The AgriChain Centre has had a long association with United Fresh, the pan industry association of the New Zealand produce industry. It goes back to 1992 when Hans Maurer was a founding member of the organisation. Since 2008 Hans has been the Knowledge Representative on the organisation’s Executive Committee. Hans also chairs the United Fresh Technical Advisory Group, which evolved from United Fresh’s initial efforts in the Food Safety & Traceability area.
The AgriChain Centre resources the United Fresh Technical Advisory Group, with the group currently engaged in the following areas:
The domestic and export fresh produce industries are intrinsically linked. The emergence of any new pest threatening horticultural exports impacts on the domestic produce industries ability to effectively and efficiently distribute produce as inevitably MPI will introduce regulatory movement restrictions. An inability to control or eradicate any pest creates further strategic implications.
United Fresh’s Biosecurity work with The AgriChain Centre can be found here.
Consumers want safe food. Regulators and retailers hold producers and distributors accountable for providing safe food, and all parties involved understand the need for this. United Fresh members’ interest lies in maintaining and increasing consumption of fresh produce. This interest is compromised every time a fruit or vegetable product is pointed at, or identified, in a food safety incident.
Food safety and traceability therefore go hand in hand. We have separated these for the purposes of our reporting, as food safety is paramount on any day, regardless of what traceability methodologies are being used. Yet whilst this operational separation is in place, new technologies related to traceability are challenging how food safety requirements will in future be managed.
See some of the latest United Fresh Food Food Safety updates here.
The produce industry has an intrinsic appreciation for Sustainability. There is a general understanding that we can do better, and that we must do better.
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a global framework for global challenges, including poverty, hunger, inequality, the environment, peace, and justice, to which the New Zealand government has committed the country. United Fresh has adopted the SDGs, as the whole of industry sustainability framework. Prioritising these goals is the starting point for our industry’s sustainability journey.
Our work in this sustainability includes the SDGs, as well as environmental, societial, and governance related sustainability.
Read more about our work with United Fresh on Sustainability here.
Compliance & Regulation matters are not new and unfortunately, this topic area is unlikely to go away, with existing legislation and regulations being repealed, updated, expanded, and complemented with additional Compliance & Regulation frameworks on an ongoing basis. Compliance, and compliance with regulations, is being demanded by customers, suppliers, consumers, and the government, all with varying requirements. Our work in this area includes working on guidelines for industry on topics such as traceability, health & safety, crates & pallets, weights & measures, and standards.
Fresh Facts is a booklet produced by the TAG team, providing valuable data, insights, and research focused on New Zealand's produce industry. It covers various aspects of the fresh produce value chain, including domestic & export volumes, values, hectares (ha), and orchard gate returns wholesale & retail data, as well as information about service providers. It includes companion documents, graphs, and tables. Fresh Facts is a valuable resource for insights, aiding informed decisions, benchmarking, strategic planning, as an educational tool, offers convenient access in its pocket-sized format, and includes service provider details to foster industry networking.
From time to time, various government departments, standards bodies, or relevant organisations may request information or submissions on areas of legislation, regulation, or standards, that affect United Fresh members. These requests may cover one or more of the areas that TAG has expertise in.
When a request is made, TAG responds in the format requested and provides the requestor the information with the industry’s views of the impacts and consequences of the legislation, regulation, or standard being considered. This hopefully contributes to informed decision making, on legislation, regulations, and standards, that may affect the produce industry directly or indirectly.
The International Federation for Produce Standards (IFPS) emerged when national produce associations in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand realised that there was an urgent need to standardise the use of Produce Look Up (PLU) numbers on a global basis. Today, membership includes countries as diverse as Chile, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Norway. IFPS’s engagement has also broadened, and now includes Information Management & Standardisation, Sustainability, and Food Safety. New Zealand is a founding member.
Hans chairs the Information Management and Standardisation Committee, while Anne-Marie Arts and Jacob Lawes are respectively the New Zealand representatives on the Food Safety and Sustainability Committees.
Please check out the United Fresh website for more detailed information on the work of the Technical Advisory Group.
For more information, please contact us, or freephone 0800 24 74 24.
