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Wholesale sector support through Brismark
Markets
Wholesale sector support through Brismark
Fruit and vegetable wholesalers from the Brisbane Markets gathered on 19 October for the Annual General Meeting of their member representative organisation, Brismark. Despite the challenges of the health pandemic and flood event, Brismark delivered a strong result for the 2022 financial year with a pre-tax operating profit of $2.74 million and a strong level of net assets, reflecting the organisation’s ongoing commitment to its strategic priorities. As the organisation representing the wholesale sector of the fresh produce industry, Brismark’s focus is on advocacy activities and providing a range of services to support its members and their associated businesses. These services include training and development, recruitment, bookkeeping, work health and safety, human resources, industrial relations, food safety and quality assurance support and advice. Brismark’s Credit Service also acts as the financial clearing house for transaction that occur in the Brisbane Markets. Brismark’s Chair, Gary Lower, said that the Credit Service proved to be a valuable service for its members and played a key role in the organisation achieving a strong financial result. “The Credit Service saw a record throughput of $731.42 million last financial year, an increase of 6.49% on the prior year. This is testament to the value that this service provides to our members and the organisations with which we do business,” Mr Lower said. “There were also 195 occasions where Brismark provided specialist human resources, industrial relations or work health and safety advice and assistance to 53 different stakeholders.” Brismark’s strong working relationship with Brisbane Markets Limited saw several long-standing initiatives maintained
Serving members: Brismark CEO, Andrew Young, and Chair, Gary Lower.
including managing site work health and safety, the Brisbane Produce Market Mango Auction, and the A better choice! Retailer Program. “This year, both organisations also participated in the Brisbane Careers and Employment Expo to help position the Brisbane Markets as a career destination and employment hub.” The Brismark Board structure was revised last year with the number of Directors reducing from ten to nine this year. Longstanding Director Noel Greenhalgh retired from the Board at this year’s Annual General Meeting (see page 15 for more details). The Brismark Board now consists of re-elected Chair, Gary Lower (J Allen Pty Ltd), Deputy Chair Mark Murphy (John Potter Pty Ltd), Deputy Chair, Stephen Edwards (Murray Bros), and six Directors. Mark Moore (M&D Vegetable Specialists Pty Ltd) was re-elected to the Board for a term of one year, while Paul O’Toole (O’Toole Produce) and Troy Beaton (H E Heather & Co) were re-elected for a term of three years at this year’s Annual General Meeting. Mark Clarke (Favco QLD Pty Ltd), Hamish Montague (Montague Fresh (QLD) Pty Ltd) and Lachlan Armstrong (Armstrong Brothers) will continue in their current appointments as Directors of the Brismark Board.
Expanded chemical test now available
FreshTest has introduced an expanded fruit and vegetable residue screen, which is now available to their grower customers. Food safety standards require growers to complete a multiscreen maximum residue test that includes chemicals used as part of their spray program and, where applicable, postharvest chemicals. Since 2001, FreshTest has provided multi-screen maximum residue tests to assist industry meet safety standards and customer requirements. The chemical industry has had many compounds approved in recent times that can be tested with the analytical methods used for chemical residue screens. According to Gail Woods, General Manager of Fresh Markets Australia which manages FreshTest, they worked with their NATA-accredited laboratory to introduce the FreshTest® C6M – Fruit & Vegetable Mega Residue Screen which will test for over 400 compounds. The expanded test will replace the C6 ‘Pesticide Residue LCMSMS + GCMS’, which tested for around 150 compounds, but will be provided at the same cost. The existing FreshTest C3 Pesticide Residue LCMSMS and C5 Pesticide Residue GCMS tests will continue in their current format. Each test for around 120 and 30 compounds respectively. “FreshTest has been providing chemical reside testing for industry for 21 years, becoming the largest and most comprehensive horticultural residue-testing program undertaken in Australia. The introduction of the Fruit & Vegetable Mega Residue Screen will make it more likely that the chemical compounds being used by industry will be covered,” Mrs Woods said.