Honoured to Become an Affiliate Member of FSSRC

The NZ Food Safety Science & Research Centre welcomes new members

Dr Catherine McLeod, Director of the New Zealand Food Safety Science & Research Centre is delighted to announce new industry members Fonterra, Tatua Cooperative Dairy Company, Kono NZ LP, Trust Codes and affiliate member AsureQuality. The Centre is fast transitioning to a model where members pay a fee to receive benefits including substantial government subsidies for research, and opportunities to learn from and collaborate with other companies and food production sectors with the same interests, for example, the latest technologies for detecting listeria in processing facilities. The importance of helping our all-important food producers protect their customers, here and overseas, from foodborne illness – and the reputation of their companies and New Zealand – cannot be over-emphasised.
 
Fonterra, New Zealand’s largest company and the world's largest dairy exporter, was an early investor in the Centre. Its products are consumed by millions of people every day. Their well-known and trusted consumer brands include Anchor, Anmum and Anlene.
Through research and development, Fonterra’s focus is on making dairy nutrition accessible to more people, helping to improve health at key life stages.  The Centre will continue to work with Fonterra’s R&D team on research that helps them maintain their global leadership, including how to apply revolutionary new genomic analysis, and test new dairy products from all food safety aspects.
 
Tatua Co-operative Dairy was first established in 1914 by a group of settlers who formed a dairy company and built a cheese factory at Tatuanui, Waikato. It has grown into a specialist food and ingredients business, which develops, manufactures, and distributes its products via a global network, including wholly owned subsidiaries in China, Japan, and USA. Tatua supplies a wide range of dairy and non-dairy products tailored to the nutrition requirements of infants, sportspeople, seniors, and those with medical issues. Products include specialty proteins, bio-nutrients, flavour ingredients, and convenient foods such as dairy whip and cream products for retail and food service customers. Its involvement with the Centre will facilitate the initiatives in place at Tatua, ensuring its customers continue to receive innovative products and services produced utilising the latest knowledge in food safety.
  
Kono NZ LP (Kono) is a Māori family-owned artisan producer and exporter of wine, cider, seafood, fruit and natural fruit bars. Consumer brands include Tohu and Kono wines, Tutū cider, Kiwa oysters and Annie’s fruit bars. Its produce, including greenshell™ mussels, apples, pears, kiwifruit and hops from farms across more than 1000 hectares of land and sea in the Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough regions of New Zealand, goes to export partners across the world. With the goal of being the world’s best indigenous food and beverage provider, Kono is particularly focused on Asian markets and has established a wholly-owned trading entity in Shanghai. NZFSSRC will work with Kono to support its growing seafood business.

Trust Codes is a privately held technology company specialising in brand protection. Established in 2015, Trust Codes works with food companies to deliver assurance about product authenticity and provenance. Today’s consumers are looking for the truth when it comes to products they consume, and food companies want to maximise real-time data and direct consumer engagement. Regulators as well as consumers demand transparency. Trust Codes® help food and beverage brand owners combat product fraud, connect with consumers and comply with regulatory requirements. Their technology can create an enduring and traceable fingerprint for single items. Using the unique identity, consumers can refer to websites for information about the product provenance and supply chain. NZFSSRC is keen to partner with Trust Codes and New Zealand food companies to develop tracing methodologies.
 
AsureQuality is a New Zealand Government-owned entity offering the broadest range of food assurance services in the country. Their 1800 dedicated people are deeply connected to partners across the food and primary production sectors, helping them to uphold what Aotearoa stands for in food – a higher standard of quality and safety. AsureQuality works with their partners at every point of their supply chains, sharing and applying knowledge and insights gained from over 100 years of experience. The Centre and AsureQuality look forward to working together to stay at the forefront of new science, technologies and emerging risks to support their partners’ food assurance needs.
 
We welcome these and other reputable food producers as members, in addition to Sanford, NZ King Salmon and the Poultry Industry Association, who joined the Centre last year. If you want to find out more about membership, the benefits and the fees, please contact Centre Director, Dr Catherine McLeod, c.mcleod@massey.ac.nz or Industry Account Manager, Dr Vivienne Hunt, v.hunt@massey.ac.nz mobile 021 080 42095