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NZIFST Annual Conference 2025

Monday, May 26th, 2025

Theme for 2025 Conference – Embracing Tradition, Transforming the Future

The conference includes events such as:

NZIFST FOOD INDUSTRY AWARDS DINNER
Exhibitor NETWORKING
STUDENT POSTER Competition
3-Minute PITCH Competition
EARLY CAREER FOODIES’ Function

Visit the NZIFST website for more information and to purchase tickets. 

 

Delmari Janse van Rensburg wins 2025 LA Judge Award

Tuesday, May 20th, 2025

Media Release 16th May – Source AEGIC

NZ baker Delmari Janse van Rensburg. Photo: AEGIC

Delmari Janse van Rensburg of New Zealand has been named the 2025 LA Judge Award baking apprentice of the year after three days of spirited competition.

The winner was revealed at the LA Judge Award Gala Dinner in Sydney on Thursday 15 May 2025, hosted by the Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre (AEGIC) and Woolworths.

The LA Judge Award has tested young bakers across Australia and New Zealand since 1967, and this year’s competitors once again combined a challenging gauntlet of practical baking, theory and presentation skills.

Thanks to major sponsor and prize sponsor Puratos, Delmari will soon jet off to Belgium for an intensive week of training in Brussels, including visits to their Innovation Center, Sourdough Institute, the world-famous Sourdough Library and Maison de Levain, as well as tours of Brussels’ best bakeries/patisseries and the Chocolate Story museum. All accommodation, food and transport is included.

Second place was Jacob Maddock of New South Wales, who receives $1,500 in cash as well as two days of training with Puratos in Sydney, including accommodation, food and transport.

LA Judge Competitors. Photo: AEGIC

The other four competitors will also receive this training thanks to Puratos.

The LA Judge Award is hosted by AEGIC at its Sydney Pilot Bakery.

Retiring LA Judge Award Director Dr Ken Quail applauded every competitor for the commitment and creativity they brought to the bakery floor.

“The way they tackle this demanding competition and still support one another is inspiring,” Dr Quail said.

“Each finalist leaves with sharper skills, improved confidence and industry connections that will help them as they move forward in their careers. They should all be proud.”

Competition organiser and AEGIC baking scientist Sabrina Lim said the LA Judge Award was a rare chance for young bakers to be exposed to new skills, knowledge and ingredients.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for the competitors to be mentored by highly experienced industry judges,” she said.

“The knowledge transfer between the judges and competitors and vice versa as they work closely over the three days is invaluable.”

The 2025 judges were Michael Prowse of Allied Pinnacle, Cary Burnett from the William Angliss Institute, and Lindsay Weber of Homestyle and Gold Coast Bakeries. Lindsay is also a former LA Judge Award winner.

The 2025 event was a special one as the industry farewelled long-time LA Judge Award Director Dr Ken Quail, who has retired after dedicating 34 years to AEGIC’s Sydney operations (formerly BRI Australia).

Since its inception, the LA Judge Award has helped emerging bakers sharpen their craft while strengthening links between the baking and grain industries.

Recovering valuable resources to create sustainable biogas and biofertilizer

Saturday, March 29th, 2025

Presented as part of Technology Transfer Seminars 2025

Stuart Walker, Ecogas, Director

Stuart Walker has a diverse career background and can claim to have literally worked at all ends of the agricultural/food industry from pasture to plate. After 15 years in the animal health/nutrition and veterinary sectors, Stuart went onto run the Hansell’s Food Group from 1999-2006. This was followed by successful ownership of two niche food manufacturing companies whilst also taking on the Acting CEO role in 2011 during the establishment phase for ‘The Food Bowl’ as part of a $20m investment by local and central government in promoting new food technologies to the industry. Stuart continues to consult to numerous food and non-food business over the last 20 years including a very close association with Ecostock Supplies and as a Director of Ecogas, New Zealand’s first large scale waste to energy plant based at Reporoa. Stuart also has an interest in the baking field as an owner of a dedicated factory in Auckland producing around 5 ton of specialist breadcrumbs per day.

Extracting value from waste

How do we extract value out of waste? Not just commercial food waste, but also household waste. This is the question Ecogas aims to answer by supporting the development of a sustainable circular organic waste to energy solutions (sustainable biogas and biofertilizer) by utilising Anaerobic Digestion technology.

Ecogas is a 100% New Zealand owned joint venture between Ecostock (commercial waste food for dairy and pigs) and Pioneer Energy. Stuart describes Ecogas as a commercial operation for public good.

Their Anaerobic Digestion (AD) Facility is on 2 Ha of farmland adjacent to Turners &Grower’s 5Ha tomato growing glasshouse. The AD Plant can process up to 75,000 t per annum of organic food wastes. Renewable biogas is used to power a 1.2 MWeCHP, onsite utilisation of heat, and surplus electricity is exported. Excess biogas will be separated into methane for injection into natural gas grid and CO2 for glasshouse fertilisation. Soil conditioning bio-fertiliser is now being spread onto more than 1,500 Ha of neighbouring farmland.

Organic waste is sourced from farms, households, factories, and food services, transported to digesters, and turned into biogas which is used on site for energy, growing tomatoes in glasshouses as part of their circular business model. Very little process energy is required, only for mixing and contact. Methane is captured as a key energy source. Nitrogen and key nutrients are retained in the liquid digestate.

Ecogas is in the process of developing another facility on the outskirts of Christchurch.

 

 

 

Field to Flour: Can we reduce our footprint?

Saturday, March 29th, 2025

Presented as part of Technology Transfer Seminars 2025

Jo Drummond, Foundation for Arable Research, Senior Researcher

Jo Drummond is a Senior Researcher with the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR), where she runs the cereal research programme. A graduate of Lincoln University, she has worked in the arable sector for 20 years and has experience of both NZ and UK systems. Jo works with growers to support development of sustainable cereal programmes. Her areas of interest are agronomy, applied pathology and entomology, pesticide resistance management and agroecology.

Taking sunlight and running it into money – a lighter touch

Jo works with cereal growers, operating at the start of the process that leads to a loaf of bread. She took us back to the basics, explaining the growing process, the influencing factors, and their impact on flour supply and baking. She emphasized how systems are having to evolve as consumer demands change.

Jo outlined the challenges of growing wheat, highlighting the roles of variety, management, and weather. She described the sun as the fuel, the crop as the engine, management as the driver, and the environment as the wild card, noting that we can control very few of these factors. Weather can ruin even the best plans, producing unusable wheat. And climate change, with its flooding and droughts, is now exacerbating these issues.

Quality is another challenge. Milling wheat growers are paid based on yield and quality and receive a price premium over feed wheat. Despite this premium, the majority of the wheat grown in New Zealand is grown for animal feed. Growing enough high-quality milling wheat is both an art and a science. Protein, water absorption, dough elasticity, gas retention, gluten webbing, volume, colour, crumb, and shelf life are all influenced by the variety, management and environment under which the milling wheat was grown.

Management, particularly nitrogen use, is crucial. Nitrogen is the biggest input cost, requiring a careful balance between supply and demand. Growers must consider how much nitrogen to apply, when, and where, while also recording and reporting it. Up to 50% of applied nitrogen can be lost through leaching, emissions, runoff, erosion, and immobilization. Jo emphasized the long-lasting impact of nitrous oxide from nitrogen fertilizer, which persists much longer than methane from livestock.

Overusing nitrogen is wasteful both to the environment and financially, so finding the economic optimum rather than targeting the total biological option is a useful risk mitigation strategy. FAR’s research has identified this sweet spot, allowing farmers to reduce nitrogen use, maintain quality, remain profitable, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Agrichemicals are another hot topic. They protect yields by managing diseases, pests, lodging, and weeds. However, farmers face a shrinking arsenal as pesticides are removed from the market, pesticide resistance grows, and consumer awareness of food residues increases. Pursuing yield at the expense of the environment is no longer viable. But removing all agrichemicals could result in at least a 30% loss of production, so building resilience is crucial. Crop protection practices, including precision agriculture, plant breeding, and biocontrol, will play key roles. Plant protection products will still be used, but they can’t be the sole defence. Layering strategies is becoming the norm to enhance systems and start the journey toward sustainability. This is challenging for farmers but will become expected.

Jo’s take home message is that we can reduce our environmental and economic footprint while still producing high-quality products, but growers must operate within limits and will have to make do with less as climate change, weather extremes and reduced access to agrichemicals test their resilience.

 

 

 

Leading Action on Food Waste

Saturday, March 29th, 2025

Presented as part of Technology Transfer Seminars 2025

Jess Broun, Kai Commitment

Jess Broun is the Programme and Account Manager for Kai Commitment, a voluntary agreement for leading food businesses to reduce their food waste led by New Zealand Food Waste Champions. Jess has an extensive Partner and Operation management background with many years spent in the food sector. She works to empower businesses to see the opportunity in their surplus and take a leadership role in reducing their food waste.

Everybody’s Responsibility, Every Business’s Opportunity

“When you look at the food it was meant to be, not the waste it became, you realize the true cost.” There are opportunities to not only reduce food waste, says Jess, but to innovate, create value and empower people. If you know why you are wasting food, you can change it.

Food waste contributes to global climate change, the cost of living, and food insecurity crises. It has economic, social, and environmental impacts. In New Zealand, 45% of land is used to grow food or farm animals, equivalent to the entire North Island. A third of this food goes to waste. Waste occurs across the supply chain, including the energy, water, manufacturing, and resources used to produce food. 80% of New Zealand’s exports go to countries with mandatory climate-related disclosures. Reducing food waste and diverting food waste from landfills would significantly help New Zealand achieve its methane reduction target.

So, where do we start? Business/ industry can drive significant change across the food system chain, but better collaboration is needed to reduce food waste faster. Jess notes that while a lot of good work is being done, collective efforts are essential for greater impact.

Voluntary food waste agreements are emerging globally. “Kai Commitment,” New Zealand’s food pact launched in 2022, focuses on identifying waste, understanding its drivers, and taking action. The program encourages businesses to set targets, measure food waste, plan and act to reduce it, and collaborate to innovate and share best practices.

Every business should ask itself the cost of unsold or wasted food. Viewing it as surplus rather than waste can help see it as an asset that can be reused and create value. Considering waste at the product design stage can prevent it occurring.

Managing food waste according to a food recovery hierarchy helps businesses reduce their emissions and disposal costs and ensures their surplus goes to the best destination possible.  The preferred outcome is preventing food waste or redistributing it commercially. This is closely followed by donating to people in need or to stock feed. Next, businesses should seek waste destinations that enable nutrient or energy recovery; the least preferred outcome is food waste ending up in landfills.

A collaborative project involving several large commercial bakeries identified food waste destinations and drivers across the bread supply chain. The resulting map highlights the need for coordination and collaboration between supply chain stages to address systemic food waste drivers. It also captures end destinations for food waste and barriers and enablers for each.

The Working Group is consolidating findings and deciding how best to disseminate the resource and project outcomes. Businesses involved are working together on root cause analysis and piloting projects to reduce food waste. Detailed findings and analysis from this project will be published shortly and will be accessible on KaiCommitment.org.nz

In recognition of Food Waste Action Week, Kai Commitment has launched a free resource, The Food Waste Rapid Review tool. The tool offers actionable steps to:

  • Identify areas where food waste occurs within your operations.
  • Implement strategies to reduce waste effectively.
  • Measure progress to ensure continuous improvement.

The tool is designed to help businesses achieve significant benefits, including cost savings, enhanced operational efficiency, and strengthened sustainability practices.

Reducing food waste is also a great way to contribute to a more efficient, resilient, and sustainable food system that benefits everyone.  Regardless of where you are in the supply chain, we can all do something, but we achieve the best results by working together.

 

Bread bags from bread returns

Saturday, March 29th, 2025

Presented as part of Technology Transfer Seminars 2025

Dr Gert-Jan Moggré, Senior scientist, food chemistry and functionality at the institute of Plant & Food Research limited.

Solving two problems at once

Gert-Jan reported on the progress being made in the “Bread bags from Bread Returns” project which has now completed stage 2.

The project aims to address two major sustainability issues: returned bread, and single use plastic bags by asking what if we combined these two things? Can we make packaging out of bread returns using recovered starch turned into bread bag material that are compostable?  The first step is to create starch thermoplastic. This behaves like a plastic and can be transparent but is fairly brittle and can attract water so it is blended with a second polymer to get the mechanical properties they need.

Stage 2 of the project is extruding and blending: ThermoPlastic Starch (TPS) by extrusion, blending with co-polymer, techno-economic modelling.

The team had to design an extraction process that is profitable and easy to do. They tried several processes. While there is higher starch recovery from white bread than mixed bread, they want to be able to use all bread returns. They have now confirmed they can make TPS using bread returns starch mixed with a polymer, with a range of tensile strength similar to commercial TPS based packaging materials.

A technoeconomic analysis came next, to consider if the concept makes financial sense. They needed to estimate the relative economic viability of the different processing options. Based on producing 220 million bread bags (the full requirement in New Zealand) they found that there are enough bread returns and that bags could be made at scale cost effectively based on their estimates, although on price alone they can’t compete with low density polyethylene bags. Consumer preference or legislation may require change to the use of these in future.  The technoeconomic analysis for preparing TPS from returned bread found a net positive return in comparison to using commercial starch-based polymers made of virgin starch material.

Next steps are bread TPS production for bread bag applications including pilot-scale starch extraction, blow-forming bags with bread TPS/PBAT blends and testing functionalities key to the baking industry.

Further investigation is needed of the techno-economic analysis to settle on an optimum system and to increase the quality of the analysis assessment, involving unit operations user requirement specifications and quotations, variability testing, and setting feedstock and product specifications.

Baking Global Technology Scan

Saturday, March 29th, 2025

Presented as part of Technology Transfer Seminars 2025

Syahmeer How, Plant & Food Research Limited, Research Scientist

Syahmeer How (B.E, PhD Chemical & Bioprocess Engineering, Massey University) is a Bioprocess Engineer at Plant & Food Research Limited in Palmerston North. He specialises in technoeconomic analysis, process optimisation, and decarbonisation strategies for the food industry. Syahmeer plays a key role in developing the Baking Global Technology Scan, applying his expertise in chemical engineering to inform strategic decision-making. Outside of work, he is a passionate squash player and a dedicated foodie.

How can commercial bakeries be more energy efficient and lower their carbon emissions?

EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority) aims to mobilise New Zealanders to be world leaders in clean and clever energy use. EECA’s sector decarbonisation programme provides tailored tools and resources to help commercial bakeries be more energy efficient and lower their carbon emissions.

Baking decarbonisation technologies are prominent in Europe and the US. EECA engaged Plant & Food Research Limited to undertake this technology scan looking at emerging technologies and innovation within the baking sector both locally and globally and defining how these could be applied within the New Zealand context.

An energy breakdown showed that baking is the processing step with the largest potential for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction. Scanning the baking process gave an understanding of the energy consumption at each stage of the processes, to see what is most energy intensive for different bakery products. Gas-fired ovens are the main emitter of greenhouse gasses in New Zealand bakeries, and energy loss is a large part of the consumption.

Each technology option was given a rank score from 2–50 based on energy savings/greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions against relative cost of investment. These scores were used to rate and compare the technology options. The technologies were also evaluated for future potential, with ratings projected for 2030 to provide a dynamic outlook. The year 2030 was chosen as a reference point, aligning with New Zealand’s target to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50% from 2005 levels.

The top technologies and practices recommended from the findings of this report include:

Process Technology

High Temperature Heat Pumps to recover and reuse low temperature heat: A robust decarbonisation solution by utilising waste heat from the production process.

Heat Recovery from Exhaust Gas: This technology provides higher greenhouse gas (GHG) savings compared to insulation upgrades, while remaining low-cost with a high Technology Readiness Level (TRL).

Heat Recovery

Dual Fuel Burners: This flexible option utilises natural gas now, with the capability to switch to electricity in the future.

Hydrogen Burners for Ovens: Future potential exists as infrastructure develops. Currently associated with high operational costs due to limited hydrogen production.

Fuel Switching

Oven Insulation Upgrades: An affordable and easy to implement solution but with minimal impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Exhaust fans with variable dampers: By optimising exhaust systems with variable dampers and adjusting fan drives, bakeries can reduce energy consumption and improve oven efficiency.

Process Scanning & Optimisation: A low-cost, high Technology Readiness Level (TRL) option, although it offers limited greenhouse gas (GHG) emission savings.

 

Sustainability for the Baking Industry – Food without Footprint

Saturday, March 29th, 2025

Roger Romsom and Rutger Drost, Royal Kaak

Roger Romsom has dedicated nearly 40 years to the food processing industry, with 27 of those years focused on bakery production lines at Royal Kaak. As the head of market development for the Asia and Oceania regions, he is constantly seeking innovative solutions to enhance bakery processes. With a background in mechanical engineering and extensive hands-on experience, his approach combines technical expertise with practical insight to drive efficiency and innovation.

Rutger Drost has 15 years of experience in the B2B food and pharmaceuticals industries, after starting his career as strategy consultant. He joined Royal Kaak 2 years ago and is responsible for global business development, with a strong focus on sustainability. Rutger has led the development of Royal Kaak’s energy and sustainability solutions for bakeries, and he works on partnerships with other machinery suppliers to the baking industry to expand Royal Kaak’s Silo-to-Truck proposition. Rutger has a background in business administration and focuses on turning business strategies into practical solutions.

Helping Bakeries Prepare for the Future

Sustainability is woven into Royal Kaak’s DNA, driving innovation in product development. They have ambitious goals to supply integrated production lines with no ecological footprint, aiming for CO2-neutral lines, production processes, and supply chains.

Roger emphasized the urgency of starting now, not waiting 20 years to change our mentality. New designs today will prepare us for the future.

The focus on energy efficiency and consumption across the industry is driven by climate change, increasing government regulations, limited fossil fuel supplies, and geopolitical tensions affecting energy supply and prices—challenges that hit bakeries hard. Kaak is exploring ways to make a difference and reduce costs and CO2 emissions specifically in bakeries.

Energy use accounts for a considerable part of a bakery’s footprint, with ovens taking 80% of that. Most bakeries rely on natural gas, and while there’s a willingness to electrify, it’s a significant investment. High electricity costs and grid congestion are other barriers that hold back bakeries. Will power be available as more people electrify, and how long will bakeries wait for a grid connection?

To reduce energy consumption and emissions while remaining competitive, Roger and Rutger suggest starting with simple energy savings: turn off equipment not in use, switch off fully rather than leaving on standby, optimize line capacity, reduce compressed air pressure, and set up automatic switching off of conveyor belts.

Such low hanging fruit energy savings can be identified by carefully analysing actual energy consumption. Kaak can scan equipment and conduct onsite assessments to identify energy savings opportunities with the oven, and across the entire line.

Long-term solutions are more structural, including options for electric and hybrid ovens, renewable energy generation (e.g., solar heat), and heat storage.

The green bakery of the future might feature a hybrid oven, renewable energy, a thermal buffer (heat battery storing heat, not electricity), and heat as a service (allowing ovens to run on the most economical energy source). Not relying on a single energy source is key.

When considering new equipment, it’s not just about the initial cost but also emissions and energy consumption. Consider current and future running costs as scenarios change.

Food waste and bread returns are also critical issues. Public awareness means bakeries will feel pressure to address these. Rutger and Roger outlined two potential solutions focused on production control: bake less, supplying 80% fresh and 20% frozen (with consistent quality), or deliver par-baked bread to be finished in supermarkets (again, maintaining high quality).

The path to a greener future requires changes in human behaviour to reduce food waste, the use of sustainable ingredients, and embracing sustainability in bakeries. Manufacturers like Royal Kaak and bakeries can work together to resolve issues, find opportunities and prepare for the future now.

 

Better energy management for bakers

Friday, March 28th, 2025

Presented as part of Technology Transfer Seminars 2025

Stacey Fellows, Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority (EECA)

Stacey Fellows is an energy efficiency and sustainability engineer with 20 years’ experience in the dairy manufacturing industry of Aotearoa. Stacey is a firm believer in energy efficiency first, which along with economic and environmental benefits, can reduce the need for energy infrastructure. Stacey is the manager of the Market Partnerships team at EECA (Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority), which includes the sector programme, and enjoys collaborating to action energy and carbon emission savings. Her son Henry is a passionate baker.

Energy efficiency makes sense – use this first says Stacey, then look at renewable energy to save money and the environment. So, what is energy efficiency? Energy efficiency means using less energy to make the same products and services. Energy efficiency is called the “first fuel” in clean energy transitions, as it provides some of the quickest and most cost-effective CO2mitigation options while lowering energy bills and strengthening energy security.

It is entirely possible to achieve good reductions in energy use over time, but you first need to see where your energy goes and to do this you have to think about the whole system, as well as your maintenance routine, not just equipment.

EECA supports bakeries to reduce energy related emissions with tailored tools and resources in collaboration with the industry. This aims to simplify the process of reducing individual business emissions through a guided pathway and support. The pathway connects New Zealand businesses with world-class innovation and best-practice guidance. The focus is on empowering energy users to control their energy use.

The benefits are clear: reduced costs, increased productivity, decreasing your business’s impact on the environment and driving customer interest. There is also the opportunity to future proof your business through collaborative, proactive solutions that can reduce competition for the same services, resources, and opportunities.

Stacey outlined the Five Step Energy Management Pathway for decarbonisation. It includes tailored resources for New Zealand commercial bakeries, enabling them to improve their energy efficiency, save costs, and reduce carbon emissions based on informed decision-making.

Engaging your staff to get excited about energy efficiency is the first step. They need to be part of your bakery’s decarbonisation journey. Measuring and accounting for your energy use is next, then set targets and track your performance. Optimising equipment and improving processes can generate big wins. EECA has a checklist you can use. Reduce your energy demand through new technology or upgrades to processes and carry out an energy scan.

Finally, if you’re thinking of switching to renewable energy, the final step, it’s important to reduce your demand first and then take a holistic approach to the energy mix that is most appropriate. Ensure you make informed decisions about fuel switching by doing the first four steps.

You can visit the EECA website for more information or email Sectordecarb@eeca.govt.nz with your questions.

Update on the Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme

Friday, March 28th, 2025

Presented as part of Technology Transfer Seminars 2025

Lyn Mayes, The Packaging Forum

Lyn Mayes established Mad World in 2001, to build networks and collaboration between the private sector, NGOs and local and central government to improve New Zealand’s environmental performance. She set up the Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme in 2015 for The Packaging Forum and is also sustainability advisor to the Food & Grocery Council. She is an external appointee to the Board of the Association of Metal Recyclers, a Board member of Be a Tidy Kiwi and immediate Past Chair of the Government appointed Auckland Conservation Board. Lyn was awarded a Kings Service Medal for services to conservation in the 2025 New Years Honours.

Innovation and diversification key to soft plastic recycling

We are approaching a decade of soft plastic recycling in New Zealand and bread bags make up 8% of what is collected from consumers. The bakery industry is playing a part in making it happen here, says Lyn, which is good news. But is our soft plastic recycling scheme sustainable? And what can we do to future proof it?

Soft plastic (plastic you can scrunch up into a ball) has no inherent value, so the scheme has to pay the cost of recycling and incentivise businesses to take on the risk of recycling soft plastics to make new products. A few figures to put it into context: In 2024, 737 tonnes of soft plastic was repurposed into posts. 87% of the population has access to soft plastic recycling.

Lyn emphasised the need to increase processing capacity – the scheme only collects what can be repurposed. They do not store it or export it. “We have to create demand. If people aren’t buying the products made from what we collect, the scheme will stop.” Innovation and diversification are key. Research into new and emerging technologies is needed to broaden the range of reprocessing options.

Convenience also needs to increase – kerbside recycling is not available at the moment but a trial underway in Nelson is proving that this would work through its incredible results – 3.48 tonnes after ten collection rounds (20 weeks) from only one thousand households! Change can also be driven by introducing mandatory producer responsibility for plastic packaging. By moving costs onto producers and with industry managing it, not councils, change may happen faster, but a mindset change is needed here first.