About the award
New Zealand’s food and beverage industry is full of outstanding people who demonstrate a positive contribution to food safety in New Zealand. Highlighting their work celebrates the positive impact they make.
Sponsored by New Zealand Food Safety, the Significant Contribution to Food Safety Award is part of the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology (NZIFST) Awards.
The award recognises an organisation, team, or individual that displays outstanding, original or creative improvements or developments to food safety.
Significant Contribution to Food Safety Award winners receive a trophy, a ticket to attend the dinner, and a contribution towards the travel and accommodation costs to attend. They also receive a full 12-month membership to the NZIFST.
New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology 2026 conference
2026 award winner
This year's winner is Dr Tim Harwood, who has made a significant contribution to the seafood safety sector.
As a nationally recognised leader in seafood safety research, Dr Harwood work has had significant and long-lasting impacts across New Zealand's seafood sector, regulatory systems, and both domestic and international communities. His development and implementation of analytical detection methods for paralytic shellfish toxins underpins routine regulatory testing, delivers faster turnaround times, and ensures analytical precision.
Dr Harwood led the Seafood Safety Programme, supporting New Zealand's $2 billion seafood industry through the application of science-based, internationally aligned testing approaches that help maintain product safety and market access.
His leadership reflects scientific excellence and a strong commitment to public and environmental health.
Dr Tim Harwood is currently the manager of the Food and Bioactives Group at Cawthron Institute and serves as deputy director at the New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre.
Nominations and eligibility
We welcomed nominations from any sector within the food industry.
Nominations were open to those who work at a New Zealand organisation or have contributed to the country's food safety system.
Fields of achievement include but were not limited to:
- building and maintaining an effective food safety culture (such as staff engagement, leadership, or continual improvement)
- equipment or processing technology
- industry best practice
- product or packaging development
- science and research
- contribution to a well-functioning food safety system.
Achievements must have demonstrated a positive contribution to food safety in New Zealand.
An organisation, team, or individual could be nominated, and self-nominations were also accepted.
Previous award winners
Previous winners of the award are:
- Professor Phil Bremer (2025)
- Dr Pierre Venter (2024)
- Dr Rob Lake (2023)
- Plant and Food's highly regarded Food Safety and Preservation Team (2022)
- Denver McGregor (2021)
- Aaron Dodunski (2020)
- Rosie Waller (2019)
- Professor Nigel French (2018)
- Dr Lesley Rhodes (2017).