Potato News from Oceania

TNA introduces the TNA Intelli-flav® 2 flavouring system for flavoured products as a completely integrated component of the new TNA Roflo® 3 gateless and fully reversible transfer and distribution conveyors for the snack food industry. The TNA Intelli-...

Simplot Australia announced today it is to enter the Australasian ready meals market through a combined license and acquisition arrangement with Nestlé Australia. Simplot Australia will licence the leading frozen meals brand Lean Cuisine and Maggi fr...

Australian potato growers are fuming at Woolworths' importation of its "home brand"french fries from the Netherlands. A grower, who did not wish to be named, said Woolworths was "notorious"for overlooking Australian growers to sourc...

In a report published today, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has shown that intake of trans fatty acids (TFAs) from manufactured sources has declined in the Australian and New Zealand population by 25-40% since 2007. FSANZ Chief Scientist...

Ballarat region potato farmers have slashed the amount of seed they will sow this week because of a drop in demand. McCain Foods (Australia) has reduced the quota it will take from growers after next year's harvest and will pay them about $35 less pe...

The full effect of tomato and potato psyllids, a plant disease that damages potato and tomato plants is beginning to be understood and the news is not good.Potato growers around Hawke’s Bay abandoned hectares of failed crops this year, not bothering t...

Sultry Sally has re-launched its low fat potato chip in a lower fat version.After extensive consultation with consumers, Sultry Sally's new chip claims to have seven to eight times less fat than a normal potato chip.The new formula chips are marketed a...

McCain Foods today announced the opening of a new cold-store facility built at a cost of NZ $6 million dollars in Hastings, New Zealand. The 1800 square metre cold store, which was designed to McCain Foods global standards, has the capacity to store u...

A new strain of bacterial potato wilt has reduced interstate markets for some Far North Queensland growers. The disease, which has been found in small patches at Tolga and on parts of the Atherton Tablelands, will prevent growers within a 20-kilometr...

The search for New Zealand’s top chip shop kicks off this month, with registrations opening for shops wanting to take part in the ‘That’s Life! Best Chip Shop Competition 2009’. This year, competing shops can gain extra points in the Competition if at ...

Upgrades in technology and changes in contracts may see the axe fall on a number of workers at McCain Foods Ltd in Washdyke, Timaru.While management at the plant, or its Australian-based head office, were not able to be contacted yesterday, The Timaru ...

Tasmania produces an extensive range of fresh and processed vegetables. As the highest value vegetable produced in the state, the potato is considered the backbone of the Tasmanian vegetable industry. With a farmgate value of $82.5 million, the potato...

AUSPACK 2009, a biennial packaging and processing machinery, materials and associated technology exhibition, opened at Sydney Showgrounds, Sydney Olympic Park. On display will be Odenberg Engineering who manufactures the Titan range of quality grading...

About 230 growers will be paid AUS$310-330 per tonne. That is $6 less per tonne of Russet Burbank potatoes and $9 less per tonne of other varieties. Grower Nathan Richardson is glad to finalise a deal and says Simplot has agreed to buy any potatoes ...

FSANZ says the majority of Australian adults are not exceeding its recommended maximum daily salt intake, following media reports that claim some Australians could be consuming 40g of salt a day – almost seven times the recommended max.Salt (sodium chl...

"We really don't know much about it. It is a very new pest here."Terry Olsen - Horticulture New Zealand's Potato Group chairman on the potato psyllid.The jury is still out on the impact the pest, the potato psyllid, will have on crop yields.T...

Thousands of tonnes of Tasmanian potatoes may have to be dumped, because of falling demand for potato chips (french fries).Potatoes are being harvested now, but vegetable processor Simplot has told farmers it's oversupplied, and can't buy their surplus...

The humble spud is on a roll. After years of languishing behind the greens on the back of the dinner plate, it shouldered its way into the candlelight last year when the United Nations designated 2008 the year of the potato. Now, just a few months in...