Mar 09, 2018  -  The Commerce Commission has cleared US food company Kraft Heinz to buy Cerebos Food & Instant Coffee and Asian Home Gourmet from Japan's Suntory Beverage & Food, subject to the divestment of some sauce brands.

Japan's Suntory put the units on the block in April last year and announced it had reached a deal with Kraft Heinz in October. The Commerce Commission today granted clearance for the New Zealand part of the global deal on the condition that Kraft's local unit Heinz Wattie divest the licences for the Gregg's brand for the New Zealand supply of red sauce (tomato sauce and ketchup), barbeque sauce and steak sauce, and the F. Whitlock & Sons brand for the supply of Worcestershire sauce in New Zealand.

The regulator said its ruling was based on competition issues in the national markets for the manufacture, importation and wholesale supply of a number of table sauces to supermarkets and the food service industry.

“We believe the merger of the number one and two wholesale suppliers to supermarkets of red sauce, barbecue sauce, steak sauce and Worcestershire sauce would be likely to result in a substantial lessening of competition in each of these markets," Commission chair Mark Berry said in a statement. "However, we consider the divestment offered by Heinz Wattie’s is sufficient to remedy the competitive harm the merger would cause and we have given clearance to the merger subject to the divestment undertaking.”

The commission is satisfied there are no competition concerns in the markets for Asian sauces, condiments, chilli sauce, gravies, powdered beverages, and soy sauce due to a range of factors, including low levels of overlap and the presence of competitive constraint from other suppliers.

| A CommerceCommission release  ||  march09, 2018   |||

How New Zealand can meet the challenge of feeding some of the predicted global population of 10 billion by 2050, will be a major focus at a Techweek event in Tauranga in May. World-leading meat, dairy and horticultural industries have established New Zealand’s reputation as a producer of food. But NZTech chief executive Graeme Muller says the country’s collaborative agricultural ecosystem is shifting its efforts to developing sustainable ways to feed the world. “Will the future of food production rely on robots and data, or a global consumer shift toward alternative proteins? These are just some of the agritech issues that are so important for New Zealand’s economy that will be discussed in Tauranga on May 23.” Techweek, which is being run by NZTech, is a major nationwide festival of tech and innovation events held in many towns and cities around the country. Muller says exploding populations, sustainability and increasingly unpredictable climates are some of the problems agriculture is facing globally which require urgent answers. “Alternatives to traditional food sources and farming methods are revolutionising the way we think about feeding the world,” he says. “New Zealand’s reputation as a producer of high-quality meat and dairy products affords us opportunities as the world’s boutique farmer, which New Zealand agritech companies are leveraging in all sorts of imaginative and inspiring ways. “New Zealand’s agritech sector which adds billions of dollars annually to the gross domestic product will be showcased on May 23 as part of the massive national Techweek festival this year.” He says New Zealand’s primary industries are the backbone of the country’s economy and integrating them with technology is the future for a prosperous nation. “New Zealand agritech, such as herd improvement software, pasture mapping and management are being merged into on-farm practices, maximising increases in productivity and profitability for the benefit of all Kiwis. “Technology has major potential to support higher productivity and more sustainable use of natural resources in farming. It’s great that government has a technical advisory group to advise the Ministry of Primary Industries on how to accelerate the use of smart agriculture technology. “Reigniting primary productivity in the rural sector is critical for both farmer profitability and New Zealand’s global competitiveness. Digital agriculture, in the form of precision farming, big data, sensor technology, robotics and drones, delivers a new potential for productivity gains across rural New Zealand,” Muller says. Techweek includes nearly 300 events in more than 30 centres all over New Zealand from Northland to Otago, including tech and innovation ecosystem events, conferences, school activities and business events. Techweek promotes New Zealand tech and innovation to the world and supports the growth of our fastest growing and third biggest industry in New Zealand.

| A MakeLemonade release  ||  March 07, 2018   |||

Mar 07, 2018  - For the past two years, the Samoa Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has been in discussions with the New Zealand Ministry of Primary Industries through its bilateral Quarantine Agreement meetings. Now there is finally an outcome that will see Samoa’s banana exports developing and growing again, although under strict New Zealand import bio security requirements.

Ashleigh Collis has written an excellent article in the Horowhenua Chronicle on a Kiwiana brand, Foxton Fizz. A niche soda company known for its wooden delivery crates based in Foxton and one of New Zealand's oldest fizzy drink companies now celebrating a century in business.

Feb 28, 2018  -  Leading food company Alliance has dispatched Pure South venison to key global markets as the traditional European game season winds down.

Feb 23, 2018  - Following on from the successful opening of Brook Food Asia Pacific based in Melbourne in July 2012, Brook Food are to widen their reach by opening up a new branch office in New Zealand. Based in Washdyke, New Zealand and part of the Brook Food Group, we look forward to welcoming our customers, both new and existing, to take full advantage of our expertise and knowledge within the baking industry.

Feb 20, 2018  -  The Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards is delighted to announce an extended judging panel for its second annual awards. Following the 2017 inaugural awards, the organisers are calling for more entries for this year. Entries close on Friday 2 March 2018, with product to be judged at the Fresh Factory in Auckland on Wednesday 21 March 2018.

Co-organiser Kathie Bartley of Marvellous Marketing said they looked for learnings from last year’s event where more than 150 New Zealand’s top products were assessed. To streamline assessment, they are introducing specialist panels to judge each of the four major categories; paddock, dairy, water, earth. Products will again be scored out of 100 points with the best awarded Gold and Silver medals. All Gold medallists will be in the running to be the Champion for their category. The most outstanding product as assessed by the judges will be named Supreme Champion 2018.

In addition to this, there is a specialist team judging non-alcoholic drinks. Specialists will also judge the NZ Life & Leisure Spirt of New Zealand Award, FMCG Business Outstanding New Product, Label & Litho Outstanding Design and Marvellous Marketing Outstanding Drink.

The judging panel is led by Lauraine Jacobs, a well-known champion of New Zealand artisan food producers. Lauraine Jacobs is pleased to again be leading the search for New Zealand’s finest products and says: “The inaugural Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards judging last year introduced me to some really exciting products from clever food artisans, and smart larger food producers. These Awards have become a showcase to not only introduce the new, but to remind us of some of the consistently fine products and produce that display Kiwi ingenuity.”

“The judging panel are keen to see and taste the results of the consistent hard and admirable work of farmers and innovators who send wonderful foods to the local and international market. I’m really looking forward to seeing an even wider reach in the 2018 Awards.”

The Dairy Panel is Sam Mannering, chef and owner of Pah Homestead Café; Trudi Nelson, media personality and co-owner of Fresh, and Aaron Pooch, Marketing Manager for Tetra-Pak NZ. The Paddock and Water categories will be assessed by; Enzo Bettio, owner Vin Alto restaurant; Mat McLean, chef and owner Palate Restaurant in Hamilton and Kathy Paterson, contributor for Bite magazine and cook book author. The Earth Panel is led by Lucy Cory, contributor to NZ Life & Leisure and stuff.co.nz with Julie Moore, co-owner of Moore Wilson; Allyson Gofton, food writer and author and Coast ambassador; Tamara Rubanowski, FMCG editor; Pip Duncan of vegetables.co.nz, Roscoe Johnason of Ara Wines, a regular restaurant judge and Niki Bezzant, Editor at Large of Healthy Food Guide. Emily King will again judge the sustainability section. Judges from a wine show background, Cameron Douglas MS and Jane Boyle will be judging the Marvellous Marketing Outstanding Drink.

Roman Jewell co-founder of Fix and Fogg, which won the Fresh.co.nz Outstanding Producer Earth Crafted for its Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter and the People’s Choice Award says the awards are a great initiative for New Zealand producers. “The Awards are just one night, but winning has a much longer, wider reach. Getting our name out there in the producer community was incredible for the Fix and Fogg brand. The Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards brings together the food community. New Zealand is relatively small and we aren’t in a big industry and it was nice to get together. There is a true community aspect to it. It was a very big honour to take out the People’s Choice Award. It gives us credibility and shows the quality we aim to provide. That is so important to us – the commitment to quality and great ingredients.”

New Zealand producers harvesting, growing and making food which is available for sale are encouraged to enter the awards online at outstandingfoodproducer.nz by Friday 2 March 2018. All entries receive feedback from the judging panel and each entry receives a pass to a complimentary food marketing workshops being held in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch.

| A Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards   release  ||  February 20, 2018   |||

feb 14, 2018  -  Plant & Food Research is proud to be the recipient of this year’s Prime Minister’s Science Prize for its rapid response to the vine-killing kiwifruit disease Psa.

Feb 10, 2018 - Yesterday  we signed the lease for the new OCHO chocolate factory on Roberts Street in Dunedin. It has taken some time now to find the perfect place, close to the waterfront and with the capacity for both a production space and cafe. There is so much to do in order to get the site up and running, and we are expecting things to be underway for our new site in the second half of this year.

Our first priority is production. By the end of this year, we want to be making two or three times the amount of chocolate we do now. This will mean commissioning a new production line which is on order. After we have that up and running smoothly, we will start taking tours through the factory. We know you all want to come and visit, but you will have to wait a little longer!

We have plans to put in a cafe, a retail space, and create a world-class factory tour down the line. In the meantime, our Vogel St cafe will remain our front of house with a test kitchen so you can still drink hot chocolate and smell the delightful aroma of cacao beans roasting out the back.

Our PledgeMe campaign is almost wrapped up, and we are overwhelmed with the support from more than 3,000 shareholders. Jim O'Malley and the Dunedin Manufacturing Holdings team have done an outstanding job planning and executing the next chapter for OCHO.

So why are we doing all of this? We believe business should be all about people. Our team has been looking at how we will evaluate success and we have nailed it down to seven core areas:

• Have a broad base of community ownership
• Make high quality craft chocolate
• Pay fair wages to workers
• Pay fair prices for cocoa beans
• Retain industry and craft skills in Dunedin with a profitable business
• Respect the environment through sustainable business practices
• Keep worker-CEO pay ratios within an agreed multiple
• Support the wider communities of our workers, growers & customers

Having so many shareholders from the beginning is something we are really proud of in developing the new OCHO factory. Not only do we have a great sense of accountability in our decision-making, but it is truly motivating to know thousands of people like what we do and why we do it.

So thank you to our community for getting behind the Own The Factory campaign. We hope to see all at our open days later in the year.

OCHO is a craft bean-to-bar chocolate company based in Dunedin, New Zealand. Having successfully campaigned to raise $2 million in just over one day, OCHO is set to give back to the community that supports their enterprise. Browse the range of single-origin premium chocolate on the website, www.ocho.co.nz. If you would like to get in touch with the OCHO team, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

| A OCHO release   ||  February 10, 2018   |||

Feb 06, 2018  -  Update: Tuesday 6th February with only few tickets left at selected booking agents, whatsoninvers.nz can now confirm that the 2018 Bluff Oyster Festival is sold out!