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Increasing food waste, natural resource depletion, and climate change issues have forced plastic food packaging (PFP) companies to align their business strategies with sustainability aspects. At the same time, however, companies operating in the food packaging industry continue to face tensions while pursuing divergent sustainability goals simultaneously. Drawing on paradox theory, this study aims to examine paradoxical sustainability tensions in the PFP industry and propose potential resolution strategies to resolve diverse tensions arising from addressing competing social, economic, and environmental concerns simultaneously. To this end, we employed a qualitative research methodology and interviewed 15 senior corporate managers and consultants in the PFP industry. Based on the empirical data, we develop categories of sustainability tensions related to operations and supply chain, recycling, and external stakeholders associated with performing, organizing, learning, and belonging paradoxes. Further, we propose resolution strategies including multi‐stakeholder collaboration, research and innovation, circular economy, and use of integrated business strategies which are aligned with the acceptance, spatial separation, temporal separation, and synthesis approaches of the paradox theory. To the best of our knowledge, it is one of the early studies that embrace a paradox lens to investigate the sustainability tensions and resolution strategies in the PFP industry. Further, the study results could guide practitioners and policymakers in the PFP industry to comprehend underlying paradoxical sustainability tensions and promote resolution strategies to address divergent yet desirable economic, social, and environmental considerations simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a conceptual model, identifying the factors that impact the supply chain commercialisation of active and intelligent packaging across various food product types. The model was derived from interviews conducted with marketing and technical personnel across various food exporters, packaging manufacturers, relevant government agents and industry bodies with global perspectives based in New Zealand. The conceptual model theorises the relationships among the macro, sector and business factors that characterise an organisation, the perceived benefits of commercialising active or intelligent packaging, and the perceived barriers preventing commercialisation. Interactions between commercialising active and intelligent packaging and needing to meet packaging sustainability objectives were also identified. Developers of active and intelligent packaging can utilise the findings of this research to prioritise and refine their innovations better to suit the industry's needs within a sustainability framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nutrition is recognized as one of the leading factors influencing the growing incidence of noncommunicable diseases. Despite society experiencing a global rise in obesity, specific populations remain at risk of nutrient deficiencies. The food industry can use health claims to inform consumers about the health benefits of foods through labeling and the broader promotion of specific food products. As health claims are carefully regulated in many countries, their use is limited due to considerable investments required to fulfill the regulatory requirement. Although health claims represent a driving force for innovation in the food industry, the risk of misleading of consumers need to be avoided. The health claim scientific substantiation process must be efficient and transparent in order to meet the needs of companies in the global market, but should be based on strong scientific evidence and plausible mechanisms of actions, to ensure highest level of consumer protection. The objective of this review is to compare the possibilities for using health claims on foods in the European Union, the USA, Canada, and Australia and New Zealand. In particular, we focused on differences in the classification of claims, on the scientific substantiation processes and requirements for health claims use on foods in the selected regions. Reduction of disease risk (RDR) claims are associated with relatively similar procedures and conditions for use, whereas several notable differences were identified for other types of claims. In all cases, RDR claims must be approved prior their introduction to the market, and only a few such claims have been authorized. Much greater differences were observed concerning other types of claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizens of Australia and New Zealand recognise that food security is a major global issue. Food security also affects Australia and New Zealand's status as premier food exporting nations and the health and wellbeing of the Australasian population. Australia is uniquely positioned to help build a resilient food value chain and support programs aimed at addressing existing and emerging food security challenges. The Australian food governance system is fragmented and less transparent, being largely in the hands of government and semi-governmental regulatory authorities. The high level of consumer trust in Australian food governance suggests that this may be habitual and taken for granted, arising from a lack of negative experiences of food safety. In New Zealand the Ministry of Primary Industries regulates food safety issues. To improve trade and food safety, New Zealand and Australia work together through Food Standards Australia New Zealand ( FSANZ) and other co-operative agreements. Although the potential risks to the food supply are dynamic and constantly changing, the demand, requirement and supply for providing safe food remains firm. The Australasian food industry will need to continually develop its system that supports the food safety program with the help of scientific investigations that underpin the assurance of what is and is not safe. The incorporation of a comprehensive and validated food safety program is one of the total quality management systems that will ensure that all areas of potential problems are being addressed by industry. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lessons learned from over 20 years of obesity prevention efforts in Australia and New Zealand are presented. The obesity epidemic started in the 1980s but poor monitoring systems meant the rise in obesity prevalence initially went undetected. In the 1990s, experts started advocating for government action; however, it was the rapid increase in media reports on obesity in the early 2000s which created the pressure for action. Several, comprehensive reports produced some programme investment but no regulatory policies were implemented. The powerful food industry lobby ensured this lack of policies on front-of-pack food labelling, restrictions on unhealthy food marketing to children, or taxes on unhealthy foods. The New Zealand government even backpedalled by rescinding healthy school food guidelines and withdrawing funding for the comprehensive national obesity strategy. In 2007, Australian Governments started a major long term-investment in preventive health in order to improve economic productivity. Other positive initiatives, especially in Australia, were: the establishment of several advocacy organizations; successful, long-term, whole-of-community projects reducing childhood obesity; a national knowledge exchange system for practitioners; and some innovative programmes and social marketing. However, despite multiple reports and strong advocacy, key recommended regulatory policies remain unimplemented, largely due to the private sector interests dominating public policy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issue addressed: Front-of-pack (FOP) labels are identified as a way to encourage healthy food choices and good nutrition, factors critical in promoting health. New Zealand and Australia are currently considering policy on front-of-pack labels. This research aimed to identify the challenges associated with implementing a front-of-pack nutrition labelling policy in New Zealand and with designing research to determine its likely effect. Methods: A strategic sample of key stakeholders with knowledge of food labelling from New Zealand and Australia participated in the research. The 17 participants included five food industry representatives, six policy makers, and six representatives of non-governmental organisations. Results: Several key themes emerged including support for front-of-pack labels from key food industry, policy and NGO stakeholders because of potential for better informed consumers, changes in consumer behaviour and reduction in chronic disease. Barriers to front-of-pack labelling included limited evidence upon which to make decisions, lack of agreement on the label format, and the clash of values between 'profit driven' industry and public health. There is a high level of agreement about the need for real-life research on the effectiveness of FOP labelling. Conclusions: The introduction of consistent, comprehensive front-of-pack nutrition labelling in New Zealand has the potential to assist in the effort to promote healthy eating. This research suggests agreement on front-of-pack labels may not be easy to achieve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The commercial success of genetically modified (GM) food may be improved with appropriately targeted marketing. To that end, data from a survey of supermarket shoppers in New Zealand were analysed with a cluster analysis. A six-cluster solution found three clusters with positive intentions to purchase GM apples and three clusters with negative intentions. Positive intentions appeared to result from either price sensitivity or a desire to obtain a premium product. Negative intentions were especially strong in one cluster but appeared to be partially counteracted in two other clusters by offering respondents a specific benefit from gene technology. These results suggest that GM food may benefit from appropriate marketing to specific consumer segments. [EconLit classification: D120, M310]. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Agribusiness 23: 567–582, 2007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Australia and New Zealand are currently preparing a new food standard code, which will allow the use of health claims on food products and in associated advertising. The aim of the present study was to obtain preliminary information about the current use of health claims on the Internet and the level of compliance of these claims with existing regulations. Methods: From August to October 2005 a survey was conducted of 1068 websites associated with the top 20 food-processing companies in Australia, and an additional 683 websites for food products found to carry health claims in previous studies of product labels and magazine advertisements. The results were compared with those from a 2003 survey of health claims on the labels of 7850 products. Results: The survey found that 14.5% of food product websites carried a health claim, and 40.7% and 37.0% of products previously identified as carrying claims on product labels or in magazines, respectively, had Internet claims. Of claims 21.4% were located directly on the food product webpage, but the majority (78.6%) were on associated links within the manufacturer’s website. Many of the claims (19.7%) were high-level or therapeutic claims not permitted by current food standards. Conclusions: Health claims are not being made more frequently on websites compared with product labels, but there is a greater prevalence of high-level and therapeutic claims made on the Internet. In future, food standards enforcement will need to give greater priority to monitoring the use of health claims on the Internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the misrepresentation of Australasian meat in Britain, 1890–1914. Using contemporary official analyses of this practice, we investigate the alleged economic consequences for Australasian and British farmers and British consumers and discuss evidence of the extent of this misrepresentation. The need to secure ‘honest trade’ by compulsory marking of imported meat was the principal recommendation of several official enquiries. However, support for the legislative measures proposed to eradicate misrepresentation was far from unanimous. Overall, the evidence suggests that misrepresentation was not as serious in extent or consequence, as some contemporaries feared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exporting organic produce from New Zealand is a response to the ongoing breakdown of Fordist regulatory measures for agriculture in destination markets. The unambiguous neoliberal revolution in New Zealand has survived only through the expansion of food exports, especially by large corporate entities and producer marketing boards. It has also rendered the country's exporters of food products particularly sensitive to the trade and agricultural policies of the United States, Japan. and the European Unions. Some commentators consider New Zealands's experiment in agricultural deregulation indicative of a wider coherence in global food trade, a new stability institutionalized in the Uruguay Round of the GATT and regulated under the auspices of the World Trade Organization. The case of organic and low-input food exporting from New Zealand shows that no such "new times" exist. Rather, these new types of food exporting are crisis experiments induced by green protectionism--the use of health and food safety issues as an impediment to trade. In turn, green protectionism is a direct result of the continuing breakdown of Fordist agricultural regulation in key nations: the global trade in food products remains in crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on processes of agrifood restructuring in Australia and New Zealand. The author analyzes the roles and relationships of the agrifood industries in the Australasia region during a period of major change. The researchers were drawn from a wide range of disciplines, but shared a common interest in the analysis of agricultural change and the impacts of current transformations at a number of levels, global, regional, and local. Unlike the United States, with its land grant colleges and freestanding departments of rural sociology, Australia and New Zealand have put only limited resources into rural-based sociological research, concentrating instead on extension and agricultural economics. The former has gone through a crisis of identity and is much reduced force in an increasingly privatized, "user-pays" environment, while the latter is generally an extremely conservative disciple, marked by theoretical rigidity, which continues to leave people and social relations out of its mathematical models.

Washed and unwashed fish minces were prepared from hoki that had been stored in ice. Gels were formed from the minces, cooked at both 60°C and 90°C and assessed by puncture, torsion and a folding test method. The strength of the gels decreased as the fish were stored. However, after 10 days, the strength of gels made from hoki minces still compared favorably with gels made from other commercial fish species without storage. This suggests that manufacture of hoki surimi on-shore may be practical. Fish freshness as evaluated by sensory methods was closely related to the K value and gel strength. Hence K values might provide the basis of a raw material quality control system for an on-shore surimi plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]