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Food-e-News, July 2009

  1. Entries closing soon for Premier's Food Awards
  2. Riverland impresses interstate buyers
  3. Food and wine tourism strategy released
  4. Facility to give local foodies the edge
  5. Experience Kangaroo Island at the Food & Wine Awards
  6. Aquaculture starring in new DVD
  7. New food labelling guide
  8. Food Talk's Winter issue is out now
  9. Food imports – does SA compete?
  10. Kytons Lamingtons judged best in Australia...again!
  11. Get data the easy way

Entries closing soon for Premier's Food Awards

Do you want to increase your business profile, increase media and brand recognition, evaluate your business and receive recognition for your hard work and business excellence? If your answer is yes and you are eligible, then create some magic and enter one of the many categories in The Twelfth Annual South Australian Premier’s Food Awards. Applications close 31 July 2009 so there are a few more weeks to get your entries in. Through the application process, entrants gain important insight into how their businesses are operating. Each winner will receive $750 towards business development; a stand at a local industry trade show or exhibition, a framed certificate and exclusive use of the prestigious Premier’s Food Awards winner brand. Winners will be announced at the glittering Awards presentation gala dinner at the Adelaide Convention Centre on Friday 6 November 2009. For further details visit www.safoodawards.com.au

Want more information?

Sue Rogers
SA Food Centre
p +61 8 8226 0468
e pirsa.safoodawards@saugov.sa.gov.au

Riverland impresses interstate buyers

Flavour SA hosted five buyers on a visit to the Riverland to meet food businesses interested in growing sales interstate. Buyers from Botany Foods, Marketboomer, Centra Fine Foods and Australian Culinary Foods attended a showcase of products, held at Banrock Station. The buyers were impressed by the quality of products on display and the enthusiasm of the suppliers. A dinner was also held at the Renmark Club where a regional menu highlighted many of the regions delicious foods, including platters of local dried fruit, almonds, mettwurst, olives and pesto served with woodoven bread. Businesses taking part were Backyard Bread, The Kumquatery, Ausnat Fruits, Illalangi, Riverland Smallgoods, Australian Native Bushfoods & Waikerie Growers.

For more information:

Catherine Barnett
Flavour SA
p +61 8 8431 7131
e contact@flavoursa.com.au

Food and wine tourism strategy released

The SA Food and Wine Tourism Strategy 2009-2014, prepared by the Wine and Food Tourism Working Group is now available. The strategy will ensure South Australia’s strengths in food and wine tourism maintain a leading position in the face of increasingly strong competition from other states. In addition, marketing opportunities common to both the food and wine sectors have been identified and are detailed in the Food and Wine Industry Prospectus 2009-10.

SA Food and Wine Tourism Strategy 2009-2014 (pdf, 640KB)
Food and Wine Industry Prospectus (pdf, 30KB)

For more information:

Brooke Modra
Tourism SA
p +61 8 8463 4646
e brooke.modra@tourism.sa.com

Facility to give local foodies the edge

South Australian technical consultant Provisor has recently built a leading edge sensory facility that offers unbiased sensory evaluation capabilities for the food and wine industry. The facility is unique in South Australia in its approach to offering independent sensory testing on a completely commercial basis for all types of foods and beverages. It supports businesses wishing to improve the performance of their products and processes and better understand their consumers. Sensory analysis tools can also be used to promote South Australia’s diverse mix of food and wine by highlighting unique regional flavours. A vital feature of the sophisticated facility is a series of individual tasting booths with controlled lighting and computerised data collection. Highly trained tasters use these booths to evaluate and record the products put before them in terms of aroma, taste and mouthfeel.

Want to know more?

Briony Liebich
Provisor
p +61 8 8338 3668
e briony@provisor.com.au
w www.provisor.com.au

Experience Kangaroo Island at the Food & Wine Awards

The Kangaroo Island Food & Wine Experience Awards are nearly finished for 2009, with judging closing Tuesday 30 June 2009. The inaugural celebration and announcement of winners will be Saturday 8 August 2009 at a special presentation dinner at the Aurora Ozone Hotel. Categories which will be awarded are; Best Kangaroo Island Menu, Best Kangaroo Island Wine List, Best Customer Service, Ultimate Dining Experience, Ultimate Kangaroo Island Producers Food or Wine Experience and Kangaroo Island Producers Ambassador Award. John Riddell from Channel Seven will be the master of ceremonies for the evening, local artist Scott Ellson will provide the entertainment and Nathan Johnson, Executive Sous Chef at Hilton Adelaide will be the guest speaker. Tickets are $90 per person and bookings can be made to the Kangaroo Island Development Board.

Kangaroo Island Food & Wine Experience Awards poster (pdf, 795kb)

Want more information?

Penny Nemeth
Kangaroo Island Development Board
p 0400 333 107
e penny1@adam.com.au

Aquaculture starring in new DVD

South Australia’s diverse and picturesque aquaculture industry is starring in a new DVD. An initiative of the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) and PIRSA Aquaculture, the six minute DVD is a visual journey of what South Australia’s aquaculture industry has to offer. The DVD includes cooking segments and voice-overs in four different languages, including English, Spanish, French and Chinese. It also touches on the research and management controls that make our aquaculture industry one of the most sustainable in the world. The DVD is being sent to chefs in France and other European distributors and will be a great tool to assist European chefs become familiar with SA’s produce, see the environment where it’s grown and examples of how it can be used in recipes. The DVD will also be available for purchase as a promotional tool for other SA aquaculture businesses.

Want more details?

PIRSA Aquaculture
p +61 8 8226 0314
w www.pir.sa.gov.au/aquaculture

New food labelling guide

A new, Food Labelling Guide to help businesses in the food and beverage industry comply with labelling, packaging and advertising regulations under the Trade Practices Act 1974 was recently released. Developed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the Food Labelling Guide aims to educate food and grocery manufacturers about the laws as well as the correct guidelines for making claims or representations on food or beverage labels, packages or advertisements. The easy to follow guide spells out the penalties for breaches and highlights some of the manufacturers’ obligations under Australian law as well as a useful checklist to help companies avoid breaching the Act.

Food Labelling guide (pdf, 273kb)

Want more information?

ACCC Adelaide Office
p +61 8 8213 3444
w www.accc.gov.au

Food Talk's Winter issue is out now

There's a chill in the air as we start to get out our winter scarves and coats. Why not grab a steaming hot drink and take time out to read this edition of Food Talk? Shaping our state's olive industry is Lisa Rowntree from the Limestone Coast and this issue, she is the Face of food. The issue also travels to the Clare Valley where Ruradene's free range egg business is definitely on the right track and Evilo Estate olive oil is bringing a little touch of Italy to the region. The SA Food Centre also highlights how they are helping businesses in the area of new product development. Other stories include an inside industry look at pork, we meet the new Minister and catch up with AlmondCo, Bushmin Farmed Rabbits and Limestone Coast Food.

Food Talk, Winter 2009 (Issue 31) (pdf, 578kb)

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Submit your contact details via the subscription form

Food imports – does SA compete?

South Australia produces high quality food, which is often more expensive than imported products. However businesses are maximising their returns by focussing on producing products for consumers that value their products, in domestic and export markets, rather than trying to compete domestically with low value import products. As a result the value of international food imports is increasing. In the year to April 2009, Australia’s food imports totalled $8.17 billion, 16% higher than the previous 12 months. In 2007/08 imports rose 9%, which follows rises of 16% in 06/07 and 5% in 05/06. Less than 15% of South Australia’s food consumption comes from international imports. While the value of imports is rising, so is the value of South Australian food production. The PIRSA Scorecard shows that in 2007/08 the wholesale value of South Australian food rose 9% and the net revenue of the SA food industry rose 17%, both more than the increase in imports. Imports do compete with some Australian products in the domestic market, but South Australia, and Australia as a whole, are net exporters of food. Australian food exports were worth $19.3 billion in 2007/08, more than double the value of imports.

Want to know more?

Matthew Palmer
SA Food Centre
p +61 8 8226 1919
e palmer.matthew2@saugov.sa.gov.au

Kytons Lamingtons judged best in Australia...again!

A lamington that is consistantly soft and fluffy, coated with delicious chocolate and reminds people of the ones Nana used to make. That’s the secret to Kytons Lamingtons’s taking out first prize in the National Baking Award for the second year in a row. Their lamington drives have been an institution amongst schools and community groups for over 20 years in South Australia. These award winning lamingtons are now also available in selected Foodlands or directly from Kytons Bakery at Edwardstown. Kytons will launch its fundraising drives into the Melbourne market in July, so the win has been timely according to Kytons owner Sharon Sutton “to be able to expand our successful fundraising business interstate with the title ‘Australia’s Best Lamingtons’ is a great marketing tool and just fantastic for a South Australian company”.

For more details:

Sharon Sutton
Kytons Bakery
p +61 8 8177 0156
e lamington@kytonsbakery.com.au

Get data the easy way

The Department of Trade and Economic Development have just released Easy Data, an online enquiry tool to help you make easy decisions. Easy Data provides the ability to search for social, economical and environmental indicators which are available at state, regional and local government levels. You are then able to produce reports based on your selected indicators, with easy to use graphs and charts. The data comes from a variety of sources, including the ABS and various government departments.

Want to gain Easy Data?

Visit www.southaustralia.biz/EasyData/