About the award
New Zealand food and beverage production 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) Food Industry Awards.
The award recognises an organisation, team or individual that displays outstanding, original, or creative improvements or developments to food safety.
The award winner will be announced at the 2026 NZIFST Conference dinner on 1 July, when they will be formally recognised alongside New Zealand’s industry and research leaders.
The Significant Contribution to Food Safety Award winner will receive a certificate of recognition and trophy, a ticket to attend the dinner, and a contribution towards the travel and accommodation costs to attend.
NZIFST 2026 conference programme
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
In 2025, we congratulated distinguished professor Phil Bremer for his significant contributions to food safety.
Professor Bremer is currently the chief scientist at the New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre (NZFSSRC), and distinguished professor of Food Science at the University of Otago.
His contributions to food safety in New Zealand stretch across several sectors, including a staggering 200+ journal articles and 276 keynote speeches and presentations. He has been instrumental in advancing research that ensures the safety and quality of New Zealand’s food supply.
Other winners of the award are:
- 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).
