Processing
Twin-flow concept for juices and milk-based mixed drinks
In order to preserve the structure of the fruit chunks and avoid costly product losses, there has to be stringent separation between the juice or milk-based mixed drink and the fruit chunks in the process technology as well.
This means the juice or milk-based mixed drink is treated in its own dedicated process, while the fruit chunks, measuring up to 10mm x 10mm x 10mm, are pasteurised elsewhere in a separate shell-and-tube heat exchanger with interior cross-corrugated tubes.
To ensure gentle product treatment geared to maximised quality, Krones has developed the entire process technology required.
Rigorous separation and gentle product treatment are also continued in the filling process, featuring the company's new FlexiFruit pre-dosing equipment for fruit chunks or pulp.
In the pre-dosing system, first the fruit chunks are inserted into the bottles, and then the juice or the milk-based mixed drink is added in the main filler. This twin-flow process is already being used with great success.
Thanks to holistic systems engineering, Krones is able to offer a seamlessly integrated concept subsuming both process and filling technology.
Some time ago Krones launched its own EvoGuard series of valves, which includes all the valve types required in a beverage plant. Starting with disk valves in modularised design, plus single-seat valves for simple shutoff operations at pipes, double-seal valves as an affordable alternative for media separation, all the way through to double-seat valves for highly automated function sequences.
The very latest innovation, to be premiered at the Anuga FoodTec trade fair in Cologne from March 27-30, is aseptic valves that are used as seat valves for hermetically dependable shutoff of pipes or as aseptic double-seat valves for separating media in aseptic and sterile processes.
For more information:
Krones Pacific
Tel: 09 572 8048
Email: dlloyd [at] kronespacific [dot] co [dot] nz
Sweet result for confectioners
Clean water supply and global warming are major issues for food and beverage companies who are under increasing pressure to minimise physical and environmental footprints.
Global Water Engineering used advanced anaerobic technology at a multinational confectionery plant in Bangkok to exceed the requirements of one of the toughest municipal regulatory regimes in Asia.
The confectionery company upgraded its wastewater and renewable energy plant in line with Bangkok’s Action Plan on Global Warming Mitigation 2007-2012, using advanced anaerobic technology which cuts the chemical oxygen demand from discharge water by more than 90 percent (to 1600mg/l).
The same technology has also been employed in Australian food and beverage plants, says Michael Bambridge who heads up CST Wastewater Solutions, Global Water Engineering’s partner for Australia and New Zealand.
“We have employed it with other major organisations, including Golden Circle and SAB Miller’s Bluetongue brewery,” he says.
The new Bangkok process water treatment plant - occupying only 50-60sqm - integrates seamlessly into the plant’s existing facility. It has lifted output standards beyond specifications while producing 1800 cubic metres of biogas per day at nominal load.
“The client has said the installation is fantastic. It is exceeding the 90 percent chemical oxygen demand removal in service and frequently achieving 95 percent,” says GWE chief executive Jean Pierre Ombregt.
The plant delivers biogas at 70 percent methane content to power boilers and heat processes that in other plants might consume expensive and polluting bunker oil.
And the wastewater plant also consumes less energy than before to operate.
“Previously, the plant engineers said they had two big aerators going all the time. Now they find they don’t need them, even though they are expanding production. The water is very clean and there is no smell,” said Mr Ombregt.
The Bangkok wastewater treatment plant consists of pre-treatment, anaerobic stages and the previously existing aerobic stage.
The pretreatment stage includes a pre-existing equalisation basic and degasifying basic. Prior to entering the anaerobic reactor (UASB) the PH is adjusted by addition of NaOH inline, followed by an inline mixer.
“The confectionery plant installation shows how it is possible to attain top environmental standards of wastewater cleanliness while generating green power on compact sites. A high efficiency anaerobic/aerobic system that is properly designed from the outset occupies less space than the system it replaces or upgrades,” says Mr Ombregt.
“Green power from biogas is big news for industry these days, but GWE has successfully built and commissioned more than 75 biogas utilisation systems for clients worldwide over the past 15 years,” says Mr Ombregt.
“We have completed installations globally that combine specialised know-how in generating biogas with our extensive range of anaerobic reactors, and in supply and installation of biogas re-use and handling systems for fossil fuel replacement or power generation.”
The Bangkok confectionery plant’s wastewater passes through several pretreatment steps before entering a methane reactor in which the wastewater’s organic content (chemical oxygen demand) is digested by bacteria in a closed reactor, degrading the compounds and converting them into valuable biogas and cleaned effluent.
Biogas from the process is collected and reused as renewable energy to power the plant’s boiler drying equipment - and in many other instances to generate electricity through on-site generators. Surplus power is sold back into the grid.
More information: Michael Bambridge
Tel: +61 2 9417 3611
Email: info [at] cstwastewater [dot] com
Visit: www.cstwastewater.com
The harder you work the luckier you get
A new name and company structure in 2011 has resulted in an immediate recognition for the contracting supplier to primary food processing markets
Milmeq.
The company won the mechanical and manufacturing category award for 2011 at New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards late last year for its developments with Ovine Automation technologies for the successful integration of robotic technologies on a high speed process chain in the South Island.
“The award is an excellent achievement for our team of engineers who have been committed to the goal of integrating robotics into what has traditionally been a very manual process,” says chief executive Matthew Wall.
“It demonstrates the value of the process knowledge that we have within Milmeq and the strength of being able to apply this for each system solution we integrate whether it be within the primary processing, materials handling or cold chain operations.”
The need for robotics in primary meat processing was identified as a common challenge by a number of New Zealand meat processing companies. It was brought about by an increasing shortage of manual labour available to fill the specialised processing positions and the ongoing need to lift productivity.
As a result, the Meat Industry Association (MIA) facilitated the set up of Ovine Automation Ltd with shareholders Alliance Group, ANZCO Foods, Blue Sky Meats, Silver Fern Farms, Taylor Preston, Ovation New Zealand, Progressive Meats, Crusader Meats New Zealand and Auckland Meat MIRINZ Inc (jointly owned by the MIA and Beef + Lamb NZ) provided initial industry funding.
Other key participants in the project included Industrial Research Ltd and the Ministry of Science and Innovation, the funding support of which has been critical to the success of the project.
“To be identified as a key partner with a collective group of industry processors, research bodies and government associations on a development such as this has been an excellent process and this type of partnering model is exactly how we are developing the culture of our company and the way we do business to ensure we deliver future proof systems for food processing industries,” says Mr Wall.
Further details regarding the commercialisation of the Ovine Automation systems are expected this quarter.
FSIS includes “Big Six” as adulterants
Professor John Brooks is a member of the Foodtechnology advisory board and professor of food microbiology at the Auckland University of Technology.
Escherichia coli O157:H7 has now been joined on the FSIS most unwanted list by the “Big Six” - other strains of E. coli capable of producing Shigatoxin.
As we saw in May and June 2011 in the German outbreak, Shigatoxin-producing E. coli can cause a potentially deadly food borne infection that can leave survivors damaged for life.
The outbreak also resulted in huge economic loss in several European countries as fresh produce was either banned by authorities or shunned by consumers.
As of September 13 this year, these seven strains - O157:H7, O26, O11, O103, O121, O45 and O145 - will not be permitted in non-intact raw beef in USA.
They are considered to be “adulterants”.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service will begin testing for the STEC “big six” together with O157:H7 and enforcing the new policy on March 5, 2012.
If they are found to be present, the meat must either be destroyed or cooked before sale.
It has been a long road to get to this point.
In October 2009, Bill Marler, a US attorney, filed a petition with USDA/FSIS for an Interpretive Rule declaring all enterohaemorrhagic Shigatoxin-producing serotypes of E. coli, including non-O157 serotypes, to be adulterants within the meaning of the Federal Meat Inspection Act.
The new declaration is being hailed as a victory. Elisabeth Hagen, head of food safety at the Department of Agriculture, said that this was “one of the biggest steps forward in the protection of the beef supply in some time. We’re doing this to prevent illness and to save lives” - a worthy cause.
However, I have some concerns about this optimism. Will the reclassification of the Big Six make meat safer? I’m not so sure.
Certainly, if these bacteria are detected in meat, the product will not be allowed on the market unless it is diverted to cooked products.
This may be a challenge for the meat processors - since 1994, O157:H7 in raw ground beef has been declared an adulterant with zero tolerance by FSIS.
In October 2007, the Topps Meat Company recalled 21.7 million pounds of ground beef, bringing the total recalls in the US between April and October 2007 to over 30 million pounds of red meat, mostly hamburger.
A company manufacturing frozen hamburger patties is unlikely to have the capacity to redirect this much meat to a cooking process and there may be difficulties in finding a buyer for the product, so it may have to be destroyed.
Secondly, as far as I am aware, there is no requirement for processors to test for these bacteria. If this situation doesn’t change, the first indication that something is wrong may still be when people start showing up at the hospital with gastrointestinal disease.
Thirdly, the cost of testing is currently very high and the testing may take up to five days, even when things go well.
That will increase the costs of storage if product has to be held until cleared by testing.
Meat industry managers are worried that promised rapid testing kits will not be ready and validated by March 2012.
Finally, testing for the Big Seven will miss any Shigatoxin-producing non-members, as was the case with the German outbreak of O104:H4.
The FSIS move is a good start and is motivated by good intentions.
However, testing of products with very low levels of contamination is subject to huge uncertainty and cannot guarantee that the food is safe to consume. The only way that safety of food can be improved is by development of risk management plans and rigorous application of critical control points throughout the food chain, including food service outlets, i.e. farm to fork.
John Brooks is a microbiologist, specialising in food microbiology. He trained in London under John Pirt and on graduation spent a period of time working at ICI in Billingham, helping to develop the methanol-based single cell protein process. He then moved to Sydney to do a PhD in biochemical engineering, continuing his work on C1 metabolism. After finishing the PhD, John took up a position at Massey University, teaching food microbiology and remained there for 30 years, eventually specialising in biofilm research. During that time, he supervised a number of Masters and PhD projects and consulted extensively for the food industry. He is a member of the NZFSA Science Academy, which provides specialist expertise and advice to the Authority.
Kiwi company shows origin can be proven – even when it’s frozen
By Leigh Catley, Horticulture New Zealand
Dunedin-based traceability company Oritain presented new research at the Horticulture New Zealand conference in July showing just how easy it is to identify the origin of some food, even after it has been frozen.
Oritain chief executive Helen Darling spoke to the Process Vegetable Product Group's conference to explain what her company does and to show just how far science can go in helping growers protect their products and their reputation.
Helen's message was very simple – origin is important, and reputation is critical. Today's customers have a lower level of trust of food safety than ever before, and they use origin as one way of assessing its safety.
They also want to know that the manufacturers, processors and retailers selling food have ways to ensure that what they are selling, is actually what they say it is. The work that Oritain has being doing has attracted the interest of Horticulture New Zealand, because it shows just how easy it is to prove the origin of a food product. As growers should know, HortNZ has been campaigning for the introduction of mandatory country of origin labelling for food in this country for several years. We believe New Zealand growers are at a competitive disadvantage in their own domestic market, because New Zealand shoppers are not being given the ability to identify and choose between buying local and imported product.
One of the reasons we believe successive New Zealand governments have gone out of their way to avoid dealing with this problem is because they have been assured by government officials that it would be impossible to regulate mandatory country of origin labelling effectively. They say there is no point in bringing in a law you can't monitor, cheaply and accurately. But thanks to Helen and Oritain, it is definitely possible. It's extremely accurate, and not expensive.
The way the Oritain system works – and this is the very basic non-scientific version – is that once you know the elemental 'make up' of the product you are testing or monitoring, then you can compare it with similar products from all over the world, and they will all be distinctly different.
This is because no matter where in the world you are growing, the elements which finally finish up in the product, both from the soil and the water, all have their own 'fingerprint', virtually as different as one human fingerprint is from another.
The challenge HortNZ put to Helen and her team was to test frozen vegetables to see if it was possible to make this clear distinction between products even after they'd had been harvested, frozen and packaged.
Helen's team tested two different frozen vegetable products. Our test was simple, first is it possible to tell the difference between the origin of the products in the bag? And, most importantly, can you tell if any of the products are from New Zealand? The answers were absolutely, yes.
They sampled three different vegetables from each pack: peas, corn and carrot. They did isotopic analysis of the samples, specifically for carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen. The results indicated a clear differentiation between the make up of the Chinese products and the New Zealand ones, in all three crops.
The study concluded that not only can the origin of frozen vegetables be authenticated, but improved differentiation will be able to be achieved if they widened their sampling from growing regions.
So what can we do with this information? Helen's advice to New Zealand fruit and vegetable growers is to do the basic 'fingerprint' testing now, before someone tries to pass of either their own product, or imported product, as yours. She recommends it even be considered as an industry-wide project, doing analysis for New Zealand product. This has the potential to save New Zealand product from becoming targeted in international food scandals, like the recent German e-coli outbreak.
Helen and her husband Mike (who is the general manager) set up Oritain in 2008. Their clients now include several horticulture businesses. They run a conference every year called GoTrace, which aims to create a forum for regular discussion about developments in the world of food provenance and supply chain integrity. This year the conference is at Te Papa in Wellington on November 1-2.
The best meat
By Les Watkins
Faster and more sophisticated services for testing and improving the quality of meat are now available from the Cambridge-based research company Carne Technologies. And plans have already been laid for further expansion.
This six-year-old company has moved into purpose-designed premises with extended taste-testing and electronics development facilities in the Aotearoa Park industrial area next to the former Aotearoa Meats processing plant.
“We now have meat science laboratory and workshop facilities that include self-contained areas for confidential client projects such as sensory testing of feedlot-raised stock, different ages and breeds and so on,” says managing director Dr Nicola Simmons.
“Much of our work is on a one-to-one basis and meat processors are all looking for points of difference and advantage for the kind of meat they are producing. That is why we safeguard their interests by ensuring total confidentiality.
“Carne now has specific electrical technologies such as humane stunning, carcass stimulation and immobilisation and accelerated bleeding can also be more easily modified and trialled.
“The larger space will allow us to fast-track new technologies that we are developing such as the Carnetech Tenderometer. This is a mechanical tooth which, among other things, measures the amount of force required to shear through meat and feeds the data straight into a laptop.”
Further expansion was allowed for in the design of the bigger building so that more R & D laboratories can be added to meet growth in the meat industry.
Faster and more sophisticated services for testing and improving the quality of meat are now available from the Cambridge-based research company Carne Technologies. And plans have already been laid for further expansion.
This six-year-old company has moved into purpose-designed premises with extended taste-testing and electronics development facilities in the Aotearoa Park industrial area next to the former Aotearoa Meats processing plant.
“We now have meat science laboratory and workshop facilities that include self-contained areas for confidential client projects such as sensory testing of feedlot-raised stock, different ages and breeds and so on,” says managing director Dr Nicola Simmons.
“Much of our work is on a one-to-one basis and meat processors are all looking for points of difference and advantage for the kind of meat they are producing. That is why we safeguard their interests by ensuring total confidentiality.
“Carne now has specific electrical technologies such as humane stunning, carcass stimulation and immobilisation and accelerated bleeding can also be more easily modified and trialled.
“The larger space will allow us to fast-track new technologies that we are developing such as the Carnetech Tenderometer. This is a mechanical tooth which, among other things, measures the amount of force required to shear through meat and feeds the data straight into a laptop.”
Further expansion was allowed for in the design of the bigger building so that more R & D laboratories can be added to meet growth in the meat industry.
For more information, contact:
Carnetech Technologies
Tel: 07 827 0731,
or Email: info [at] carnetech [dot] co [dot] uk
A breakthrough food safety testing system
Developed by Mocon®, in association with Luxcel Biosciences, GreenLight™ is a breakthrough testing system that provides total Aerobic Plate Count (APC), also known as Total Viable Count (TVC), of food samples by measuring bacterial oxygen consumption and equating oxygen consumption to microbial load.
As bacteria in the test sample grow and respire they deplete 02 which is detected as an increase in the GreenLight probe signal above the baseline level. The time required to reach this increase in signal is used to calculate the cfu/g of the original food sample, based on a pre-determined calibration.
Unlike traditional agar or film plate methods, GreenLight reduces sample preparation time, the overall cost of testing and provides same-day results, ranging from one to 12 hours depending on bacterial load.
Brad Grubb, Inspection Systems director, said the system would provide significant benefits for food manufacturers in Australia and New Zealand.
Brad said: “Food manufacturers will no longer have to wait days to get their result. With GreenLight they will get results the same day, allowing manufacturers to react much more quickly to the potential threat of food contamination.”
The cost-effective system is well suited to companies who screen for aerobic bacteria in the meat, poultry, seafood, dairy and produce industries and can also be used to test for facility hygiene.
“Traditionally, manufacturers outsource this type of testing, which can be costly and time consuming. But GreenLight now makes it possible to have this capability in-house due to its affordable pricing structure,” said Brad.
Customers can choose between two models including the GreenLight 910, an entry-level low throughput system and the GreenLight 930, which features a high-throughput carousel delivering results up to ten times faster than agar plates and films.
More information: Inspection Systems, Freephone: 0800 777 704
or Visit: www.inspectionsystems.co.nz
Consumers want the details, we need to supply them: Maersk chief
"Consumers want and expect more information about what they're eating than ever before – and New Zealand exporters must be able to supply that information", says Maersk Line New Zealand Managing Director Julian Bevis. "The two most common topics of conversation at the Meat Industry Association (MIA) conference were traceability and environmental sustainability," says Bevis.
"What those issues have in common is the increasing desire by consumers, particularly in Europe, to know what it is they are putting on their plates. Consumers want the back-story: where and how the animal was raised, processed, transported, and so forth. Companies that can provide that information will have a definite edge: suppliers such as ourselves have an important part to play in ensuring they can do so effectively", Bevis says.
Maersk Line's focus on improving its environmental performance helps the line's customers demonstrate their own environmental credentials, citing Maersk's commitment to reducing CO2 levels as an example.
"Over the past few years, we have cut CO2 emissions per container moved by more than 15 percent – and we intend to achieve a further 20 percent reduction by 2020," he says. "Maersk was the first line to have our fleets total CO2 emissions independently audited, providing our customers with reliable data they could use in assessing the total environmental impact of their goods."
Other Maersk Line initiatives, such as its ballast water management programmes and its increasing use of low-sulphur fuels – recently extended to all New Zealand ports – are at the leading edge of industry best practice, and demonstrate the importance the company places on sustainability. Bevis says, "The MIA conference was an excellent opportunity to catch up with key players from across the industry. Maintaining a service that meets the needs of our customers in a way that's affordable for them and cost-effective for us requires a high level of mutual understanding. Talking face-to-face with individual processors and producers, listening to their issues and explaining our concerns, is the best way to achieve this, and events like the MIA conference help cement the very important relationships we have built up over the years."
Accusations of pork barrel politics on the back of free trade
by Les Watkins
Alarm bells about a perceived threat to New Zealand’s billion dollar pork industry are ringing loudly on both sides of the Tasman.
Politicians and pig-breeders are united in blaming the danger on what they see as a major mistake by MAF.
Their view is endorsed by globally-respected veterinarian Dr Eric Neumann - senior lecturer in swine health at Massey University.The new measures advocated by MAF, to comply with international trade agreements, would include allowing imports of fresh uncooked pork as long as they were restricted to cuts weighing no more than three kg and the lymph nodes had been removed.
“I suspect the trade officials have leverage over the bio-security officials at a time when we should be doing the reverse with higher degrees of bio-protection,” says MP Damien O’Connor. Pictures courtesy of NZ Pork
The controversy centres on the killer virus PRRS – Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome – which, like HIV in humans, suppresses the immune system. It is commonly called Pig Aids.
New Zealand and Australia are among the few countries free of PRRS but a MAF proposal would reduce bio-security regulations on imports from those infected countries.
NZ Pork, the industry’s national board, is vigorously opposed to the proposed change, fearing that PRRS could bring devastating consequences here, and has taken the issue to the High Court.
The board has the backing of Dr Neumann who has extensively researched PRRS. He told FOODtechnology that “the relaxation being sought by MAF would bring an unacceptably high risk. And once established in a country, PRRS is extremely difficult to eradicate.”
It can be transmitted by pigs being fed scraps containing infected pork – as could happen in ‘backyard’ breeding conditions – or by a person handling such pork before feeding pigs. It can also be transmitted by air.
It does not affect humans but can cause late-term abortions of piglets. Up to 70 percent of those infected which do survive until birth, die before being weaned – having been rendered susceptible to pneumonia or other sicknesses. A further 12 percent or more die after weaning.
PRRS is estimated to cost the American pork industry US$1 billion a year and is also rife in Canada, Mexico and countries in the European Union.
“Pork imported from countries with PRRS must currently undergo treatment to de-activate the disease,” says Sam McIvor chief executive of the industry’s national board New Zealand Pork.
“Under the new proposals this requirement would be eliminated.”
The new measures advocated by MAF, to comply with international trade agreements, would include allowing imports of fresh uncooked pork as long as they were restricted to cuts weighing no more than three kg and the lymph nodes had been removed.
At a High Court hearing in August, NZ Pork sought to block the MAF move and, at time of writing, a ruling is being awaited.
FOODtechnology understands that a key pillar of MAF’s argument was that the current measures in import health standards are sufficient to manage the risk of PRRS.
MAF reportedly told the court that the decision to issue import health standards for the importation of uncooked pork from countries with PRRS was made after an extensive review of the available science, consultation with stakeholders, and an independent review panel.
Dr Neumann reiterates that he considers the risk is far higher than MAF has indicated. To him it is ‘unacceptably high’.
That view is shared by Damien O’Connor, a South Island Labour MP with a strong farming background, who is one of a group of politicians opposing the MAF proposal.
“Clearly this is a stupid mistake and it is hard to understand what is driving it,” he told FOODtechnology.
“I suspect the trade officials have leverage over the bio-security officials at a time when we should be doing the reverse with higher degrees of bio-protection.
“I can put it on record that we in government would certainly review this decision. “The varroa mite infusion has taught us a very blunt lesson and the costs of any bio-security breach can be astronomical.
The science is somewhat contradictory and if in doubt keep it out.
“CER also places on us a responsibility for Australia.. If we continue to have open access across the Tasman we need to consider the dangers that this might bring to Aussie producers as well as our own.”
The same point has been made vigorously by politicians in Australia.
Senator Bill Hefferman has stated that “if New Zealand wishes to lower their standards and import disease-carrying fresh pork from declared PRRS countries, this could potentially have a devastating impact on Australia’s pig producers and Australian consumers.”
Senator John Williams, a former pig famer, commented: “If New Zealand allows the importation of raw pig meat, then the Australian government should strengthen its resolve and not buckle to international pressure.”
NZ Pork denies an allegation that its producers are indulging in “good old protectionism” by resisting the proposed bio-security changes.
“Given the impact a disease like PRRS could have on our national pig herd, New Zealand could very easily not have a viable domestic industry for importers to compete with. We seek only that effective bio-security safeguards remain in place for competition to continue,” a statement from the national board declared.
Government dithers and Ecodiesel’s opportunity withers
Most of the country’s annual total of 150,000 tonnes or so of tallow, which comes from shredded and slow-boil beef or mutton fat, is currently exported. It is mainly used overseas in the manufacture of animal foods, candles and chemicals.
Auckland-based Ecodiesel is fighting to ensure that this country reaps greater benefits from the tallow by transforming it on a major scale into the ‘green fuel’ biodiesel.Ecodiesel’s multi-million-dollar facility at Onehunga cannot be completed because the National government has not agreed to extend its three-year bio-diesel grant scheme beyond June 2012.
This $36 million scheme was designed to jump-start such projects by giving up to 42.4 cents a litre to producers selling at least 10,000 litres a month. At least 120 million litres of high-quality biodiesel made from the meat industry by-product tallow could be produced annually in New Zealand.
Whichever party wins this month’s election, the company plans to intensify its lobbying for more government support.
That would create a new on-the-doorstep market for meat processors in New Zealand.
It would also be excellent for the environment because, in addition to being ideal for powering vehicles, it emits about a quarter of the greenhouse gas released from the fossil fuel variety.
Early this year Greenstone Energy confirmed that it was no longer prepared to invest, as anticipated, the millions required to complete the facility.
The government’s failure to guarantee an extension of the scheme for a further three years had put the project's viability in doubt.
Other investors have has now agreed to provide the $5 million necessary but only if the government allows the requested extension.
“These people are prepared to invest, if required, in the blending, storing and distribution,” says Ecodiesel chairman Lindsay Fergusson.
“We’ve gone to the government with a signed agreement which is conditional only on the extension being granted.
“Still we’re being told no decision has been made. It’s so frustrating. Our plant is designed to initially produce 20 million litres a year and double that amount after it’s been operating for two years.
“It could be a completely win-win situation – particularly when you consider the impact on the environment – but if they don’t extend the scheme beyond June 2012 that’ll be the death of the bio-diesel scheme in New Zealand,” he says.
Diesel engines were patented by Paris-born Rudolph Diesel in 1898 – four years after he was nearly killed when an experimental model exploded.
Another early enthusiast was Henry Ford who proclaimed in 1925: “There is fuel in every bit of vegetable matter that can be fermented.
“There’s enough alcohol in one year’s yield of an acre of potatoes to drive the machinery necessary to cultivate the fields for 100 years.”
Even Ford, however, probably never imagined cars being powered by the lamb fat.
Mt Cook Alpine Salmon Wins Supreme Award
Steve Maharey presents the Supreme award to Mt Cook Alpine Salmon chief exceutive Geoff Matthews. “To truly deliver the world’s finest salmon to the most discerning customers in the world, we had to re-engineer the whole business and create innovative new processes,” he says
South Island company, Mt Cook Alpine Salmon’s innovative Saikou Sushi-Grade Salmon product has won the company the prestigious New Zealand Food Award 2011 Supreme Award.
Mt. Cook Alpine Salmon were awarded a total of four awards for the night including the Food Safety Award for outstanding achievement and innovation in Food Operations, the MAF Food Operations Innovation Award, the Award for outstanding achievement in product innovation in its category and the 2011 Supreme Award.
The New Zealand Food Awards, held in association with Massey University, celebrate food innovation in New Zealand and reward excellence in a range of categories, recognising companies and people for their creativity and business acumen behind the very best in our largest export sector.
Ray McVinnie, New Zealand Food Awards chief judge, MasterChef judge, renowned cook and food critic, says the company’s Saikou Sushi Grade Salmon stood out for its excellent taste and the innovative operations system that ensured the farmed fish reached its customers in the best condition.
“The quality has changed the world of salmon,” says Mr McVinnie.
“Mt Cook Alpine Salmon is a prime example of New Zealand home grown produce at it’s best; packaged to perfection, finest grain, destined for the best sushi restaurants in the world,” he says.
New Zealand Food Awards Food Safety judge and FOODtechnology advisory boardmember, Professor John Brooks, of AUT says that “Mt Cook Alpine Salmon’s meticulous attention to detail in the production, post harvest handling through its cool chain processes has enabled this company to extend the typical shelf-life of this fresh product from seven days to 15 days thus extending its access to export markets in North America.”
Geoff Matthews, chief executive of Mt. Cook Alpine Salmon says Saikou Sushi Grade Salmon reflects the company’s commitment to an unbroken chain of care and attention.
“In creating Saikou Sushi Grade Salmon the company had to re-examine the whole value added chain,” he says.
“To truly deliver the world’s finest salmon to the most discerning customers in the world, we had to re-engineer the whole business and create innovative new processes. From harvesting, to packaging, processing and transportation, we left no stone unturned in the pursuit of excellence, to ensure that on every level the brand promise was delivered,” Mr Matthews says.
Mt Cook Alpine Salmon’s master sushi chef and product development manager believes the company has still more to achieve.
“We haven’t finished yet. I think we still have another 50 percent improvement in this. Our aim is to be acknowledged as having the world’s finest salmon.”
Tough times for Bay of Plenty fisher folk
By Les Watkins
This is the peak period for harvesting crayfish but the oil disaster has killed the entire operation for many fishermen in the Bay of Plenty.
They are barred from the vast exclusion zone which includes 90 pe cent of the nearby crayfish breeding territory.
“The season started slowly this year and November is the make or break month so this could not have happened at a worse time,” says BoP Commercial Fisherman’s Association president Brian Kiddie.
“Some are facing the prospect of going bust,”
The original exclusion zone, which was greatly expanded in mid October, was centred on Motiti Island and extended from Tauranga to Matata and out 45km.
It was established to reassure buyers that no tainted fish had been caught in the area polluted by oil from the 47,000-tonne box ship Rena which broke up after hitting the Astrolabe Reef on October 5.
Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley explained that it was also intended to help save other vessels from being damaged by any of the 1,386 containers aboard the Rena.
The wreck has brought local fishermen a double problem. In addition to having their operating areas restricted, they have to contend with the perception that their catches might be contaminated.
“The domestic and overseas markets are on tenterhooks about that possibility – very twitchy indeed,” says Mr Kiddie.
“For instance, one of our guys had perfectly-clean octopus rejected right away at the Auckland market because the black ink it squirts out was mistaken for oil. That wouldn’t have happened before this affair.”
Many BoP fishermen are now travelling to other areas for their catches.
“And, of course, this can add significantly to the cost,” says Mr Kiddie. “Operators can easily burn up an extra $500 of fuel before getting near to catching their first fish.”
About 50 commercial fishing vessels and four fish- processing factories operate out of Tauranga and local Chamber of Commerce chief executive Max Mason puts the industry’s annual contribution to the area’s economy at $34 million.
