Being raised in Dunedin, the presence of the Cadbury factory looming large not far away down the hill made sure chocolate played a big part in my youth. Cadbury World was the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory of my schooldays, and I visited it many times with school over...
Has the tide on the sugar tax debate finally turned? Has evidence and common sense prevailed? A week can be a long time in politics, but a couple of recent events have given me hope that the tide has turned – that we may be able to stop wasting time debating a policy...
Reducing packaging waste has been a focus of grocery manufacturers for many years, and a lot of work continues to be done to consider such issues by the Food and Grocery Council’s sister bodies the Packaging Council and the Packaging Forum. It’s clear that over the...
I’m picking 2018 to be the busiest year in the food and grocery sector for some time. That’s mainly because we’ve got a new government with new policies, new ministers, and new approaches. During the election campaign, and even before it, the parties that make up the...
The NZ Food & Grocery Council is always on the lookout for ways to create opportunities for member companies and the wider food sector, either in our domestic market or in an export market. One way we do this is by helping them make connections with supermarket...
Everyone agrees New Zealand’s rate of obesity remains a real concern. The New Zealand Health Survey 2015/16 shows that 32 per cent of people over 15, and 11 per cent of children were obese. Of those, 47 per cent of Maori adults, 15 per cent of Maori children, 67 per...
In the past couple of days, lobby group Consumer NZ and the Dental Association have called on the governments of New Zealand and Australia to legislate for new food labels that list added sugars. Making sure people know how much sugar is in packaged foods is a great...
Claims that a tax on sugary drinks is likely to have “a number of benefits” for the population have been shot down by an analysis of available evidence. The claims of benefits of a tax included: increased cost of sugary drinks, cheaper bottled water and zero sugar...
In the nearly nine years I’ve led the Food and Grocery Council, I’ve become increasingly concerned about the quality of some academic research being published about the food industry. I’m sure we’d get better outcomes if there were clearer lines between what’s good...
In an era when consumers are sceptical of ‘fake news’, a further concern is brewing. Public health is one field where such concern is relevant – where sometimes the effort to advance knowledge and public benefit is threatened by the use of exaggeration and flawed...
Harvard University Dining is big business. The self-sustaining department serves 25,000 meals a day during the academic year and five million annually. It has a staff of 650 and annual foodservice revenue of nearly NZ$90 million. But it’s more than just big business....
I was sorting through some old boxes of books recently when I came across my Home Economics book from school, or as it used to be called “Manual Training”. I think it was about Form 1 (today’s Year 7 equivalent). And the cover page? ‘Cooking Is Fun!’ Inside were many...
