The Ministry for Primary Industries is encouraging the food and primary sector to enter 2 awards they are sponsoring in this year's NZ Food Awards.
"The Food Safety Culture Award and the Primary Sector Products Award are an opportunity to promote and recognise excellence in food safety and innovation in the primary sector, says Peter Thomson, MPI Director for Food, Plants and Environment.
"MPI has been a sponsor of the awards for many years. It is important for us to recognise and promote some of the amazing work happening every day in the sector and that is why we are encouraging companies to enter.
"When dealing with food, the safety of consumers is MPI’s number one priority. Having a strong food safety culture is critical for any business to consistently produce food that is safe and suitable for domestic and export consumers," says Mr Thomson.
"We are looking for a demonstration of a strong food safety culture throughout all aspects of the business – through the commitment of management, staff and supplier as evidenced by processes and behaviour," he explains.
"The Primary Sector Product Award is an opportunity to showcase the amazing new primary sector products and processing and packaging methods being developed all the time.
"We wish to acknowledge producers, researchers and manufacturers who have added value to primary products through the introduction of new varieties of fruits, vegetables, different cuts of meat, new or alternative harvesting, and processing or packaging to create new or innovative products," says Mr Thomson.
Entries close 30 June 2017.
Primary Sector Products Award finalists and winner 2016
- T & G Foods ENZA
- T & G Global
- Coastal Spring Lamb
- Spring Sheep Milk Co (Winner)
Food Safety Culture Award finalists and winner 2016
- Open Country Dairy (Winner)
- Jacks Links
- Lincoln Bakery
