Media

Bakers burned by new demand

Nelson Mail | By Naomi Arnold | 9 July 2009

Some Nelson bakers are irate they're being forced to medicate customers by having to add folic acid to bread under new government regulations.

From this September, all bakers in New Zealand will be legally required to fortify their bread with folic acid, a vitamin which helps prevent neural-tube defects including spina bifida.

"It's really crazy," said Wakefield's Glendenings Bakery owner, David Bell.

"There's such controversy over it. I don't think it's necessary and there's another record-keeping component that we have to do that just adds to the cost rather than improving the product. Our compliance costs are already far too high."

He believed a lot of money would be "wasted" targeting women who were pregnant or trying to get pregnant, who represented a small fraction of the general bread-buying population.

"I think it's just ridiculous," said Nelson's Tozzetti Panetteria owner, Wendy Brett.

"Because we're a small handcraft bakery we start our bread from scratch with flour and water. They should put it in the flour before we get it, otherwise you're relying on people to measure it precisely. At least if you put too much flour in you can just add more water, but this just leaves it open for people to make mistakes.

"We're not for it at all."

The regulation, led by Food Standards Australia New Zealand, excludes organic bread and non-yeast leavened breads such as sourdough and flatbread. All other bread must contain around 140 micrograms of folic acid for every 100 grams of bread, which is about two or three slices. Australia will fortify the flour directly, while New Zealand will add folic acid during the bread-making process.

The Ministry of Health recommends women take 400mg of folic acid daily in the month before conception and during the first three months of pregnancy to prevent neural-tube defects.

New Zealand Association of Bakers president Laurie Powell said the plan was "bad science that defied logic" and women would have to eat 11 slices of bread a day to get any benefit.

"We don't think it'll work because no lady is going to eat that. We do not believe that bread should be used as a vehicle for medication and the public don't want that." A 2005 New Zealand Food Safety Authority market research survey showed 84 per cent of New Zealanders did not want mandatory folic acid added to their bread.

Mr Bell said while he did not expect the addition of folic acid to have an effect on his sales, he was considering offering an organic range and more sourdough bread to cater for those who did not want it.

Food Safety Minister Kate Wilkinson said she wasn't a fan of the regulation either, but National had inherited the food standard from when Labour was in power: "It is a joint food standard with Australia that we cannot unilaterally withdraw from."

She said she sympathised with the bakers, and the Government was "working out" what it could do within the joint regime, but there was a long process to amend or withdraw joint food standards.

Labour Health spokeswoman Ruth Dyson said her party was pleased the Government was going through with the introduction: "Folate occurs naturally in grains but is extracted during the bread-making process.

"Folate fortification simply puts it back."

Gold Medal Win

Wakefield Village News | July 2009

Glendenings Bakery are celebrating a gold medal win last month by one of their staff, Ellie Harris.

Ellie is currently studying for a certificate in cooking at NMIT. Two months ago, students were offered the opportunity to compete at the Salon Competition Culinaire at CPIT in Christchurch. Ellie said, "I chose to concoct a vegetarian main course, which was a Tomato, Zucchini and Polenta Stack with a spicy capsicum sauce." With lots of layers and the bright colours of the vegetables, the dish had great visual appeal.

Ellie fine tuned the dish by practicing it 6 or 7 times in the NMIT kitchens to make sure she was confident preparing it in the allocated time under the scrutiny of the judges.

When it was her time to compete in her category, she said that she was really nervous, but once she got started she calmed down and focused on the task at hand. "From my practice runs, I knew what to do and that there was no spare time to panic." The judges scrutinized the whole process very closely, gauging contestants≠ cooking technique, hygiene practices and preparation of their dishes. Ellie just made it, plating up her dish in the very last minute.

Her efforts paid off with her taking out the gold medal in the open trainee class. She was rapt with the result and said, "it was a fantastic opportunity to see others in action. There were some amazing dishes being created and the public could watch the process."

Over 100 cooks and chefs from all over the South Island competed in the competition. The seven students from NMIT who travelled to Christchurch brought back a haul of two golds, two silvers and a bronze.

Ellie said that although it was a lot of hard work she would definitely compete again. She plans to continue on with her study but wants to take a year out working in a professional kitchen to consolidate her skills thus far.

She has worked for Glendenings for the last three years and she said that this helped her become familiar with equipment common in a commercial kitchen. She said, "It has been great to apply the skills and practices I have learned straight into my work environment".

David Bell, Glendenings' owner said, "Ellie is gifted in her presentation of everything she makes in the bakery. She has high standards and plays an important role in our business. We are very proud of her achievement and congratulate her on her win".

Butter takes the biscuit at home and away

The Nelson Mail | Thursday, 03 July 2008

A Wakefield couple are taking the buttery taste of Kiwi shortbread to the Chinese. Naomi Mitchell reports.

Whether it is served with tea or eaten alone, shortbread is a fantastic way to savour the taste of Kiwi butter.

Wakefield couple David and Rita Bell have been serving up old-fashioned Kiwi shortbread since they bought Glendenings Bakery in Wakefield three years ago, and now many of their customers are thousands of kilometres away in Asia.

Read the full Nelson Mail article here.

Chinese New Zealand & Epicure Magazine

Glendenings' shortbread was recently featured in the high quality Chinese food magazine, "New Zealand & Epicure" Magazine

Click here to see a larger image.