Food New Zealand

October/November 2023

NZ’S AUTHORITY ON FOOD TECHNOLOGY, RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURING

FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE: Overview: Food Ingredients Overview: Process Automation and Control NZIFST Conference 2024: Call for Abstracts

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

Contents NZ’S AUTHORITY ON FOOD TECHNOLOGY, RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURING

O C T O B ER/ N O VEM BER 2 0 2 3 | VOLUM E 2 3, N O. 5 IS S N 274 4 -7 3 08 (ON L I N E) I SSN 1175- 4 6 2 1 ( PR I N T )

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EDITORIAL

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NEWSBITES

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SLIDING ON

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Magic or Magical Mushrooms?

Professor John D Brooks, FNZIFST

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FSANZ

Precision Fermentation is coming Ben Sutherland, Principal Food Technologist | Standards & Surveillance, FSANZ

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NZ FOOD SAFETY

Strengthening NZ’s food regulatory system Vincent Arbuckle, Deputy Director-General, New Zealand Food Safety

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OVERVIEW

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REVIEW

What’s new and trending in the world of food ingredients?

Fifty years of change to the lipid diets of Australasians– a recap

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Laurence Eyres FNZIFST

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

Food NZ is 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 © 2023 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 or NZIFST.

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Food New Zealand

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

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

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

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AUTOMATION Cloud-based process management and control

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NZFSSRC

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RESEARCH BRIEFING

Does size matter when it comes to food safety?

Riddet Institute roundup

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ALLERGENS

Harmonising the world approach to Precautionary Allergen Labelling

Lisa Clark, Allergen Bureau Manager, Debbie Hawkes, Allergen Bureau Board Director, FNZIFST

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CAREERS

The 2023 Food Industry Salary Survey - Company size matters!

John Lawson, Lawson Williams Recruitment

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NZIFST NEWS INCLUDING

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ESSAY COMPETITION

Conference update New members Branch News

The current and future state of cell-based meat

Lennart Morten Iwers, Massey Palmerston North

JOIN NZIFST NOW for Executive Manager, Wendy Bayliss PO Box 44322 Pt Chevalier Auckland 1022 New Zealand Phone: 022 549 8483, Email: wendy@nzifst.org.nz Website: www.nzifst.org.nz

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

On the cover We make orange juice from oranges, salad from vegetables, meat and milk from grass (in New Zealand, at least).

Quality ingredients for quality food products.

Next editorial and advertising deadline: November 20th, 2023 Features for December 2023 / January 2024 Overview: Analytical, Food Safety and Consulting services Packaging update

October / November 2023

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Editorial

EDITORIAL I spent last week mostly at Foodtech Packtech (FTPT), our national food industry trade fair, which showcases a diverse range of products for manufacture, packaging, quality control, analysis, that is, everything food manufacturing, and allows organisations and companies that support our industry and the development of new technologies and products to build awareness.

We nearly lost FTPT. The Cornwall Park Trust Board attempted to repurpose the buildings of the ASB Showgrounds into a film studios, but thanks to the efforts, particularly of Brent Spillane of Xpo, who took them to court, the event, and many others, continue.

Two lessons here. Firstly, always do your homework, check the history. Sir John Logan Campbell gifted the people of New Zealand the land surrounding Maungakiekie (One Tree Hill) for public use in perpetuity. It was named Cornwall Park in memory of the then Duke of Cornwall. Campbell’s wish was that the park be free for every New Zealander to enjoy, forever. While the hurly burly of daily life tends to be in the moment, it is important that we remember our history, and the people to whom we owe a debt of gratitude.

Anne Scott FNZIFST, Editor

The second lesson is that the value of exhibitions such as FTPT goes way beyond the opportunity to find new resources, or sell them, it is about the people. From the NZIFST stand I saw and experienced meetings between old friends. A walk around the exhibition stands was a slow stroll, as so many familiar faces were there. It was fun.

FTPT and Fine Foods are showcases for our industry, the one in the processing and production space, the other in the consumption space (with lots of new food companies showcasing their products). NZIFST takes the opportunity afforded

by FTPT to meet members and encourage new memberships.

I’m taking this opportunity to thank the NZIFST members and a couple of others, who supported the Institute by agreeing to speak in the NZIFST Seminar sessions. Thanks to Indrawati Oey (who broke her journey from China to Dunedin (Yes, that’s right.) to talk about Pulsed Electric Field Processing), EHEDG Chair, David Lowry, Process Engineer, Cam Russell, Tony Mutukumira from Massey Albany, Engineer, Helen Ashworth from Cuddon Freeze Dry, David Bayliss, an independent consultant and member of Foodinc, Sam Borghfeldt, also an independent consultant from the Beverage and Food Gurus. Debbie Hawkes from the Allergen Bureau and Bob Olayo from Matt Solutions rounded out the second day.

Referring back to the importance of remembering our history. Helen Ashworth, of Cuddon Freeze Dry spoke about the history of Cuddon – her title. “WGG Cuddon, a New Zealand legend” traced the story of the founder of Cuddon. Helen is a Professional Engineer and her enthusiasm and knowledge is infectious.

WGG Cuddon arrived in New Zealand early in the 1800s with a steam engine which was the basis of the company’s start and rise to its current international recognition as a supplier of freeze dryers. (A Cuddon steam engine powered the refrigeration on the Dunedin! Now that’s a good trivia fact.)

It seems as if few of our founding entrepreneurs’ legacies are still recognisable but Sir John Logan Campbell’s Cornwall Park, and Cuddon Freeze dry are two examples of the enduring legacy we enjoy today. How many food entrepreneurs can you think of?

Anne Scott FNZIFST, Editor and Publisher

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Food New Zealand

Newsbites

Newsbites Food New Zealand’s round up of news about NZIFST members, associated companies and other items of interest.

Automated wet chemistry analysers from SKALAR The Skalar San++ instrument is well suited for analysing various components that are found in different foods & beverages. Through wet chemistry and continuous flow analysis, the San++ instrument can perform up to 16 measurements on a single sample. Testing parameters range from amino acids to minerals like calcium & iron and carbohydrates (sugars and starches).

Ian Roberts has been appointed Chief Supply Chain Officer at Frucor Suntory

New Chief Supply Chain Officer for Frucor Suntory Frucor Suntory Oceania has announced the appointment of Ian Roberts as Chief Supply Chain Officer.

With an extensive background in end-to-end FMCG operations, Ian brings a wealth of experience to his new role at Frucor Suntory Oceania. His impressive career includes serving as the Executive General Manager of Retail at Visy and over two decades at Lion in various senior Supply Chain Director roles.

In his new role at Frucor Suntory Oceania, Ian will lead the transTasman supply chain, including the business operations based in Wiri, New Zealand and the highly anticipated $400+ million manufacturing and distribution facility currently under construction in Ipswich, Queensland.

For this instrument, Skalar has three models available depending on customer application and requirements: the Classic, Advanced, and Compact. The Classic can be considered the entry model to the San++ series. It is based on the traditional segmented flow analyser, but incorporates more modern features such as touch screen control, monitors for various instrument functions (e.g. pump speed, reactor temperature), automated maintenance prompts, and leak detection.

In terms of capability, the classic can accommodate up to five chemistry analytical modules and can be configured with in-line sample pre-treatment before sample detection. With the addition of an autosampler, the San++ Classic is suitable for customers with low sample throughputs & testing requirements. For higher volume workflows, the San++ Advanced is recommended.

Software for the Skalar instruments come with standard methods that follow regulatory protocols such as ISO, EPA, ASBS & others.

If customers are testing for new compounds, using non-standard methods or different protocols, these can be built into the software by a Skalar engineer (before the instrument is shipped) or this can be done during the installation, commissioning and training.

Ian's appointment follows the recent announcement that Frucor Suntory and Beam Suntory are partnering to create a $3B multibeverage group, ‘Suntory Oceania’. Together, the two Suntory businesses will create the fourth largest beverage group in the region, with full end- to-end control of its portfolio, including manufacturing, sales and distribution. The partnership is set to be operational for mid-2025 in Australia and 2026 in New Zealand.

Ian will be based in Sydney and will play a pivotal role as part of the Oceania Leadership Team. Former Chief Supply Chain Officer, Jon Sackree, departed Frucor Suntory earlier this year after 10 years of dedicated service.

October / November 2023

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Newsbites

United Fresh International Trend Report United Fresh (www.unitedfresh.co.nz) has over 30 years of experience supporting and promoting the New Zealand fresh produce industry, working with the entire value chain, from seed producer and grower to consumer, providing leadership on panproduce issues.

Demand has surged for products high in beneficial nutrients and products that offer to improve the planet's health. In the fruit and vegetable aisle alone, 35 percent of consumers surveyed towards the end of last year reported increasing their spending on fresh produce for health reasons.

This is their sixth Trend Report for New Zealand. Read the report HERE

The report discusses trends relating to edible packaging developments. Relates a story about the development of a potato milk substitute. Notes that fermented food products are becoming more common, as are plant-based products.

Restricted household budgets, the need for balanced health and well-being, and an awareness of being eco-friendly for our planet have influenced the food and shopping trends for 2023.

Recent research indicates that food prices have risen by 12.5% in April 2023 compared to April 2022, marking this the most significant increase since 1986.

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Food New Zealand

The report also notes that platforms like TikTok and Instagram have encouraged 67% of consumers to want to see more social media fads come to life at stores and restaurants; that number jumps to 74% among Gen Z and Millennial consumers.

Newsbites

Hygienic Butterfly Valves Tecpro Australia now supplies top-of-the line AWH butterfly valves, spares and accessories to our customers in Australia and New Zealand. AWH leakage butterfly valves, compact intermediate flange butterfly valves and standard butterfly valves are ideal for safe media separation due to their excellent design.

Butterfly valves are used for controlling the flow of fluid through pipes. They are multipurpose and offer a compact design, making them a good choice for the food and beverage and pharmaceutical industries (among others). They are perfect for applications involving liquid or semi-liquid products. Within hygienic industries, along with all equipment, valves must adhere to the strictest sanitary standards, which means that sourcing the right valves for the job is imperative.

Seals in and around a butterfly valve must be food grade and durable, with no potential for leakage, to guarantee that it can’t be contaminated, and should be made of a material that isn’t affected by the chemicals within the clean in place cycle (CIP).

Additionally, valves made of 316 stainless steel are essential, given that stainless steel is one of the most hygienic metals available and also one of the most corrosion resistant.

Industries and applications where hygiene is important can benefit from butterfly valves, from food and beverage industry to pharmaceutical, biotech and medical industries.

German manufactured AWH hygienic butterfly valves are now available through Tecpro Australia October / November 2023

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Newsbites TRIO.BAS microbiological air sampler Environmental monitoring is critical for ensuring that the temperature, humidity, and unviable and viable particle counts are all at appropriate levels. Air monitoring allows you to maintain control over both viable and non-viable particles found in critical areas of your operation.

TRIO.BAS is an easy-to-use, portable airsampler that can continuously monitor or routinely sample microbiological air quality in your operation. The unit has three aspirating chambers for Petri or Contact plates with Bluetooth and base station induction charger. It is suitable for 55mm Contact plates or 90mm Petri dishes.

Data is transferred via Bluetooth between the air sampler and a smartphone or tablet (Android version) and then to a PC or laptop. The unit can be operated either in manual or automatic mode. For those who use barcode identification for sampling, process control, etc, a barcode module is available which automatically records the operator, place and plates used for sampling. Data collected by the barcode reader is transmitted directly to the instrument.

The battery is recharged by a base station induction charger without any cable connection between the air sampler and the charger.

The 200 litre/min air flow reduces the operator time and sampling duration.

This unit has 3 different aspirating heads so that you can use 2/3 different culture media at the same time or else take timed samples, for example sample before (at rest), during (in operation) and at the end of each processing cycle.

Food Tech Solutions are exclusive New Zealand agents for TRIO.BAS. The triple head TRIO. BAS unit is currently on sale, see adjacent advertisement.

Reduce food waste during processing According to some estimates, over a third of all the food produced globally is wasted.

While not all of this material is edible, in terms of efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, prevention of this waste is preferable to other methods such as food redistribution or use as animal feed, or recycling, energy generation or disposal via anaerobic digestion, composting, incineration or landfill.

There are several practical applications for reducing waste within your business. Careful selection of processing equipment can make significant savings of product on your production line.

Even with the best will in the world, some ‘waste’ is likely to be generated. This should be dealt with in a way which maximises its usefulness or value.

It may also be possible to utilise certain products in novel ways, for example vegetable oils and animal by-products (ABPs) can be converted into biodiesel where facilities allow.

New technology or equipment may help increase utilisation, for example by recovering more usable protein from meat carcases.

The HRS R Series of heat exchangers uses a scraper bar within the inner tube to enhance product flow, prevent fouling and minimise pressure drop. It has the unique feature that when configured correctly, the unit can be run in reverse, effectively emptying the heat exchanger tube(s) of product without damaging it or changing its characteristics, so it can be recovered and utilised.

Due to the amount of product saved, and the fact that it is often unnecessary to install additional product recovery systems, the R Series heat exchanger can be a more economic option than alternative systems which have lower capital costs.

Located in Melbourne, HRS Heat Exchangers is part of the EIL Group (Exchanger Industries Limited) which operates at the forefront of thermal technology. HRS offers innovative heat transfer solutions worldwide across a diverse range of industries.

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Food New Zealand

Hygiene

Biofilms in the food industry Biofilms are complex microbial ecosystems formed by one or more species enclosed in an extracellular polymeric matrix (EPS).

The matrix has a different composition depending on the type of pathogen, environment, and colonizing species. The biofilm matrix surrounding bacteria makes them tolerant to harsh conditions and resistant to antibacterial treatments.

The presence of more than one bacterial species in a biofilm has important ecological advantages because it can facilitate the biofilm’s attachment to a surface and contribute to its increased resistance to sanitisers and disinfectants.

In the food industry the EPS can attach to hard surfaces or biological structures (vegetables, meat, bones, fruits, etc). Once formed the biofilm provides many advantages to the microbial cells encased in it: •

physical resistance (against desiccation)

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mechanical resistance (against liquid streams in pipelines)

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chemical protection (against chemicals, antimicrobials and disinfectants used in the industry.)

Of particular importance to the food industry is that some biofilms in food factory environments are pathogenic to humans and they can develop on different artificial substrates such as stainless steel, polyethylene, wood, glass, polypropylene, rubber and concrete.

The associated effects of these biofilms (pathogenicity and corrosion of metal surfaces etc) are of critical importance as many processes and structures (tanks, pipelines, centrifuges, pasteurisers, and packing tools) can act as surface substrates for biofilm formation at different temperatures and with different colonizing species.

Health impacts of food industry biofilms Pathogenic biofilms on food surfaces or factory equipment can inoculate food products and cause infection. As an example, toxins secreted by biofilms can contaminate a food surface, causing individual or multiple (in the case of an outbreak) further product inoculations. Either way the presence of biofilms in a food factory puts human health at risk.

The main locations for biofilm development depend on the factory type, but may include water, milk and other liquid pipelines, pasteuriser plates, reverse osmosis membranes, tables, employee gloves, animal carcasses, contact surfaces, storage silos for raw materials and additives, dispensing tubing, packing material, etc.

Listed below are three of the most important food borne bacterial pathogens in NZ. • •

Bacillus cereus: Resistant to heat, chemical treatments, radiation and industrial pasteurisation processes.

Listeria monocytogenes: Some examples of foods known to transmit this pathogen are seafood, dairy products, meat, readyto-eat products, fruits, soft cheeses, ice cream, unpasteurised

“Whatever a potential customer requires, AWS Group will be able to provide a solution”, Paul Schoch, Rapid Facility Services milk, candied apples, frozen vegetables, and poultry.

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Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli: Some strains pose a health risk and are noxious foodborne pathogens transmitted by drinking water, fruits and vegetables (tomatoes, melons, parsley, cilantro, lettuce, spinach etc), raw milk or fresh meat.

Given that biofilms are responsible for causing a broad range of chronic illness, it is important to identify and remove them before they can cause harm. A robust preventative cleaning regime is important to prevent them forming.

How can AWS Group help to manage biofilm?

We offer a comprehensive 3 step approach to managing biofilms, supported by a wide range of product solutions. Working directly with customers, we develop the right solution tailored to their unique needs through identification, elimination and ongoing control.

Step 1. Identify: AWS have the in-house resource to work alongside your Quality Assurance or management team to establish a procedure to identify the problem areas in your facility.

Step 2. Eliminate: Developing site specific procedures, assigning the correct product and providing the appropriate staff training and application support are the key to success.

Step 3. Control: Our monthly audit regime will ensure your newly developed mitigation tools are being followed and upheld. Regular reports and inspection findings are integral to ongoing success.

AWS Group have a wide range of high-performance disinfectants and sanitisers, supported by technical expertise available to all sectors of the food industry.

Contact us now regarding your biofilm issues.

October / November 2023

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Sliding On

Sliding on

Magic or Magical Mushrooms?

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

Who doesn’t love a good steak, cheese and mushroom pie? I have written a lot about bacteria and food poisoning, but fungi haven’t really had a fair suck of the sauce bottle. This article will change that.

After I had begun planning this edition of Sliding on, I watched a lovely video from The Food Revolution Network “Fantastic Fungi”.

It’s a bit evangelical, but contains much interesting information and short clips of fungi growing in the wild.

When you read the word ‘mushroom’ I imagine that you see in your mind’s eye white buttons that you buy in the supermarket, or perhaps the field mushrooms that grow in your lawns or in grassy paddocks.

There are hundreds of other species that are edible. There is no practical difference between toadstools and mushrooms – the words are used interchangeably and all refer to the visible fruiting bodies of fungi. Of course, we are very familiar with other fungi: moulds that grow on bread and cakes, shower curtains etc., the Penicillium moulds used to produce blue cheese varieties and the yeasts used in fermentation of beer and wines. It is hard to believe, but it is estimated that there are 1.5 million species of fungi – non-photosynthetic organisms that obtain their nutrients from both dead and living organic matter and are placed in their own group, Kingdom Fungi. Of course, not all species produce mushrooms but mushrooms have been part of our food for many years. Shiitake mushrooms have been cultivated in China since about 1000AD, but the growing techniques have been developed more recently in Japan and Thailand.

We have heard a lot about fungi recently, from the desperately sad deaths in Australia, through magic mushrooms and Silicon Valley “micro-dosing”, to their use in food and treatment of various illnesses.

Mushrooms are touted as superfoods and as replacements for meat. They are low-calorie and low-fat while being rich in protein and edible fibre. They are also anti-inflammatory by virtue of their content of β-glucan, and contain several anti-oxidants including Vitamin A and D and ergothioneine. They are even claimed to help cure cancer.

I have a beautifully illustrated book “Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms of the World, which describes some hundreds of mushrooms and gives their habitat and edibility. One thing is clear: identification of wild mushrooms can be very difficult and is probably best left to experienced amateurs and expert mycologists. The Death Cap, Amanita phaloides, is appropriately 10

Food New Zealand

named, as 50g is a lethal dose and the mushroom is superficially similar to some stages of the edible straw mushroom, Volvariella volvacea, which has resulted in an increase in poisonings in the western United States and indeed probably accounts for the majority of deaths from ingestion of fungi worldwide. Nevertheless, collecting field mushrooms, Agaricus campestris, can yield a tasty addition to meat or egg meals. This species is never found in association with trees, so picking them from grassy paddocks and airfields is safe, provided that they match the description of the species. The horse mushroom, Agaricus arvensis, can also be found in pastures from late summer in clusters or huge fairy rings.

Over the last few years, the concept of microdosing [1] has gained a significant following, particularly in Silicon Valley. This is the use of low sub-perceptual doses of psychedelics, such as psilocybin mushrooms Psilocybe cubensis. The intention was to enhance mental function, creativity and problem-solving. It started as an underground practice, perhaps stemming from the use of larger doses at parties, and therefore there have been very few placebo-controlled investigations of the effects. A recent paper described a double-blind placebo-controlled trial. The researchers found that low doses of psilocybin mushrooms can result in noticeable subjective effects, but concluded that expectation underlies some of the anecdotal benefits, a finding supported by an extensive trial at Imperial College, London, in 2018.

However, a 34 year old woman who had lived her entire life with no mind’s eye (aphantasia) found that she developed powerful mental images, both waking and sleeping, after just one experience of taking psilocybin mushrooms and that this effect lasted for twelve months.[2] The experimental sample is small (n=1) and that research has not yet been peer-reviewed, but is surely worth further investigation.

Whether we believe all of these claims or not, there is no doubt that mushrooms are a welcome addition to our food.

References [1] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/dec/02/peoplemicrodosing-on-psychedelics-to-improve-wellbeing-duringpandemic?CMP=share_btn_link [2] https://www.iflscience.com/woman-with-no-minds-eyedevelops-one-after-taking-magic-mushrooms-70294

Food Safety

Precision Fermentation is coming Ben Sutherland, Principal Food Technologist | Standards & Surveillance, FSANZ

Precision fermentation has come to the fore of late here at FSANZ. Otherwise known as microbial fermentation or precision biomanufacturing, this innovative approach produces various foods via genetically modified (GM) microorganisms. Specialised bacteria, yeast, or fungi are engineered to produce proteins, flavours, or other components traditionally obtained from animal or plant sources.

Foods produced via fermentation can be further categorised into precision fermentation, where a filtration/separation process yields a final food, or biomass production, where the entire ferment forms the final food. Made without the need to raise and slaughter animals, they may be able to address supply volatility in instances where foods from animals may be compromised by disease or other factors like those currently creating egg shortages here. FSANZ is assessing applications we’d consider to be true precision fermentation, such as oligosaccharides for infant formula products, enzymes and also one considered biomass, Impossible Food’s soy leghemoglobin.

FSANZ considers we’d likely see multiple applications to amend the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code) for precision fermentation products, such as animal comparator proteins and specialty ingredients, such as flavour compounds, used to enhance the taste, texture, and nutritional profile of various foods. The use of genetically engineered organisms in food production requires thorough testing to ensure the safety of the final foods. And whilst there is an onus on the manufacturer to supply safe and suitable food, a FSANZ pre-market assessment would still be required.

In preparation, we are collaborating with Cellular Agriculture Australia (CAA) and the CSIRO in Australia. FSANZ has observer status on the CAA’s Industry working group which includes regulators, companies, and researchers as part of its membership. The aim is to foster a commercial Australian cellular agriculture sector and ensure a fit for purpose regulatory framework is in place. With the CSIRO, we are discussing the issues that might be experienced by the sector, how our risk assessments might develop, and ways to engage with stakeholders. This includes developing brochures for industry, along with a practical resource guide and targeted communication for these stakeholder groups. We are also collaborating with and advising various overseas regulators who realise the precision fermentation wave is coming. So once industry have optimised their strains, tackled the challenges of factory design, ingredient sourcing, scaling production, filling the talent pool or gaining access to expertise, we aim to make the path to regulation a little less daunting.

Stakeholders are always welcome to contact FSANZ with any enquiries on these types of foods, as we can advise on the application process and provide expert advice in certain circumstances from our great team here, many who have worked in the precision fermentation area.

“But what about GM status?"

One common question is around the GM status of such products as industry move closer to their manufacturing phase. To answer this, when coming from GM microorganisms, the resultant product may be considered a “food produced from gene technology”. And while FSANZ doesn’t have a philosophical view on the benefits or otherwise of GM foods, noting there are around 90 currently in the Code, there are labelling implications. Section 1.5.2-4 of the Code requires labelling as ‘genetically modified’ where novel DNA or novel protein is present in the food for sale. Additionally, foods listed in S26-3(2) ‘Food produced using gene technology’, subsections (2A) and (3) must also be labelled with the words ‘genetically modified’, as well as any other additional labelling required by that schedule, regardless of the presence of novel DNA or novel protein in the foods. These foods are considered to have an altered characteristic, such as an altered composition or nutritional profile, when compared to the existing counterpart food that is not produced using gene technology. The requirement to label as ‘genetically modified’ also applies to a food for sale that consists of, or has as, a component that is a GM food.

Sometimes GM labelling does not apply, such as if the food has been highly refined (other than food that has an altered characteristic), where the refining process removes novel DNA or novel protein e.g. a highly refined oil from a GM crop. It depends on whether it is a substance used as a processing aid or a food additive, where novel DNA or novel protein from the substance does not remain present in the food for sale, whether a flavouring substance is present in the food in a concentration of no more than 1 g/kg (0.1%); or whether unintentionally present in the food in an amount of no more than 10 g/kg (or 1%) of each ingredient.

We understand that labelling is only one aspect of the precision fermentation journey, there are no doubt many other questions stakeholders have. FSANZ is willing to provide advice on the regulatory process during industry’s development phase, so please reach out and we’d be happy to help.

October / November 2023

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Food Safety

Strengthening NZ’s food regulatory system Vincent Arbuckle, Deputy Director-General, New Zealand Food Safety Working alongside food industry organisations and other regulators, New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS) has been making great strides to strengthen New Zealand food regulations this year, including around recalls, importing and labelling. Our food safety system keeps consumers safe.

These changes aim to: •

ensure the food industry provides safe and suitable food;

•

ensure that consumers are well informed around healthy food and safe handling practices;

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maintain the positive reputation of New Zealand food, domestically and internationally.

Simulated recalls As of 1 July 2023, all businesses registered under the Food Act, Wine Act or Animal Products Act, as well as food importers and exporters, must carry out a simulated recall at least every 12 months (unless they have conducted a successful actual recall in this period).

Simulated recalls enable businesses to test their ability to trace and effectively recall their products, and ensure they are prepared if an actual food recall is ever required. Our team continues to work with verifiers and businesses on best practice for food recalls, and has created online simulated food recall resources.

Food businesses – please notify NZFS of any recalls, or food safety issues you are concerned about. It is a good idea to subscribe to food recalls, so you are aware of current recalls underway.

Updated rules for food importers In a change that will make imported food safer for consumers, updated rules that clarify the role and responsibilities of New Zealand food importers came into effect on 1 August 2023. The rule changes for food importers are detailed in the Food Notice: Requirements for Registered Food Importers and Imported Food for Sale.

All food importers must be registered, and most won’t have to make any changes to comply with the updated rules. Some importers will have to make minor tweaks, and a small number will have to significantly improve their procedures.

For food importers, these rules clarify: •

what they must consider when conducting their safety and suitability assessment before bringing food into New Zealand;

•

that they must ensure the food is stored and transported in a safe way;

•

the records they must keep.

Food importers must meet these requirements for all their consignments. Additional border clearance rules apply to the highest risk imported foods (such as meat, seafood and berries).

Meeting these updated rules will help importers ensure their food is safe and reduce the likelihood of things going wrong (as has happened with costly recalls for frozen berries and tahini).

For more details, visit our importing food web page.

Food safety and pregnancy Alcohol Alcoholic drinks, packaged and labelled from 1 August 2023, need to carry a warning label that alcohol can cause harm to unborn babies. The new warning label is required on any packaged drink for retail sale that contains more than 1.15% alc/vol.

The new labelling requirement in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code) was developed under the joint Australia and New Zealand food The Safe and Healthy Eating in regulatory system which Pregnancy booklet contains guidance includes Food Standards for safe food and nutrition for Australia New Zealand pregnant women (FSANZ). Labelling will be monitored in New Zealand by NZFS. Pregnant women, and those supporting them, need to be aware of the risk that alcohol presents for their unborn child, and the potentially life-changing consequences drinking while pregnant can have.

Alcoholic beverages packaged and labelled before the transition period ended on 31 July 2023 can be sold without a pregnancy warning label.

For more details, visit our Labelling requirements for wine and other alcoholic drinks web page.

Folic acid in bread In an additional move to support pregnant women, as of 14 August 12

Food New Zealand

Food Safety 2023, all non-organic wheat flour for making bread must be fortified with 2-3mg/kg of the B vitamin folic acid. By implementing Standard 2.1.1 – 5 (a) Cereal and Cereal Products of the Code, New Zealand has taken an important step to protect babies from serious birth defects.

In February 2021, the Food Standards Code was amended to introduce the PEAL rules – to make it easier for consumers to identify what allergens are in food, and to help them make informed and safe food choices.

Folic acid is proven to reduce the prevalence of Neural Tube Defects (NTDs), which can be life threatening for babies, or cause life-long disabilities. And as Māori and Pasifika babies have higher rates of NTDs, fortifying bread will particularly benefit these communities.

The main statements that will need to be included on a food label are:

Organic bread, bread or flour made from other grains, and wheat flour not specifically intended for bread-making (such as for making biscuits, cakes, pastry and pizzas) do not need to be fortified, providing a choice for consumers who don’t want to consume folic acid.

NZFS worked with industry to develop the guide “Changes to rules around folic acid fortification of bread and flour”, available on our Fortification of flour web page.

NZFS, Manatū Hauora Ministry of Health and Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand worked together to develop guidance for safe food and nutrition for pregnancy into a single source of information – Safe and Healthy Eating in Pregnancy.

Plain English allergen labelling Some ingredients need to be avoided by certain people, such as those who have food allergies.

Food businesses have until midnight 24 February 2024 to make the necessary changes to their food labels and to train staff so the information they give customers aligns with the new Plain English allergen labelling (PEAL) rules.

•

bolded allergen declaration in the ingredients list, using specific commonly understood terms;

•

a summary “contains…” list of the allergens next to the ingredients list.

Any food packaged and labelled before 25 February 2024 may continue to be sold in accordance with the old allergen labelling requirements for a further two years after implementation of the new PEAL rules.

From 25 February 2026, all food products sold in New Zealand must comply with the PEAL rules.

For more information, NZFS has published a guidance document and video on our allergens declarations web page.

In closing I want to recognise the hard work and dedication of those in the food industry, so that consumers can be confident that all New Zealand food is subject to consistently high safety standards. Food science and research continues to play an increasingly important role, as food production and food supply remains critical for Aotearoa.

For any questions, please contact NZFS on 0800 00 83 33 or info@ mpi.govt.nz

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Overview

Ingredients What’s new and trending in the world of food ingredients?

About ADM At ADM, we unlock the power of nature to provide access to nutrition worldwide.

We offer industry-advancing innovations and a complete portfolio of ingredients and solutions to meet any taste, alongside an unwavering commitment to sustainability.

Get an edge with our unparalleled portfolio of flavours, extracts, colours and specialty ingredients, combined with technical ingenuity for future-forward innovation across all food, beverage and health and wellness applications.

Alchemy Agencies Alchemy Agencies is an employee owned company that has supplied to the New Zealand food and beverage market since 1996. We are a growing team of respected industry professionals who are committed to bringing innovative products to the market, and partner with customers and suppliers to develop unique and novel products that offer a point of difference. Technical advice, flexibility and speed of response are key attributes.

Alchemy is committed to the safety and well-being of all those associated with our business and work to ensure the sustainability of the environment in which we operate. Alchemy’s Quality Assurance Manager is tasked with ensuring food regulatory compliance whilst the HSE Manager ensures health, safety, and environmental compliance across all aspects of the business. Transparency regarding the suppliers we represent is a core value.

We have a diverse portfolio including fruit and vegetable purees/ pastes; juice concentrates; bespoke vegetable preparations; acidulants; emulsifiers; hydrocolloid blends; gelatin and collagen; natural preservative systems; MCT and other oleochemicals; isomalto-oligosaccharide; ethanol; hops and brewing products; probiotics and much more.

Contracted warehousing is strategically located throughout the country to support local production with fast and efficient delivery.

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Food New Zealand

As consumers continue to embrace a broader and more holistic view to wellness, our pantry of solutions is well-equipped with tried-andtrue ingredients to support their healthy lifestyles. We offer industryleading reduced-calorie sweetening solutions, a variety of plant-based proteins, functional health ingredients such as prebiotic fibre, probiotics, post-biotics and more.

Above all, consumers want great taste and our substantial flavour portfolio delivers great-tasting products that consumers crave.

Our extensive portfolio of ingredients is just one measure of our commitment to provide the best possible solutions for consumerwinning applications.

We maintain a consumer-centric view of emerging trends, with deep insights into consumer behaviour, and continue to expand our portfolio with new on-trend ingredients and market-leading technical capabilities. Our daily ambition is to ensure we find the right solution to give customers an edge in solving the nutritional challenges of today and tomorrow.

We love nothing more than putting on our thinking caps to help solve customers’ most daunting challenges using our entire pantry of ingredient solutions — no matter what your application or functional requirements.

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

Overview Beneo BENEO — a leading manufacturer of functional ingredients for food, feed, and pharma — has announced the launch of its first barley beta-glucans ingredient, Orafti® β-Fit. Offering unique health benefits, including positive impacts on heart health and blood sugar management, the new product is a natural and clean label wholegrain barley flour with 20% beta-glucans.

Eric Neven, Commercial Managing Director Functional Fibres at Beneo comments: “With its convincing health benefits and approved health claims while being also an economically attractive solution, Orafti® β-Fit supports our company’s ambition of connecting nutrition and health.”

Beta-glucans from barley lower the blood glucose response and blood cholesterol levels in both the short and long-term. These responses are linked to reduced risk for coronary heart disease. The health effects of cereal beta-glucans have been shown in more than 120 scientific studies and have been recognised by official bodies such as EFSA, the FDA, and Health Canada.

BENEO’s Orafti® β-Fit can be used in a wide range of applications including baked goods, pasta, and cereals, as well as meal replacements. It also positively impacts texture by increasing viscosity in dairy (alternatives).

BENEO’s Orafti® β-Fit can be used in a wide range of applications including baked goods, pasta, and cereals

October / November 2023

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Overview

Butler Bone Broth New Zealand’s Taranaki Bio Extracts has brought their premium bone broth and extracts portfolio together under the ‘Butler’ subbrand. A premium line-up designed for food manufacturers looking for functional ingredients with top taste and a unique provenance offering; grass-fed, sustainably produced, responsibly sourced, nonGMO and traceable-to-origin.

naturally rich source of collagen, glucosamine, and key amino acids glycine and proline.

“Branding our food ingredients range was about stepping into a new space where we’re responsive not only to our customers, but their customers too. It’s about presenting the unique New Zealand story behind our range and relaunching this to support premium brands in delivering their best,” says Dr Mike North, Site Manager.

Butler premium ingredients are popular across food, functional food, and wellbeing products. They are sustainable, ethical, and minimally processed. The healthful formulae are free from additives, colourings, flavour enhancers or preservatives. They are MSG and gluten free and made with non-GMO and antibiotic-free New Zealand raised beef bones.

The Butler range is crafted by an experienced team, led by an awardwinning New Zealand Food Process Engineer (PhD) with expertise in meat science and food safety. Their pure beef bone broths and extracts range has a high protein content (more than 40%) and provides a

“Consumers today expect fully transparent, or clean labels so they can make the best choices about what they feed themselves and their families. Their expectations go beyond taste and nutrition – our range supports this."

Butler brings you a range of sustainably produced ingredients, and a transparency that will add to the value and quality of your own brand.

Brenntag With a presence spanning 600 locations across 72 countries, we are the leading global ingredients distributor and service provider.

We hold a comprehensive portfolio of high-quality ingredients, paving the way for creative possibilities. Whether your requirements fall within the domains of food design (such as flavours, colours or inclusions), food technology (encompassing leavening agents, creamers, foamers and additives), health functions (comprising vitamins and minerals; plant and dairy proteins and prebiotics), or shelf life and safety (including preservatives, acidulants, and antioxidants), we are equipped to support your every need.

We are continuously at the forefront of the latest industry trends and developments, proven by our recent breakthroughs, such as prebiotic and fortified gummies, egg reduction and replacement

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Food New Zealand

solutions, micro-encapsulation for infant nutrition, and glutenfree solutions, making us the partner of choice for product innovation.

From tailor-made blends, formulation development and product concepts to market insights, our holistic suite of solutions helps enhance your product development process. Our team of experts collaborates closely with you to provide the right ingredients for your products and achieve the best performance in taste, texture, nutritional composition, and shelf life.

In a world where innovation and global reach are paramount, we proudly stand as your trusted partner, driving your journey to ingredient excellence. Partner with us to craft next-generation products that delight and inspire.

Overview

GNT clean label colours Vibrant orange shades are among the most popular colours in snacks, baked goods, sauces and beyond. They offer strong visual appeal while showcasing flavours ranging from cheese to orange to peri-peri.

GNT has now launched a ground-breaking paprika oil that allows manufacturers to deliver spectacular orange shades in fat-based and low-water applications while maintaining clean labels.

GNT’s EXBERRY® Coloring Foods are made from edible fruits, vegetables and plants using physical processing methods. Due to the way they are made, they are not classed as additives under Food Standards Australia New Zealand regulations and do not require code numbers.

The new EXBERRY® Shade Vivid Orange – OS is made from paprika seed oil and paprika pulp. It is GNT’s first purely oil-based Coloring Food and was created to meet the global demand for low-dosage, clean-label colouring ingredients that deliver bright orange hues.

Achieving orange hues in low-water applications has always presented technical challenges. This is because manufacturers are often unable to use a colour dosage above 1-2% in products such as oil-based snack coatings. As a result, they have had to rely on artificial colours and additives This colour has an exceptionally high colour intensity that enables it to deliver vibrant shades in a broad range of applications, including corn puffs, compound coatings, cheese sauces, and condiments such as flavoured mayonnaise.

With cost-effective low usage levels and high stability performance, it offers a highly effective alternative to artificial and additive colourants. Crucially, it can be described on the label simply as ‘paprika oil’ – helping brands provide transparency and build trust with their consumers.

October / November 2023

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Overview Chemiplas on trend solutions Chemiplas, now part of Azelis; has a new range of ‘On Trend’ Solutions to help meet evolving consumer trends for responsible manufacturing and better health and wellbeing. We can help you make health irresistible; We have a range of ingredients that can help manufacturers boost health star ratings and ultimately make it easier for consumers to read the nutrition information on labels and make healthier food choices.

Sugar reduction •

Natural sweeteners and Polyols

•

Sugar Cane Fibre

Sodium Reduction •

Low sodium sea salt

Fruit and Vegetables •

Milne MicroDried® fruit and vegetable pieces and powders

Fibres •

Sugar Cane Fibre

•

Green Banana Flour

Healthy Snacks Consumers are looking for snacks that are cleaner, natural, less processed, and packed full of nutrition; exactly how nature intended: •

MicroDried® fruit and vegetable powders and pieces

Upcycled ingredients A concept with growing interest amongst consumers and food manufacturers that diverts waste into food, to create sustainable and nutritional powerhouse ingredients that positively impact the environment.

•

Green Banana Flour

•

Coffee Fruit

Plant-based Plant-based alternatives continue to gain traction with consumers globally aiming to limit their meat and dairy intake due to the key motivators; health, sustainability and animal welfare. Producers are continually looking to close the nutrient parity gap, clean up labels and make animal alternatives taste great; Plant Based Meat •

Plant based meat pieces

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MicroDried® Fruit and vegetable powders and pieces

Plant based dairy

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Food New Zealand

•

Coconut milk products

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Botanicals: extracts, colours and flavours

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Prebiotics

Overview

Arla Foods Ingredients Novozymes and Arla Foods Ingredients have agreed a partnership to develop advanced protein ingredients using precision fermentation.

Novozymes is a world-leader in precision fermentation, a technique that fine-tunes the molecular output of microorganisms, offering greater control over the fermentation process and enabling tailormade protein compositions. Specialising in the production of enzymes through precision fermentation, it has focused on the exploration of new protein solutions for health and nutrition since 2019.

In the co-funded partnership with nutrition leader Arla Foods Ingredients, it will contribute its expertise in the creation of microbial strains for the industrial-scale production of proteins by precision fermentation.

The initial focus of the collaboration will be a solution for diseasespecific medical nutrition – a category in which protein is an essential component – with expansion into other segments anticipated in future.

Henrik Andersen, Group Vice President of Arla Foods Ingredients, said: “Collaborating with Novozymes fits perfectly with our ambition to explore alternative nutrition platforms and complement our portfolio of dairy and whey solutions. By leveraging our combined expertise, manufacturing skills and market insights, we’ll be able to accelerate the pace at which we bring innovative new protein products to market.”

Arla Food Ingredienst and Novozymes are collaborating in the search for a solution for disease-specific medical nutrition Valerio Nannini, General Manager, Novozymes Advanced Protein Solutions, said: “Precision fermentation allows us to do almost anything in terms of protein composition and structure, and this is a fantastic opportunity to harness its full potential.”

October / November 2023

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Overview Formula Foods “Natural flavours continue to be by far the most popular in the market. We’ve also seen a lot more demand for more unique flavours like Kawakawa and Ube,” says Formula Foods’ flavour chemist, Paul Leighton “You can’t stand still in today's industry, there is always a new flavour to develop and launch. We’re also starting to do a lot more work with vegan products which are on the rise.”

Paul’s interest in flavour chemistry developed as he worked in and around the food industry. He loves development work and problem solving and the job at Formula Foods certainly is that! Anyone wanting to develop a career in flavour chemistry needs an open mind and creativity, as well as analytical thinking. The more exposure with different food applications the better, as we work alongside clients from all over the industry. A passion for R&D is also a must, no two days are going to be the same.

NEWSLETTE

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Our team is able to assist you in choosing the right ingredients to overcome challenges like oxidation, the development of rancid flavour and smell, discolouration, and poor quality developed throughout the shelf life of your product. Contact us for your pet food application ingredients.

MBER 2023 WWW.FO

Ingredients for pet foods In the past few years, pet foods have continued to build presence in the New Zealand food industry. There is a growing consumer interest in natural ingredients and expectations to reduce the use of artificial ingredients in formulations. Formula Foods offers a range of natural antioxidants and flavour enhancers that can be used to meet the needs and acceptability of both pet owners and their pets.

03 / SEPTE

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Dominion Salt Celebrating 75 years, Dominion Salt is New Zealand’s only commercial producer and supplier of processed salt. We supply salt into many different industry sectors, including the food industry. Dominion Salt manufacture and sell a wide range of salt products that are suitable for many different applications within the food industry.

As an ISO 22000 registered company we have refineries, laboratories, and sales staff in both the North and South Island of New Zealand. Dominion Salt supplies many multinational food companies within New Zealand as well as a multitude of smaller food manufacturers.

We have an established distribution network in place that enables us to supply salt throughout New Zealand with short lead times. As a local manufacturer, we can be responsive to customers’ needs and can react quickly to specific requirements.

Dominion Salt is your first stop for all of your salt requirements.

Dominion Salt has been harvesting salt from the sea at Grassmere for 75 years

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Food New Zealand

Overview

Pacific Flavours At Pacific Flavours and Ingredients our state-of-the-art production facility, situated in Auckland, specialises in the production of liquid and powder flavours and fully traceable extracts. This tactical location equips us with exceptional capabilities, enabling us to fulfil small MOQs, optimise cost-efficiency for our esteemed vendors and foster a culture of rapid innovation with remarkably short lead times. We believe the senses of smell and taste stimulate the oldest part of our brains and affect the way we feel.

Pacific Flavours and Ingredients create original flavours to enhance our customers products. Creating the invisible ingredients that make all the difference is our passion.

Some that may be of interest are spray dried flavours, extracts(both liquid and powder) with provenance traceability, New Zealand origin spray dried oat milk powder and bone broth powders for example.

Collagens and other specialty ingredients are on offer. Each of our solutions is unique, expertly blended and produced to the highest specifications.

We have recently opened Pacific Flavours and Ingredients first Australian office, based in Sydney, to capture the high growth Australian market. We are extremely excited to be in Australia and look forward to growing this market for Pacific Flavours.

www.pacific-flavours.co.nz NOW MANUFACTURING LIQUID AND POWDERED FLAVOURS AND EXTRACTS HERE IN NZ

October / November 2023

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Overview Hawkins Watts “Optimising texture is one of the challenges that food technologists struggle with.”

Optimising texture is as important as optimising flavour because texture is a key component in optimising flavour delivery. Perhaps your product has developed a mind of its own and separates for no apparent reason, even when the manufacturing process or ingredients seem not to have changed.

Many products on supermarket shelves, especially in the USA, regularly contain multiple texture modification ingredients. They may contain three or four hydrocolloids and several emulsifiers. Most of the time, this level of complexity isn't necessary. In fact, excessive complexity can actually lead to product instability rather than resolve it.

At Hawkins Watts we understand texture and have a variety of tools, specifically hydrocolloid and emulsifier selectors, that we have developed to help customers solve problems with texture in formulations. Several of the 18 food technologists on staff regularly run technical seminars on hydrocolloids for customers. Some of the tools used in problem-solving are accessible on our website.

If you're feeling uneasy about which hydrocolloids and emulsifiers to use in your project, feel free to get in touch.

We're here to help you. We're Hawkins Watts—your go-to partner for Creative Ingredient Solutions.

Heilala Vanilla: flavourful impact In 2002, the Ross family founded Heilala Vanilla, stemming from an aid project after a cyclone in Tonga.

In partnership with a Utungake village family, a vanilla plantation was started and today the company produces a wide range of vanilla-centric products for use in manufactured food products.

Product ranges: Multiple formats and concentrations: From vanilla extracts to pastes, powders to syrups along with a unique alcohol free range, there is a format to suit every application.

Sustainable Ethos: Heilala’s commitment goes beyond taste. With a "Plantation to Pantry" approach, they support Tonga's heritage and local farmers, upholding sustainable practices.

Bean to Bottle: Heilala’s expertise spans growth, harvesting, curing, drying, product development and manufacturing.

Innovative Drive: A focus on research and development fuels innovation, enriching their product pipeline.

With industry recognition and a dedicated customer base, Heilala’s impact is as powerful as its flavour. The journey from plantation to pantry embodies authenticity, sustainability, and culinary excellence.

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Food New Zealand

Overview Sherratt Ingredients – Your local food solution partner Sherratt Ingredients is a New Zealand owned and operated company that has been serving the New Zealand food industry for over 35 years. We are a reliable and trustworthy partner that will help and guide you to optimise your processes with a suitable solution. We not only supply quality ingredients imported from trusted international manufacturers, but we also value-add these ingredients to produce easy-to-use customised premixes. Our BRC certified production site in Hobsonville, Auckland, features quality control labs and development kitchens where our trained food technologists create prototypes to bring new developments to life.

Through collaboration with our global partners and our own research, we also develop and present new concepts to customers, based on international and local trends.

When developing new products to meet current trends greattasting products can be difficult to achieve. This is where taste modulators can be of benefit. Taste Modulators are flavour systems which are used when something just doesn’t taste right. They are either used when something has been added to a formulation and creates an unpleasant taste or when something is being replaced in a formulation, such as salt, sugar or fat. Taste Modulators work in two ways, either psychochemical which involves tricking the brain into how we perceive and recognise flavours or physical, which involves using ingredients which interact with odour and taste receptors.

We supply various TasteMax™ products which can assist with achieving the best flavour when using novel ingredients.

TasteMax™ bitter masker helps mask unpleasant taste profiles from ingredients such as coffee, tea, plant proteins and sweeteners.

It also enhances vanilla and caramel notes. The range includes an acidity masker that reduces upfront and lingering acidic notes and masks base notes from collagen and soy protein. The cocoa booster will enhance cocoa and chocolate perception and the creamy mouthfeel booster provides and enhances creamy, fatty and rounded mouthfeel perception and is . Suitable for plant-based foods, beverages and fat reduced dairy products. The alcohol booster, provides a sensation of warming, fruity and fermented alcoholic notes, suitable for nonalcoholic beverages that lack warming notes and spirit back notes.

Sweet and Savoury Flavours • Cocoa Powders • Yeast Extracts • Plant and Animal proteins • Caramel Colours • Carrageenan’s • Malt Extracts • Dehydrated Vegetables • Powder and Liquid smoke.

Hibiscus Solutions Paving the Path to Success for New Zealand's Premier Food Manufacturers With an impressive track record spanning over 25 years of dedicated service to New Zealand's manufacturing sector, the seasoned professionals at Hibiscus Solutions bring expertise to the realm of quality food production. As your trusted partner in product development services, Hibiscus Solutions boasts a team of locally based industry specialists who proudly hold memberships in the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology (NZIFST) and are trained experts in nutrition, well-being, texture, structure, taste, colour, performance and shelf life analysis.

At Hibiscus Solutions, our food and nutrition specialists collaborate closely with our customers to craft customised solutions tailored to their unique requirements. Whether you aspire to infuse your brand with a distinctive identity or seek to seamlessly integrate highperformance ingredients into your production line, our team is here to make your journey smooth and rewarding.

If your goal is to elevate a ground-breaking concept, enhance product performance, optimise ingredient costs, or address any other aspect of food product development, our team of highly qualified and industrytrained professionals thrives on open and collaborative partnerships with clients and key supply partners. Together, we strive to deliver more value than cost.

With substantial, MPI-approved warehousing capacity, a specialised food storage facility, a refrigerated storage unit for goods requiring sub-warehouse temperature control, and ISO 22000 certification, Hibiscus Solutions is strategically positioned to support your business's expansion and success.

Hibiscus Solutions takes immense pride in being a wholly New Zealand-owned and operated enterprise, with our headquarters located in Auckland and offices in Wellington and Christchurch, we are situated to serve our clients.

Trust us to be your ally on the path to food manufacturing excellence.

October / November 2023

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Overview Sensient Technologies New Zealand, your local solution Sensient Technologies are a leading global manufacturer and supplier of natural extracts, natural colours, and natural flavours.

Sensient’s innovative technologies create fresh, unique solutions tailored to meet the needs of today’s educated consumers.

Sensient New Zealand manufactures most products at their Auckland factory, and have been supporting New Zealand’s food industry since 1984. New Zealand manufacture ensures secure supply chains for their local customers, short lead times and flexibility i n p roviding d ifferent pa ck si zes, an d sm all mi nimum order quantities.

With robust local technical, manufacturing and marketing expertise, the New Zealand team develop solutions for customers, with a focus on sugar reduction, plant based foods, natural extracts, colouring foodstuffs, natural colours and tailored flavour solutions.

More recently, Sensient have strengthened their natural colours business with the acquisition of Endemix, a Turkish vertically integrated natural colours and extract company: “The acquisition of Endemix allows Sensient to further expand its vertical integration for key natural colors and add extraction and refining capacity, further strengthening our position as a leading natural color solutions provider,” Paul Manning CEO Sensient Technologies Corporation Sensient’s natural colour platform has been developed further with the introduction of Sensient’s ‘Seed to Shelf ’ agronomy programme. The programme is designed to help with traceability, consistency of supply and planting, development of innovative

new crops and ultimately, the ability to positively impact local economies in a socially responsible manner.

Sensient New Zealand are passionate about customer partnerships, and ultimately aim to help local customers achieve their brand goals whether it be for a local or global market. They believe that together, the most challenging product puzzles can be solved, making products that are delicious, craveable, and truly inspired.

Sensient New Zealand, are truly your local solution.

Tate and Lyle Following FSANZ adoption of the steviol glycosides framework in JECFA Monograph 26 (2021) in July, Tate and Lyle’s TASTEVA® M Stevia Sweetener is available to Australian and New Zealand food and beverage companies. This new, label-friendly premium stevia sweetener opens endless possibilities for great-tasting, reduced-sugar food and beverage products for manufacturers and their consumers.

"With the broadest sweetener toolbox in the industry and accompanying high level technical expertise we are committed to delivering fast, great tasting food and beverage solutions at an acceptable cost in use," said David Lynas, Regional Sales Director, ANZ. "This allows manufacturers to create products to address the needs of consumers who want to make healthier choices by reducing sugar and calorie intake without compromising on great taste."

The key features and benefits of this new Stevia Sweetener are noted below: •

Starts with the leaf – Tate and Lyle starts with the stevia leaf then uses a proprietary bio-conversion process to produce its Stevia Sweetener.

•

Clean, sugar-like taste – has a cleaner, more sugar-like taste than Reb A at high sugar-replacement levels.

•

Acceptable cost in use – As a result of our proprietary bio-conversion process, Tate and Lyle can provide an acceptable cost in use while still delivering a clean sugar-like taste.

TASTEVA® M Stevia Sweetener joins the Tate and Lyle sweetener portfolio, expanding our unmatched offering of sugar and calorie reduction solutions.

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Food New Zealand

Tate and Lyle’s Stevia Sweetener is ideal for reduced sugar foods

Review

Fifty years of change to the lipid diets of Australasians– a recap Laurence Eyres FNZIFST Laurence Eyres takes a reminiscent stroll through nutritional aspects of dietary fats and oils in New Zealand

Where it began: fifty years ago

(Mann 1999) The dramatic reduction in Heart Disease death rates up to 2008 is illustrated in the graph below.

In 1972 New Zealand and Australia were experiencing extremely elevated levels of coronary heart disease, much in line with the rest of the Western world. In Australasia cheap dairy and animal fats predominated in most consumers’ diets.

In 1972 soft, unsaturated margarine and olive oil and other vegetable oils were rarely consumed. New Zealand vegetable oils were on import restrictions and were subject to tariffs.

New Zealand and Australia both had alarming levels of coronary heart disease. Much later, in 1999 after years of change, Professor Jim Mann reviewed the effects of nutrition on cardiovascular disease.

You may find it hard to believe, but Olive Oil of superior quality was only available on prescription and the oil imported for general sale was of inferior quality and often fraudulent.

Deaths from heart disease & other causes: NZ 350.0

Total Cancer ASR Ischaemic Heart Disease ASR Cerebrovascular Disease ASR Chronic lower respiratory diseases ASR

300.0

Other forms of heart disease ASR Pneumonia and Influenza ASR Diabetes ASR Motor vehicle accidents ASR

250.0

Intentional self-harm ASR Homicide ASR

200.0

150.0

100.0

50.0

0.0

1948

1953

1958

1963

1968

1973

1978

1983

1988

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1998

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2008

Courtesy of Rod Jackson

October / November 2023

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Review

The control of spreadability The physical texture of butter, shortenings and spreads is determined by two factors. The first physical property is one of the number of solids at various temperatures. These days this is controlled using analytical instruments such as pulsed NMR. Melting point is quite a simple measurement and depends on the number of tri-saturated glycerides in the product.

The relevant section of the Margarine act of 1908 which severely restricted margarine production The NZ Margarine act (1908) prohibited the manufacture and sale of soft, coloured and flavoured margarines which were fast establishing themselves in Europe and the USA. Margarine, named after margaric acid (C 17:0), was named by Meges Mouries from the Latin word meaning pearl. Mouries invented the spread as a cheap substitute for butter in 1869 and he won a prize from Napoleon III. This, combined with the invention of catalytic hydrogenation of oils, led to a global proliferation of cheap substitutes for butter.

Abels Ltd in Auckland was started by Albert Abel who had family and shareholding ties with Marrickville Margarine in Sydney. My first boss and friend in the industry was Stan Brooker, a memorable and impressive character in the Food Industry. Abels had to combat the Draconian Margarine Act 1908.

All this started to change in 1973 when the medical fraternity, led

by Professor Sir John Scott lobbied the government to allow the production and sale of a special polyunsaturated margarine that we christened Miracle. (Brooker, 1976.) This had <20% saturates contrasting with butter at 63% saturates. The formulation relied on utilising trans 18:1 from hydrogenation as the solid part of the spread instead of saturates.

The industry did not realise back then that trans fatty acids were more harmful than saturates.

The original blends focused on linoleic acid as the essential fatty acid and did not incorporate linolenic acid, now seen to be vitally important.

Since then, spreads, which contain 65% fat, (not margarines) have really grown in market share and there is a proliferation of products and brands on the retail shelves.

Spreads and Dairy blends 1989 design of Country soft for Anchor farm Products

Margarine/butter wars The industry hit back against the growth of margarine with some cutting, witty and very funny adverts. The industry, led by the then Dairy Research Institute, developed firstly, fractionated AMF followed by spreadable butter. (Norris, R., Illingworth D. and Munro D.) It was believed a truly spreadable butter would sell well overseas because it would overcome the major disadvantage of ordinary butter.

So it proved in the UK market, when spreadable butter was launched there in 1991. In 1997 spreadable butter was first sold in New Zealand supermarkets, and it immediately found a successful niche market.

This was a high-quality product but was expensive compared to vegetable fats. Blends were also developed, based originally on 50/50 combinations of butter and polyunsaturated margarine. These were delicious and spreadable fat products and originally were known as Anchor Country Soft.

UK import restrictions Butter had been through incredibly stressful and woeful economic times in the 1980s due to the restrictions and tariffs imposed by the EU. Perfidious Albion had even threatened to place six Anchor UK Directors in jail due to unpaid taxes and tariffs.

The commission of the European Community proposed that the access level for the import of New Zealand butter into Britain for 1984 be set at 83,000 tonne, reducing by two thousand tonnes per annum to 75,000 tonne in 1988. This was a major reduction from the golden years when New Zealand exported around 250,000 tonne of butter to Britain. The Council of Agricultural Ministers agreed in part to the commission's recommendation: the principle of continued access for New Zealand butter into Britain, and it was guaranteed for a further five-year period but quantities were set only for the first three years. The New Zealand Dairy Board(NZDB), established in 1923 by the Dairy Produce Act 1923, was a statutory board in control of the export of all New Zealand dairy products from its formation until 2001.

New butter markets In 1987 I was employed to develop markets outside UK for NZ butter products. This led to various targeted fat products for product development at DRI and the dairy company, Bay Milk Products.

(Eyres,1989) In 2001, the Dairy Board was merged with the two largest New Zealand dairy cooperatives (which represented 96% of the industry) to a company initially called GlobalCo, but shortly afterwards renamed Fonterra.

Tallow to palm oil - Bakery fats There is a proliferation of table spreads brands in the marketplace 26

Food New Zealand

In the 1980s edible tallow became in short supply, so our company started to investigate sourcing RBD palm oil and palm olein from

Review

Malaysia. The Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia was starting up under the inspiring leadership of Kurt Berger who I had befriended when he was at Lyons in the UK. We spent a lot of time researching formulae to replace tallow. The Malaysian edible oil industry is now huge and has its own marketing and research organisation, PORIM.

Coconut oil and its products

The palm oil people seconded a technologist to study and try out new formulae. This was a remarkably interesting time and resulted in almost 100% substitution of tallow with palm oil. Of course, in later years palm oil became problematic to use because of environmental issues in Malaysia and Indonesia. Between ourselves and PORIM we researched hydrogenation, interesterification and fractionation, all leading to various products for targeted applications.

The fully refined coconut oil and hydrogenated derivatives were used in specialised fats. The major product group is called confectionery fats. They were used in biscuit fillings, creams, and toffees. In later years, following a lot of mistaken media publicity, coconut oil became a fad and a supposedly healthy oil. In conjunction with the Heart Foundation of New Zealand we debunked these claims and showed the coconut oil, whilst OK to use in small quantities, being 90% saturated had an adverse effect on cholesterol levels. (NZ Heart Foundation, 2016)

Trans versus saturates Originally in the 70s saturated fat was replaced by partially hydrogenated fats with elevated levels of trans fatty acids. We spent a lot of time and research in trying selective catalysts to maximise the number of trans fats in the hydrogenated oil. The experimental results produced intense competition amongst the chemists as to who could get the highest trans fatty acids. Then in later years hydrogenated fats were replaced by interesterified blends.

For a full evaluation of the fats used in the Australasian industry see the work by Inturissi and Eyres in the Australasian Handbook of Edible Oils (O’Connor, 2007). pp 214- 269

Frying oils Studying oxidation primary and secondary products.

There are many myths surrounding the use and practise of frying with oils. The main myth that has been around for many years is that the smoke point depends on the type of oil being used. This is blatantly not true and in fact the smoke point bears a direct resemblance and direct correlation with the free fatty acid (F.F.A) level. The type of oil is irrelevant. We have tried to remedy the incorrect statement and have published a paper (Eyres L., 2015).

A small unit to test polar compounds in used frying fat is the Testo 270. This unit shows the acceptable levels for use, 24% - 27% polar material. Levels above these are unacceptable for consumption.

Breakdown products have been shown to be quite toxic.

During the 1970s stable long-life tallow based frying fats dominated both the Food and Food service sectors. The premium frying fat, Chefade was sold in bulk, cartons and in 500g retail tubs. It was a premium and very stable solid white fat with a melting point around body temperature of thirty-six degrees. These days it is like the Wild West in the fast-food business with cheap uncontrolled fats being imported into the country. This despite the arduous work of the National Heart Foundation in reviewing and recommending healthy fats.

Fatty acid composition In the edible industry the analysis of fatty acid composition is extremely important. Fast and accurate analysis is required.

Traditional cumbersome and long-winded methods were replaced by test tube-based transesterification using alkali catalysts. (Eyres, L.).

The table of results for many common oils is now being updated by modern analyses on capillary columns as our analyses were done on packed GC columns

For many years Abels ran a copra (dried coconut) expelling plant in Newmarket, Auckland. Most of the inhabitants put up with the smell of cooked coconut although there were a few dissenters.

Marine lipid development in New Zealand Green lipped mussel oil (Croft,1998) and Squalene from deep water dogfish (DSIR) were key items of research.

Orange Roughy oil (wax esters) was a short-lived success story and the oil from the fish both became well known as a natural (unintended) laxative and a useful starting material for oleochemicals. (Buisson, D. H., 1982) We carried out detailed extraction and processing of unique oil from deep water dogfish (DSIR Report 1991– squalene) and later in 2023 a Standard was created. AS 5380:2023 specifies requirements for responsible harvesting of sustainable sources of squalene and shark liver oil, quality parameters and methods for testing and analysis, and requirements for packaging and labelling consumer products, especially when claiming provenance.

Omega-3 phospholipids As one of several key consultancy projects in 2010 a dietary supplement company approached me to develop a high-quality marine oil supplement with other key bioactives. This became Lester’s oil which is still going well after fourteen years. The University of Auckland then included the oil in a clinical trial which had mixed success. (Fergusson, L., 2020)

Removing impurities from crude oils (refining) Over many years there have been improvements in the refining, bleaching, and deodorising of edible oils. The finished oils were termed RBD. Historically oils were caustic-refined which led to refined oils which were quite easy to bleach and deodorise. In the last 40 years progress has been made in improving physical refining of oils which involves acid degumming, bleaching and high temperature deodorising to remove the free fatty acids in the deodoriser. There have been a few nutritional issues over the years around the production of trans fatty acids and other unwanted side reactions such as MCPD and GE esters.

The control of spreadability The physical texture of shortenings and spreads is determined by two factors. The first physical property is one of the number of solids at various temperatures. These days this is controlled using analytical instruments such as pulsed NMR. Melting point is quite a simple measurement and depends on the amount of Tri-saturated glycerides in the product. Processing requires modern scraped surface heat October / November 2023

27

Review exchangers of high capital cost. Several plants were installed in the dairy and edible oil industries.

Olive oil and Avocado oil in NZ We take excellent New Zealand olive oil for granted these days, but it was not always so. It took the challenging work of Margaret Edwards and Olives NZ to achieve this. Now our olive oil wins numerous Gold Medals at international shows. For the story of New Zealand and Australian olive oils see the Australasian Handbook of Edible Oils (O’Connor, 2007).

Leandro Ravetti and Rod Mailer were responsible for leading a team which sorted out a sensible Australasian standard for olive and olive pomace oil (Standards Australia, 2011). This standard has led to a marked improvement in the quality of olive oil in Australia, but sadly the New Zealand retail industry, because of its dependence on imported oils, refused to support the adoption. Fraudulent use of poor quality olive oils and oils with similar fatty acid composition, is a global problem.

The same team then looked at the development of quality avocado oil, both virgin oil and RBD. (Wong, M. 2012).

Table 2. Specification for RBD Avocado oil.

•

FFA as (oleic) < 0.2%

•

PV mEq/kg < 2

•

Colour (5.25 “cell) 5Y 0.5 R (Lovibond scale)

•

Flavour Bland

•

Odour NIL

•

Stability measured by AOM 20 hours min.

MCPD (monochloropropanediol) and GE (glycidyl esters) less than the legal global standard (changing).

Analysis and current issues in the lipid world Trans fats have already been mentioned and they are now virtually banned in the Western World. The issue of MCPD and GE esters is a more complex one. MCPD esters and GE are formed endogenously during the vegetable oil refining process. (C.P. Tan, 2013) factors such as the presence of chloride ions, moisture, and partial acylglycerols can further facilitate MCPD esters and/or GE formation. The traditional elevated temperatures of physical refining exacerbate the problem. The EU regulation sets the maximum level for GE at 1ppm in vegetable oils and fats placed on the final consumer market or used as an ingredient in food. The GE maximum level for vegetable oils and fats destined to produce baby food and processed cereal-based food is set at 0.5 ppm. The maximum level of a 3-MCPD ester is set by the European Commission to be 1.25 ppm for oils and fats.

Liposomes and oleogels as replacements for solid/saturated fats Solid fats contribute to the viscosity, hardness, plasticity, and spreadability of fat-containing food products. The mouthfeel and hardness resulting from the crystal network of fat-containing saturated fatty acids are required and currently irreplaceable in many food products such as puff pastry. The market potential of fat substitutes can be decided by two major factors): (a) the size of the market for products in which fat substitutes can be used and (b) their utility. This is likely to be an area of much research around fat emulsions and liposomes. We currently have a university student doing a project on this topic.

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Food New Zealand

Looking ahead Currently there do not seem to be many innovations and changes happening in the edible oil industry, it is a commodity pricing business. But that could change overnight. For researchers and people in the industry and in academia one should always keep an eye on the research literature and see what is coming along. Anyone involved in the edible oil business should consider being a member of the American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS) which have an exceptionally good journal of its own and holds a significant annual conference at which new developments are reported.

This paper was presented to the NZIFST annual conference in July 2023.

Acknowledgements to the people who gave friendship and vital support over the years.

Ruth Eyres, Mike Cundy, Marie Wong, Allan Woolf, George Lim, Sally Xiong, Peter Hawkins, Anne Scott, Selina Wang, Margaret Edwards, Daniel King, Matt Miller, Peter Nichols, Bob Corish, Lynne Fergusson. Dennis Karl, Gero Leson, Geoff Webster, Lucky Inturissi, David Munro, Ralph Timms, Leandro Ravetti, Rod Mailer. Clare Wall, Charmian O’Connor, Peter Hawkins.

References Australian Standard, Olive, and Olive Pomace Oils, (2011), AS 52642011 Australian Standard for Squalene and Shark Liver Oil, (2023), AS 5380-2023 Brooker, S.G.B. (1976) Food Technology in NZ, JC Andrews address at annual NZIFST conference Buisson, D.H., (1982Oil from deep water species, Orange Roughly oil.) et.al. JAOCS (Vol 59, no. 9.)

Charmian J. O’Connor, et. al, (2007 Handbook of Australasian Edible Oils), Oils and Fats Specialist Group of NZIC. Croft J., (1998) A Gift from the Sea, Harland-Barker Eyres (1989), Linking product development with the marketplace, Fats for the Future, Editor Cambie, R.C. page, 233.

Eyres L., Chemistry in New Zealand, (1979), Fatty acid compositions: Preparation of fatty acid methyl esters and how to determine page 237.

Eyres, Laurence. Frying oils: Selection, smoke points and potential deleterious effects for health (2015) Food New Zealand, Vol. 15, No. 1, Feb/Mar: 30-31 2016 Eyres L, Eyres MF, Chisholm A, Brown RC. , Coconut oil consumption and heart disease, Nutr Rev. 2016 Apr;74(4):267-80. doi: 10.1093/nutrit/nuw002. Epub Mar 5.

Fergusson, L, and Bobbi Laing, Nutrients (2020,) 12, 1139 Mann, J. Nutrition and Cardiovascular disease (1999), Technical Report no.77, The National Heart Foundation of NZ. Declining Rates of Coronary Heart Disease in New Zealand and Australia, 1983–1993 Robert Beaglehole, Alistair W. Stewart, Rod Jackson, American Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 145, Issue 8, 15 April 1997, Pages 707–713, https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/145.8.707 Tan, CP., J. Agric. Food Chem. 2013, 61, 3341−3349 Wong, M. Eyres L. and Ravetti, L. (2012), Modern aqueous oil extraction, in Green Vegetable Oil Processing, Editors Walter Farr, AOCS Press

Automation

Cloud-based process management and control Foods Connected: the food industry professionals

product lifecycle management, procurement, quality control and sustainability.

Foods Connected is an award-winning cloud-based software platform, based in Northern Ireland, making waves around the globe. Our end-to-end software solutions simplify the food industry supply chain, optimise spend and unlock the data that food and drink manufacturers, retailers, food service providers and other food businesses need to excel.

Founded by specialists with years of industry experience, we are experts in our field, so we understand what your business needs and how to help you achieve it. Our customers call us “innovative”, “adaptable” and “efficient”, because we help them connect with, and gain complete visibility of each stage of their supply chain journey.

The tools we design empower businesses to build more successful and sustainable futures even during challenging times.

Our tools are utilised by hundreds of leading food businesses internationally, including ten of the world’s largest retailers – and our work doesn’t stop once our software is in place. We build partnerships with our customers to help them stay on budget, audit-ready and food safety compliant, while managing and reporting on traceability,

In the last year, we’ve been nominated for awards for our commitment to sustainability, the industry supply chain and for nurturing emerging talent. Today, we employ over a 100 people across Northern Ireland, the US and Australia – and we’re responding to industry need by continuing to develop new innovative software solutions.

October / November 2023

29

Automation

Plex, by Rockwell Automation, delivers smart manufacturing tools for food and beverage manufacturers to solve problems and grow their businesses

Plex, by Rockwell Automation

•

Error-reducing in-line quality checks, in real time, with digital check-sheets to validate processes. These check-sheets can be automated to collect data from programmable logic controllers (PLCs). Plex also collects in-process inspection data for statistical process control (SPC) and allows users to view data visualisations.

•

Quality compliance, including gaining and retaining industry and customer quality standard certifications. Plex helps companies meet quality standards that are crucial for their specific industry with flexible, user-configurable methodologies.

•

Issues Management, which is streamlined with built-in tools for corrective and preventative actions (CAPA). Plex makes it possible to track production defects at the level of the container or individual part and determine products that need to be returned to the supplier.

Rockwell Automation has combined the functions of a traditional Manufacturing Execution System (MES), with a Quality Management System (QMS), Material Resource Planning (MRP) and other features, to deliver an all-in-one cloud-based solution, Plex.

The Plex smart manufacturing platform aligns to specific food and beverage needs, eliminating information silos, digitising the supply chain, automating processes, enabling tracking from almost anywhere over almost any device, and producing actionable data for anyone in the company.

The platform includes automation integration, mobile connectivity, modular solutions and more, all delivered securely and rapidly from the cloud.

Optimising Food Safety Plex is designed to optimise food safety for manufacturers, including: •

30

Digitally integrated quality and compliance planning, which reduces quality costs and risk with real-time documentation shared across the enterprise. Regulatory compliance (SQF / BRC, FSSC, HACCP) is also supported easily across workflows.

Food New Zealand

“Food and beverage manufacturers can use different platforms for monitoring, tracing, and tracking, but with the Plex Smart Manufacturing Platform, all three work in harmony to provide realtime data, which can be used for genealogy reporting, recalls, audits, and analytical insights,” concludes Cahill.

Automation

Manage analytical data with Metrohm Metrohm's innovative solutions have revolutionised quality control and safety measures in the food industry, ensuring the integrity of food products from farm to table. Their range of analytical instruments and software encompass titrators, pH meters, ion chromatography, spectroscopy systems, photometric analysers, and enzymatic reagents, facilitating rapid and precise analysis of components like vitamins, minerals, contaminants, and additives. Metrohm ensures compliance with regulatory standards and consistency in food product quality.

Integral to this process is Metrohm's advanced software, seamlessly integrating with instruments to automate data collection, analysis, and reporting. By simplifying complex analyses, reducing human error, and expediting decision-making, this software plays a pivotal role.

Additionally, it enhances traceability by providing vital information on each testing step, bolstering transparency and accountability.

Metrohm's solutions find diverse applications across the food industry: 1. Raw Material Testing: Accurate testing of raw materials ensures ingredient purity and detects potential contaminants.

2. Process Monitoring: Real-time data on parameters like pH and ion concentrations enables adjustments for consistent quality during production.

3. Contaminant Detection: Sensitive analysis systems identify trace contaminants, preventing foodborne illnesses.

4. Nutritional Analysis: Precise measurement of nutritional components complies with labelling regulations.

5. Additive Monitoring: Accurate additive concentrations ensure safety and consumer satisfaction.

October / November 2023

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Automation

Shaking hands over the transcontinental partnership are, left, Dustin Lee from Morrison CHS in America and right, Kevin Redmond, Tronics’ Business Manager for Morrison CHS by Tronics 6. Quality Control: Integrated software automates final product checks, reducing human error.

•

Timing Screws: Deliver split-second accuracy, a pivotal factor in enhancing overall production line productivity.

7. Traceability and Compliance: Software documents testing steps, aiding compliance and transparency.

•

Change Parts (Stars and Guides): Facilitate rapid changeovers and accommodate new container sizes with these versatile components, reducing downtime and increasing flexibility.

•

Twist Blocks: Boost container control by replacing existing screws on packaging lines or introducing purpose-designed elements for new containers.

•

Down Bottle Reject Guides: Combat wasted products and operational interruptions by automatically identifying and rejecting down containers, minimising downtime and losses.

•

Stacking Systems: Enhance downstream equipment efficiency, such as sleevers, bundlers, cartoners, and baggers, through advanced container stacking capabilities.

Tronics and Morrison have joined forces to revolutionise manufacturing with innovative container handling solutions

•

Lane Combiners and Dividers: Merge and separate lanes to increase throughout throughout the line.

Tronics has signed off on a strategic transatlantic partnership with Morrison Container Handling Solutions, aimed at delivering cuttingedge container handling options, change part solutions, and tailored designs to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and accelerate time to market for packaging line operations.

This partnership not only underlines the commitment of Tronics and Morrison to industry innovation but also reinforces their dedication to providing tailored solutions that address the unique challenges of modern manufacturing.

8. Research and Development: Metrohm's instruments aid in developing new formulations and optimising production methods.

In conclusion, Metrohm's advanced instruments and software elevate food safety and quality standards. From raw material testing to final product checks, they streamline processes, minimise risks, and contribute to delivering safe, high-quality food products to consumers. This combination of precision and reliability assures consumers of the integrity and nutritional value of their food.

Innovative container handling solutions

By leveraging the expertise of Morrison Container Handling Solutions, Tronics is poised to empower manufacturing enterprises to maximise production efficiency and output, to meet market demands with streamlined container handling processes, optimise container control, and ensure a continuous and efficient flow for packaging lines.

Central to this partnership are Tronics' core Morrison products, designed to revolutionise container handling within manufacturing setups: 32

Food New Zealand

"Tronics is excited to collaborate with Morrison to offer our manufacturing customers a range of cutting-edge container handling solutions that redefine efficiency and performance," said Ken Sky, General Manager at Tronics. "We are confident that our partnership will usher in a new era of streamlined manufacturing processes."

“Tronics has a great legacy in the industry and paired with our 52 years of timing screw expertise, we can’t wait to see how this partnership can help bring important automation solutions to companies in Australia,” Morrison’s CEO Nancy Wilson, agreed.

NZFSSRC

Does size matter when it comes to food safety?

This article has been written exclusively for FoodNZ by the NZ Food Safety Science & Research Centre (NZFSSRC)

Nick Fletcher, FSANZ, New Zealand

Duncan McGillivray, The University of Auckland and MacDiarmid Institute

Nanoparticles and ERIS Nicola King (aka Nikki, of ESR) manages the NZFSSRC’s Emerging Risk Identification System (ERIS). ERIS trains its binoculars on new pathogen or chemical contamination threats and other potential food safety risks from the plethora of innovative ways of producing and packaging food. It is also watching how consumers are reacting to new foods and technologies. Nikki works closely with colleagues in ESR and the food industry, and with our food regulatory authorities, New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS), and Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ).

Recently, Nikki and colleagues started focusing on nanoparticles and nanomaterials. Nanoparticles are super tiny particles. When it comes to food and ingredients, nanoparticles might be natural components, might form during production, or they might be deliberately manufactured. Nanomaterials may be added to foods for some functional reason (e.g. colour, texture, taste or bioactivity), or could occur at the interface of packaging and food (e.g. to kill bacteria or extend shelf-life).

The nanoparticles we are talking about in this article are those intended to be consumed or used to protect foods until we eat them, and are not to be confused with nanoplastics, which can make their way into the food supply because they are everywhere, and will increase as the enormous amount of plastic in the environment continues to break down.

Nikki King, ESR

Nikki’s ERIS forum on the subject agreed that this is an issue they need to know more about. Nanomaterials are being manufactured to improve foods and food production in different ways, but should we be concerned about possible health risks?

Food regulators are reviewing their approaches for assessing risks from these tiny particles, but what are they worried about? Consumers are already concerned about nanoplastics, so what might they think about manufactured nanoparticles being used in food production?

A nanometre is a mind-blowing billionth of a metre. Definitions of a nanoparticle in terms of size vary, but for our purposes we’re talking about any molecule or group of molecules under 100 nanometres in any dimension. Proteins are approximately 10 nanometres wide.

A typical virus is 100 nanometres; a bacterium is a comparative monster at 1000 nanometres, while a human blood cell measures a titanic 10,000 nanometres!

What is it about nanoparticles that could cause problems if ingested or released into the environment? After all, a lot of the food we eat is digested down into nanoparticle-size bits.

Nanoparticles and biological tissue Duncan McGillivray, a professor of chemistry at The University of Auckland and a principal investigator at the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, studies how such tiny October / November 2023

33

NZFSSRC

Case study: nanosilver in food packaging Metallic nanoparticles are used in food production for a range of purposes.3 Metallic nanoparticle composites, consisting of metallic nanoparticles entrapped in a biopolymer, are being investigated for active food packaging. Gold, silver, copper, zinc and titanium are favoured for this purpose.

Silver has antimicrobial properties and nanosilver has been introduced into food packaging. To be effective, the silver must be available to interact with (and kill) any bacteria but there are concerns that transfer into foods will cause adverse health effects. In 2021, EFSA published a safety assessment of silver nanoparticles for use in food contact materials.4 It was concluded that some silver could migrate to food in a soluble form (i.e. not as the nanoparticle composite), but consumer exposure would be below the acceptable daily intake (ADI).

However, the Panel noted that total dietary exposure to silver could exceed the ADI when all sources were considered. This highlights the possibility that, if silver nanoparticles are increasingly used in food contact materials, overall exposure through the diet could increase for some consumer groups to the point where acceptable levels are exceeded. This requires careful watching.

Research on nanosilver shows that the dose and the form of the silver are both important when considering toxicity.

The latter is important when considering data from toxicity studies, since chemically manufactured silver nanoparticles, biologically synthesised silver nanoparticles and reference silver nanoparticles can behave differently in toxicity studies.5 This is further complicated by cellular differences between animal, plant and microbial systems, so each cell type responds differently to silver nanoparticles. This means that results from toxicity studies can be contradictory. Regarding metallic nanoparticles (MNPs) in general, authors of a 2022 review concluded that “innovative tests are needed to assess the potential long-term effects of MNPs on human health and the environment”.3 Thus, it is expected that both the toxicity data available for risk assessments, and the way these data are generated and assessed, will both improve over time. This might change the current view of permitted nanomaterials and will certainly affect those scheduled for future assessment.

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Food New Zealand

particles – not those which are typical constituents of food – might interact with biological tissue. Can they be absorbed and stay in our bodies, interfering with our biochemistry? Can they enter our bloodstream or cells, affect our DNA, slip through the bowel lining, or penetrate the blood-brain barrier? Are they passive or reactive?

Duncan says, “Things smaller than 100 nanometres aren’t readily filtered by most biological or engineered systems. They can get past the body’s defence mechanisms. We can’t easily see what they might be getting up to.”

“Biological activity isn’t just about size,” says Duncan, “it’s also about shape and composition. Very small particles can have quite different properties to the bulk material. The nano-world is like another universe with completely different rules from the macro-universe humans experience. We know a lot about quantum behaviour when it comes to electronics, for example, but there’s so much we don’t know when it comes to biological systems. There are many more questions than answers in this area, and sometimes it’s hard to know what questions to ask. There is a lot of excitement and research money going into the use of nanoparticles and new nanomaterials in medicine, agriculture, and environmental science, to deliver drugs, nutrients and chemicals exactly where needed, and conversely eliminate pollutants. It’s about precision technology, which doesn’t come with unwanted side effects.”

Assessing nanoparticle risk Nick Fletcher, principal toxicologist and risk assessor at FSANZ, the body that regulates all additives in our food, says that pre-market approval is required for any new or novel nanomaterial in food that may present safety concerns. Nick co-wrote a definitive paper on the subject of nanoparticles in food (2011)1, from the Australia/ NZ regulatory perspective, and has closely followed developments overseas ever since. FSANZ also set up a Scientific Nanotechnology Advisory Group, with the delightful acronym SNAG. He says, “It is an issue we’ve been watching evolve for over 15 years but we still haven’t received an application to amend the Food Standards Code for a new nanomaterial.”

One common additive furrowing EU eyebrows is titanium dioxide, which is widely used as a whitener in a huge range of products: toothpastes, tablets, chewing gum, sweeteners, wedding cakes, artificial milks, to name a few. It is also the active ingredient in sunscreen. Nick is off to Rome soon to attend a meeting called by the WHO/FAO’s Joint Expert Committee for Food Additives, JECFA, to discuss titanium dioxide, after a couple of research studies raised concerns. Assessing the risks of novel nanoparticles and nanomaterials, and determining safe ingestion limits, is presenting

NZFSSRC

novel challenges. Often there are no established laboratory protocols or risk assessment formulae to follow.

A 2022 FAO report on the future of food safety states, “Low absorption and accumulation of titanium dioxide (food additive E171) nanoparticles after ingestion has been reported by a recent safety assessment carried out by the EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Flavourings (2021)”2. EFSA (another acronym to digest), which is the independent European Union agency responsible for providing scientific advice and communication on food chain risks, has established a Working Group on Nanotechnologies.

Overall, the safety concerns related to genotoxicity (substances that may cause changes to our genetic material), with it not being known whether particle size is important. Previous risk assessments had concluded that titanium dioxide is safe. Science is always free to change its mind with new evidence, but it’s not clear cut and often studies come to different conclusions. It should be noted that not all countries share EU worries about titanium dioxide.

Nikki says that from her observations it seems that, “Regulators are perhaps not becoming more concerned about nanomaterials.

Rather, it appears that there are concerns that risk assessment tools are not sufficiently adapted to provide confidence that risks are being managed. A lot of effort is going into making sure that risk assessment processes, and the information that feeds into these, are fit for purpose when it comes to considering nano-scale materials.”

FSANZ critiqued a key study that proposed a link between titanium dioxide particles and inflammatory bowel disease and bowel cancer.

It did not find evidence to justify any change in the regulatory status quo. FSANZ also completed an updated risk assessment of titanium dioxide concluding that food uses of titanium dioxide are safe.

In the meantime, FSANZ’s regulatory procedures for food additives require information on particle size. Nick says, “In cases where particle size is important to achieving the technological purpose or may relate to a difference in toxicity, any application to FSANZ must include information on particle size, size distribution, and morphology, as well as any size-dependent properties.”

Nikki worries, “Even if science proves any concerns unfounded, regulators know that once concerns are raised publicly, they can travel like wildfire through social media, and no amount of scientific evidence will convince some people that things are safe. There’s a balance, hard to find, between disclosure, and raising unnecessary fears. The pandemic taught us a lot!”

The situation with nanoparticles in packaging is more complex, involves more regulatory bodies, and is faster moving as producers urgently cast around for plastic substitutes and materials which will extend shelf life. The pandemic drove the need for longer shelf

lives when supply lines were drastically disrupted. Two common nanomaterials used in food packaging are nanoclays, which improve the mechanical and barrier properties of biodegradable packaging materials, and nanometals such as nanosilver (see case study left), which has antimicrobial properties. Other nanomaterials authorised by the EU are carbon black, silanated silicon dioxide, and titanium nitride.

There are fears that these nanoparticles could leach into the food at unsafe levels. Both the EU and US have set standards related to tests for particle migration. And the EU has set specific requirements for the use of titanium nitride in food packaging.

NZFS advises that, to date, there is no evidence that engineered nanomaterials migrate from food packaging into food at unsafe levels.

Further, they say “We have not identified any recent patents registered in New Zealand for the use of nanomaterials in food packaging, and we are not aware of any food packaging in New Zealand using nanomaterials.” That being the case, readers may wonder why the Centre is raising the issue now.

Dr Libby Harrison, director of the NZ Food Safety Science & Research Centre, says ERIS’s job is to keep abreast of the science, and let industry know in plenty of time what changes may lie ahead. The growing range of manufactured nanomaterials, and the exciting ways these can be used to improve the food supply, has everyone talking.

As consumer awareness of nanotechnology grows, we must be able to ‘front-foot’ any safety concerns with assurance of good scientific evidence and regulatory systems.

Notes 1. Regulation of Nanotechnologies in Food in Australia and New Zealand, 2011, Nick Fletcher and Andrew Batholomaeus 2. FAO Report Thinking about the future of food safety (FAO, 2022), pg 84 3. Couto & Almeida, 2022 (https://doi.org/10.3390/ foods11030402) 4. EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Processing Aids et al., 2021 (https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2021.6790) 5. Rajan et al., 2022 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j. chemosphere.2021.133397)

Acknowledgements: The Centre thanks NZFS for providing extensive and timely information for this article, also Nick Fletcher (FSANZ) and Professor Duncan McGillivary (The University of Auckland).

October / November 2023

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Research Briefing

Research briefings Riddet Institute roundup Optimising diets for good nutrition Eat your fruit and veggies, but don’t neglect meat and dairy – that’s the latest conclusion from a review of vitamin uptake studies just published.

Published online on 31 July 2023, the review by Riddet Institute food scientists Dr Sylvia Chungchunlam and Distinguished Professor Paul Moughan appeared in the academic journal Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition.

The review found mixed diets comprising animal and plantbased foods continue to be the best option for optimal vitamin intake, sufficient to meet the vitamin needs of the human body.

Across a range of global research studies, the review compared bioavailability of nutritional components between differing food sources.

“The comparative inherent bioavailability of vitamins amongst foods sources from animals and plants is of a strong nutritional significance,” Dr Chungchunlam said. “It is important from the standpoint of choosing appropriate nutrientdense foods to meet the vitamin requirements of all.

Vitamins are essential components of enzyme systems involved in normal growth and function.”

Bioavailability is the proportion of an ingested nutrient that is released during digestion and absorbed for use or storage in the body.

The review found that while bioavailability was highly variable among dietary sources, in general most vitamins in animalderived foods, such as meat, milk, eggs, and fish, were more bioavailable than the equivalent vitamins in plant-based foods, such as vegetables, fruits, legumes, cereal grains, nuts and seeds.

The review found that animal-sourced foods were the almost exclusive natural sources of dietary vitamin B-12 and preformed vitamin A retinol, and contain highly bioavailable biotin, folate, niacin, pantothenic acid, and vitamin B-6. Vegetables and fruits were the main natural sources of vitamin C, provitamin A carotenoid β-carotene, and vitamin K. Riboflavin (vitamin B-2) and thiamine (vitamin B-1) were similarly bioavailable when foods were sourced from animals or plants.

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Food New Zealand

Eat your vitamins: A mix of meat, fish, dairy and plantderived foods represent the optimal nutritional combination for human diets according to a new review of vitamin research by the Riddet Institute

The researchers noted that the bioavailability of naturally occurring choline, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin K in food await further studies to evaluate the comparative bioavailability of these essential nutrients among animal- and plant-based foods.

The review looked at the current state of knowledge about 13 essential vitamins, and the vital nutrient choline.

Research Briefing

The Right Honourable Sir Lockwood Smith is the new Board Chair for the Riddet Institute at Massey University. Photo: Rural News Professor Indrawati Oey with the latest PEF machine.

Photo credit Otago Daily Times

Pulsed Electric field processing New technology developed by Riddet Institute Principal Investigator Professor Indrawati Oey, is making waves in the science world.

The world’s first pulsed electric field (PEF) machine has been developed by Prof Oey at the University of Otago’s Department of Food Science. Indra and her team are now using the machine in CoRE research Theme Two, Sustainable Future Proteins.

Pulsed electric field is a green technology that can manipulate the texture of foods prior to regular cooking and consumption. It is a nonthermal process that uses electric currents to change the permeability of the cell membrane within food.

PEF processing eliminates the need for chemicals to process foods, reduces waste whilst increasing the palatability of foods and reduces energy and water consumption.

Prof Oey says the technique has many food industry uses, from pasteurising food at low temperatures to pre-preparing potato fries for enhanced texture. It can also tenderise up to 10kg of meat in seconds.

PEF technology was invented in early 1900, but until recently it was able to process only liquid products such as juice and milk, and solids like potatoes.

However, with MBIE funding, Prof Oey has been able work with German companies Elea and German Institute of Food Technologies to develop and build a PEF machine that can process bone-in meat cuts. She spent the past three years on the design, with significant Covid-related delays.

Prof Oey said the machine was the first of its kind in the world.

“This technology allows us to enhance the release of the flavour and bioactive compounds which makes the food taste better,” she said.

“We can tenderise meat or change the quality of meat from a lowvalue cut to top steak-quality cuts.”

Putting grapes through the machine can also reduce the maceration process in wine-making. This means grape skins would only need to soak in grape juice for one to two days instead of the usual 8-14 days, she said.

The technology is expected to revolutionise food manufacturing processes and reduce waste.

Sir Lockwood Smith appointed Riddet Institute Board Chair Former Parliamentary Speaker of the House and Education Minister, the Right Honourable Sir Lockwood Smith is the new Board Chair of the Riddet Institute in Palmerston North.

He replaces former Board Chair Stuart McCutcheon, who died suddenly at the beginning of 2023.

Sir Lockwood says the new Board role reflects his interest in science and particular enthusiasm for the work of the Riddet Institute in food science.

He says it is particularly important our food industry is grounded in evidence-based nutritional research.

“People desperately need high standards in food research, to ensure the science of food advances in the best way for the best outcomes for future populations. This is where the Riddet Institute work is so valuable.”

He says the Riddet Institute has an international reputation and a high profile that is well deserved, and he is looking forward to supporting the work of the Institute through his role as Board Chair.

Sir Lockwood is a former National Party Member of Parliament and was speaker of the House of Representatives from 2008 to 2013.

During his time in politics, he served as Minister of Education, as well as taking on Agriculture, Tourism and Trade portfolios and Associate Minister roles in Finance and Immigration.

In 2013 he became a diplomat and served as High Commissioner of New Zealand to the United Kingdom, ambassador to Ireland and High Commissioner of both Ghana and Nigeria until 2017.

Since his work as the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and ambassadorial roles, he has also continued as a member of the United Kingdom Trade & Agriculture Commission, in international trade advisory roles, in animal health and environmental regulatory work, and on a commission reviewing the UK public service for think tank Policy Exchange, as well as operating a beef farm at Matakohe in Northland.

The Riddet Institute Board consists of four independent members as well as the Vice-Chancellor of the host organisation. The other board members are Mark Piper (Plant & Food), Prof Jim Metson (University of Auckland), Miriana Stephens (Wakatū Incorporation), and Prof Jan Thomas (Massey University).

October / November 2023

37

Allergens

Harmonising the world approach to Precautionary Allergen Labelling Lisa Clark, Allergen Bureau Manager, Debbie Hawkes, Allergen Bureau Board Director, FNZIFST Introduction The use of Precautionary Allergen Labelling (PAL) can vary significantly in the principles and philosophy of use, from organisation to organisation and country to country. The work being commissioned by the Codex Committee on Food Labelling aims to address this and other issues pertaining to best practice allergen labelling. It represents a great opportunity for the provision of harmonised food allergen information in the supply chain. But is this too much to hope for and how will it impact your business? Here is what the Allergen Bureau is watching on behalf of Industry.

Supporting avoidance The growth in the incidence of food allergies and food intolerances is an international phenomenon. For those with a food allergy or coeliac disease, there is no cure and avoidance is the only strategy available to manage the condition.

Yet, as we know avoidance in the complicated food supply chain can be more difficult than it sounds. Food technologists and food manufacturers are aware of the risk of unintentional allergen presence, despite efforts of those in the supply chain to prevent this.

For example, risks in agriculture (think peanuts in garlic), food fraud (think crushed nuts in cumin), and food supply shortages which result in the need for rapid ingredient substitutions, all make determining the allergen risk to the consumer and appropriate labelling challenging.

Furthermore, previous research from the Murdoch Children’s Institute has indicated that food allergy sufferers and their carers are confused by the use of PAL statements such as, “made in a factory that also uses”, or “may contain traces of “… and will often ignore such labels assuming that food manufacturers are just being cautious.

Globally only one country, South Africa, has legislation pertaining to the requirement for PAL to be underpinned by a quantitative risk assessment, and the Codex General Standard for the labelling of prepackaged foods to date has very little information on labelling of either intentionally or unintentionally present allergens.

Recognising the need to understand these challenges and unite on strategies to solve them, the Allergen Bureau formed in 2005 as a not-for-profit, Non-Government Organisation (NGO) and an excellent example of pre-competitive cooperation in the food industry, with national and multi-national food manufacturing, suppliers, importers, exporters, and retailers, working collaboratively and sharing information on managing the risks of food allergens, in the interests of consumers.

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Food New Zealand

The Allergen Bureau has developed several key resources for the Australian and New Zealand Food Industry, including: •

FIGAML, (the Food Industry Guide to Allergen Management and Labelling), which was jointly developed with AFGC.

•

Unexpected Allergens in Food Guide

•

Assessing Agricultural Cross Contact Risks

•

Allergen Risk Review website

•

VITAL® Program

The VITAL Program The VITAL (Voluntary Incidental Trace Allergen Labelling) Program is a standardised allergen risk assessment process for the food industry. The program produces a labelling outcome that summarises the food allergen/s present in food due to intentional inclusion and unintentional presence.

Unintentionally present allergens are only labelled after elimination, reduction and control programs have been put in place and where the risk assessment indicates it is required. Therefore, carrying out a VITAL risk assessment using the VITAL tools, including VITAL Online, assists a food company in demonstrating due diligence in understanding the allergen status of the finished product. The process is designed to give both food manufacturers and consumers confidence in allergen labelling.

For 15 years, the VITAL program has been used and promoted by organisations dedicated to best practice Allergen Management and Labelling. VITAL Action Level concentrations (ppm) are calculated using the Reference Dose (mg allergen protein) and a Reference Amount specific to the food. In VITAL 3.0 the Reference Dose is defined as the milligram protein level (total protein from an allergenic food) below which only the most sensitive 1% of individuals in the allergic population are likely to experience an adverse reaction. This is referred to as an Eliciting Dose 01 (ED01).

Reference Doses that underpin the VITAL program have been subjected to extensive peer review and have been recognised by several international authorities as defining a sound level of risk when applying PAL statements.

Despite very successful adoption in some countries, (i.e., ANZ, the Netherlands and Belgium), international debate continues as to the best approach for assessing the risk from cross-contact allergens, with considerations such as testing methodology sensitivities or the need for zero tolerance all being debated.

Allergens

FAO/WHO Panel Reference Doses RfD Recommendation (mg total protein from the allergenic source)

VITAL 3.0

(ED01 based RfD, mg total protein)

Walnut (& Pecan), Cashew (& Pistachio), Almond

1.0

0.03 0.05 0.1 (hazelnut)

Egg, Milk, Peanut, Sesame

2.0

0.2 0.1

Hazelnut

3.0

0.1

Wheat, Fish

5.0

0.7 1.3

Shrimp

200

25

Comparison of the FAO/WHO Expert panel reference doses vs VITAL® 3.0

FAO/WHO Expert Panel Recognising the need to address this point, and to include more information and clarity in the Codex General Standard for the Labelling of Pre-Packaged Foods, the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) commissioned the FAO/WHO to form an expert panel to address four key issues: •

Review and validate the Codex priority allergen list through risk assessment.

•

Review and establish threshold levels in foods for the priority allergens.

•

Review and establish precautionary labelling in foods of the priority allergens.

•

Review and establish exemptions for food allergens

Report One recommends a list of allergens with global significance, consisting of the majority of those legislated in Australia and New Zealand. Cereals containing gluten (including wheat, rye, barley species and strains), fish and crustacea, eggs, milk, peanuts, sesame, and specific tree nuts (almond, cashew, hazelnut, pecan, pistachio, and walnut). This list was recommended with consideration given to three criteria, prevalence, severity, and potency.

Notably, lupin and soy were not included in the list of allergens of global significance.

The report noted that whilst the data did not support some allergens as meeting the global criteria, there is nevertheless data that suggests these allergens can be significant regionally.

define allergen thresholds to meet consumer safety objectives. The methodology endorsed was the Reference Doses (RfD) determined by dose-distribution modelling of results from DBPC (Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled) challenge studies. This is the methodology underpinning the VITAL program. There are however a few key differences.

ED05 or ED01?

The first and perhaps most significant difference was that the Expert Panel recommended the use of ED05 rather than ED01. This has created discussion internationally by those who are surprised that a more conservative approach has not been taken, and perhaps represents a risk to the acceptance of a harmonised approach.

The other key difference to the VITAL Program Reference Doses is the rounding methodology used by the expert panel.

The rationale behind the choice of ED05 seems to be the delicate balance of food availability for the allergic consumer versus public health impact.

One assumption seems to be that if a PAL is based on a higher Reference Dose, less PALs will be used and, therefore more food will be available to the allergic consumer. Such an assumption is logical but does not consider PALs are often driven by particulate cross contact (i.e. small pieces of material that contain the Reference Dose), often randomly distributed through a batch. It is also unknown how many PAL are on packaging because the risk assessment determined the allergen content is above an ED05 derived value.

It recommended that the following allergens be considered as those that have regional significance: buckwheat, celery, lupin, mustard, oats, soybean, tree nuts (Brazil nut, macadamia, and pine nuts).

Furthermore, it identified kiwi fruit, pulses, and insects as emerging allergens to watch closely.

To answer this question the Allergen Bureau has commissioned a survey to review risk-based PAL’s and is asking all VITAL users to submit short reports for assessment, to determine the labelling impact of ED05. This information is critical to the debate, and we urge all users of the VITAL program to assist in building the data for this survey.

In Report Two the FAO/WHO considered various approaches to

For more information, please contact info@allergenbureau.net.

October / November 2023

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Allergens

Hierarchy of risks faced by people susceptible to IgE-mediated food allergy, proportionate to their estimated occurrence for peanut in peanut-allergic individuals. Turner et al, 2021

In terms of the public health risk, it is important to note that the safety objective of the expert panel was “to minimise the risk to a point where further impact does not meaningfully reduce the health impact.” Here the expert panel found that in DBPC challenges up to 5% of reactions both at ED01 and ED05 could be classed as anaphylaxis, although none were severe based on the WAO (World Allergy Organisation) definition. (1 per 100,000 person-years in allergic population and no fatal reactions documented following exposure to doses at or below ED01 or ED05.)

The logic is perhaps best depicted in the Turner et al paper of 2021, see diagram above, where we see that <5% of those with an objective allergic reaction to ED05 have anaphylaxis, and of that 5% at least 80% are resolved without treatment.

How will ED05 impact our marketplace?

As the Allergen Bureau has always led the way in adopting the latest scientific thinking, it is considering the change to a Reference Dose based on ED05 and what this will mean, particularly in Australia and New Zealand.

Feedback from industry has been cautious. Whilst accepting the science, businesses are currently in the midst of label changes to comply with the new PEAL (Plain English Allergen Labelling) legislation. They are also uncertain as to consumer understanding and acceptance of a theoretically greater number of mild and transient reactions and are understandably concerned about how enforcement agencies will approach complaints of such reactions.

The Allergen Bureau is conscious of the need to consider the impact of such a shift to all stakeholders. As such, the Allergen Bureau are working with FSANZ to ensure key stakeholder needs have been considered, and that a uniform approach to the communication of such a change is undertaken. The Allergen Bureau is also working with the National Allergy Council in Australia to develop a Precautionary Allergen Labelling Consensus statement. This statement will inform 40

Food New Zealand

consumers, the food industry, and clinicians of the role they should play in ensuring the consumer is protected and informed about unintentional allergen presence.

As international debate is occurring around the suitability of ED05 vs ED01 it is important to reflect on two key elements.

Progress…

Firstly, it is wonderful to see the debate has shifted to which Reference Dose is suitable for determining a PAL. Previously the debate centred on whether Reference Doses were suitable or not for such purposes.

Therefore, for those using Quantitative Risk Assessment programs such as the VITAL Program to inform your PAL, you are at the forefront of best practice implementation.

Secondly, for those of us at the coal face, nothing actually changes. The VITAL program is underpinned by the concept that organisations have implemented an effective allergen management program and have used risk mitigation strategies to eliminate, reduce and control allergens to the lowest practicable level. Regardless of the outcome of the threshold debate, businesses should continue to manage allergen risks to the lowest possible level, therefore demonstrating due diligence and commitment to keeping the allergic consumer safe.

If you are interested in knowing more about this article or wish to contribute to the PAL survey, please contact the Allergen Bureau at info@allergenbureau.net.

References 1. Turner PJ, Patel N, Ballmer-Weber BK, Baumert JL et all, Peanut Can Be Used as a Reference Allergen for Hazard Characterization in Food Allergen Risk Management: A Rapid Evidence Assessment & Meta Analysis, J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract 2022;10:59-70 The paper is an open access article under the CC By license http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Careers

The 2023 Food Industry Salary Survey - Company size matters!

John Lawson, Lawson Williams Recruitment The Lawson Williams/NZIFST 2023 Salary survey results reveal very clearly – the smaller the company the higher the percentage/dollar value of salary increases since 2021 in New Zealand.

Larger companies have more easily moderated the impact of the increases in salaries.

On the surface we might say this has been a risky strategy.

Risk vs rewards for companies We know that uncompetitive salaries motivate job searches. An uncompetitive salary is the top factor motivating close to 50% of job searches. It ranks ahead of a lack of promotional opportunities and poor management or culture.

How have larger companies achieved this, particularly in an environment of high inflation with pressure on salaries to meet the increased cost of living resulting in employees being more willing to step into the market to obtain better remuneration?

The 2023 Food Industry Salary Survey provides insight into the differences in remuneration packages based on size of company.

For all companies regardless of size there have been significant differences since 2021.

More professional development and training Both in retention and attraction opportunity, since 2021, employers of all sizes in New Zealand have seen the benefit of improving the development they offer employees. This is arguably a necessity for survival in the age of Industry 4.0. If you visited the recent Foodtech/ Packtech exhibition you would easily have been confronted with the absolute importance of training all staff to meet the demands of a digital future.

Wellness, Health and other Insurance benefits.

Covid 19 was a major focus point for employees on how remuneration benefits would provide support for themselves and their family through the uncertain times of a pandemic and beyond. Companies

About the NZ Food Industry Salary Survey.

The NZ Food Industry Salary Survey was created in 2019

by Lawson Williams and NZIFST. The NZ Institute of Food Science and Technology (NZIFST) plays an important role in the promotion of careers in the Food Industry. The availability of salary information for the positions which NZIFST members hold in the Food Industry is limited. It was decided that an employer survey would provide real and constructive remuneration information which would benefit all institute members.

In 2021, The NZ Food and Grocery Council (NZFGC) became a survey partner to increase the promotion and availability of the Salary Survey to Food Industry employers.

responded quickly in increasing benefits such as Health Insurance and the overall attention to wellness of their staff. Indications are that this will continue as a key focus of employees.

Parental Leave beyond statutory requirements.

From a low base the survey reports a massive 500% increase in paid parental benefits for New Zealand employees.

New Zealand has rapidly come to the party. Internationally we have seen real evidence of the benefits of increasing parental leave provisions. We know that they attract and retain top talent, reducing turnover rates and, for the majority of companies, have little impact on costs when the cost savings from employee churn are taken into consideration. Also, a more engaged, productive and loyal workforce is the outcome.

Changes in remuneration benefits offered by all companies between 2021 and 2023 – New Zealand Food Industry October / November 2023

41

Careers

Importantly in New Zealand, employers have also been under pressure to help address the 20% retirement savings gap between men’s and women’s average KiwiSaver balances. In June 2022 research by NZIER found women who choose to leave the workforce or work part-time after having children could be forfeiting between $58,000 and $318,000 in retirement savings. Paid parental schemes directly address this issue.

Benefit comparisons Comparing the remuneration benefits based on company size there are some distinct differences, see graph.

Wellness, Health and other Insurance benefits and Increase in Parental Leave beyond statutory requirements are more easily managed and afforded by larger businesses.

Small companies are less able to afford health insurance schemes for their employees which rely on member numbers to improve cost effectiveness and increase health benefit opportunities.

As a result, larger companies have benefited in New Zealand over the last three years by firstly having an existing scheme and being able to

increase the value of this scheme to existing and new employees.

Company size is also an obvious factor in being able to structurally support having staff away on longer periods of Parental leave. This again has enabled larger companies in New Zealand to more easily adopt extended Parental leave policies over the past 3 years.

It has allowed them to more easily address the demand from parents for better parental leave provisions with the upside of beginning to address the cost of parenting, its impact not only on immediate financial factors but importantly for women, the very real impact on their retirement savings if they chose to take longer parental leave or work part time while their family is young.

When considering these two factors alone we begin to see why small companies have increased salaries at a higher rate in the New Zealand food Industry to attract and retain staff.

In the face of high inflation and staff shortages larger companies have been able to use a broader range of benefits, to focus on building their total remuneration offering and use this as one tool to continue to compete for staff.

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

Specialist Recruitment - Permanent and Contract 42

Food New Zealand

www.lawsonwilliams.co.nz

NZIFST

NZIFST News Conference 2024 Conference Chair, Rob Archibald, and his committee are making excellent progress developing the programme for 2024 conference and it's going to be memorable as always with quality speakers, lots of social events and chat and exhibitors to share their expertise.

Call for Abstracts The call for abstracts is now open for this Conference.

The theme of the conference is Diversity in the food industry. And our industry is amazingly diverse, from the products, to the processing technologies, to the markets and how our products reach our markets and much more.

We invite you to submit an abstract and make a contribution to the programme. All abstracts will be reviewed and submitters notified of acceptance. We encourage representatives from industry, students, post docs and others who want to share the results of their work or experience.

Conference session themes will cover: •

Innovation

•

Food waste

•

R & D funding

•

Misinformation and/or Media relations

•

Genetic Engineering

•

Market diversity

•

AI & ML

NZIFST Directory

•

Sustainability

•

Partnerships

•

Career opportunities

•

Local production

•

Packaging

•

Novel foods

•

New processes

•

Rapid food analysis

•

Membrane applications

•

Nutrition

PO Box 44322, Pt Chevalier

•

Automation.

Auckland 1022

For more information on submitting an abstract and to make a submission, follow the QR code below or go to the portal HERE

EXECUTIVE MANAGER Wendy Bayliss

New Zealand Phone: 022 549 8483, Email: wendy@nzifst.org.nz PRESIDENT

Esraa El Shall esraaelshall@gmail.com

VICE PRESIDENT

Bob Olayo bob@matt.nz

TREASURER

Call for abstracts now open

Grant Boston grant@boston.net.nz

Scan the QR code to access the abstracts portal

October / November 2023

43

NZIFST Zealand, Sanitarium, Consumer NZ, Ministry of Primary Industries and more!

Discover innovative strategies, explore regulatory developments, and gain insights into cutting-edge technologies shaping the future of food safety. With informative sessions, engaging discussions, and networking opportunities, this conference is your gateway to staying ahead in safeguarding public health, promoting consumer trust, and elevating the food industry in Aotearoa.

Join us at "Food Safety, Risk and Compliance” 24 October 2023, where industry leaders and experts come together to discuss the latest advancements, challenges, and best practices in food safety.

We are excited to invite all industry professionals to discuss and share insights to the key topics in the current market. These will include Fundamentals of Food Safety Legislation, Nurturing a resilient Food Safety Culture, Trust and Traceability, Risk assessment, Allergen Management, Transparency for consumer safety, Technology and Food Safety, Applications of AI and more including panel discussions from our industry leaders.

Be ready to hear from our speakers from Kraft Heinz, GS1 New

www.brightstar.co.nz/foodsafety

Food Safety, Risk and Compliance

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 Members Marlon Martins dos Reis

Senior Scientist/Team Leader

AgResearch

Daniel Smith

GM Projects

Pacific Process Engineering

Amit Taneja

Programme Manager

Fonterra

Aiqian Ye

Professor Riddet Institute

Massey University

Standard members Madison Franks

McCallum Industries

Ziyi Jia

Development Technologist

Fonterra Brands NZ

Billy Li

Production Manager

McCallum Industries

Radhika Sharma

Compliance Manager

NZ Global Foods

Food Technologist

Pacific Flavours and Ingredients Ltd

New Graduate member Anh Khoa Le

New Student Members AUT: Nina Isabel Marchadesch, Nicholas Vince Lincoln University: Evie Eaton Massey University: YuHao Guo, Khanh Nguyen, Eden Miller, University of Auckland: Yujin Cho, Prarthana Vaman Devagiri, Kanokpon Faungfu, Zan Goh, Erin Lau, Xinyue Leng, Xue Li, Yu-Ting Lo, Van Nguyen, Reece O'Sullivan, Jenny Lyn Pasiol, Manish Prakash, Abhay Shidling, Pamela Sin, Dhamayanthi Sivakumar, Nouhad Tabet, Kuldeep Verma University of Otago: Dung Nguyen, Caitlin Jameson

New Professional Member: Amit Taneja Amit is programme manager at Fonterra Co-op Group Ltd., based at Fonterra’s London Street office in Hamilton. He has been an active member of the NZIFST and has been a member of the NZIFST annual conference organising committee since Oct 2021. Before joining Fonterra in 2017, Amit was a technical manager at Danone Nutricia NZ Ltd and has also worked in the R&D team at Frucor Suntory in Auckland. Amit did his M. Tech and PhD in Food Science with Riddet Institute and Massey University. Outside of work, Amit enjoys being involved in cricket governance. He is an emerging director on the Hamilton Cricket Association board and president of Fraser Tech Cricket Club in Hamilton.

New Professional member: Marlon Martins dos Reis Marlon holds a Ph.D. in Chemometrics from Unicamp in Brazil and has extensive experience with advanced analytics for applied science having authored and co-authored over 65 scientific publications. Marlon moved to New Zealand in 2007 to research non-invasive assessment of food including functional attributes, quality parameters and safety indicators. His research focuses on advanced Chemometrics to acquire structural and chemical information from food non-invasively utilising digital technologies and sensors (such as hyperspectral imagers and Near InfraRed sensors). The goal is to enable better understanding of food characteristics and lead to enhanced and new strategies to consistently deliver highquality food products to consumers.

44

Food New Zealand

NZIFST

Branch News An interested group enjoyed the Careers evening organised

by Auckland Branch in July

Auckland Careers Evening We have had several great events in the past few months.

On the 27th of July, the Branch ran its annual Student Careers evening at the University of Auckland. We had a variety of speakers from a wide range of different areas of the food and beverage industry: product development, packaging, quality, supply planning, and business development and operations, and the students were able to hear about roles that they might not have previously considered.

Students were able to listen to our speakers talk about their career journeys and their sage advice for a career in our food industry, and had the time to ask questions to learn a bit more. It was a roaring success, with just over 80 students attending! We had fantastic feedback from our students too, so we know that we’re providing valuable events to all of our members. A big thank you to Nicola Dale, Rachel Kilgour, Linda Yan, Katharina Wuluandari, Kristy Cremer, and Brad O’Callaghan for giving us your time to speak to our students. We appreciate it so much, and we know that our students do too. Thank you as well to the University of Auckland for hosting us. And finally, thank you as well to our hardworking committee – without you, none of this could be achieved!

Chelsea Sugar Refinery We also had a trip to the Chelsea Sugar Refinery on the 31st of August.

Members had some time to connect and network over delicious cakes for afternoon tea before our tour started. Sixty of our members were

A happy crowd of NZIFST Auckland members outside the Chelsea Sugar Refinery lucky enough to go on an in-depth journey of the plant in Birkenhead, learning about how sugar arrives, is cleaned, processed, and packed, with an excellent set of knowledgeable tour guides. Thank you very much to Chelsea for hosting us, and for your fantastic tour guides, and another thank you to our marvellous committee who co-ordinated it all!

Jess Chong, Auckland Branch Chair October / November 2023

45

NZIFST

Canterbury Branch members all togged up and ready for the tour

Canterbury/Westland United Fisheries Plant Tour Ten members of the Canterbury/Westland branch enjoyed a factory visit to United Fisheries in Sockburn, Christchurch, where we were hosted by Stella Stacey, their Quality and Compliance Manager.

Before heading into the factory, Stella gave us an overview of New Zealand fishing industry (fishing grounds, quota system, export value etc) and a potted history of United Fisheries. The founder, Kypros Kotzikas, started out with a single Fish and Chip shop in Aranui in the 1960s and grew the business from there to the current factory which was built in 1994.

Next, we donned “whites” and toured the main processing area where we saw: •

Frozen gutted ling from factory ships, being thawed in preparation for further processing.

•

Hoki fillets being diced, individually quick frozen and packed for the food service market. The water jet knife on this line was impressive to see operating.

•

Smooth Dory being hand filleted, mechanically skinned, packed according to fillet weight ranges, then frozen down in plate freezers.

•

Southern Whiting fillets being battered, crumbed, parfried, free flow frozen and packed for retail markets.

The site also processes mussels, but we didn’t tour this line as it is a critical hygiene area. We were able to see it operating via a video however.

A highlight for me was learning about United Fisheries low food waste.

All fish waste is put into digestors and turned into liquid fertiliser.

46

Food New Zealand

The remaining bones and cartilage from the digestors becomes a calcium supplement. Greenshell mussel meat is also turned into both pet and human supplements.

Thank you to Stella and her tour assistants, Sue and Natalie, for a very interesting visit and answering our many questions.

Buzz Club Mead Talk by co-founders Wilbur Morrison and Edward Eaton Buzz Club Mead co-founders Wilbur Morrison and Edward Eaton shared their story of re-imaging mead, the world’s oldest alcohol, from a sweet and syrupy tipple to a refreshing modern drink.

It all started with a primary school visit to a farm that included beehives. Since then, Wilbur has been fascinated with bees and was keen to help when his parents started beekeeping themselves.

When a university friend, Edward, mentioned mead, beekeeping quickly evolved into the pair experimenting with brewing, spurred on by a desire to add value to New Zealand native honeys.

Over the course of 2020, the occasional weekend spent brewing turned into every weekend and then every day. In December 2020, they filled their first batch into cans and eight months after that had achieved listing in several supermarkets.

Unsurprisingly there were “trials and tribulations” along the way and many in the NZIFST audience could relate to their labelling misadventure: •

3,500 cans had to be hand stickered.

•

The stickers failed and had to be removed by hand.

•

New stickers were applied, again by hand, but completed with help from family and friends.

Scaling up from 20 litre batches to commercially sized 5,000 litres

NZIFST

Dr Victoria Hatton talks to an attentive Central Branch audience brought challenges too. Interestingly, the hardest step was the early one from 20 litres to 300 litres where the homebrew yeast proved unsuitable.

Finding a brewery prepared to take on their mead brewing was not straightforward but now Wilbur and Edward have achieved national distribution of 5 mead variants, each using a different type of New Zealand native honey and a complementary fruit.

This interesting and entertaining evening wrapped up with a tasting of Buzz Club’s sparkling meads which were very much enjoyed.

Margot Richards

Central Branch Dr Victoria Hatton Forging a resilient food system for people, planet and prosperity.

Dr. Victoria Hatton has hit the ground running in her new role as CEO of FoodHQ. Victoria’s focus over the last 15 years has been on climate change and bridging the gap between science, policy, and advocacy. This was illustrated in the start of her talk where she outlined the sobering facts around Net Zero emissions control. The world is not doing too well to date, and we must do better. You could feel the audiences at Massey University, FSANZ in Wellington and those on-line absorbing this very clear and stark message.

Victoria then outlined the other dilemma, which was how to balance feeding 9 billion people by 2050 and doing this sustainably while still maintaining economic development for agrifood systems. No easy feat when it is estimated the world will need 60% more food to feed the global population by 2050. The Paris agreement ensures that mitigation of greenhouse gases to reach the 1.5°C goal is NOT at the expense of food security. There is a definite tension however between sustainability and food security, particularly, with climate change, water and land scarcity: the agricultural sector is ill-equipped to meet this demand.

However just when we were thinking these hurdles are too large to overcome, Victoria outlined what companies are starting to do about these huge challenges, and we saw that perhaps there is hope. She did point out it will still require radical change from all sectors – business and R&D investment, plus governments guided by consumer push to move the dial on all these issues.

Victoria finished by outlining the role of FoodHQ in helping to steer the course for change, with a mandate to lead the charge on the future of sustainable foods for New Zealand. This involved 3 elements; connecting, informing and catalysing.

This was a very well-constructed talk that summarised the challenging issues we all knew about, in a way that everyone could follow. It balanced the facts and data with strategies and bigger picture elements around, for example, necessary policy changes.

There were many questions from the audience, and it was clear that Victoria is energetically wanting FoodHQ to take a lead in helping to drive change across the agri-food ecosystem.

Victoria’s talk has been recorded for members who missed out, plus her presentation has been saved on the NZIFST website.

Dr. Arup Nag Breaking new ground: innovating and commercialising alternate proteins at the Riddet Institute A relatively small but attentive audience turned out at both Massey University and FSANZ in Wellington to listen to Dr. Arup Nag discuss this very topical subject. In his current role as the Food Innovation Manager at the Riddet Institute (RI), Arup was the ideal person to talk about who the Riddet Institute is, what they have done in the past and what they are currently doing.

He outlined key challenges about creating acceptable future food in harmony with the environment.

RI have a great track record of past innovations, and Arup gave us a taste of these: October / November 2023

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Very novel plant-based proteins, for example to deliver plantbased milk products. The team have found a particular legume which enables a high protein impact in dairy foods when fermented. The team also developed and patented a technology to produce high protein plant-based cheeses, where currently commercial products are low or contain no protein.

Arup was very proud of what has been delivered to date and excited about future developments.

Craig Honoré FNZIFST

Otago/Southland August was a bustling month for the Otago/Southland Branch as we took the lead in organising two prominent Science and Technology Fairs. We are delighted to acknowledge the invaluable sponsorship provided by Seperex Nutritionals and NZIFST for the awards presented at these fairs.

Arup Nag talked to Central Branch members about the role of the Riddet and works in progress •

Establishing the impact of kiwifruit on health

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Supporting New Zealand start-ups, such as Miruku.

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Working with a hemp grower and a manufacturer in transferring technology and commercialising some plant-based meat products that are now available in supermarkets.

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Transferring technology to produce shelf stable probiotics called PROBIOLIFE, which are now sold in China.

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Transferring technology to Nestlé in developing FERRI PRO™ which is a novel protein-iron complex using food-grade materials and a unique processing method.

Arup then discussed some of the current projects they are working on: •

Realising the value of macro algae as a source of alternative protein, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Here the team is looking at optimising the process at Pilot Plant scale also with a focus on digestibility and protein quality.

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Creating a database of commercial plant-protein ingredients.

This is critical since even now differences are noticed in sourcing the same ingredients from different suppliers as well as variation, for example in emulsification properties between different batches. The database has a scoring system in defining which ingredients have the best properties for specific applications. This may include having to blend these ingredients to deliver several different characteristics utilising complex algorithms.

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In Dunedin, the Aurora Energy Otago Science and Technology Fair, which took place from the 14th to the 20th of August, drew an impressive 298 entries from 22 schools. This amounted to nearly 400 students participating from across the Otago region, including Central Otago. The judges were deeply impressed by the calibre and diversity of the research questions explored by these young scientists from Otago. In total, the judging panel recognised six remarkable projects. The 1st Award was granted to 'Antimicrobial Alliums' by Annabelle Wilson from Columba College Year 8. We proudly presented Annabelle with the 'Outstanding' NZIFST/Seperex monetary prize ($250) and our prize cup. The 2nd Award went to 'Killer Kelp' by Dina Tukhvatalina and Emma Dawson, also Year 8 students, who received a $50 cash prize. The 3rd to 6th Awards were presented for excellent food science and technology-related projects, namely 'Froth Overload', 'Stop Oil Rancidity', 'Bananas about Bananas', and 'Do We Eat with Our Eyes'; each of these students was awarded a $25 prize.

Meanwhile, in Invercargill, the NZ Aluminium Smelter School Science & Technology Fair was held from the 8th to the 10th of August.

Once again, this event saw a substantial increase in the number of entries compared to the previous year, with over 40 projects related to Food Science & Technology. The judging process was notably more challenging this year due to the quantity and quality of the projects submitted. Some of the entries, created by year 5/6 or year 7/8 students, showcased remarkable standards of scientific inquiry. The Best Food Science & Technology Project, with a prize of $200, was awarded to "The Yeast Effect" by Ella Liu. The Distinguished Food Science & Technology Project, with a prize of $125, was earned by "The Best Brekkie" by Tahlie Rutledge & Charlee Johnston. Lastly, the Highly Commended Food Science & Technology Project, with a prize of $75, was bestowed upon "Milky Plastic" by William Wishart & Chris More.

Both of these events were highly successful, and we extend our heartfelt gratitude to Seperex Nutritionals for their generous support of these awards, as well as to all the dedicated judges who contributed their expertise and time to make these fairs possible.

Biniam Kebede, Branch Secretary

Waikato Waikato Science and Technology Fair 2023 Two Waikato committee members, David Platts and Richard Gray represented NZIFST in judging the special awards for Food Science and Technology at the recent Waikato NIWA Science and Technology Fair which was held on 14th of August at Te Rapa Distinction Hotel.

There were two prizes, one each for each intermediate and secondary

NZIFST

The group who toured the site of Evonik Peroxide in Morrinsville school. There was a wide range of projects that fitted our Food Technology and Science criteria and some excellent entries.

In the intermediate schools (years 7 and 8) our choice was "That's Cheesy!" a project aiming to make cheese from 5 different types of common non-dairy milks. This exhibit was also second in the year 8 Material World class.

The secondary schools (years 9 - 13) our choice was "Safe Sandwiches" a project investigating the best material to wrap sandwiches to keep fresh the longest. This exhibit was also placed first in the year 9-10 Living World class.

Richard Gray – Waikato Branch Committee

A site visit to Evonik Peroxide Ltd A site visit to Evonik Peroxide Ltd, located near Morrinsville, was organised in combination with IChemE, Engineering New Zealand and NZIFST. Twenty people attended in total, though only three were from NZIFST. We had an introductory presentation from Arnold Yeoman, Site Manager, on the broad outline of the company and the manufacturing process. Evonik Peroxide Ltd is part of an international company with head office in Essen Germany. It produces hydrogen peroxide used mainly as a bleaching agent. It also manufactures peracetic acid used as an industrial disinfectant. The plant is constantly updated, with the addition of solar panels being a recent addition.

The manufacturing process firstly produces hydrogen from natural gas. The hydrogen is then converted to hydrogen peroxide using a multistep closed loop catalytic cycle with the hydrogen peroxide drawn off and filtered.

We divided into groups and did a tour of the site. On return from the tour, we enjoyed pizza and drinks and discussion amongst the participants.

Richard Gray– Waikato Branch Committee

Food Waikato Spray Dryers Facility Six Waikato branch members were treated to a comprehensive tour of the Food Innovation Network (Waikato) processing facilities at Ruakura on Tuesday 5th September. The site has two powder dryers, devoted to high value non-bovine milk and various other foods. With a mid-afternoon start and a small group, we were given a comprehensive tour, with detailed examination of various unique parts of the plant.

The site processes trial and short-run products in Dryer 1 for paying customers to produce high-value products or to trial formulations that can go on through the NPD process. Dryer runs on avocado, deer milk, infant-formula, fish oil and other edible oils and plantbased “milk” formulations are all part of a day’s work for the FINNZ team. Naturally, the need to ensure there is no cross-contamination between product streams is paramount in the operators’ minds, so cleaning the plant between runs takes a lot of time and resources.

This original dryer is capable of around 400kgs of product per hour and has a fluid-bed at the bottom of the dryer if the customer requires agglomerating.

Dryer 2 is entirely devoted to producing sheep’s milk infant formula.

Again, there is a fluid bed for instantising and coating. We saw the entire dryer rooms in both plants: evaporators, formula make-up areas and packaging.

We were very fortunate to have such a comprehensive tour and for the members who were less familiar with dairy processing it was highly educational. The scale of this plant is small by the standards of some of our larger companies, but the complexity of the production processes and product mixes are very demanding and require the utmost care and attention. Dryer 2 produces around 950kg/hr and all product is in huge demand.

Thanks to Dave Shute and his team. Great to see high-value innovation in practice.

Colin Pitt FNZIST, Waikato Branch Committee October / November 2023

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Essay Competition

The current and future state of cell-based meat Lennart Morten Iwers, Massey Palmerston North

This article was awarded second prize in the Food Tech Solutions NZIFST Undergraduate Writing Competition 2023. 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 For animal welfare reasons, but also because of concerns about climate change, there has been a growing trend towards vegetarian and vegan diets in recent years, particularly in Western countries. As a result, people are increasingly eliminating meat from their diets, either partially or completely, and meat alternatives are becoming more popular. Products based on chickpeas or soya, for example, are playing an important role. But is giving up meat really the only solution to these problems, or is there a way to produce meat without causing suffering to animals and the environment? To answer this question, this report introduces cell-based meat as an alternative.

But first, what is cell-based meat and how is it produced?

In cell-based meat, also known as cultured or cultivated meat, the growth of meat cells does not occur naturally in the animal's body, but in a controlled laboratory environment. Stem cells are taken from an animal and, after isolation, cultivated in a bioreactor that provides optimal growth conditions for the cells. Not only muscle, but also fat and connective tissue are propagated to achieve a natural distribution of these components in the final product. As a result, the meat produced in the laboratory is almost identical to normal slaughtered meat in terms of nutritional value, composition and structure. (Swartz, 2019)

State of the art and future prospects There are currently more than 30 start-up companies worldwide, involved in the research, development and production of cell-based meat, and the number is growing. Small quantities of production are still the norm, and the cultured meat is still significantly more expensive than conventional meat. However, the aim is to expand and increase production capacity while reducing production costs.

(Kumar et al., 2021) Large-scale production and commercialisation of cultured meat could have major benefits. Since the necessary stem cells can also 50

Food New Zealand

be taken from living animals and then multiplied, animal suffering during rearing and before and during slaughter could be reduced in the future. Only a relatively small number of living animals would be needed to obtain the required amount of stem cells. Methods have already been developed that do not cause pain to the animal during the procedure, which could address potential ethical concerns.

Another point is that meat and livestock production is a significant emitter of greenhouse gases.

These come from raising the animals themselves, but also from growing and fertilising the feed. This feed, in the form of soya for example, also takes up a lot of arable land and leads to deforestation around the world. The land used to grow feed could instead be used to grow crops for direct human consumption, which would be much more efficient. With the world's population expected to grow to more than 9 billion by 2050, and demand for food increasing, it is unrealistic to expect us to consume meat from conventional sources as we do today. But this growing demand could be met by efficient meat cultivation. It would also significantly slow the growth of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, which are often used in livestock. (Djisalov et al., 2021; Kumar et al., 2021) Looking at the efficiency of the method in more detail, it is again worth comparing it with conventional meat production. The use of agricultural land for the production of cultured meat is three times more efficient than for the production of chicken meat, which is considered to be the most efficient type of meat. This takes into account the conversion of the amount of crop into the resulting amount of meat. For other types of meat, the process is even more efficient. This has a positive impact on the issues already mentioned, such as deforestation and agricultural land use, but also on nitrogen and greenhouse gas emissions associated with agriculture and livestock farming. By way of illustration, the predicted climate impact values are given below. Compared to conventional meat, cell-based meat could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75-95% and land use by up to 99%. In addition, water use could be reduced by 80-95% and energy use by 50%. (Kumar et al., 2021; Sinke et al., 2023)

Essay Competition

Reaching commercial potential But a lot has to change before bioreactor-grown meat is market-ready and competitive. Currently, the cost of producing this type of meat is often 100 to 10,000 times higher than comparable conventional meat. In order to achieve this significant cost reduction, all stages of production must become more cost-effective. This includes, for example, reducing the cost of ingredients, reducing the cost of maturation or increasing the volume of production. A theoretical calculation of this cost reduction has shown that by 2030, with the greatest possible cost reduction, the cost of goods sold can be reduced to around $6.43 per kilogram of product. If these conditions are met and such a price reduction is possible in the future, this would ensure the competitiveness of cultured meat. (Vergeer et al., 2021) A positive example of the research and development needed is the Israeli company Aleph Farms. The company invested heavily in a new production facility for cell-based meat in 2022 and is one of the world leaders in this sector. The doubling of the company's workforce in one year alone shows the growth and potential of this food product group, which will play a very important role in the coming years and decades.

(Ashkenazi, 2022)

Conclusion Overall, cultured meat has considerable potential to become a sustainable alternative to conventional meat, reducing animal suffering on a large scale and helping to feed the world's growing population. For this to happen, research and development of the product will need to continue and industrial-scale production will need to be established in the coming years.

References Ashkenazi, S. (2022). Aleph Farms launches cultivated steak pilot production. Globes (Israel).

Djisalov, M., Knežić, T., Podunavac, I., Živojević, K., Radonic, V., Knežević, N. Ž., Bobrinetskiy, I., & Gadjanski, I. (2021). Cultivating Multidisciplinarity: Manufacturing and Sensing Challenges in Cultured Meat Production. Biology, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/ biology10030204 Fleming, A. (2022). What is lab-grown meat? How it's made, environmental impact and more. BBC Science Focus. https://www. sciencefocus.com/science/what-is-lab-grownmeat-a-scientistexplains-the-taste-production-and-safety-of-artificial-foods/ Kumar, P., Sharma, N., Sharma, S., Mehta, N., Verma, A. K., Chemmalar, S., & Sazili, A. Q. (2021). In-vitro meat: A promising solution for sustainability of meat sector. Journal of Animal Science and Technology, 63(4), 693–724. https://doi.org/10.5187/jast.2021. e85 Sinke, P., Swartz, E., Sanctorum, H., van der Giesen, C., & Odegard, I. (2023). Ex-ante life cycle assessment of commercial-scale cultivated meat production in 2030. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 28(3), 234–254. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-02202128-8 Swartz, E. (2019). Meeting the Needs of Cell-Based Meat Industry.

Chemical Engineering Progress Magazine (Oct 2019), 41–45.

Vergeer, R., Sinke, P., & Odegard, I. (2021). TEA of cultivated meat: Future projections of different scenarios - corrigendum. The Good Food Institute.

October / November 2023

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NZIFST CONFERENCE 2024

Call for abstracts now open

Scan the QR code to access the abstracts portal

Build your network, build your knowledge, diversify your experience For more information contact NZIFST, wendy@nzifst.org.nz

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