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New Manukau Food Innovation Centre

 

 

Media release: New Manukau Food Innovation Centre to be built at Auckland Airport.

 

Part of national food innovation network and Auckland Food Bowl.

 

The Board of New Zealand Food Innovation Manukau (NZFIM) announced today the development of an exciting new regional food innovation centre to be developed with the support of Enterprising Manukau and the Ministry of Economic Development.

 

Click here to read the full story.

 

 

 

 

Media release: High-value processed foods a key to growth

 

Hon Gerry Brownlee

Minister of Economic Development

 

Economic Development Minister Gerry Brownlee has urged an audience of 600 members of the food production and processing sector to take advantage of the government's $21 million funding for a nationwide network of research and testing facilities.

 

"The four food product development labs, in Manukau, Hamilton, Palmerston North and Christchurch, will give local businesses open access to pilot scale facilities so they can take an idea from the laboratory to commercial production in a quicker, cheaper and easier manner than ever before," Mr Brownlee told delegates at the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology Conference in Auckland.

 

To read Hon Brownlee's full speech, click here.

 

 

 

Media release:  New $21 million food innovation network.

 

Hon Gerry Brownlee

Minister of Economic Development

 

The government will spend up to $21 million to establish a network of open-access food development facilities across the country, Economic Development Minister Gerry Brownlee announced today.


"New Zealand's export base is reliant on our food and beverage industries. The government wants to encourage them to create more value from their products to help raise our economic growth rate," Mr Brownlee says.


"Small and medium sized companies need access to facilities that allow them to develop, test and prove new products but it is uneconomic for these companies to individually build such facilities and purchase all the required equipment."


Mr Brownlee says this new initiative, called Food Innovation Network New Zealand, will be a collaboration between the government, industry, research and education providers and local government.  It will have four regional hubs in Manukau, Waikato, Palmerston North and Canterbury and an overarching network organisation. 


By providing the infrastructure that firms need to develop new food and beverage ingredients and consumer products, this investment by government will enable a high value food export industry to develop more rapidly, Mr Brownlee says.


"The food and beverage sector is responsible for over half of New Zealand's export earnings.  Directly or indirectly, the sector employs one in five of the working population.  Given its importance, maintaining and improving the performance of this sector is essential to achieving the government's economic growth agenda."


As an example, New Zealand's exports of processed foods have experienced strong compound annual growth of 18 per cent over the last decade and now account for $2.1 billion of exports.  This has potential to at least double in the next few years with the assistance of initiatives such as the Food Innovation Network New Zealand, Mr Brownlee says. 


"The absence of open-access facilities in New Zealand to enable product development and testing is a significant gap for our food and beverage industry and a constraint to growth.  Such facilities exist in most OECD countries."

 

 

 

Enterprising Manukau’s Food & Beverage Sector Environmental Waste Project

 

 

Commercial Food Waste Generation in the Auckland Region.

  

Enterprising Manukau is an economic development agency promoting economic growth within the Manukau region.  As facilitator of the Food & Beverage Sector Group, Enterprising Manukau sought to assist the Group to work towards the objectives of the New Zealand Waste Strategy 2002, thereby reducing business waste and business costs and creating local economic growth. 

 

The project was established with financial assistance from the Ministry for the Environment’s Sustainable Management Fund. Stage One of the project included a survey of food and beverage manufacturers and processors throughout the Auckland region to determine the volume and composition of organic waste being generated and to identify the disposal pathways.  Subsequent stages of the project have identified available options for the beneficial processing of the organic waste being generated and facilitate the linking of waste generators and waste processors. Through the survey process, manufacturers were made aware of additional productivity that could be gained through alternate use of waste material as by-products (either by themselves or third parties) or by utilising more efficient & cost effective disposal practices.

 

Between December 2008 and May 2009, 65 food and beverage manufacturing businesses were surveyed.  These businesses represent over half of the businesses in the Food & Beverage Sector Group, and almost half of the total revenue generated from food and beverage manufacturers in the Auckland region.

 

The survey found that approximately 4,200 tonnes of organic wastes per month were being generated by these businesses.  The main disposal pathways of this total were as follows:

 

  • 63% was used as stock feed
  • 7% was collected for composting
  • 8% was processed into fertiliser
  • 2% was rendered
  • 5% was disposed of to landfill
  • 5% was sometimes disposed of to landfill and sometimes processed in some other way
  • 10% was disposed of through other methods.

 

Subsequent to the completion of Stage One, the scope of the project was expanded to include other significant food waste producers, including hotels, restaurants, hospitals, and prisons.  These organisations currently dispose of their post-consumer food waste into landfill and are looking for alternative, environmentally friendly disposal options.

 

Enterprising Manukau facilitated the commencement of a pilot collection service from leading Auckland hotels, of their post-consumer food waste which will be disposed of in a vermiculture/composting process. This by-product is very beneficial to the horticulture and farming industry as a high quality, cost effective organic nutrient material thus closing the organic cycle.

 

To view Project Report click here>>

 

 

 

 

"Food Miles": New Zealand's Response

 

 

Improving New Zealand's sustainability credentials.

 

In the United Kingdom in particular, consumers are keenly aware of concepts like 'food miles' and 'travel miles'. Large retailers and supermarket chains are responding to consumer demands by considering the introduction of carbon footprint labelling and other eco-labels, which could have consequences for New Zealand exports.

MFAT and other agencies such as NZTE are monitoring these offshore developments very closely, and are disseminating information to New Zealand firms through channels such as the Food Miles Group. NZTE has commissioned London PR firm Fishburn Hedges to help communicate New Zealand's response to food miles.

The use of food miles as a measure of sustainability has been debunked by New Zealand researchers. Researchers have shown that even after taking into account the energy used in transporting goods to the United Kingdom, New Zealand producers of key exports such as dairy and lamb have lower carbon emissions than their UK competitors.

It is also important to note that 99.75% of New Zealand's food and beverage exports to the UK are sent by sea freight, which is a highly energy efficient mode of transport.

However, despite the research undermining the food miles concept, sustainability will be an increasing issue for New Zealand exporters. A more environmentally-conscious global marketplace presents both challenges and opportunities for New Zealand businesses, and means that producers will have to be much more proactive in measuring and monitoring their sustainability credentials. By striving for and demonstrating sustainable practices across the New Zealand economy, New Zealand businesses will strengthen their market position.

The New Zealand government has recently announced that improving New Zealand's sustainability credentials will be a major policy theme for the foreseeable future. Officials will be working closely with New Zealand firms in coming months to assist them to respond to the business opportunities that a more sustainability-conscious global marketplace will present.

For more information on the Food Miles Group, contact Laura Hogg, Economic Division, laura.hogg@mfat.govt.nz, 04 439 8617.

Source: Business Link - Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade, ISSN:1176-0974
 


 


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