staff are on other projects.

Our customers span small family-owned operations to large multinationals across Australia and New Zealand.

New Product Development (NPD): We take your concept and turn it into a commercialised, store-ready product conducting reformulation (cost savings), quality improvements (functionality), nutritional development, flavour development, ingredient substitution and developing ‘clean label’ products for your business.

Labelling Requirements | Label Translations: Ensure compliance to domestic and export markets. We hold specialist product category knowledge for infant formula, supplemented foods plus F&B. Auditing: Evaluating your business facility, suppliers, and systems with guidance to remedy defects or non-conformances to create a step change in your organisation.

Incident Management | Product Recall: Have a persistent pathogen? Plastic in your product? We’re highly experienced and skilled at facilitating problem solving workshops.

HACCP Plans | Risk Management Plans | Food Control Plans: Technical leadership designing new, complete plans for greenfield sites, major changes, and improving existing documentation.

Quality Management Systems | Validation: We inspect the outputs of a system/process to ensure it consistently and reliably meets the requirements of your business and customer requirements.

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Food New Zealand

Overview 2021 New Zealand Food Safety review of Food Recall Guidance

Telarc

Food safety issues can arise even in the best managed food business.

Food safety is a growing concern and impacts both consumers and businesses worldwide. While much of the world’s food supply is safe, high profile cases regularly underline the potential danger of food-borne threats. Food related diseases affect tens of millions of people and cause billions in healthcare-related and industry costs annually. The globalisation of the food supply and consolidation in the food retail industry have resulted in the demand for an internationally recognised standard of food safety management.

When a food business identifies a problem in a food that has been distributed or sold, a recall of the affected food may be required from all customers who have received it, including consumers, industry, or both.

New Zealand Food Safety’s Food Compliance group is reviewing its guidance for businesses doing food recalls so they better understand the process and protect their customers' safety.

Once the guidance has been updated, it will be available on our New Zealand Food Safety website.

National Manager Food Compliance Services, Jenny Bishop, says food recalls can be stressful for businesses and the resources will make them easier to navigate.

“These resources will help businesses to understand what to do in a recall, know when to do a recall, and how to carry out effective simulated or mock recalls. We are working closely with the Food and Grocery Council and food businesses on co-designing this guidance and tools. We’d like to thank everyone involved so far."

“If you need help with a food recall, our people can talk you through it. Contact our team, either call our food safety helpline on 0800 00 83 33 or email: food.recalls@ mpi.govt.nz. Ask to speak to the Food Compliance team.”

Find out more about food recalls here: Food recall information for businesses | Food business | NZ Government (mpi.govt.nz)

The Benefits of Certification in the food industry

Third party certification means that an independent organisation has reviewed the processes of a company and has impartially determined that the company's systems comply with specific standards and regulatory requirements for food safety and/ or quality. Certification against a leading internationally recognised management scheme reduces information asymmetries in supply chains, thereby generating a uniformly high and globally understood standard of food processing and production.

Regulatory requirements, including overseas market access, labelling and effective traceability are key areas where we can add our expertise and ensure your business is ready to meet your customer’s demands.

Telarc is New Zealand’s largest auditing body with a strong presence in the beverage industry and a growing market share in food safety management. We conduct audits with expert, experienced individual auditors who are backed with the resources of an industry-leading company. We are also able to verify your regulatory compliance with recognised verifiers in both the food and wine sectors. We are proactive in our approach; ensuring clients can implement and continually improve their system in accordance with the standard, adding value in every visit.

We can help with your HACCP and ISO 22000 certification requirements, GFSI standards (FSSC 22000, BRCGS), regulatory requirements such as Food Act and WSMP verification, and customer audits such as WSE and SQMS. We can integrate these to your quality, health and safety and environmental standards and also assist with other approvals such as GAP. Check our website at www.telarc.co.nz for further information.

December 2021/January 2022

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Food Safety

FSANZ Update Glen Neal, General Manager Risk Management and Intelligence, Food Standards Australia New Zealand

It’s been another bumper 12 months at Te Mana Kounga Kai – Ahitereiria me Aotearoa Alongside the usual crop of applications highlights would have to include: • Completion of our last irradiation for fruit and vegetable application. The Queensland Government application means that we will no longer have to review the safety and benefits of irradiation whenever biosecurity revisions, changes to export patterns or other changes in the horticulture supply chain occur.

Our comprehensive review was tested by more than 450 opposing submissions that raised more than 100 separate issues. Each of those issues was meticulously scrutinised and transparently dealt with through our reporting arrangements. Another victory for a science and risk–based standard setting system.

• Our multi-year review of infant formula is very much up and crawling and some great work by the team to get three consultation papers out should see it confidently walking toward the finish line in 2022.

• Our vision of "World-leading standards, safe food for life" is very much in action via the review of our gene technology requirements. After a careful review and engaging with experts across both countries we have released our step 1-of-2 consultation paper. New breeding techniques challenge our 20 year old standard by producing new food products with no altered DNA. A defunct litmus test isn’t much of a litmus test.

No doubt we will face considerable community input to our proposed way forward and we will have to rise to a significant risk communication challenge.

• Labelling of alcohol continues to keep us occupied and great strides were made on whether to require mandatory energy labelling. Knitting a near-consensus position among highly polarised stakeholders has us well placed to make quick progress on this in 2022 and pick up the work on sugar and carbohydrate claims as well.

• Despite the lingering pandemic we managed to stage a stakeholder event face-to-face and attend an actual conference in-person. Thanks NZIFST for another great event.

Another highlight for me was being invited onto an expert panel to support the R&D programme around the Singapore Food Story.

Singapore is at the start of what could become a remarkable food transformation as they seek to become more ‘food secure’ as a nation.

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Food New Zealand

The FSANZ review of infant formula is very much up and crawling and some great work by the team should see it confidently walking toward the finish line in 2022 Imagining 5.5M people on an island the size of Lake Taupo set amongst a geo-politically ‘vibrant’ region gives you a sense of the challenge.

We have also made great strides in implementing our emerging risk system which empowers our people to contribute any and all intelligence signals that they pick up into a consolidated system, sharing that periodically with stakeholders and regulatory/scientific counterparts – locally and abroad – thus helping ensure we have an informed contemplation of the future that we may be living into. It’s a fun place to hang out – the future.

Apart from the next steps foreshadowed above my predictions for next year include • Completing P1030 – Electrolyte drinks.

• FSANZ will re-define added sugar – surely the food policy equivalent of splitting the atom?

• We will receive an application for cell-based "meat" or "milk"w product.

• We will be asked to clarify rules around ‘meat’ and ‘milk’ labelling.

• More progress on the FSANZ Act review.

It certainly promises to be another enthralling year – hopefully one less disrupted by you-know-what.

On behalf of team FSANZ, I wish you all a safe, relaxing and lock-down free Mere Kirihimete.

Food Safety

New Zealand Food Safety Update In this edition, we’re focusing on Wine and Animal Products Regulatory Redesign and updating on the Plain English Allergen Labelling changes.

Plain English Allergen Labelling – what it means In February 2021, the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code) was amended to introduce new requirements for the labelling of allergens in food. These Plain English Allergen Labelling changes will help ensure mandatory food allergen declarations are clearer and more consistent for consumers.

Businesses have three years from 25 February 2021 to implement the new requirements. During this transition period, food businesses can comply with either the existing allergen declaration requirements in the Code, or the new requirements.

For all foods other than packaged retail foods – the allergen must be declared using a specified name, but bolding and location requirements are not mandatory.

Allergen labelling guidance is being developed by New Zealand Food Safety to explain how information must be provided on packaged foods. The guidance will cover all the rules about declaring allergens on food labels, including the latest plain English updates, and how to follow these. Mistakes on labels around undeclared allergens are the largest cause for food recalls, which is why the guidance will be broader than just the plain English labelling updates.

For more details, visit: • Allergen declarations, warnings, and advisory statements on food labels.

A two-year stock-in-trade period will follow the transition period. Any food packaged and labelled with existing allergen declarations before the end of the transition period may be sold for up to two years after the end of the transition period.

The main changes for packaged retail food are: • declare the allergen using a specified name in bold within the ingredients list; • declare the allergen using a specified name in bold in a separate contains statement; • ensuring wheat as an allergen is distinguished from gluten; • specifying nine tree nuts to be declared; • molluscs to be declared separately to fish and crustacea; • ensuring processing aids are declared in the ingredients list if they contain an allergen.

These requirements include that allergen information is to be declared: • in a specific format and location on food labels; and

• Food and drink labelling and composition rules, which includes our labelling guides for food retail, food service, and manufacturers.

• •

Allergen Bureau.

Food allergen portal.

Wine & Animal Products regulatory redesign As a result of the Food Safety Law Reform Act 2018, New Zealand Food Safety has undertaken a regulatory redesign of regulations and notices under the Animal Products Act 1999 and Wine Act 2003.

The regulatory framework is being redesigned to make it easier for businesses operating under these Acts to find and comply with their legislative requirements – by removing repetition, enhancing accessibility, and making the language easier to understand.

For more details visit the Redesign of Animal Products and Wine Regulations and Notices web page.

• using simple, plain English terms in bold font.

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NZ Food Safety Science & Research – where to next?

This article has been written by NZFSSRC exclusively for Food New Zealand.

Five years on from the establishment of the NZ Food Safety Science & Research Centre (the Centre), views about what is working well in the government-science-industry food safety ecosystem, and what could be improved, have crystallised. At least they have for Dr Catherine McLeod, the outgoing director, who, in just one year, has seen Centre membership and the number of research projects commissioned, double. NZ Apples and Pears recently came on board, bringing the total number of members to 32.

While Cath has her own well-formed opinions, the Centre is canvassing the views of food safety professionals in academia, CRIs, industry, Māori food interests and government, to formulate a national food safety science plan – a process MPI agreed to fund. This is a natural progression of the Centre’s establishment brief: to consolidate and coordinate food safety science and research in New Zealand.

NZFSSRC Director, Cath McLeod is reflecting on the role and achievements of the Centre

What are the issues, what are the priorities, who will manage and coordinate the plan, and how much will it cost? Funding structures have evolved in a way that has led to research being somewhat piecemeal, responding more to immediate concerns than longer term public health goals and emerging risks.

It makes sense to do this exercise in parallel with Minister Woods’ big review of science research funding. Cath is set on having a first draft of the plan on the table by Christmas, and maintaining momentum over the summer holiday doldrums. This plan will be one of her legacies.

As well as taking the lead in this exercise, the Centre recently won a significant tender to participate in MPI’s food safety science panel and provide science and research services to MPI through to 2025. It’s been a very good year.

Cath is leaving in February to become the Cawthron Institute’s Chief Science Officer – an opportunity hard to resist, especially as she already lives in Nelson and is closely connected to the staff there, as well as 22

Food New Zealand

many people in the region’s seafood and aquaculture industries.

What are Cath’s reflections on the role and achievements of the Centre, and their bearing on the embryonic national food safety science plan and future operation of the Centre, which will be reviewed by government in mid-2022?

The funding model Under the Centre’s funding model, members of the Centre must put up half the cost of research in order to get the other half from Government, which includes design and administration of projects by

NZFSSRC

the Centre. Most New Zealand food-producing companies are small and have to stick to business. Few companies have much money to spend on research, and even less under Covid-19 constraints. Research projects that can benefit a whole industry, such as seafood, dairy, meat, horticulture or retail, without compromising any individual player’s competitive advantage, are the practical and affordable way to go.

Outcomes from research commissioned by the Centre in the last year include: • An investigation by Manaaki Whenua into the distribution, levels and form of cadmium and lead in terrestrial and aquatic environments is supporting on-going US market access for Greenshell™ mussels.

• Massey University and ESR have investigated the sources of Campylobacter on poultry farms, providing important clues on where industry and government can improve practices with a view to reducing Campylobacter prevalence and human infections.

• The Cawthron Institute developed an analytical method for cereulide so that companies can now test their foods to check that they are free of this emetic toxin and safe to eat.

Industry support and partnership Early last year, the Centre formed an Industry Advisory Group (IAG) to identify common food safety issues and prioritise research. Dr Philip Wescombe, of Oceania Dairy Limited and Westland Dairy Company Limited, who manages the Yili Innovation Centre at Lincoln University, presides over the group. He is very buoyant about the spirit of collaboration with the group, which now has more than 30 companies/ associations covering the majority of food sectors. The group and its subset taskforces for dairy, horticulture, poultry and seafood, are not just ‘talkfests’, but have direct practical value. Philip emphasises that the funders of research projects are, where possible, sharing the results with all Centre members.

"An excellent example is the establishment of the Emerging Risk Identification System (ERIS), which is a two-year commitment, initially, to establish capability to identify and respond to emerging food safety risks that are likely to have an impact in New Zealand. This has been funded by eight members of the IAG, with co-funding from MPI. The monthly updates are made available to the wider membership."

"The larger member companies in the Centre have strongly committed to providing their impressive in-house resources and expertise in food safety to ensure ‘NZ Inc.’ continually improves its food safety practices and this is greatly appreciated by all in the Centre."

While pragmatic and focused, as a member organisation should be, on the immediate concerns of members, Cath would like the Centre to have more of its own money to spend on broader public health issues, such as communication about foodborne health risks to consumers and food service providers, research on the safety of recycled packaging and rescued food, and chemical risk assessments. Cath would also like to see food safety science capability developed further by increasing

the number of PhD students, and encouraging placements of scientists within industry and vice versa. She says Centre host, Massey University, has been very generous in supporting training and Centre management to date but more dedicated funding is required.

Supporting the fast-expanding Māori food economy A significant new area of endeavour has been working out how to support the fast-expanding Māori food economy and the food safety aspirations of whānau, iwi and hapu. This is under consideration in the consultation about the national food safety science plan. Dr Meika Foster, independent Centre Board Member, is providing invaluable advice.

From the outset, the Centre has had Listeria in its crosshairs. It is a persistent and worrying food processing scourge that has caused more than one recall this last year. Through its closely allied research partner, ESR, it is building a database of industry and clinical whole genome samples to better understand the distribution and evolution of the bacteria in New Zealand. This project was featured in the last issue of FoodNZ. The Centre has also surveyed the many test kits on the market to provide a handy online guide for members, saving them having to trawl through the bewildering array available to try to compare the different parameters of cost, ease of use, resolution, etc. https://foodtest.upshift.co.nz/

SARS-CoV-2 The Centre received international credit for being so quick to respond to SARSCoV-2. With Drs Rob Lake and Joanne Kingsbury at ESR, they scoured the information coming in from overseas for any evidence of food-borne transmission of Covid-19. The Centre also issued guidelines for food processors and handlers on the right PPE gear and hygiene protocols.

All this provided important moral support at a very difficult and uncertain time when it looked as if cautious overseas customers might summarily shut our products out, as they did with our crayfish early on.

Joanne Kingsbury from ESR was deeply involved in sourcing knowledge about SARS-CoV-2 — specifically whether it could be transmitted in food

Providing practical professional education to members has been front and ‘centre’ since the idea of webinars took off. These have been extremely well attended, and remain available for viewing on the December 2021/January 2022

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NZFSSRC

PIANZ CEO Michael Brooks says the Centre was the “go-to” body to provide robust science on Salmonella enteritidis

Dr Philip Wescombe, of Oceania Dairy Limited and Westland Dairy Company Limited, presides over the Centre's Industry Advisory Group

Centre’s website. The Covid-disrupted annual meeting programme was ‘e-delivered’, in three-part serial, to a much larger audience, free of charge.

Whole genome sequencing Whole genome sequencing is now a pretty well understood idea in New Zealand – thanks to Covid-19 – but it’s not so easy to understand at the technical, bioinformatics level. The Centre’s Chief Scientist, Distinguished Professor Nigel French, and Dr Lucia Rivas at ESR, are helping food companies learn how to use it, and where it provides the best value. A classic instance of its worth is the recent incursion of Salmonella enteritidis (SE), which was found in a North Island chicken hatchery following a linear increase in clinical cases reported to ESR. SE can infect the reproductive organs of layer hens, thereby contaminating eggs, which if consumed raw/undercooked may make people sick, sometimes very sick. About 40% of reported cases end up in hospital.

With whole genome sequencing, clinical, environmental and food samples can be compared. An exact match does not definitively prove cause and effect, but if the bacterial sequence from the infected person and the food in question is the same or very similar, it is very strong evidence that the person has actually eaten that food.

Working with MPI and Poultry Industry Association The Centre has been working side by side with MPI and the Poultry Industry Assn of NZ (PIANZ) on an eradication strategy for SE. PIANZ CEO Michael Brooks says the Centre was the “go-to” body to provide robust science to inform the operational decisions made by MPI. Says Michael, “It was important for our industry that an independent body with quality expertise was involved in that process.”

Vince Arbuckle, MPI’s Deputy Director General for NZ Food Safety, new to the position when the outbreak began, says he found the role of the Centre as broker, giving immediate access to the relevant scientific expertise, and also having a deep understanding of how the poultry industry operates, invaluable. “They had all the relationships in place.

Cath was able to connect me with experts in Australia and Canada who had dealt with outbreaks of SE and knew what worked.”

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Food New Zealand

Vince Arbuckle, MPI’s Deputy Director General for NZ Food Safety finds the Centre invaluable to inform MPI decisions

The actions to get rid of it seem to be working as there have been no clinical cases since June 2021. But no one is calling it over as yet.

Consumers and food service providers have been advised to refrigerate and cook their eggs well until further notice. The Centre helped communicate the facts to consumers in a widely distributed Stuff article.

With regard to the on-farm Campylobacter study that the Centre is coordinating, Michael Brooks says, “I understand this is world leading in its use of genomic sampling. It has been an excellent collaborative process and has identified some new information about on-farm sources of Campylobacter. The detailed work on various control points throughout the production chain, both in primary and secondary processing, has enabled the trial plants to really focus on where improvements can be made.” Cath notes that Dr Joanne Kingsbury at ESR has provided invaluable expertise in this effort.

The Hort Taskforce Some big names in the horticulture industry have combined forces, under the auspices of the Centre’s Hort Taskforce, to review and rank food safety risks across the sector. This work has just been completed and will be shared when digested. The industry members and research partners include United Fresh, Countdown/Woolworths, Horticulture New Zealand, LeaderBrand, NZ Apples & Pears, Zespri, AgResearch, ESR, Plant & Food Research.

The Hort Taskforce is now looking at how to frame and launch research to address higher priority research areas. The forum encourages the exchange of other observations and questions about food safety issues, and builds connections across the sector. Anne-Marie Arts, who has spent her whole career in the industry, chairs the taskforce.

Philip Wescombe says, “All in all, the future is bright for the Centre to continue to achieve its goal of supporting industry to increase research in the food safety area to maintain and improve New Zealand's food safety record and to develop and utilise new technologies as they emerge, either from local initiatives or global advances.”

For Vince Arbuckle at MPI, the Centre is a “trusted, agnostic, independent source of scientific advice – really a good thing . . . Cath is very ambitious for New Zealand, and we are glad to be keeping her in the food safety science system.”

Sliding On

Sliding on -

Tha’s gorra eat a peck o’ muck afore tha dies

Professor John D Brooks, FNZIFST John Brooks' view of the food world through the lens of a microbiologist.

For those readers not lucky enough to have been born in Yorkshire, Northern England, an approximate translation of this old expression is “You will eat about 9 dry litres of dirt during your lifetime”.

What brought that on? According to Abby Alford, writing in the Western Mail (1), there may have been some scientific basis to the saying. Bangor University lecturer, Dr Prysor Williams, believes that an obsession with cleanliness reduces contact with dirt and thus with harmful bacteria. Our immune systems become weakened, leaving us susceptible to infection. Unfortunately, the evidence for this view is somewhat lacking, though Dr Williams is not the only one to have argued this.

on this website. Food is lost at all stages of the food life cycle, from agricultural production, through harvesting, processing, distribution and consumption. Fully 35% of the food is lost when it is thrown out by retailers and households, much of it still fit for consumption.

My personal opinion is that this is partly the result of manufacturers being required to put ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates on their products. There is no doubt that some foods are more potentially hazardous than others – compare cooked prawns with canned beer.

A family member threw away a sixpack of beer from my fridge because it had passed its ‘best before’ date! Yes, really!

There is a huge amount of waste because of potential contamination.

In October and December 2018, 12 million pounds of ground beef were recalled in the US because of fears that the meat was contaminated by Salmonella enterica serotype Newport (4).

How many of us were allowed to play in the mud when we were kids? Do parents let their children do this today?

Were we any less heathy than the kids of today?

Stuart Levy, Director of the Center of Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance at Tufts University, provided substantial evidence that the substitution of anti-bacterial agents for good old soap and water increases the ability of bacteria to develop resistance. A few bacterial cells containing genes that confer resistance to the antibiotics can protect neighbouring sensitive cells, rendering the antibacterial agent ineffective. Levy’s group tested the ability of Escherichia coli to mutate to become resistant to triclosan, which inhibits an enzyme involved in fatty acid biosynthesis and thus interferes with membrane biosynthesis. The work was published in the prestigious journal Nature.

In a carefully constructed randomised, double-blind trial, Elaine Larson and her co-workers have also shown that using antibacterial home cleaning and hand-washing products has no significant effect on the incidence of infectious disease symptoms (2).

All this got me thinking, and, I have to admit, I’m a little conflicted.

While cleanliness may be next to godliness, we do not live in a sterile environment. If we try too hard to protect ourselves and our children from microorganisms, we don’t give our immune systems the chance to develop resistance to bacterial pathogens. However, as food manufacturers and food technologists, we want to ensure that we make and supply safe food. At a meeting held a few years ago, Marcus Lipp of FAO said “If it’s not safe, it’s not food”. We should bear in mind that approximately one third of all food produced for human consumption worldwide is wasted, equivalent to about 1.3 billion tons per year (3). There is a very scary counter constantly running

As a microbiologist, I know that our consumers need to be protected. There is an immense cost in microbiological and chemical testing of our food. But those of us who have studied testing methods are fully aware of the chances of a practical sampling plan actually accepting out of spec food. We have a tried and tested method of producing food that is safe. The HACCP concept was introduced in New Zealand in the 1990s and now appears as part of a Food Control Plan under the Food Act 2014. Correct application of HACCP, supported by some testing, should ensure that our food is safe. Yet we see regular food recalls, the most recent being for raw soft brown sugar.

It’s difficult to go back to more laid-back times. Microbiological specifications now form part of our food regulations, as do chemical additives etc. and we can no longer play in the mud with gay abandon.

References (1) http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/02/16/howobsession-with-cleanliness-could-be-making-us-ill-91466-22935582/ (2) Annals of Internal Medicine, 2 March 2004, Volume 140 • Number 5 321 (3) https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/people-and-poverty/ hunger-and-obesity/food-waste-statistics/story (4) https://foodsafetywithjaybee.blogspot.com/2018/10/13000-beefanimals-just-went-to-landfill.html

December 2021/January 2022

25

Opinion

“Te Aranga Paerangi – Future Pathways” – Review and views on the RSI Green Paper

Allan Main, Principal, MAINly Consulting Ltd All opinions expressed here are the author’s personal views and should not be attributed to any other party or entity.

Introduction

Scope of document

The Labour Government, provided with a sweeping mandate to govern at the last election, has shown itself to be unusually daring in 2021 in pursuing fundamental reform of several public institutions. First the Ministry of Health announced a major plan to condense administration of the health and disability system into a single centralised agency, and to substantially rejig the Ministry. Shortly thereafter the “3 Waters” proposal was announced to centralise responsibility for our drinking water, wastewater and stormwater networks into a central government agency. Most recently, in late October the Minister of Research and Science, Hon Dr Megan Woods and her Associate Minister, Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall released their Government Green Paper “Te Aranga Paerangi – Future Pathways”¹ which presumes to review New Zealand’s Research Science and Innovation (RSI) system. If we have grown accustomed to inertia in New Zealand government then 2021 seems to be the year of breaking that habit. The first two plans have precipitated no small amount of controversy. Can we expect the same from this third announcement?

So what scope does the paper traverse?

RSI in review – again The Government signalled the RSI review through declaring² that our “30-year-old RSI system needs to modernise to meet future requirements”. That statement provides something of a half-truth as this is not the first review of the publicly funded RSI system in 30 years as implied in that declaration. Back in 2009 the Government of the day commissioned an independent taskforce to review the performance of CRI’s. Their report, published in February 2010³ was driven to resolve a significant number of the same issues (poor clarity on institutional roles, destructive competition, poor collaboration performance with unreliable and unsustainable funding) that the current ministers cite to precipitate this next re-evaluation. In today’s case the government has opened its door to review through the vehicle of this green paper, an approach touted as a “no commitment” position paper for general consultation. In this instance the Minister is at pains to advise “The outcomes of this process will be informed by your input: we have no pre-commitment to specific solutions”. In short, a Green Paper provides an opportunity to fly some kites in order that political palatability can be determined without losing face if a backtrack proves sensible.

At 43 pages, as government papers go it is not a particularly lengthy tome but there is something about its style that makes it a challenging read, unresponsive to skim reading. There is an awkward and disjointed flow that demands it be read with close attention. This is not a document for dipping in and out of by adventitious grazing.

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Food New Zealand

An executive highlights summary would embody the 43 pages in these brief statements of intent: • Setting Priorities – Providing a set of national research priorities to direct research to national needs with ministers and ministries having a more direct role in determining big picture science ambitions; • Funding Reform – Looking for funding mechanisms that provide greater reliability and continuity for CRI’s, possibly by directly funding institutional fixed costs with variable costs recovered through project funding; • Workforce – Providing enhanced career pathways for researchers within a system of well-ordered research institutions (extending to include universities); • Infrastructure – More efficient use of research assets through co-location or shared use of infrastructure resources between all parts of the research and education system with potential scope for consolidation, potentially rationalising the number of CRI’s; • Te Tiriti – Placing Maori and Te Tiriti front and centre in science funding decisions and direction.

The latter point provides a strong backbone theme to this straw man.

If the focus of a document can be informed by the density of keyword use, then the frequency of Maori-related terms indicates the priority this aspect is accorded by government in performance of the review.

While defining terms like “research” (660 occurrences) and “system” (256 occurrences) show the greatest prevalence, amongst qualifying terms “Maori” (162 occurrences), “matauranga” (62 occurrences) and “Te Tiriti” (61 occurrences) show the strongest presence. These compare with “CRI(s)/Crown Research Institute(s)” (89 occurrences), researcher(s) (56 occurrences) and “funding” (135 occurrences) holding lesser mention. It appears from that metric that the government intends that this review will bring a strong lens to integrating the Maori voice into the science system as a top priority.

Of specific interest to this audience, the term “food” receives just six mentions.

Notably the paper includes collections and databases alongside facilities and equipment as critical components of the RSI infrastructure and the review extends to include how these can be better supported to make them more efficiently and effectively applied to research and to inform national action.

Opinion

A notable exclusion

Consultation

At an early juncture this thesis addresses what is not in scope. Central to that consideration is that the review is bounded by the RSI Ministerial vote, that is, to the public-funded research infrastructure, primarily the Crown Research Institutes and the research components of Callaghan Innovation. Thus the university research system, as funded through the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC), is out of bounds. Accepting the convenience of the boundaries of ministerial budget vote to define boundaries, this limitation assumes an erroneous construct that universities are predominantly about education. That overlooks a point made in the cabinet paper4, but not in this green paper, which observed that there had been a significant shift in the institutions performing publicly-funded research since the CRI’s were established in 1992.

Prior to the formation of the CRI entities, research at educational institutions (primarily universities) was funded at about two-thirds the amount of crown-owned research institutions. In parallel with Government research funding growth (increasing by around 75% since 2010) the balance in funding has also shifted such that universities now receive 25% more public research funding than do CRI’s. So it seems irrational to analyse a science research “system” but ignore the largest component of that system.

Back in 2019 government set a goal6 to raise R&D expenditure from the 1.3% recorded in 2017 to two per cent of GDP by 2027. This Green Paper is the next step in the Government’s effort to make that happen, with this exercise focusing on improving the publicly funded science infrastructure. It is a brave initiative, but not as brave as it would have been had the scope extended to the entirety of the national research science and innovation system.

A functioning system operates as a unitary whole and not as a mélange of its subsidiary parts. So if the Government’s true intent is to provide a review of an operational science system it would require that the entirety of that system be included in its evaluation. To do otherwise invites erroneous conclusions and inappropriate responses. As the Government’s own RSI strategy document5 observed in 2019, “Our (research) system consists of around 20,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) researchers (not including students), around 4,000 R&D performing businesses (with many more reporting innovation), eight Universities, seven Crown Research Institutes (CRIs), and many independent research organisations, business accelerators and incubators, and other support functions.” To isolate a relatively small portion of that complex system for detached scrutiny in the guise of a system review is like a doctor performing a health check-up by intensively studying the patient’s right hand. Far better that government mimic the approach it seeks to encourage in the research system and conduct a cross-ministry collaboration to diagnose the entire patient that is the NZ RSI system.

Establishing focus A further key plank of the paper is to consider an approach of directing funding through mid- to long-term national priorities with these collective areas identifying where research (in its broad guise) offers substantial future impact on New Zealand’s well-being – social, economic and environmental. This approach is intended to bring focus, purpose and funding stability along with greater impact. An analogy is drawn with the current National Science Challenges (NSC’s) where cross-system collaboration is deemed to have been substantially enhanced by providing a challenging but clear mission to be collectively accomplished. Like the NSC’s, the green paper suggests that each research priority would have a discrete dedicated funding allocation.

To exemplify the characteristics of themes intended to be prioritised the paper suggests Climate Change, Infectious Diseases, Fresh water, Food and Advanced Manufacturing as potential priority science platforms. In short these are big grunty matters with deep and substantial impact.

Within the context of prioritisation the paper observes that research priorities could focus on a problem (e.g., pollution), an opportunity (e.g., alternative proteins), a technology (e.g., CRISPR), a mission (e.g., space) or a field of research (e.g., soil science). Many who read those words will infer that this approach is one step too close to the government “picking winners”, a taboo long out-of-bounds for government intervention.

This consultation initiates a multi-year review and response programme. Written submissions on this Green Paper will be open until 02 March, 2022 with a set of in-depth workshops slated for early 2022 to inform respondents. From there, Cabinet will determine the options for further consideration for implementation based on written submissions to the paper. That will trigger another consultation round to enhance the detail of preferred options. Only after that process will an implementation plan be effected.

Ministers Woods and Verrall jointly encourage all who engage with the RSI system, whether in performance of, or reliance on research activities, to provide their input to the review. There are many questions posed in need of well-informed deliberations that are best framed from the ground up.

Perhaps you can take the paper on summer holiday with you and provide your insights from a more relaxed frame of mind!

References 1. NZ Government Green Paper, October 28, 2021: “ Te Ara Paerangi – Future Pathways Green Paper 2021” (available at https://www.mbie. govt.nz/dmsdocument/17637-future-pathways-green-paper accessed 20/11/2021) 2. Government Press Release, October 28, 2021: “30-year-old RSI system to modernise” (available at https://www.beehive.govt.nz/ release/30-year-old-rsi-system-modernise accessed 20/11/2021) 3. Report of the Crown Research Institute Taskforce, February 2010: “How to enhance the value of New Zealand’s investment in Crown Research Institutes” (available at https://www.mbie.govt. nz/assets/7502750043/how-to-enhance-the-value-report-of-the-critaskforce.pdf accessed 22/11/2021) 4. MBIE Cabinet Paper, 28 October, 2021: “Future Pathways for the Research, Science and Innovation System” (available at https:// www.mbie.govt.nz/dmsdocument/17664-future-pathways-for-theresearch-science-and-innovation-system-proactiverelease-pdf accessed 20/11/2021) 5. NZ Government Consultation Paper, September 2019: “New Zealand’s Research, Science & Innovation Strategy” (available at https://www. mbie.govt.nz/dmsdocument/6935-new-zealands-research-scienceand-innovation-strategy-draft-for-consultation accessed 22/11/2021) 6. NZ Government Press Release, 1 March 2019: “R&D rising but greater acceleration needed” (available at https://www.beehive.govt. nz/release/rd-rising-greater-acceleration-needed accessed 22/11/2021)

Declaration of interest: While the author has written this article in his capacity as an independent consultant Food Technologist, in the interests of full disclosure he declares that he is employed part-time by the Crown Research Institute Plant & Food Research.

The article provides the personal views of the author and should not be attributed to any other party or institution.

December 2021/January 2022

27

AIP

AIP releases findings from 2021 Salary Survey The Australian Institute of Packaging have released the key findings from the 2021 Salary Survey which is a first-of-its-kind for the Australasian Region.

The AIP 2021 Salary Survey report was developed in partnership with the IoPP, to provide a more detailed breakdown of the people who make up the industry, including their roles, education, experience, career satisfaction, concerns and salaries.

Some of the key findings that stood out were how well-qualified packaging professionals are in our region with 46% of the total respondents having a Postgraduate Degree, that 34.2% have more than 20 years’ experience in the industry and that, even during a Pandemic, 41.3% were very secure in their job and 27.50% were somewhat secure.

Even though the data indicates that we have well qualified professionals in the industry, we still have a limited number who are qualified in the science, engineering or technology of packaging.

The Australasian Region needs to see more people working in the packaging industry undertaking qualifications such as the Diploma in Packaging Technology, the Certificate in Packaging, the Fundamentals in Packaging Technology and the Master of Food & Packaging Innovation. Having a degree in the science of packaging and understanding the fundamentals of packaging will go a long way in improving the overall knowledge and skill sets available to ensure that we do not have a technical knowledge void within the industry in the next 5-10 years. Not only do we need to encourage more people in the industry to advance their technical skills in packaging, but we also need to see professionals that have worked hard to attain a packagingrelated qualification to be recognised and hired for their expertise.

The AIP would love to see more HR departments and job placement companies actively recognising packaging degrees and the Certified Packaging Professional (CPP) designation in their position descriptions when hiring packaging technologists and designers, as their technical knowledge is invaluable.

Experience 34.2% of the total respondents have more than 20 years’ experience in the packaging industry. This is an indication of longevity in the industry and stable careers.

Career Satisfaction

There is an increasing number of people in the industry that have up to 10 years’ experience which shows that there is a continued opportunity for new comers to the industry to establish strong careers.

•

The impact of COVID-19 on my job.

•

Lockdowns and current working conditions.

Education

•

Redundancy/job and business insecurity.

•

My company not moving towards the 2025 National Packaging Targets.

46% of the total respondents have extremely high educational qualifications, including Postgraduate Degrees.

What is the one thing that keeps you awake at night regarding job security?

•

Plastics ban.

•

Negativity around packaging and plastics.

Job Function

•

Lack of career progression.

25.2% of the total respondents indicated that they work in Packaging Technology/Design.

•

High expectations and tight deadlines.

21% of the total respondents have an Undergraduate Degree.

This was followed closely by Marketing/Sales at 24.40%

Industry/Products 47% of the total respondents work in food, followed by 13% in the beverage industry.

11% indicated that they work in packaging materials.

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Food New Zealand

Satisfaction with Job Security 41.3% of the total respondents are very secure with their job, while 27.5% are ‘somewhat secure’.

The full 2021 AIP Salary Survey report is available to AIP Members and respondents of the survey. The next AIP Salary Survey will be made available to complete in early 2022.

AIP

Packaging Design for Recycling Guide: A global recommendation of circular packaging design

Nerida Kelton, Executive Director AIP, Vice President , Sustainability & Save Food, WPO transport, product protection, product presentation and convenience).

The Global Packaging Design for Recycling Guide is a starting point to understand Best Practice examples using state-of-the-art technology that can then be applied and tailored to suit the recovery and recyclability capabilities and infrastructure on a regional and local level.

The guide can be applied to products from the Food, Near-Food and Non-Food segments and is applicable to all primary, secondary and tertiary packaging; provided that product-specific regulations of the packaging system are observed.

Promoting knowledge development The guide aims to promote knowledge development within the retail and Consumer Product Group (CPG) sector as companies transition to new packaging designs that help to minimise their environmental impact, while ensuring packaging remains fit for purpose and continues to look good. The guide was developed to not only recognise both the challenges and opportunities that the transition to a circular economy will bring to all stakeholders across the value chain but also that circular packaging and supporting recycling systems are a crucial step in this process.

As retailers and manufacturers start to publicly commit to significantly reducing their plastic packaging over the coming years, these recommendations should help to guide the conversation. The use of a straightforward traffic light system with colour coding, makes it easy to read and understand for all senior executives. Getting buy–in from across the business and from those in your supply chain is essential when making such changes.

The Packaging Design for Recycling Guideline is just the first step towards a common global understanding and harmonisation of circular packaging design.

A global Packaging Design for Recycling Guide has been developed by the ECR Community, the World Packaging Organisation (WPO) and FH Campus University of Applied Sciences, Austria and is available for download.

Design for recycling is part of circular product design and represents an important basis for holistic sustainability assessment. Accordingly, circularity means that the packaging is designed in such a way that the highest possible recycling of the materials in use can be achieved.

The goals here are resource conservation, the longest possible service life, material-identical recycling (closed-loop recycling) or the use of renewable materials. Circular packaging should therefore be designed and manufactured in such a way that it can be reused (reusable solution) and/or that the raw materials used can be reused to a large extent as secondary raw materials after the use phase (recycling) and/ or consist of renewable raw materials.

In order to be able to apply recyclable packaging design, a certain fundamental knowledge of sorting and recycling processes is necessary.

Packaging must, therefore, be suitable for state-of-the-art sorting and recycling processes in addition to its basic functions (e.g., storage,

Localising the information The next step is for the 60 WPO Member countries and the ECR Community to work on developing more localised versions that suit individual countries and regions. The local guides that will be developed in collaboration with the WPO will focus on localised challenges and barriers, collection and recycling capabilities or limitations to suit each country or regional requirements.

Further steps will follow to either establish, or improve, harmonised collection and sorting flows for packaging in many countries through the partnership with the WPO Member countries and ECR community members. This new global guide is a successful solution that was borne from international collaborative efforts between the packaging, consumer products and retail sectors.

The guideline will be continuously updated and adapted to changes in collection, sorting and recycling technology, as well as to future material developments.

The Packaging Design for Recycling Guide: A Global Recommendation of Circular Packaging Design is now available on the WPO website via the https://www.worldpackaging.org/resources/41/ link December 2021/January 2022

29

Research

In vitro antiviral effects of milkderived bioactive whey proteins Authors: Katharine Helen Adam1, Rodney Claycomb1 1

. Quantec Ltd., Waikato Innovation Park, Ruakura Lane, Hamilton, New Zealand

Summary Being a naturally occurring protein, lactoferrin has a high level of acceptance by consumers. Health supplements incorporating lactoferrin and infant formula that includes lactoferrin are widely available and popular. The cow’s milk derived bioactive whey protein lactoferrin has been well studied in relation to its molecular form and function as well as its ability to improve immune function. Lactoferrin is only one of at least 50 whey proteins that can be collected from cow’s milk. Quantec has produced a formulation called Immune Defense Proteins (IDP®) that utilises the combined strength of the bioactive whey proteins from cow’s milk.

Bovine milk-derived IDP and freeze dried lactoferrin were tested for antiviral properties using in vitro tissue-culture based assays. IDP inhibited HSV-1, INFV A, ADV-5, and a model for SARS-CoV-2: rVSV-SARS-CoV-2 S. In all cases the concentration of proteins needed to inhibit was similar to or better than that of lactoferrin. While vaccination remains the primary means of preventing COVID-19 or other viral infections, it is appropriate to carry out further investigations into the use of IDP as a preventative or adjunct. It is also appropriate to consider its use in the prevention and lessoning of infections, by other viral diseases, and their symptoms, where no vaccine is available.

Introduction Although a wide range of antibiotics suitable for treating bacterial infections is available, this is not the case for the treatment of viral infections. Instead, preventing viral infections using vaccinations, and/ or reducing their symptoms is recommended practice. Lactoferrin derived from cow’s milk has been found to have antiviral effects against human influenza virus, HIV, Epstein-Barr virus (the cause of Mononucleosis, otherwise known as glandular fever), HSV-1 and -2 (herpes simplex viruses, responsible for cold sores and genital herpes), and SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID 19, (Pan et al., 2006; Salaris et al., 2021). As well as lactoferrin, bovine milk contains many other proteins with a range of known and suspected functions. Some of these include: lactoperoxidase, with known antibacterial function, immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA, and IgM), with immune regulating functions, and ribonuclease-5 (angiogenin), with anti-microbial and immune signalling properties (Artym & Zimecki, 2013; De Wit, 1998; Wheeler et al., 2012). There are also many other minor proteins with functions that have not been fully elucidated (Yamada et al., 2002). IDP is a blend of 50 plus of these bioactive whey proteins. Therefore, it is 30

Food New Zealand

hypothesized that IDP could inhibit viral infection. The aim of this study was to determine the inhibitory activity of IDP against HSV-1, INFV A, human INFV B, adenovirus, and a model for SARS-CoV-2.

There are over 200 viruses that can infect humans, causing a range of symptoms from mild to life threatening (Woolhouse et al., 2012). The first cases of COVID 19 came to light in December of 2019. It is highly contagious and by the middle of 2020 had caused a global pandemic (Lai et al., 2020), resulting in much interest in health, wellness, and enhanced food products that can reduce infection rates or lessen symptoms. While COVID 19 is at the forefront of people’s minds at the moment, viral illness is nothing new. The 1918 flu pandemic was caused by an H1N1 influenza A virus (Anhlan et al., 2011). However, not all viruses cause pandemics. Adenoviruses are responsible for a range of infections including those of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms are usually mild but can be more severe, especially in children (Lynch et al., 2011). Young children experience an average of 8 to 10 colds a year (2005, Colds in children). While the symptoms are usually mild and short-lived, parents and caregivers appreciate any reduction to the volume of colds.

Cold sores are caused by herpes simplex virus and are a common occurrence. Once infected, a person may experience recurrence of the sores. Anti-viral medication can reduce the severity of symptoms and reduce the occurrences but are available by prescription only (https://www.southerncross.co.nz/group/medical-library/cold-soressymptoms-and-treatment). For most cases, over the counter topical treatments can provide relief.

Methods Materials The IDP was extracted from bovine milk using commercial ion exchange chromatography as described by Niaz et al., (2019), desalted, and freeze dried to maintain maximum activity. A commercial sample of 96% pure freeze dried lactoferrin was obtained from Tatura Milk Industries Ltd. (Victoria, Australia). Freeze dried lactoferrin and IDP samples are shown in Figure 1.

Protein analysis The protein samples were analysed using a multiple reaction monitoring liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method that identifies six common bioactive whey proteins in cows’ milk. These proteins were chosen to span the spectrum of bioactive whey proteins and provide a subset of various known bioactivities.

Research

Figure 1. Freeze dried lactoferrin powder (left) and IDP (right)

Viral strains

Inhibition was determined at 24 hours for rVSV-SARS-CoV-2 S assays, 3 days for HSV-1, INVF A, and ADV-5 assays, and 7 days for INFV B assays. Inhibition was measured by crystal violet staining for HSV-1 and ADV-5 assays, immuno-staining for INFV A and rVSV-SARS-CoV-2 S assays, and firefly luciferase activity for INFV B assays.

The viral strains included in testing were herpes simplex virus (HSV1, MacIntyre), human influenza A (INFV H1N1 A/Puerto Rico/8/34), human influenza B (INFV B/Lee/40), adenovirus (ADV-5), and a model for SARS-CoV-2: vesicular stomatitis virus-pseudotyped (rVSV-SARSCoV-2 S). The pseudotyped virus was used in place of SARS-CoV-2 for health and safety reasons. The pseudotyped virus presents the same surface proteins as SARS-CoV-2 but does not cause illness in humans.

Following incubation, cells were lysed and ATP content was evaluated using Promega’s CellTiter-Glo® kit (Wisconsin, USA) to determine cytotoxicity. Calculations of 50% cytotoxicity concentration (CC50) and 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) were made using the XLfit dose response model in Microsoft Excel.

Anti-viral testing The trials were conducted independently by Integrated BioTheraputics Inc. (IBT, Rockville, USA). Briefly, testing was carried out using in vitro tissue-culture based assays. Cultures were established using cell culture lines in 96 well plates. For HSV-1, ADV-5, and rVSV-SARSCoV-2, S VERO cells were used and, for INVF A and INFV B, MDCK cells were used. All incubation was carried out at 35°C. Eight two-fold dilutions of IDP and lactoferrin were added to VERO and MDCK cells in triplicate. Wells without added protein and wells with protein but no viral particles were also included as controls. Plates were incubated for one hour prior to adding the viral particles. The starting concentration for HSV-1 was 2 mg/ml, and the starting concentration for all other viral strains was 50 mg/ml.

Results Protein analysis The IDP sample contained 45% lactoferrin, 18% lactoperoxidase, 9.6 % angiogenin, 3.6% IgG, 3.1% ribonuclease 4, and 0.3% lysosomal alphamannosidase, along with other minor bioactive whey proteins found in bovine milk.

Other than lactoferrin, the freeze dried lactoferrin sample contained less than 0.2% of any of the proteins tested using the mass spectrometrybased test.

Table 1. Inhibitory concentration (IC) and cytotoxicity concentration (CC) of immune defense proteins and lactoferrin. ND = not detected, OR = outside range tested. *Vesicular stomatitis virus-pseudotyped, a model for SARS-CoV-2.

IC50 Total protein content (mg/ml)

Viral Strain

IC50 lactoferrin component (mg/ml)

CC50 (mg/ml)

Lactoferrin

Immune Defense Proteins

Lactoferrin

Immune Defense Proteins

Lactoferrin

Immune Defense Proteins

HSV-1

0.03

0.06

0.03

0.03

ND

ND

INFV A

21.8

9.7

20.9

4.3

ND

ND

INFV B

27.3

25.8

26.2

11.6

ND

ND

ADV-5

11.8

1

11.32

0.43

510.9

ND

SARS-CoV-2*

6.4

3.5

6.12

1.57

ND

OR

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Research

% Cytotoxicity and Inhibition

CC50 = 1.634 IC50 = 0.3460

110 90 70 50 30

50% Inhibitory Concentration (mg/ml)

-10

1

50% Inhibitory Concentration (mg/ml)

10

Concentration (µM)

30 25 20 15 10

5 0

HSV-1

INFV A Lactoferrin

INFV B

ADV-5

SARS-CoV-2*

Immune Defense Proteins

Figure 3. Concentration of lactoferrin and immune defense proteins resulting in 50% inhibition of viral strains tested. *Vesicular stomatitis viruspseudotyped, a model for SARSCoV-2

30 25 20 15 10

5 0

HSV-1

INFV A Lactoferrin

32

Figure 2. Inhibition of HSV-1, herpes simplex virus responsible for cold sores by IDP. Cytotoxicity is also shown and occurs at a higher concentration than 50% inhibition. Note, concentrations shown are µM/ml

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Food New Zealand

INFV B

ADV-5

Immune Defense Proteins

SARS-CoV-2*

Figure 4. Inhibitory concentration (50%) normalized to the lactoferrin components of each test substance, accounting for the difference in lactoferrin between the higher purity lactoferrin (96%), and the immune defense proteins (45%). *Vesicular stomatitis virus-pseudotyped, a model for SARS-CoV-2

Research

Cytotoxicity testing Cytotoxicity can occur if the test agents, in this case IDP and lactoferrin, have a negative effect on the growth of the cell cultures. This can interfere with the measurement of the viral particles’ ability to infect cells. Cytotoxicity of proteins tested was either at high concentrations or was not detected, as shown in Table 1, and did not interfere with the measurement of viral inhibition.

Anti-viral testing IDP and lactoferrin both exhibited inhibition of the viral strains tested.

The concentration of protein needed to reduce viral infection of the host cells by 50% (the IC50) was calculated in order to compare the samples’ effectiveness. The highest level of inhibition was seen against HSV-1 (Figure 2). These results confirm previous results reporting lactoferrin to be inhibitory against human influenza virus and herpes simplex virus (Pan et al., 2006). In four of the five viral strains tested, the concentration of IDP at which the IC50 occurred was lower than the concentration of lactoferrin needed (Figure 3). Since literature has shown lactoferrin on its own exhibits antiviral properties, it was also appropriate to normalise the results to only the lactoferrin components of each test substance, accounting for the difference in lactoferrin between the higher purity lactoferrin (96% lactoferrin), and the IDP (45% lactoferrin). The difference in IC50s, normalised to the lactoferrin only component of the samples (Figure 4), suggests that the antiviral properties of the IDP are derived from a combination of proteins present, not just the lactoferrin.

Discussion While the results reported here are limited to single samples, they indicate that IDP has the potential to reduce the severity and or duration of symptoms of viral infections, including influenza and COVID-19 at lower concentrations than lactoferrin alone. Lactoferrin has been shown to reduce infection by INFV A in vivo. Lactoferrin inhibits SarsCoV-2 cellular infection with multiple modes including binding to viral particles and preventing entry into the host cells and enhancement of interferon responses (Hasegawa et al., 1994; Mirabelli et al.). Further study is needed to determine which bioactive whey proteins in IDP, other than lactoferrin, are involved and their individual mechanism(s) of inhibition.

Lactoferrin is currently being considered as a preventative and adjunct in the treatment of COVID-19 (Chang et al., 2020; Shin et al., 2005). An adjunct is given at the same time as a vaccination, as it enhances the effectiveness of the vaccination. However, it does not raise an immune response to a specific virus when given on its own. The next step for this work is to translate these findings to human clinical studies and to see if cellular protection can be afforded by way of supplementation for effects of viruses such as influenza or Sars-CoV-2 or other species.

References 2005. Colds in children. Paediatrics & Child Health. 10(8):493-495.

Anhlan, D., Grundmann, N., Makalowski, W., Ludwig, S., & Scholtissek, C. (2011). Origin of the 1918 pandemic H1N1 influenza A virus as studied by codon usage patterns and phylogenetic analysis. RNA,17(1), 64-73. https://doi.org/10.1261/rna.2395211 Artym, J., & Zimecki, M. (2013). Milk-Derived Proteins and Peptides in Clinical Trials. Postȩpy higieny i medycyny doświadczalnej (Online), 67, 800-816. https://doi.org/10.5604/17322693.1061635 Chang, R., Ng, T. B., & Sun, W.-Z. (2020). Lactoferrin as potential preventative and adjunct treatment for COVID-19. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, 56(3), 106118. https://doi.org/https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.106118

De Wit, J. N. (1998). Nutritional and Functional Characteristics of Whey Proteins in Food Products. Journal of Dairy Science, 81(3), 597-608. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.s0022-0302(98)75613-9 Hasegawa, K., Motsuchi, W., Tanaka, S., & Dosako, S. (1994). Inhibition with lactoferrin of in vitro infection with human herpes virus. Jpn J Med Sci Biol, 47(2), 73-85. https://doi.org/10.7883/yoken1952.47.73 Lai, C.-C., Shih, T.-P., Ko, W.-C., Tang, H.-J., & Hsueh, P.-R. (2020).

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19): The epidemic and the challenges. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents,55(3), 105924. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.105924 Lynch, J. P., Fishbein, M., & Echavarria, M. (2011). Adenovirus. Semin Respir Crit Care Med, 32(04), 494-511.

Mirabelli, C., Wotring, J. W., Zhang, C. J., McCarty, S. M., Fursmidt, R., Pretto, C. D., Qiao, Y., Zhang, Y., Frum, T., Kadambi, N. S., Amin, A. T., O’Meara, T. R., Spence, J. R., Huang, J., Alysandratos, K. D., Kotton, D. N., Handelman, S. K., Wobus, C. E., Weatherwax, K. J., . . . Sexton, J. Z. Morphological cell profiling of SARS-CoV-2 infection identifies drug repurposing candidates for COVID-19. https://doi.org/10.1073/ pnas.2105815118 Niaz, B., Saeed, F., Ahmed, A., Imran, M., Maan, A. A., Khan, M. K. I., Tufail, T., Anjum, F. M., Hussain, S., & Suleria, H. A. R. (2019).

Lactoferrin (LF): a natural antimicrobial protein. International Journal of Food Properties, 22(1), 1626-1641. https://doi.org/10.1080/10942912 .2019.1666137 Pan, Y., Lee, A., Wan, J., Coventry, M. J., Michalski, W. P., Shiell, B., & Roginski, H. (2006). Antiviral properties of milk proteins and peptides.

International Dairy Journal, 16(11), 1252-1261. https://doi.org/https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.idairyj.2006.06.010 Salaris, C., Scarpa, M., Elli, M., Bertolini, A., Guglielmetti, S., Pregliasco, F., Blandizzi, C., Brun, P., & Castagliuolo, I. (2021). Protective Effects of Lactoferrin against SARS-CoV-2 Infection In Vitro. Nutrients, 13(2), 328. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13020328 Shin, K., Wakabayashi, H., Yamauchi, K., Teraguchi, S., Tamura, Y., Kurokawa, M., & Shiraki, K. (2005). Effects of orally administered bovine lactoferrin and lactoperoxidase on influenza virus infection in mice. Journal of Medical Microbiology, 54(8), 717-723. https://doi. org/10.1099/jmm.0.46018-0 Wheeler, T. T., Smolenski, G. A., Harris, D. P., Gupta, S. K., Haigh, B. J., Broadhurst, M. K., Molenaar, A. J., & Stelwagen, K. (2012). Hostdefence-related proteins in cows’ milk. Animal, 6(3), 415-422. https:// doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1017/S1751731111002151 Woolhouse, M., Scott, F., Hudson, Z., Howey, R., & Chase-Topping, M. (2012). Human viruses: discovery and emergence. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 367(1604), 2864-2871. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2011.0354 Yamada, M., Murakami, K., Wallingford, J. C., & Yuki, Y. (2002).

Identification of low-abundance proteins of bovine colostral and mature milk using two-dimensional electrophoresis followed by microsequencing and mass spectrometry. Electrophoresis, 23(7-8), 11531160. https://doi.org/10.1002/1522-2683(200204)23:7/8<1153::Aidelps1153>3.0.Co;2-y

Notes The authors are employees of Quantec Ltd., the funder of this research. Our thanks to Tatura Milk Industries Ltd, VIC, Australia for providing the freeze dried lactoferrin sample.

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L & N News

Lipids and Nutraceuticals: Laurence Eyres FNZIFST and Mike Eyres B.Sc.

Bioactive Lipids and Brain Health With increased interest in plant-based diets, debate and investigations continue into the bioavailability and conversion rates of 18 carbon omega 3 fatty acids such as DHA and EPA The need for a sustainable plant-based source of DHA and EPA is becoming apparent as a result of continued unsustainable pressure on global fisheries and climate change. It has been suggested that global production of DHA from its primary source (marine algae) will reduce in response to warming ocean temperatures. This is an adaptive response by the algae to maintain the correct fluidity of their cell membranes.

Link - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7028814/ New Zealand and Australia are well placed to grow and produce high quality seed crops that yield both edible whole seeds and edible oils high in 18 carbon omega 3’s. Examples include flaxseed, hemp seed, and chia seed. There have been many articles in the past debating whether alpha linolenic acid is a good source of long chain omega 3 EPA and DHA. This month we are extremely lucky to have a comment from Pofessor Richard Bazinet on this topic and an update on his team’s investigations in the area of bioavailability and metabolism of DHA, with particular respect to the brain.

DHA metabolism: A guest article by Professor Richard Bazinet Richard Bazinet joined the University of Toronto in 2006, where he is currently a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Brain Lipid Metabolism. Richard’s lab is interested in brain lipid metabolism, especially brain docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3; DHA) metabolism.

We know that the brain is enriched with DHA and that within the brain DHA regulates a lot of important functions, either directly, or upon conversion to other bioactive molecules, including neuroinflammation, neuronal survival and as a secondary messenger to neurotransmission.

While the high level of DHA in the brain suggests that it is important this does not tell us very much about how much dietary DHA we need to consume.

By using kinetic approaches to identify that the plasma unesterified pool of DHA is the major pool supplying the brain, we have extended the interpretation of studies that have imaged unesterified DHA uptake into the brain of adults using position emission tomography and estimated 34

Food New Zealand

it to be about 4 mg per day. Thus, the adult brain takes up about 4 mg of DHA per day, which provides a starting point to discuss how much DHA we need to consume to meet this brain “requirement”. DHA can be obtained either (1) directly from the diet, from foods such as fish that are high in preformed DHA or (2) DHA can be synthesised from shorter chain precursors. With the increase in popularity of plant-based diets, we have become extremely interested in developing methods to estimate the synthesis rate of DHA from its shorter chain precursors.

It is well established that increasing intake of the 18 carbon precursors to DHA: alpha-linolenic acid (18:3n-3; ALA), stearidonic acid (18:4n-3; SDA) or even the 20-carbon precursor eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3; EPA), do not increase circulating DHA levels in humans. However, this does not mean that these precursors are not converted to DHA. An alternative explanation for their inability to increase circulating DHA is that the synthesis rate of DHA from these precursors approximates the loss rate and thus DHA does not bioaccumulate. While tracer studies with ALA and EPA have led to estimates of fractional conversion, estimates of true conversion and turnover rates are limited in the field.

To address the question of ALA conversion to DHA, we have begun working in preclinical models with a technique called compound specific isotope analysis (CSIA) at the natural abundance level using gas chromatography (GC) coupled to high precision isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS). Briefly, this technique can measure the natural variance in carbon 13 content or the signature of molecules. In several preclinical studies, with this powerful technique, we have been able to identify whether tissue DHA was derived from dietary DHA or dietary ALA. Importantly, we conducted a secondary analysis of a randomised controlled clinical trial that supplemented humans with EPA at 3 grams per day for 12 weeks.

As expected from the literature, EPA supplementation did not increase plasma DHA levels, but based on CSIA by GC-IRMS it was apparent that the circulating DHA had taken on the carbon 13 signature of the EPA suggesting that despite not increasing DHA levels, the EPA was readily converted to DHA. Now obviously we need to study the 18 carbon precursors, ALA and SDA, to test if they are also readily converted to DHA without augmenting DHA levels. Collectively this work could have implications for omega-3 recommendations and advance our understanding about DHA synthesis and accumulation.

The work and concepts described above are covered in more detail in the following 4 papers, or also watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPkx8U9f-dI Lacombe RJS, Bazinet RP. Natural abundance carbon isotope ratio

L & N News

Biography: Dr. Richard Bazinet received his BSc from the University of Western Ontario and completed his PhD under the supervision of Dr. Stephen Cunnane at the University of Toronto in 2003. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Dr. Stanley Rapoport’s Brain Physiology and Metabolism Section at the National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, joining the University of Toronto in 2006, where he is currently a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Brain Lipid Metabolism.

The overall goal of Richard's research programme is to identify the mechanisms that regulate brain lipid metabolism (signaling) and to identify the role of brain lipid metabolism in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases and neuropsychiatric disorders. Dr. Bazinet has published over 180 papers, largely in the field of brain fatty acid metabolism and is co-author of the joint WHO/FAO joint expert consultation on dietary fats and the central nervous system during aging and disease. He is currently the past-president of the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids (ISSFAL).

Professor Richard Bazinet, a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Brain Lipid Metabolism has supplied an article on DHA metabolism analysis and its application in the study of diet and metabolism. Nutr Rev. 2021 Jul 7;79(8):869-888.

Metherel AH, Bazinet RP. Updates to the n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis pathway: DHA synthesis rates, tetracosahexaenoic acid and (minimal) retroconversion. Prog Lipid Res. 2019 Oct;76:101008 Lacombe RJS, Chouinard-Watkins R, Bazinet RP. Brain docosahexaenoic acid uptake and metabolism. Mol Aspects Med. 2018 Dec;64:109-134.

Domenichiello AF, Kitson AP, Bazinet RP. Is docosahexaenoic acid synthesis from α-linolenic acid sufficient to supply the adult brain? Prog Lipid Res. 2015 Jul;59:54-66.

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

December 2021/January 2022

35

Oils & Fats

Oils and Fats Update Laurence Eyres FNZIFST

AOCS members John Harwood and Albert Dijkstra, set the industry standard for those working in lipid science and technology.

In later years Frank edited the journal Lipid Technology and did his usual superb job.

To learn more about the impact Professor Gunstone had on those around him and the field of lipid science, read this open-access dedication written by Marcel S. F. Lie Ken Jie in the European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology.

It was a privilege and honour to have known Frank and he will be mourned by many.

Margarines and Spreads Just to recap, Margarine was invented in France by Hippolyte MègesMouries in response to Napoleon III's call for a cheap alternative to butter for French workers and for his armies in the Franco-Prussian war.

The first margarine, consisting of beef tallow churned with milk, was patented in 1869. Since then, there has been a lot of change globally with the ongoing battle with butter and innovation techniques covering fat content, ingredients, flavour and nutritional claims.

Obituary and tribute to Professor Frank Gunstone We are so sorry to announce the passing of Frank D. Gunstone at 97 years old. He was a prominent AOCS member, author, scientist and mentor to many students and co-workers.

When this author entered the oils and fats Industry in 1974, Frank was already a legend. We had him as a plenary speaker at our international conferences where he was hailed as a powerful and leading figure in the world of lipids. He was also an excellent human being with a dry and kind sense of humour (A Mancunian.).

He was born in Manchester, did his research at Liverpool under Hilditch and then moved to St Andrews, Scotland as Professor of Chemistry.

In Australasia margarines at retail level have been predominantly replaced by spreads. FSANZ defines margarines as having to contain a minimum of 80% fat whilst spreads can be any fat content. Most palatable spreads have 65-70% fat of the total product (with the balance water). Margarines are an expanding market worldwide due to large scale commercial requirements, lower cost, growth of bakery and confectionery markets, and seasonal independence. The fatty acid composition, solid fat content consistency and melting point of the fats used in margarines determine the end properties. Issues around the use of fats in spreads revolve around trans fats produced by elevated temperatures, such as deodorisation. There are other issues, including trans fats from hydrogenation and the inclusion of colours, vitamins and functional ingredients. There is a good recent review of the history of margarines and spreads, discussing some of these trends.

The reference was supplied by Dr. Graham Eyres (Otago) Food Research International, Volume 147, September 2021, 110486

I never found out whether he was a golfer or not.

High fat diets and heart disease

His classic textbooks on the Chemistry of fats and oils are compulsory reading for anyone in this field. The Chemistry of Oils and Fats (second edition 2004).

That a high-fat diet increases a person's risk for heart disease has long been known, but researchers now think they understand the process behind this link.

The Lipid Handbook, which Professor Gunstone authored with fellow

A high-fat diet disrupts the biology of the gut's inner lining and the

36

Food New Zealand

Oils & Fats

Glorious, bright green, fresh Extra Virgin New Zealand Olive Oil. "Its been a very good year!"

bacteria that help break down food, producing a substance that, while involved in the digestive process, may contribute to the development of heart disease, a study published recently by the journal Science found.

Experiments in animals as part of the research revealed that the intestines and gut microbiome, or the bacteria lining the walls of the intestines, play a key role.

"Right now, roughly 40% of the U.S. population is obese, and that percentage is predicted to climb," said Byndloss, an assistant professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. "Our research has revealed how diet and obesity can increase risk of cardiovascular disease by affecting the relationship between our intestines and the microbes that live in our gut," she said.

Epithelial cells lining the intestines and gut microbes have a mutually beneficial relationship that promotes a healthy gut environment.

A Western-style, high-fat diet is often associated with cardiovascular disease, and one explanation for this is that members of the gut microbiota catabolise dietary choline into trimethylamine (TMA) which is absorbed in the intestine and oxidised in the liver to trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), a metabolite that promotes atherosclerosis.

SCIENCE,13 Aug 2021•Vol 373, Issue 6556•pp. 813-818•DOI: 10.1126/ science. aba3683

Sterolife- a novel sterol ester for baking Researchers from KU Leuven Campus Kulak Kortrijk have succeeded in developing an unsaturated fat that is solid at room temperature.

“Our product, which we have named Sterolife, is an odourless and colourless solid fat,” says Dr Eva Daels of the Food & Lipids research group. “With these properties, Sterolife can reduce the saturated fat content of products without sacrificing quality and texture.”

Sterolife is made from plant sterols. These substances are naturally present in various plant products such as vegetables, fruit, nuts and grains, albeit in small amounts.

“The use of plant sterols offers environmental and sustainability benefits. These substances can be found in by-products of existing production processes,” explains Professor Imogen Foubert, promoter of the research project. “That is in stark contrast to the production of palm oil, the most consumed fat in the world. Production takes place exclusively in tropical areas and is accompanied by deforestation of rainforests, loss of biodiversity and huge CO2 emissions.”

It is our opinion that this will not lead to a major commercial success due to limited raw material and cost. Another major influence is when dealing with sweet baked goods, are people really concerned about nutrition? My experience says no, not at all.

Lipids in bread and other baking activities Global lockdown has initiated a great deal of effort into home baking.

There is a huge growth in the preparation of sourdough bread, much to the derision of several satirists. Commercial bakers have access to specialty fats and emulsifiers which are a hidden market to the consumer. Key emulsifiers for bread include diacetyl tartaric acid esters of monoglycerides (DATA esters) and sodium stearoyl lactylate (SSL). These can be found formulated in several popular home yeast/ improver mixes. Fat and emulsifiers, whilst a minor part of the bread formulation have a massive effect on volume and texture of the baked bread.

During lockdown the home baking of cakes, muffins and slices will have increased enormously but people still like to get their sweet goods from their favourite take-out coffee shop so commercial takeup of these products has grown immensely. Despite academic claims about substitutes for fat based emulsifiers, the traditional products like polyglycerol esters and lactylated products still predominate. https://www.palsgaard.com/en/knowledge-innovation/emulsifiers-ingeneral/features/why-not-all-emulsifiers-are-the-same

NZ Olive oil – a good year The recent competitions for Olive oils held in New Zealand found that this year's oils are virtually all of high quality.

The Oliveti competition held outside in Kumeu had no trouble awarding numerous Gold and Silver medals. https://oliveti.co.nz Likewise the ASB A&P Easter Show, found a similar trend for excellence amongst the entrants. https://aucklandaandp.co.nz › awards Olives NZ had 165 entrants and awarded numerous Gold medals. https://www.olivesnz.org.nz › awards The message is clear; for quality, taste and enjoyment purchase New Zealand certified olive oils.

Fatty acid composition of lipids A footnote for the analysis and fatty acid composition of lipids.

I have recently become involved in the discussion with Codex for the fatty acid ranges for avocado oil. This started off with a look at analyses compiled over the last 40 years.

In 1974 we published a review on the preparation of fatty acid methyl esters for gas chromatography analyses and published a useful table.

This has needed to be updated many times over that time and there is a summary spreadsheet on our Fats and OIls website.

Eyres, L. Chemistry in New Zealand, (1979), December, pp 237-239

December 2021/January 2022

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Global

The “UN Food Systems Summit 2021” Anne Perera, FNZIFST Introduction

five “Action Tracks” of the UN Food Systems Summit, namely:

Under the leadership of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the UN Food Systems Summit occurred as a completely virtual event on 23 September during the UN General Assembly High-level Week.

2. Shift to sustainable consumption patterns.

The 2021 UN Food Systems Summit was an opportunity to empower all people to leverage the power of food systems to drive our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and get us back on track to achieve all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

The “Food Systems Summit” has been part of the António Guterres’, Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. It was said that “The Summit will launch bold new actions to deliver progress on all 17 SDGs, each of which relies to some degree on healthier, more sustainable and equitable food systems.” (www.sdg.com).

The term “food systems” refers to a collection of activities involved in producing, processing, transporting and consuming food. Food systems touch every aspect of human existence. The health of our food systems profoundly affects the health of our bodies, as well as the health of our environment, our economies, and our cultures. When they function well, food systems have the power to bring people together as families, communities, and nations.

Awareness I became aware of the “UN Food Systems Summit” while serving on the Food & Nutrition Security Working Group of the International Union of Food Science & Technology (IUFoST). The purpose of compiling this article is to share some information that I have gathered from the IUFoST Working Group Members and from the relevant websites on the topic. (www.sdg.com; www.un.org/en/food-systems-summit; www.un.org/en/food-systems-summit/pre-summit; www.iufost.org; www.iiasa.ac.at) In New Zealand at Government level, the Honourable Damien O’Connor, Minister in charge of Agriculture, Biosecurity, Trade & Export, Land and Rural Communities sent a pre-recorded speech for the Pre-Summit held in Rome. In addition, United Fresh started an Independent Dialogue leading towards the summit (www.unitedfresh. co.nz/technical-advisory-group/food-systems-summit-2021). Aotearoa Sustainable Development Goals (www.sdgsummits.nz) ran a oneday summit on a virtual platform on 2nd September 2021, prior to the actual Food Systems Summit in New York.

By the time this article gets published the Summit will be over and various organisations, including IUFoST, will be looking into sharing the outcomes in meaningful and practical ways.

Preparations for the Summit A number of events were conducted by different groups leading to the Summit. Between December 2020 and May 2021, several public fora, online consultations and calls for submissions were organised under 38

Food New Zealand

1. Ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all.

3. Boost nature-positive production.

4. Advance equitable livelihoods.

5. Build resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks, and stress.

Inputs were shared by all involved, from representatives of national governments to civil societies, youth, food producers, research and academia, indigenous peoples, the private sector, UN system organisations and other development partners. IUFoST has been recognised officially as a Partner in the Scientific Group’s preparation for the Summit.

Scientific Roundtables and Dialogue sessions were held to discuss the importance of the discipline of Food Science and Technology for policy development at all government levels to ensure future food systems that are resilient and sustainable. Traditional foods and processing and education and training for capacity building have also been covered as important topics.

In October 2021 a Forum was held on the promises regarding Future Food Systems and to set the path for IUFoST Adhering Body Members to follow up on the outcomes of the Food Systems Summit.

Pre-Summit – New Zealand’s Input In partnership with the Government of Italy, the Pre-Summit took place in Rome from 26–28 July 2021. The event, which was open to all who wanted to participate, took a hybrid format, with an in-person component complemented by a vast virtual programme.

New Zealand’s own Damien O’Connor presented a pre-recorded speech, which is given below, with his permission: “As for many countries around the world, food is a key part of New Zealand’s identity. It is a key source of economic, social, and cultural wellbeing for our people, and we recognise that the wellbeing of our natural environment is the foundation for our food production. New Zealand’s primary sector strategy recognises this – it embraces our indigenous Māori concept of Te Taiao, a deep relationship of respect and reciprocity with the natural world.

Through this Te Taiao lens, we have signalled our commitment to meet the greatest challenges humanity faces: rapidly moving to a low carbon emissions society, restoring the health of our water, reversing the decline in biodiversity, and at the same time feeding our people and many more people the world over in a way that aligns with our values.

The food system is complex and varied, the challenges that New Zealand faces, and the solutions to overcome them, will often be different to those in other parts of the world, such as the differing challenges of many of our Pacific neighbours. We need to recognise that there is often no one-size-fits-all solution to achieving more sustainable food systems, and that instead we need to apply robust, evidence-based and context-relevant policy approaches to understand the transitions

Global

required. For example, it is not as simple as declaring one food type is less sustainable than another without assessing the sustainability of its production system and life cycle.

A key food systems priority for New Zealand is to raise global ambition to tackle agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. We recognise that through international collaboration we can greatly amplify the role of our small country in achieving global climate goals.

I would like to encourage other countries to join New Zealand as we build a coalition through to the Summit and beyond on our proposed “Game Changing Solution”, which aims to boost capability and capacity to measure food system emissions around the world.

Our proposal recognises that “you can’t manage what you can’t measure” and involves countries working alongside and through the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (www. globalresearchalliance.org) to advance the accurate reporting of emissions from food sectors and recognise the actions countries are taking to mitigate them. As well as collaborating internationally, New Zealand is walking the walk at home on tackling agricultural greenhouse gas emissions by committing to implement a pricing mechanism for agricultural emissions by 2025.

How we do this will be determined through our “He Waka Eke Noa”, a world-first partnership between the food and fibres sector, government, and Māori. It will help farmers reduce their on-farm emissions and adapt to climate change while contributing to our domestic climate change targets.

The past 18-month period has laid bare the critical importance of international trade and supply chains for food security and well-being.

We know that open and less distortive trade is key to eliminating hunger and lifting people out of poverty, as is reflected in the targets of Sustainable Development Goal Two. I would like to finish by touching on a key New Zealand priority which I hope you will hear a lot more about throughout the Summit process, and that is the need for Summit outcomes to reflect the importance of indigenous knowledge, participation, and leadership in the many aspects of food systems. For New Zealand, this means promoting the significant role of Māori in New Zealand’s food sectors and the growth of Māori agribusiness.

It also means acknowledging and addressing the challenges we are yet to overcome, such as working to find practical solutions that remove barriers to Māori success and leadership and improving our government’s partnership approach to decision making with Māori on food system matters.”

Resilient food systems In exploring pathways to sustainable and resilient food systems, especially during these pandemic times, the lead authors Sperling et.al* (2020) of a study titled “Resilient Food Systems” have produced a detailed report from which some parts have been reproduced here with permission from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). The current pandemic has revealed how interdependent our economies are and how the ripple effects of a shock can quickly move across sectors and political boundaries.

This applies particularly in the case of food systems which are exposed to a variety of environmental and socioeconomic shocks. It requires being prepared for global scale disturbance of earth system processes, including climate change and sea level rise, as well as being able to manage local level impacts and compounding risk factors, such as heat waves, droughts, and environmental degradation.

Human experience to date may be an insufficient guide for managing future risks. A comprehensive analysis of the capacity of food systems to manage such risks is required. There must be a better understanding of which stakeholder groups are the most vulnerable to pandemic, environmental, and socioeconomic risks and of the interventions best suited to building their resilience.

Conclusion Nations around the world are facing challenges related to food, water and energy security, health and environmental changes and increasing demand for scientific knowledge. The global pandemic has accelerated the need for a comprehensive and collective global response to the needs of future food systems. Guided by the five Action Tracks, the Summit brought together key players from the worlds of science, business, policy, and other key stakeholders. Before, during and after the Summit, these actors will come together to hopefully bring about tangible, positive changes to the world’s food systems.

Presentations and information from the Summit are on their website at https://www.un.org/en/food-systems-summit/summit

Reference * Sperling, F., Havlík, P., Denis, M., Valin, H., Palazzo, A., Gaupp, F., Visconti, P. (2020). IIASA–ISC Consultative Science Platform: Resilient Food Systems. Thematic Report of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, and the International Science Council (ISC), Paris. (www.iiasa.ac.at) December 2021/January 2022

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Study Report

Sarah Leakey, second from left, top row, attended the ELN seminars online with others from various time zones

IFT ELN 2021 Sarah Leakey, MNZIFST In July/August this year, thanks to NZIFST, I had the opportunity to attend the 2021 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Emerging Leaders Network (ELN). This year, due to COVID, the ELN was held online over 6 weeks.

within the programme who were supportive and provided good advice. I am still in touch with this group chatting and helping each other navigate ongoing challenges.

When asked to write about my experience in the ELN programme I realised that my experience would be a different one. We are currently navigating an ever-changing world, and this programme would normally be held in person in the U.S. Instead, the 2021 edition meant every Thursday morning I “travelled” to Chicago and back to talk to other young leaders from all around the world – all via Zoom. With such early morning wakeups, I really felt that “jet lag” feeling of being overseas, all while still in my home office.

• Leading strategically – because how can we be effective without a strategy?

Despite being on Zoom, the opportunity to network that I had hoped for was still available, and I am extremely grateful to my mentor group 40

Food New Zealand

The ELN programme was built off four pillars

• Leading people – understanding everyone is different, and realising different skills and personalities are needed to for working as a team.

• Leading collaboratively – teamwork makes the dream work!

• Leading change – this being super relevant with the current pandemic we are living through.

Leadership skills to navigate change are needed more than ever and we

Study Report

2. Being deliberate and authentic PROGRAMME PILLARS

The ELN programme is built on four pillars need to be proactive. People around us may not always work well with change but we need to widen our lens on how we look at our world and the work we do. I have used this programme as an opportunity to reflect on my current skills. I wanted to see how I could develop a toolbox for being a good leader and within this article, I will share some of the “tools I have learnt.

1. Emotional intelligence Your Emotional intelligence (EQ) is a measure of your ability to understand, use and manage emotions in positive ways. If we are aware of it, it can help us to be better leaders, build better teams and manage those teams better. It is a balance with your IQ and together they make up your personality.

EQ, broken down, comprises four attributes: self-management, selfawareness, social awareness and relationship management. If we can learn how to be more emotionally intelligent, we can be more influential as leaders. EQ helps us to be in tune with people and read situations, affects our performance, physical health, mental health, relationships, and social intelligence.

One of the ways we can begin to understand our own EQ is by taking an online quiz where EQ is then represented as a score. These tools can help us to learn our weak points and how to strengthen these. The next step is to focus on yourself: “leader know thyself ”. This idea leans into self-management and your mindset. One of my favourite takeaways here was “always assume good intentions” – assume the best, not the worst!

Good leaders deliver strategy and goals for their teams with confidence and intent: they are deliberate. Being authentic leans into owning what you know and what you don’t know, ultimately people respect people being real. The other part to this is being self-aware – of how you present yourself and how you turn up in both your personal and work life. Being present is really important and I think with all that has happened because of COVID-19, learning to slow down and give things the time that they deserve and need means you enjoy things more and get a better outcome. This has been something I have enjoyed practicing and learning to do more.

3. Thinking forward and adapting in a changing world Forward thinking and planning for the future by having a vision is so important. Challenges come at us every day. It is important to look around at what is happening in the world around us because it will be directly or indirectly affecting you, your team, or your customers.

Learning to embrace ambiguity, being creative with how we deal with change and bringing people on the journey by communicating well through all of this. The other part to this idea is collaboration through creating the right environment where people feel that they can collaborate. Creating a psychologically safe space where people know they are supported and guided will help free-form conversations which generate ideas to think forward and adapt. Part of this is also giving people space to make errors and learn! This will create meaning for people and make them feel they are making an impact – that they can create a positive change.

Conclusion Now that I have completed this course, I am excited to go forth and use my leadership tools. The programme made me feel empowered to drive my own pathway to success and to pursue it, throughout my personal and work life.

I highly recommend that anyone who is new in their career in the food industry apply to participate in the ELN programme in 2022. I am grateful to be selected by NZIFST to attend this programme and I would like to acknowledge the institute and say thank you to both NZIFST, and also Sensient for their support that enabled me to attend this.

December 2021/January 2022

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NZIFST

News from NZIFST 2022 Conference Plenary speakers The committee has confirmed the following accessible and informative plenary speakers to date. Their contribution to our industry will help us think strategically – and laterally.

Opening Plenary: Tony Egan, Managing Director, Greenlea Processed Meats Tony is currently the Managing Director of Greenlea Premier Meats Limited. www. greenlea.co.nz. This family owned business has a turnover of $300 million, 460 staff and processes over 230,000 cattle and 109,000 calves per year. Tony’s previous roles include CEO for AsureQuality for five years, CEO for AFFCO NZ Ltd for five years, and Managing Director [Marketing and Finance] for Greenlea Premier Meats Ltd for eight years. In addition to these management roles, Tony has taken on a number of Directorships at both industry and international business levels and has represented New Zealand at a number of international forums.

Donna Purdue, Chief Economist, MBIE Donna has been the Chief Economist at the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) since 2016. In her role, she is responsible for leading the thinking on the economic frameworks used to underpin MBIE’s policy analysis, leading and shaping the direction of MBIE’s strategic research programme, and providing monitoring and analysis of key economic trends and their implications for policy advice and regulatory stewardship.

Donna has a Bachelor of Social Science with First Class Honours in Economics from Waikato University. Throughout her career she has worked in both the private and public sectors providing practical economic insights to businesses, investors and government to support their decision-making.

NZIFST Directory EXECUTIVE MANAGER

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

PRESIDENT Phil Bremer phil.bremer@otago.ac.nz VICE PRESIDENT Esraa El Shall esraaelshall@gmail.com TREASURER

Grant Boston grant@boston.net.nz

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

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

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

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Food New Zealand

NZIFST

Professor Palatasa (Tasa) Havea Tasa Havea ONZM is Dean Pacific in the new Office of Pasifika Student Success at Massey University. Before joining Massey, Tasa was Principal Research Scientist at Fonterra’s Research and Development Centre.

Originally from Tonga, Tasa's 22-year research career began when he studied a food technology degree at Massey University.

His research has been published widely in international scientific journals and he has presented at numerous international scientific conferences. He has supervised a large number of postgraduate research students.

July 5th to 7th, 2022 Distinction Hotel, Rotorua Conference 2022 First call for abstracts: Oral and Poster

Tasa has a distinguished record of leadership in the Pacific community, serving on a range of boards, committees and reference groups.

A strong advocate for encouraging Pacific students into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects, he is part of the Reference Group at the Ministry of Social Development developing new strategy, is Deputy Chair of the Pacific Education Foundation Board at the Tertiary Education Commission and chairs the Amanaki STEM Academy Board.

The NZIFST 2022 Conference will celebrate the benefits of collaboration in achieving significantly better outcomes than activities that stay within a single area of knowledge or expertise.

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Sustainability, e.g. waste repurposing, circular economy, recycling

Closing plenary wrap–up: Professor Richard Archer

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Food Safety: everything from auditing to microbiology

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Advances in engineering

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Alternative protein including plant proteins

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Petfood

Past–President of NZIFST, Richard Archer is the Logan Campbell Professor of Food Technology in the School of Food and Advanced Technology at Massey University and is also a Fellow of the Riddet Institute.

After four years in deer by-product processing industry, then nineteen in the dairy processing industry, Richard returned to Massey University in 2004 to head Engineering, and then the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health.

Richard is now Director of the FoodPILOT and serves on several advisory boards. He was Chief Technologist of the recently completed MBIE-funded FIET programme on food process engineering and leads a number of smaller projects and programmes.

You are invited to submit an abstract, outlining a presentation for the Conference.

Hot topics in 2022 include, but are not limited to, any aspect of:

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Seafoods including Seaweeds

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Dairy

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Flavours & Sensory

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Feeding NZ from NZ including natural products

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Consumer insights

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Nutrition and health

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Business: commercial considerations in the food industry

To submit an abstract, please complete and return the template available HERE. Due Dates: ORAL & 3MP – Friday 11th March 2022 POSTER – Friday 29th April 2022

December 2021/January 2022

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NZIFST EHEDG news – December 2021 Like everyone reading this column, I am seriously looking forward to a change in fortune and the ability to plan events and business with much better certainty in 2022. Here’s hoping the good news starts with most of us being able to get together with family over Christmas and enjoy some relaxation and good company.

While change is a given in business, the constant short-term change brought about by Delta has had few positive outcomes and has hit business support organisations like EHEDG hard. We have had to cancel/postpone flagship training events, not once but twice this year, creating a significant blip in our plans to increase the profile of the EHEDG, which I am pleased to say is gaining momentum.

The one-day EHEDG Training Course, targeting Food Safety Personnel, Factory Engineers and Quality Practitioners was originally scheduled for August 26th in Auckland and then changed to 26th October, both of which fell victim of the Level 3 restrictions. While we had a moderate registration for the Course, we were a little disappointed in numbers as we thought this was a perfect one-day course for the industry.

Perhaps the reason was the title given to the course by EHEDG Global, “Basic Hygienic Design”? On reflection the word basic engenders entry-level expectation which is certainly not what the course offers. I am lobbying EHEDG Global to change the name to reflect the core focus of highlighting key hygienic design principles and their practical implementation to benefit food safety and productivity.

Watch this space!

The 3-day EHEDG Advanced Hygienic Design Course, scheduled for the start of November in Hamilton also ended up being caught up in the spread of Delta, and has now been re-scheduled for the 8th–10th March 2022. The course was over-subscribed, and all participants have indicated their desire to attend on the revised date. This will be one of the first events at the new Waikato Innovation Park Conference Centre and we look forward to having a very successful course at this impressive facility. Interest is high for this intensive, hands-on course

and we will look to run another one later in the year dependent on feedback. If you would like to register interest, contact myself at info@ ehedg.co.nz for further information.

There have been some positive opportunities from 2021. EHEDG NZ attended the NZIFST Conference where we shared a stand with EMC Industrial Group, an EHEDG registered company in New Zealand, and I delivered a paper to the Food Safety On-Site session – “Can you afford the price of poor hygienic design?”. A webinars lecture, “Hygienic Design – the Smoking Gun of Pathogen Management’ was also delivered to the NZFSSRC rescheduled on-line Annual Symposium Series. The webinar can be viewed on the NZFSSRC Resources webpage. We were excited to finally be able to deliver what is to become an annual webinar guest lecture for the University of Auckland Engineering School and Massey University Food Technology Centre on Hygienic Design in the Food Industry.

It has been a goal for EHEDG NZ to support the awareness of Hygienic Design for the future food engineers of NZ. We are looking forward to being able to be more visible again in 2022 and visiting the regions through NZIFST and industry sponsored events.

The need to be aware of hygienic design principles, how to conduct hygienic design risk assessments and the practical implementation of solutions and tools is an everyday requirement for the industry to effectively manage food safety outcomes. The responsibility for delivery is in the hands of the equipment suppliers and project managers that offer solutions to the food companies, and most importantly it is in the hands of the food companies themselves to identify risks, and specify hygienic design requirements for suppliers to deliver. Awareness is crucial, and EHEDG is here to provide that support.

On behalf of the EHEDG New Zealand Committee, I wish everyone a festive season to remember and enjoy.

David Lowry Chairperson EHEDG New Zealand, info@ehedg.co.nz

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.

Professional Simon

Loveday

Senior Scientist (Food Chemistry & Structure) AgResearch New Zealand Ltd

Belinda McKenzie

Senior Consultant

Scitex Recruitment

Alyssa Adia

Quality Technologist

Hawkins Watts New Zealand

Wendy Bayliss

Conference Speaker Coordinator

NZIFST

Jannel Cedicol

Quality control assessor

Midlands Apiaries Ltd

Anne Cochrane

Food Technician

Lincoln High School

Jocelyn Griffith

R&D Lead

Mataura Valley Milk

Jade-Anna Gronback

Food & Biologicals Technical Specialist

JAS-ANZ

Aman Kaur

Food Safety and Quality Co-Ordinator

FSL Foods

Grace Powell

Senior Adviser, Exporter Regulatory Advice Service

Ministry for Primary Industries

Zane Smith

Factory Manager

FSL Foods

Jessica Wahid

R&D Technologist

Tip Top Ice Cream

Taylor Whittle

R&D Technologist

Tip Top Ice Cream

Standard

Graduate Alice Mai Food Technologist

Students Jessica Zhang, University of Auckland, Jia Lu, Lincoln University, Jayanta McKendrey, Lincoln University

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NZIFST

Branch News Lockdown has severely hampered branches' activities, causing delays, cancellations and radical changes to events.

Canterbury/Westland NZ Food Price Index On 22 September, Katrina Dewberry and Kate Varney, from the Consumer Prices Team, Statistics NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa, gave a virtual presentation to about 40 members of the Canterbury Westland branch on the NZ Food Price Index (FPI). The index is a measure of changes in the price that households pay for food. The FPI considers the prices of a ‘basket’ of foods eaten by New Zealanders. The contents of this basket are updated every three years. Price data are collected from two sources; field data (40%), collected during visits to food retail outlets, and admin data (60%), provided directly from supermarkets.

The Auckland Branch online quiz leaderboard. Can you guess who's who from their pseudonyms?

Auckland Showing great creativity in face of adversity, the committee determined to run their Christmas event online.

A Very Merry Covid Christmas Stoically scrapping all plans of seeing our colleagues face to face for the annual Auckland branch Christmas party, the committee instead embarked on concocting a zoom quiz that would be capable of finally stumping the notoriously knowledgeable Food & Beverage community we call the NZIFST. Despite not being the usual social calendar highlight of the year, everybody was encouraged to turn up in front of computer screens ready with a few cheeky beverages and snacks to make it feel a little more like the real thing.

Paul and Esraa put together 54 diabolical questions across five categories, which included Sustainability, The Food Industry (always a requirement), Couch Potato (putting all those Nextflix bingeing hours to good use), sports and general knowledge. Despite their best attempts, it was impossible to baffle the 28 quick-witted participants.

Distinguishing themselves even further from the already intellectual powerhouses of the Auckland branch, our grand winners were Don Otter in 1st place with Anny Dentener hot on his heels in 2nd and Max Ballard cleaning up 3rd.

The conveted best-dressed prize this year went to our local Oat Milk Queen, Grace van Tilborg with her tinsel tower Santa hat.

It was a great night had by all. We all look forward to the next year when we can do it in person (knock on wood!).

The FPI is released monthly and provides month on month and year on year comparisons of food price changes. The FPI is also a component of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). It is one of 11 groups contributing to the CPI and is the second biggest contributor after housing.

The first COVID-19 lockdown impacted the data collection for the FPI, as no field data could be collected. This resulted in the introduction of comprehensive supermarket scanner data into the FPI and meant that the more recent lockdown had less impact on the FPI. Peter Cressey, FNZIFST

Pea protein isolate More than 60 members and guests attended a Webinar on 27 October, presented by Ken Morison, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Canterbury.

Ken Morison and PhD student Mahnaz Shahverdi talked about the development of a pea protein isolate in the context of plant-based foods for New Zealand. With the growing global interest in plant-based proteins it is not clear yet what protein sources NZ might produce for local consumption and/or export. One option is to apply the whey processing expertise of the NZ dairy industry to produce a highly functional protein powder from peas or other legumes. Research shows that this can be done effectively and a very soluble, low sodium, low fat product can be obtained. The possible structure of a New Zealand industry based on this was also discussed.

Ken pointed out that governments of countries like France and Canada heavily subsidize the pea industry – and export is huge – and at a very low price. To match this price will be a challenge for New Zealand.

An interesting question and answer forum after the presentation was well received, with Bob Olayo as the moderator.

Jasmin Estrera, MNZIFST

Nick Parker (Grand winner of the practice question round) December 2021/January 2022

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Student Essay

Don’t lean on meat – cultured animal fat as an upcoming ingredient for meat alternatives

Helen Liu Student, Massey University, Palmerston North

This article was awarded second equal prize in the Food Tech Solutions NZIFST Undergraduate Writing Competition 2021. 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

What is cultured fat and how is it made?

When you think of meat, the first thing that comes to mind is likely not a Petri dish with 3D printed lab-grown tissue, but with the world’s population estimated to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, this could be our future. Food production will need to increase by 70% (Choudhury et al., 2020), yet finite resources and land limit the exponential growth of meat farming. The agricultural sector will need innovative solutions.

Plant-based and lab-grown meat (also known as cultured meat) are more sustainable alternatives.

Cultured fat is derived from animal cells and can be processed in different ways according to its final use. First, adipogenic (fat) cells are harvested from an animal and isolated. These cells can be immortalised through CRISPR technologies and used continuously without the need for further cell harvesting. A seed train process is then used to produce large amounts of these adipose cells within a bioreactor for commercial production.

Compared to beef, lab-grown meat requires 35% more energy to produce. However, it releases 75% less greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and uses 99.94% less land. Plant-based meats are even better, requiring 32% less energy, 99.89% less GHG emissions, and 99.97% less land (Rubio et al., 2020).

However, food scientists and manufacturers have yet to create alternative products that mimic the exact taste and texture of conventional meat.

This is where cultured animal fat comes in.

Sensory effects of fat Fat contributes to meat flavour, texture, nutrition and visual appearance (Fish et al., 2020). Vegetable fats and oils have been used in plant-based meat alternatives as an animal fat substitute. However, they struggle to give the same organoleptic properties as animal fat, even with several additives and flavourings added (Villa et al., 2015). Vegetable fats are less saturated, which means that they melt much faster than traditional animal fat, resulting in a greasy rather than juicy product.

Improving the taste and texture of alternative meat products will be key for obtaining consumer interest and loyalty, and producers seem open to ideas. Peace of Meat, a Belgian start-up, surveyed 50 companies producing alternative protein products and discovered that 68% would use cultured fat as an ingredient in their products if it improved taste, texture, or mouthfeel (Morrison, 2020).

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Food New Zealand

Another possible process involves inducing individual cells and allowing them to differentiate or divide into mature cells which then accumulate lipids. These mature adipose cells can then be used as an ingredient to improve plant or animal-based meat products.

Alternatively, the cells harvested from a bioreactor can be integrated into an edible biomass scaffold. It is then 3D printed with muscle culture and connective tissue to create a meat structure in vitro (outside of a living organism). (Fish et al., 2020).

Benefits Research and development into cultured fat is key to determining the sensory and nutritional value of alternative meat. For instance, meat quality is affected by fat location and content. Visible fat around a meat slab can be undesirable, with lean cuts typically favoured. Contrary to this, a high-fat content is desirable when the fat is woven between muscle groups, such as in Japanese Wagyu beef. In this premium meat, intramuscular fat is marbled throughout, giving a melt-in-mouth texture. Fat culturing technologies allow for control of fat distribution and composition, thereby allowing for optimisation of meat qualities according to consumer preference (Fish et al., 2020).

The use of cultured fat instead of vegetable alternatives also introduces “clean” labelling opportunities due to decreased reliance on additives (Morrison, 2020), while the use of immortalised cells would allow companies to use vegan claims, without compromising on the “meaty”

Student Essay

Food scientists and manufacturers have yet to create alternative meat products that mimic the exact taste and texture of a marbled steak taste. Improved sensory attributes would increase product appeal for flexitarians and could also facilitate the transition for meat-eaters who want to avoid conventional meat products for animal welfare or environmental reasons.

Limitations

as early as 2022 (Meat-Tech, 2020). These products would be a crucial step to tapping into the market of meat-eaters who don’t want to sacrifice the meaty taste they know and love. These hybrid products could also accelerate the entry of cultured foods into the mainstream market by gaining consumer familiarity and acceptance (Fish et al., 2020).

The large-scale production of fat cells has been constrained by scaleup feasibility. Adipose cells need to adhere to a surface to grow, which in the past has limited production to 2D systems such as Petri dishes.

However, the adoption of technologies such as hollow-fibre bioreactor tanks (which allow cells to attach inside the vessel) has dramatically increased cell growth capacity. Other promising technologies could provide lower-cost production, but further research is required before they are feasible for industrial-scale use.

Conclusion

Other barriers to commercial production are the regulations surrounding cell-cultured fat and consumer acceptance. For cellcultured meat products, regulations are in place in the United States by the USDA. Within the EU, cultured meat and related foods are processed under the Novel Foods Regulation Programme. Other countries have been slower to adopt regulations, but they are likely to follow similar jurisdiction as the United States and the European Union (Fish et al., 2020).

Choudhury, D., Tseng, T. W., & Swartz, E. (2020). The Business of Cultured Meat. Trends in Biotechnology, 38(6), 573-577. https://doi. org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2020.02.012

Consumer acceptance will determine the success of cultured fat as an ingredient. A review of several studies found that some consumers were not accepting of cell-cultured meat for reasons such as perceived unnaturalness, expected price and health and food safety concerns.

However, the provision of positive information can increase product acceptance, so manufacturers should focus on strong marketing campaigns and informative packaging (Fish et al., 2020).

With a fast-growing population but limited resources, we need creative and sustainable solutions to fill our stomachs. Cultured fat could be our solution to juicy, plant-based meats, or tender, lab-grown steaks. The ultimate question is: would you try foods containing cultured animal fat?

References

Fish, K. D., Rubio, N. R., Stout, A. J., Yuen, J. S. K., & Kaplan, D. L. (2020). Prospects and challenges for cell-cultured fat as a novel food ingredient. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 98, 53-67. https://doi. org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2020.02.005 Meat-Tech. (2020). Meat-Tech Agrees to Acquire Cultured Fat Pioneer 'Peace of Meat'. . https://www.prnewswire.com/il/news-releases/meattech-agrees-to-acquire-cultured-fat-pioneer-peace-of-meat-301188400. html Morrison, O. (2020). Cultivated fat: a solution to the plant-based sensory gap? https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2020/12/15/Cultivated-fata-solution-to-the-plant-based-sensory-gap

Looking ahead

Rubio, N. R., Xiang, N., & Kaplan, D. L. (2020). Plant-based and cellbased approaches to meat production. Nature Communications, 11(1), 6276. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20061-y

Innovation in cultured fat is gaining momentum with increasing investor interest. In 2020, Meat-Tech (an industrial cultured meat developer) acquired a company leading development in cultured fat technologies for the sum of $25.4 million. Meat-Tech estimates the launch of their first plant-based, cultured animal fat hybrid products to hit the shelves

Villa, E., da Silva Corrêa Lemos, A. L., Selani, M., Spada, F., Almeida, M., & Contreras-Castillo, C. (2015). Influence of animal fat substitution by vegetal fat on Mortadella-type products formulated with different hydrocolloids. Scientia Agricola, 72, 495-503. https://doi.org/https://doi. org/10.1590/0103-9016-2014-0387 December 2021/January 2022

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NZIFST CONFERENCE 2022 July 5th to 7th, 2022 Distinction Hotel, Rotorua Your suggestions for topics of interest are welcome Conference Committee Chair is Rob Archibald

An event worth attending, for the science and technology, and for the people For more information contact NZIFST, rosemary@nzifst.org.nz

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Food New Zealand