New Zealand’s Experts in
Food Safety Cleaning
75+ years combined
experience in FMCG,
Food Manufacturing
Cleaning and Building
Maintenance
• Pre Audit cleans
• Bacterial Breakouts
• Maintenance Issues
• Programmes tailored to suit
your site and requirements
• 24/7 Emergency Service
Sales – Paul Schoch | M: 0220 472 743
P: 09 600 2260 | paul@rapidfacilities.co.nz
www.rapidfacilities.co.nz
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Winemakers, record keeping
need not be a chore
With Wine File...
• Winery records are easy to create and maintain
• Winery records are completely auditable
• Additives can be tracked to the material batch level
• Augments HACCP/Standard Operating Procedures
• Your NZ WSMP record keeping needs are met
• You will be using software that is widely used in Australia,
New Zealand and the USA
These are just some of the reasons
why Wine File is the winemaker’s
choice for winery record keeping.
NOW MOBILE
www.winefile.com.au
sales@winefile.com.au
Tel: +61 2 9807 6077
FT224
companies are too small to invest
in substantial R&D projects. Our
general funding model is for 1:1
government subsidies for research,
in partnership with the private
sector. This is fine in principle and
encourages projects of value to the
food industry. However, it appears
companies cannot afford to invest
money, even if they recognise the
work has value. In some cases,
confidentiality surrounding an idea is
an issue holding back investment.
In food safety, the food industry
in general appears reluctant to
show interest in funding research if
there is no immediate problem or
if the problem is not aligned to any
particular industry sector. A good
example is Yersinia enterocolitica
food poisoning. According to the
Notifiable diseases in New Zealand
annual report 2016 released by
ESR in 2017, the number of food
poisoning cases caused by Yersinia
spp. in New Zealand has been
increasing since 2012, reaching a
similar level as Salmonella spp.in
2016 (18.3 per 100,000 vs 23.2 per
100,000). The majority of confirmed
Yersinia isolates in 2016 were
Yersinia enterocolitica (748 out of
780).
However, there is no funding
available for research to help reduce
the incidence of Y. enterocolitica
food poisoning. We assume pork
is an important source of this
pathogen but the pork industry in
New Zealand is not represented by
a large enough body to invest in
research on this topic. An example
of what can be achieved with
substantial investment occurred
early this century when funding was
provided, largely by the New Zealand
Government, to address the problem
of Campylobacter food poisoning.
Professor Nigel French and his team
- now in the New Zealand Food
Safety Centre with help from the
Ministry for Primary Industries and
the poultry industry - were able to
use the knowledge obtained from
research to reduce the number of
Campylobacter cases by 50%. New
Zealand’s reputation for food safety
gained a lot from this result.
The food industry is New Zealand’s
second largest industry (after
tourism). Food exports are essential
for our economy. Our reputation
and efficiency in food manufacturing
are vital to our success. Being
nimble enough to respond
rapidly to changing international
markets, maintaining the edge over
competitors in the international
market and protecting our reputation
is so important for the future of our
industry. We should be investing
more in R&D than other countries –
but we are not.
This lack of investment is influencing
our ability to maintain the skills we
have in our universities and research
organisations. It is hard to attract
New Zealand students to study
for their PhD when the money to
support their research and the
opportunities for a research career
in this country are limited. Those
with a passion for research who do
complete their PhD degrees often
find themselves in non-research
careers. Most of our PhD students
are international students who can
return to their home countries and a
research career.
However, there are some
encouraging signs for our future
researchers. Many of our scientists
are reaching retirement age,
so surely we will be needing to
replace at least some of these.
Then there are initiatives such as
the AgResearch/Massey University
Joint Research Facility being built
in Palmerston North - a sign of
renewed investment by the New
Zealand Government in food
research. Synlait have just set up a
new research group – a sign that the
New Zealand food industry is moving
towards more investment in food
research.
We have been world leaders in
dairy manufacture, maize breeding,
kiwifruit production and honey –
just a few examples of a proud
heritage in food. There are so many
opportunities for us to develop our
food manufacturing industries – in
particular around seafood and
horticultural produce. However,
research investment is necessary
to maintain our reputation as quality
producers of food, as well as make
step changes that will secure our
future as exporters of quality food
products.
Professor Steve Flint is team
leader of the Massey University
Food Bioscience team.
www.foodtechnology.co.nz 33
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