D.S.I.R. has twin role in Singapore

Press, 27 February 1986, Page 16

D.S.I.R. has twin role in Singapore

■ J.JWAffwrajondent V Singapore food pro. t&i ArtrawMHe for Asian i- F giving com- : Singapore the WWtalty to research x.j'Brrlfew Zealand palate P ron gs of an Jasovative move by the ©SIR. _• The head of the •D-SJ.R.’s first overseas office said that he was acting as a missionary in letting local companies know what technical research the department could do on food and horticultural products. Speaking on the eve of his first visit to Malaysia from the Singapore base the D.S.I.R. set up two months ago, Mr Norman Lodge said he had already had some very interested “feelers” from local interests.

“The interest is there,” he said. Some small contracts had been negotiated.

“But I am very cautious about saying what the future will hold,” he said. “We will be evaluating the operation in six months and again after a year to decide whether we should continue.”

The unprecedented move by the D.S.I.R. to set up a representative office in Singapore reflected the much closer involvement with industry attained during the last five years and the demands by the present Government for the department to become more commercially viable. The D.S.I.R. now had business managers and was working closely with small and large New Zealand companies in developing products, he said. "The things happening in the food area are getting more complex,” said Mr Lodge, a food scientist from the Auckland office of the Food and Processing Division of the D.S.I.R.

“If we can understand what’s happening in the market we can take advantage of it The idea of placing someone in the market is to get a better feel for what is going on.” Mr Lodge cited the example of work done by the department in Japan in helping New Zealand companies establish new products.

The involvement of technical people in the market had enabled new discoveries to be made,

he said. The D.SJ.R. had discovered the increasing emphasis placed by Japanese health authorities on the use of eisocosopentanoic acid, derived from fish oil, in certain products because they believed it contributed to longevity.

The authorities also encouraged the addition of calcium to drinks because they believed many people suffered from calcium deficiency. “It’s virtually impossible to undertake successful food research where the product is destined for an overseas market without close contact with the market,” he said.

One of the benefits of the D.S.I.R.’s new approach was that technical people were getting experience of the market environment “The difference is that before we were doing very fundamental research but now we are working closely with people in industry.

“We’re able to work with smaller companies and link the whole thing together.”

Mr Lodge has responsibility for a wide region,

including China, where the could build on already strong associations, Malaysia and other A.S.E.A.N. countries. He described the role of the food research and development centre as a two-way process, providing information to local and Association of SouthEast Asian Nations companies as well as to New Zealand companies based in Singapore and at home.

The centre is based in the Cold Storage Dairies premises built by the Dairy Board’s Singapore subsidiary before its merger last year with Cold Storage, Singapore. But Mr Lodge emphasised that while he had access to the facilities laboratory, the D.S.I.R. work was separate. “It’s very convenient,” he said. “But we are able to observe strict confidentiality in working for companies on an individual basis.

“At the moment my role is a missionary one here in letting people know who I represent and that I have the tremendous back-up and professionalism of the department in New Zealand behind me.”