COMMERCIAL
ACCOUNTABILITY
Fonterra has been attacked
by New Zealand First as a
cost to the New Zealand
economy due to food
safety and animal welfare
scares. Deputy Prime
Minister Winston Peters
says the global co-operative
has cost the country
more than $2 billion in poor
commercial performance,
and regional development
minister Shane Jones says
the chairman should “take
the first cab out of town” by
resigning. Peters says New
Zealand will not become
a great, first-world trading
nation “until we face some
blunt, commercial facts”
and that “I do believe in
commercial accountability.”
Peters says food safety
scares in Asia earlier this
decade cost $1.383 billion
in clean-up, and another
$800 million in costs
loomed in the mycoplasma
bovis bacteria from the national
8 JULY 2018
MEAT-EATING DECLINE
SOUTH AMERICAN SURVEY
If you can’t back it up don’t say it!
Consumers make the assumption that
claims and offers you make are genuine.
Why wouldn’t they?
A good deal of the time they’re not equipped
to verify what you’re saying. So the rules
are very simple: It’s illegal to make false,
misleading or unsubstantiated claims.
For example, if your product is organic, you’ll
need to back that up with facts from credible
sources. Certification is always very helpful.
You need to back up what you say.
Find out more at: comcom.govt.nz/backitup
KingSt_552_NZFT_A
beef and dairy herd.
A review of special rules
relating to Fonterra’s operations,
governed by the
Dairy Industry Restructuring
Act, is currently underway.
Meat companies will not be
surprised by the findings of
an Otago University study on
attitudes towards eating meat…
but how quickly they respond
will be interesting, researchers
say. “The future will likely be that
of reduced meat consumption,
and companies will in turn have
to shift their focus more towards
providing quality rather than
quantity. The meat industry sees
where future demand is headed,
and we think most businesses
are trying to get ahead of the
curve; some traditionally meatbased
companies have already
begun to invest in more plantbased
products,” study spokesman
Garrett Lentz says. “How
quickly these shifts occur and
how large they will be remains
to be seen, but companies that
have traditionally focused on
producing large quantities of
meat may have to shift towards
producing more ‘premium’
products with low environmental
impact and/or plant-based
alternatives to remain competitive.”
The study reveals that
New Zealand consumers are
unaware of the environmental
impacts of their meat consumption…
a major reason why the
country’s population enjoys a
high meat intake. Lentz says a
lack of connection between meat
eating and its environmental
impact means it is not a major
motivator for consumers. “It is
clear that moving towards more
plant-based foods could not
only reduce the environmental
impacts from animal agriculture
- which include climate change,
deforestation, pollution and
biodiversity loss - but also create
a healthier society that can feed
more people with less resources,”
he says. The researchers
believe this information may help
policy makers understand meat
consumption in New Zealand,
while also offering some direction
for strategies or policies, like
a potential ‘meat tax’ based on
environmental impact.
Nearly two thirds of shoppers in South America are
willing to pay extra for a food or beverage product
that is higher in protein, according to a survey commissioned
by Arla Foods Ingredients. Researchers from
Lindberg International asked 4000 consumers in Argentina,
Brazil and Colombia if they would spend more on
buying a product if it contained more protein than a similar
product. Across all three countries, 61% of respondents said
they would be willing do so; 39% said they would pay 5%
more; 17% said they would pay 10% more; and 5% said they
would pay more than 10% more. Arla Foods Ingredients senior
global marketing manager Anne Hoest Stenbaek says the findings
demonstrate the importance of protein in South American markets.
NEWS
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