Food Focus November 2008
In focus
Top Shop® Awards 2008
The Top Shop® retail excellence awards are held each year around the country and NZFSA again has sponsored the Food & Beverage category
Organised by the New Zealand Retailers Association in Auckland, Waikato, Wellington and Christchurch, the Top Shop® retail excellence awards are all about promoting excellence in retailing.
Retailers who can enter the Food & Beverage category of the awards include cafés, bottle stores, delicatessens, grocers and convenience stores.
As well as meeting the general judging criteria, Food & Beverage category entrants are also required to show initiatives regarding improving food safety for customers.
Gala dinners were held in the four main centres during September and October to announce the winners. The Food & Beverage category winners were:
• Auckland – BACI Lounge in Newmarket
• Christchurch – City Seafood Market in Manchester Street, which also won the award for Outstanding Customer Service
• Wellington – Upper Hutt Cosmopolitian Club
• Waikato – Gouda Cheese Shop & Delicatessen, Rototuna Retail Centre.
Congratulations to all the winners and finalists.
Massey University Food Awards 2008
The biennial Massey University Food Award winners were announced on October 20. These awards recognise new food and drink products, championing innovation and excellence
NZFSA sponsors the Food Safety Award of the Massey University Food Awards – an award that is only open to category-winning products and entries of a high standard.
This year the Massey University Premier Award winner also won the NZFSA Food Safety Award for a product that assures customer safety and provides public confidence. The winner was Tegel Foods, for its Tegel Deluxe Roasted Chicken.
Over the past four years Tegel has perfected a process for cooking, packaging and sealing Deluxe Roasted chicken that allows smaller stores throughout the country to sell the product with confidence.
Academic recognition for NZFSA Director
Steve Hathaway, NZFSA Science Director, has been appointed Adjunct Professor of Food Safety with Massey University, Palmerston North Campus, at the Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences.
Overseas news: US consumer food-safety concerns
A recent study by Deloitte shows that US consumers are becoming less tolerant of product recalls with consumers turning away from such products for more than nine months, on average
In September this year, consumers throughout the US were polled on their perceptions about the safety and quality of the US food supply and consumer products. The survey was commissioned by Deloitte and focused on key issues in the toy, consumer electronics, fresh food, and packaged food/beverage categories. Of these categories, changes in buying habits were highest for fresh food and packaged food/beverages.
Key highlights include the following:
• More than half of consumers (58%) who heard about product safety and/or quality problems changed their buying habits, turning away from such products for more than nine months, on average.
• Changes in buying habits were most common for fresh food and packaged food/beverage products. Roughly half (49%) said they were extremely concerned about product safety, with the greatest concerns coming from women (53%) and consumers 55 years of age and older (56%).
• There is a wide awareness about product safety and quality problems, and more than half of respondents (54%) said they were more concerned about the safety of fresh food products than they were a year ago.
• Consumers surveyed indicated they would like more information about the safety of food products provided on packaging (86%), company websites (81%) and by the government (81%).
Companies are meeting consumers’ concerns by upgrading or expanding safety procedures including stricter safety standards, testing and third-party audits.
Release of survey ‘Food and product safety and its effect on consumer buying habits’