A reliable mark of quality

By PHILIPPA STEVENSON

agricultural editor

Tracking up to 70 ingredients in just one health food could be a nightmare but a new quality mark shows an Auckland company's systems are working more like a dream.

The chief executive of Unitech Industries, Geoff Hanham, says being able to break down each nutritional product into ingredients which can be tracked through the manufacturing process is crucial to the business of the 30-year-old, family-owned firm.

"Traceability is paramount in any system. It gives you the opportunity to deal with any situation that may arise. Without that in place you just don't know what status your product has."

Now the company has something to publicly demonstrate the substantial outlay on quality processes which Mr Hanham estimates cost 10 per cent of Unitech's $12 million annual turnover.

Unitech and the Timaru-based New Zealand Honey Producers' Cooperative, which produces market leader Holland's Honey, are the first companies to gain the newly launched AgriQuality New Zealand Assurance Mark.

A state-owned enterprise, AgriQuality was formerly part of MAF Quality Management. It verifies that each batch of Holland's honey can be traced to the hive of origin, and ensures that Unitech's sports product, ProActive Nutrition, is produced by approved safe methods and is true to label.

Unitech's Henderson plant, primarily a contract manufacturer for various exporters of dairy-based products including the Heinz Complan and Nurture range, has been a registered dairy factory under Dairy Act regulations for 15 years.

As well as being audited by the Ministry of Agriculture under the regulations it is also ISO9001 certified. Conforming to ISO standards alone required four new staff.

"We have invested big time in quality systems," Mr Hanham said.

For many years the only indication of that was an ad hoc system which involved using a MAF logo accompanied by a statement that the company had a MAF-approved product safety programme.

It was valuable in overseas markets which recognised only Government-affiliated testing. The AgriQuality mark was a step up, he said.

"I think they [AgriQuality] realised that their customers, having invested in their systems, needed some way of portraying the fact that they have these audited operations in place to differentiate themselves from those who don't."

Mr Hanham said that in time the mark might be recognised by consumers but for now he hoped it would provide a marketing edge with distributors and retailers.

Malcolm Linn, of AgriQuality's Assurance Services, said interest in the mark was high, with discussions under way with up to six significant companies.

"There is an increasing consumer demand for greater knowledge and certainty about food products both for export and in the domestic market."

He said his company could work alongside businesses to develop systems to support claims including of products being organically grown or free of genetic modifications.