Food Production Pattern Changing

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30530, 27 August 1964, Page 8

Food Production Pattern Changing

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) DUNEDIN, Aug. 26.

■The production in New Zealand of a wide range of groceries marked the beginning of the end in economic colonialism in food production, the secretary of Industries' and Commerce, Dr. W. B. Sutch, told the fourth New Zealand Geography Conference at the University of Otago today. Consumers in other countries with high living standards would take fine foods as a matter of course, but in New Zealand these products had an added significance. “New Zealand produces excellent, fruit, vegetables, meats and fish. It has the best’ base therefore to supply high income markets with quality groceries,” said Dr' Sutch. “But this cannot happen without the work of the food technologist. New’ Zealand’s primary producers are well served by highly developed producer and marketing boards, by research institutions of various kinds and by the advisory agencies of Government departments. “At last New Zealand is be-

ginning to tackle the problem of education and research in the application of technology in the food processing industries.

“The D.S.I.R. has done some work in this field, but the establishment of a food technology department at Massey University betokens a change in pace. “The study of food enzymes —their chemical structure and practical applications—chemical additives and their relationship to health regulations, market psychology, quality control, the control of pests in food manufacturing plants, technical advances in packaging, the application of new methods of food treatment and preservation—all are the essence of getting food processing industries to the level at which the best use is made of the country’s food production resources,” said Dr. Sutch.