Crash Courses 2013 - coming up ...
" TIME for ACTION" - NZIFST Annual Conference - REGISTER ON-LINE NOW
Earle Travel Fellowship in Technology - closes this Friday

NZ Engineering Excellence Awards

Food Tech Student awarded Gold CREST
Scholarship to ABSANZ
Update from FSANZ
Water Activity Seminars
Blackcurrants help clear the mind

"Continuity Planning"
14 May, AUCKLAND
Steve Hather, RQA Product Risk Institute, Australia

"Creating food labels from scratch"

23 May - WELLINGTON
Cathy McArdle, McFoodies Ltd

"Food Microbiology - Food spoilage, food poisoning & processes for microbial control (Level 1)"
23 May, AUCKLAND
Gary Broome, Foodtech International Ltd

"Creating food labels from scratch"
1 July HAWKES BAY
Cathy McArdle, McFoodies Ltd

"Smarter design of products & processes" (& we promise it will be statistics free !)
12 June, AUCKLAND
1 July, HAWKES BAY
Anny Dentener-Boswell, Adecron

NOTE: Each Crash Course must reach a minimum number of registrations at least 10 days before the course for it to be confirmed.

Register your interest now to

NZIFST ANNUAL CONFERENCE

GOLD SPONSORS:
** PALL NEW ZEALAND ** ** EUROFINS NZ LABORATORY SERVICES LTD **
** ASUREQUALITY ** ** FOOD TECH SOLUTIONS **

MAJOR SPONSORS:
** ECOLAB ** ** IUFoST ** ** IAFP ** **JASOL**

Register on-line NOW at http://www.nzifst.org.nz/conf_registration.asp
Early bird fees apply

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in Technology

A travel Fellowship worth up to $10,000, is awarded annually by the Richard and Mary Earle Technology Trust to a young (under 40 years of age) Professional Member of either IPENZ or NZIFST, to study or gain practical experience overseas in either product development and innovation management, or process development in bioprocessing or food processing.

Previous NZIFST winners include:
2006 Neil Betteridge
2007 John Rutland
2009 Hamish Conway
2011 Kirin Harrison

Applications for this year close THIS FRIDAY - 10 May 2013
For more information and application form, go to

NZ ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE AWARDS - Entries now open

Awards entries for the Chemical, Bio and Food Award for a project or product are open.

AND young engineers and technologists are also encouraged to look at the Young Engineer of the Year Award - the winner receives $2000. (Entrants must have completed the final year of their first engineering/technology qualification in 2003 or later and have been no older than 30 on 1 January 2013)

The awards are part of the NZEE Awards which recognises the work of engineers and technologists. Entries close on 1 July. Go to www.nzeeawards.org.nz

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FOOD TECH STUDENT AWARDED GOLD CREST

NZIFST was delighted to hear that Morgan Christy-Jones from Wellington High School was recently awarded a Gold CREST, for her work in creating a product using tagatose as a substitute for sucrose.

In 2010, Morgan and 3 classmates won the NZIFST/CREST Student Product Development Challenge in the lower North Island. In 2011 Morgan started her Gold CREST project, for which she was mentored by Steve Flint from Massey University. Morgan is currently in her first year of a food technology degree at Massey.

To read about Morgan's project, go to: http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/teaching-learning/crest/gold/recipients/2013-gold-crest-recipients/2013-morgan-christy-jones/

SCHOLARSHIP TO ABSANZ

Neil Walls Consulting is offering a scholarship to subsidise one delegate to attend ABSANZ 3rdAnnual Conference to be held in Auckland from 29 October to 1 November 2013.

This scholarship is to support an employee of a Not for Profit Research Organisation who would otherwise be unable to attend the conference for cost reasons. The successful applicant will receive up to AUD$2,200.00 towards travel, accommodation and conference registration. Applications should be in writing, no longer than one A4 page in length, stating the organisation, position and work/duties of the applicant and the reason for applying for the scholarship to attend the conference and emailed to admin@absanz.org.au by 1 July 2013.

Contact Leah Ingles, Executive Officer, ABSANZ, t+61 3 5222 7298, www.absanz.org.au

"Hear from FSANZ CEO Steve McCutcheon along with some from his leadership team (Canberra and Wellington). Aim of session is to give attendees an update on the FSANZ work programme and to seek feedback on important issues."

This event is jointly supported by FSANZ, NZIFST, NZJBA, NZRA, NZAB .

Please RSVP to Kira Mikelatos of FGC know. admin@fgc.org.nz (for planning and catering purposes)

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Formula Foods and FF Instrumentation Ltd will be presenting their water activity (aw) seminars in Christchurch, Palmerston North and Auckland on the 14th, 15th and 16th of May 2013 respectively.

This seminar will provide a complete treatment of water activity and moisture sorption isotherms. It will discuss the methodology and pitfalls of measurement techniques for water activity, moisture content, and moisture sorption. In addition, applications for water activity and moisture sorption isotherms will be provided and include case studies of how to effectively move from moisture sorption research to shelf life determination and the establishment of effective water activity specifications. Examples of specific application of aw ; cured meats, dairy powders, cheese, coffee etc. will be discussed.

This is expected to be a day full of knowledge as well as a practical hands on approach to water activity suitable for everyone from direct water activity instrumentation users, PD technologists and food scientists.

May 14 – BNZ Russley Partners Centre, CHRISTCHURCH
May 15 – Travelodge, PALMERSTON NORTH
May 16 – Waipuna Hotel, AUCKLAND

Morning tea and Lunch provided.

SPECIAL – Earlybird Discount up until May 3rd = $250+GST
Registrations after May 3rd for 1 day water activity seminar = $290 + GST
Groups of 3 or more get additional 10% discount on these prices.

Contact Bob Olayo on bob@ffinstrumentation.co.nz OR phone 03 962 2960 to register your details.

BLACKCURRANTS HELP CLEAR THE MIND

A study by Plant & Food Research has shown that an extract of New Zealand blackcurrants enriched in anthocyanins can help people stay more alert, reduce mental fatigue and work with greater accuracy whilst under significant mental stress.

In the randomised, double-blind study, 35 healthy young participants were asked to complete 70 minute computerised assessments designed to demand attention and to be mentally fatiguing, such as watching a series of random numbers and responding when three consecutive odd numbers appeared. The trial found that, compared to placebo, after taking the extract from Just the Berries Limited participants worked more accurately without slowing down, and felt more alert and less mentally-fatigued after the test.

“We know that there are compounds in dark berry fruits, like blackcurrants, that have real effects on people’s health and wellbeing,” says Dr Arjan Scheepens, the study leader. “We found that, compared to a placebo, taking an enriched blackcurrant extract before performing stressful mental tests helped trial participants maintain accuracy, and that their mental fatigue was significantly reduced. Our next stage is to identify exactly which compounds are creating this effect, and using this knowledge to develop new whole and processed foods or ingredients that deliver optimised performance.”

Just the Berries will launch the product in May under the brand delcyan™ and market it as both a validated functional food ingredient and as a consumer product.

Media contact: Mike Shaw, Senior Communications Advisor, mike.shaw@plantandfood.co.nz

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Fermentation for Biotechnology
The University of Waikato has a three-day industry short-course on Fermentation for Biotechnology on 21-23 August 2013. The course is designed to help those engaged in the food, dairy and other biotechnological industries to improve their technical awareness on fermentation.
For more information please go to http://eng.waikato.ac.nz/industry_courses/

NZPICS Basics of Supply Chain Management
Courses in 3 locations in Auckland in Term 2.
For more information Phone 09 525 1525 or enquiries@nzpics.org.nz

School for Supervisors of Low-Acid Canned Food Thermal Processing Systems
24-28 June 2013, The FoodBowl, Auckland Airport
Please contact either Helen Poole (h.poole@massey.ac.nz ) or Dr Owen McCarthy (o.mccarthy@massey.ac.nz ) at Massey University, Palmerston North.
Registrations close on 7 June 2013.

Approved Persons Course for Thermal Processing of Low-Acid Foods
29 April –3 May, 2013
CSIRO Animal Food and Health Sciences, Werribee, Vic.
Contact Diana Castree,CSIRO; tel: (+613) 9731 3426, Diana.castree@csiro.au

IAFP 2013 - Registration Now Open
July 28–31 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
http://www.foodprotection.org/

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JOB VACANCIES - FOOD SCIENTISTS & TECHNOLOGISTS WANTED

Packaging Technologist - If developing exciting and innovative packaging solutions is your passion along with working collaboratively with stakeholders across the business, then this is the perfect opportunity for you! (LWCG 6/5)

Quality / H&S Manager - This business is high profile, produces great products, focuses on achieving results and motivating its employees (LWCG 6/5)

Quality Manager - Kapiti - This role represents a great opportunity for a high calibre individual to make a real impact (Fonterra 6/5)

Quality Assurance Technician - Are you confident with handling HACCP, RMP, Quality Systems and NZFSA auditing? Are you seeking a new challenge? (STR 3/5)

Product and Process Technologist - Provincial plant with global focus on the development of value-added meat products (STR 3/5)

Quality Assurance Technician - Join the team in one of Australasia's most innovative horticultural operations and enjoy an unparalleled lifestyle (Leaderbrand 29/4)

Quality Assurance / Quality Control Chemist - A unique blend of QC/QA for those who still enjoy bench work and the challenge of ensuring compliance to regulatory bodies (STR 24/4)

Development Technologist - Your chance to join a motivated marketing team located at one of New Zealand's lifestyle Mecca's (LWCG 23/4)

Senior Laboratory Technician - This is a brand-new Lab Technician role and a fantastic opportunity to join a multinational FMCG company (TRS 17/4)

Production and Process Development Manager – Taranaki - Provincial Plant with global focus for primary and value added products in the meat industry (STR 9/4)

Shift Quality Coordinator – Afternoon Shift - Join a progressive multinational company and help improve Food Safety and Quality of innovative products (TRS 9/4)

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