FoodNZ - our first issue

FoodNZ is a bi monthly magazine for the NZ Institute of Food Science and Technology (NZIFST). And our first issue as Editors & Design is out now!
It is chokka full of food industry information to help do business better; ingredient options, trends, regulatory updates. It also gives summaries of seminars and celebrates members. There is a lot (a LOT) of content to get through when editing, sections to plan, eyes to dot, and tees to cross. But is it fun. And interesting at the same time.

Here are five things we learnt while putting this issue together:

1. For very cool packaging innovation, look to Japan. Focussed on inclusivity, they have braille on top of cans of alcoholic beverages, to indicate to visually impaired they are choosing a product with alcohol.

2. Ciguatera, is not a misspelt Italian coastal walkway. It is a type of food poisoning you might get from eating tropical reef fish contaminated with ciguatoxins. One of the weird symptoms is temperature inversion - i.e. hot feels cold and vice versa.

3. What happens when a switched-on lawyer can grasp the concepts of microbiological food safety AND write about it in plain English? Well let’s just say this one is a sobering and fascinating read about settlements for victims of foodbourne illness suffering horrific consequences. It also highlights why many aspects of food processing are downright essential for our own protection.

4. This year food and flavour mash ups are predicted to be a defining trend with international flavour fusions in familiar foods. Flavours ripe for a mash up include: cherry, chilli, churro, pistachio, limoncello, hibiscus, lavender, peach, rose, sweetcorn and maple.... maybe not all together.

5. The cost of completing a new National Nutrition Survey is estimated to be comparable to the cost involved in installing one new small to medium-sized roundabout.

You might now ponder that every time you approach a roundabout. You're welcome.