It was a step away from the Christchurch-based Mayell’s past enterprise - the highly successful Cookie Time cookies and snack bars company – but he wanted easily-accessed products with 100% New Zealand ingredients, free of meat, dairy, gluten, added salt and alcohol, organic where possible and containing only naturally-occurring sugars found in wholefoods. “We are overdosing on macronutrients, especially meat, dairy, alcohol and sugar, so we need to dial these down if we want to be healthier,” Mayell says. “And we need more micronutrients, so we need to dial up whole plant foods, especially leafy greens. Plant food is simply better for your body.” Nutrient Rescue has just launched with three products – Green Shot powdered wheat grass, barley grass and other greens; Red Shot powdered blackcurrents and boysenberries to boost antioxidant and vitamin intake; and Double Shot, a combination of the two. A teaspoon of Green Shot in a shot glass with water is equivalent to three serves of veges, whilst a 10g sachet of Double Shot is equivalent to four serves of greens and fruits. Study results published in February by Imperial College London confirmed earlier international findings that a healthy diet should include 10 portions of fruit and veges a day, yet 60% of New Zealanders don’t eat the Ministry of Health’s recommended 5+ serves a day, Mayell says. “We know we should be eating more fruit and veges, but for many of us life gets in the way,” he says. “For parents trying to get more greens into the family diet or young people juggling work, study and play, it’s not easy to get that recommended intake. Nutrient Rescue’s products make it easy.” Mayell also hopes success for the new company, which uses only local ingredients, will significantly increase the international market for plant powders made from organic New Zealand crops. This would help shift New Zealand’s agriculture industry to producing food in a way that does much less harm to the planet. “My dream is made easier by the fact that organic crops have been grown and processed in New Zealand, and particularly Canterbury, for several decades now,” he says. Contracted growers supply Christchurch firm Claridges Organic, which in turn supplies Nutrient Rescue with Green Shot ingredients. South Canterbury firm ViBERI supplies organic blackcurrant powder for Nutrient Rescue’s Red Shot, and those involved in the industry agree exports offer the greatest opportunity for it to expand. “That’s where Nutrient Rescue can help,” Mayell says. “Getting our 100% New Zealand products in front of overseas consumers will build that market. One day we want New Zealand to be the organic farmer to the world. That will make for a healthier planet, and a wealthier New Zealand.” The company has purpose beyond profit, and a social impact model against which to assess success, focusing on family nutrition, planet-healing supply chains and directing profits to causes it champions. “I want to drive change in New Zealand’s agriculture industry by expanding the international market for organic wholefood plant powders,” Mayell says. “Once big enough, this market will encourage dairy farmers and others to switch irrigated land from intensive grazing for polluting cows to planet-healing plant production.” His team includes expert health adviser and doctor of naturopathic medicine Dr Vanessa Ingraham and food technologist Glenda Ryan, who has developed Nutrient Rescue’s products as well as Cookie Time’s One Square Meal range, and is working on expanding the company’s line of products. PLANT POWER When a health scare prompted New Zealand food entrepreneur Michael Mayell to cull animal products from his diet, he looked around and wondered where the vegan-friendly convenience food was. Finding none, he set up Nutrient Rescue, a social enterprise health food company dedicated to increasing the amount of vegetables and food in New Zealand diets. A teaspoon of Green Shot in a shot glass with water is equivalent to three serves of veges, whilst a 10g sachet of Double Shot is equivalent to four serves of greens and fruits. 8 APRIL 2017
FT-Apr17-eMag
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