Sep 6, 2019 | Katherine Rich Comments
Plastic is everywhere. It’s used in almost every industry you can think of – construction, transportation, electronics, healthcare, and agriculture. And when you look down the supermarket aisle you can see how big a part it plays in the food and grocery sector. It’s...
Aug 26, 2019 | Katherine Rich Comments
Confidence surveys show that after a positive start to the year, many businesses are struggling to deal with a combination of factors that are driving down their confidence to invest further in their own business, such as upgrading equipment or innovating. Two bank...
Aug 12, 2019 | Katherine Rich Comments
Environmental sustainability has become a big part of most companies’ thinking and planning, and those in food and grocery are doing some of the ground-breaking work on this. Starting with the supermarket chains, everyone’s aware of their bans on the use of single-use...
Jul 25, 2019 | Katherine Rich Comments
One of my favourite thinkers from the 20th century is Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I’ve read a lot about her life and her advocacy and have found her writings and works inspiring. Recently, as the New Zealand Food &...
Jul 10, 2019 | Katherine Rich Comments
The food and grocery sector (as it should) puts a lot of emphasis on health & safety. Be it on the farm, in the factory, in the distribution centre, on the road, or in the supermarket – involving everything from farm-bike safety and forklifts, to driving skills...
Jun 20, 2019 | Katherine Rich Comments
The global food and grocery industry demonstrated a positive direction and how it’s working in the interests of consumers at Food Industry Asia’s ‘Food for the Future Summit’ conference in Singapore last month. It attracted leaders from across the food and grocery...
May 24, 2019 | Katherine Rich Comments
When I know so much is being done by the dairy industry to be good stewards of the land and to produce high-quality nutritious foods, I get disappointed to read such negativity about our No 1 industry. The idea that dairy farmers are happily collecting their big...
May 9, 2019 | Katherine Rich Comments
Getting food labelling right is critical to any food business. Consumers rely on it and sometimes it’s a matter of life and death. Food safety in New Zealand is assumed, but there are many countries where consumers don’t have the same faith, and for good reason....
Apr 29, 2019 | Katherine Rich Comments
Companies of all shapes and sizes will be waiting with interest on the outcome of a Government consultation on proposals to strengthen the law protecting consumers and business from anti-competitive behaviour. The proposals concern Section 36 of the Commerce Act,...
Apr 24, 2019 | Katherine Rich Comments
In a small country with a population the size of many cities around the world, New Zealand naturally has a small base of quality academic work suitable for publication. Not surprisingly, when it comes to the peer-review process in New Zealand, quite often...
Apr 3, 2019 | Katherine Rich Comments
Now that it’s happened, I doubt too many people disagree with the ban on plastic shopping bags. I think many understand that overuse of plastic is becoming a problem right through the environment, and particularly for marine life and the ramifications down that food...
Mar 19, 2019 | Katherine Rich Comments
I was hoping 2019 would be a year of constructive reports on issues around obesity and wellness so we could make further headway on them. But it was only mid-January when British medical journal The Lancet published a report calling for people to eat a mouthful of...
