Sustainable food manufacturing is becoming important to consumers.

Sustainable food manufacturing

Food manufacturers who respond effectively to climate change will have the advantage of being at the forefront of a new consumer trend - sustainably manufactured foods.

• 18 March 2010 | Updated 14 October 2011

• Long-term benefits
• CSIRO research and industry case studies
• Forum presentations
• An imperative

Sustainably manufactured foods are rapidly becoming as important to consumers as healthy, convenient, high quality and 'as-fresh' foods.

Sustainable food manufacturing minimises:

• the impact on the environment
• water use
• greenhouse gas emissions
• waste generation
• energy requirements.

Responding to increasingly environmentally-conscious consumers as well as reducing your environmental impact and your operational costs are just some of the benefits of sustainable manufacturing.

Long-term benefits

Other long-term benefits to sustainable manufacturing include:

• greater understanding of the threat to food security and the risks to your future supply chain
• improved management of your inputs and outputs through application of quantification tools such as Life Cycle Assessment
• development of sustainability strategies such as process control/optimisation and water minimisation/reuse strategies.

CSIRO research and industry case studies

The Sustainable food manufacturing forum was held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on 16 February 2010 where the latest research and case studies from CSIRO and industry were presented.

Professor Martin Cole, Chief of CSIRO Food and Nutritional Sciences, opened the forum and shared his insights on the topic from his recent five years in the USA.

Professor Cole also chaired an industry panel of experts to raise discussion on sustainable food manufacturing developments.

The panel session will assist CSIRO to generate future strategies in addressing the food security challenges that we face post-farm-gate.

The panel of experts comprised of:

• Dr Julian Cribb, editor of the Australian R&D Review and ScienceAlert.com.au
• Dr Sean O’Malley, Head of Technical Consulting for Planet Ark
• Mr John Webster, CEO of Food Bank
• Dr Roger Bektash, Director of Scientific Affairs, Mars Australia 
• Mr Tony Mahar, Director Sustainable Development, Australian Food and Grocery Council.

Forum presentations

Download the presentations made at the Sustainable food manufacturing forum, session by session, below.

Sustainable food manufacturing forum presentations: Session 1:

• Mr Jay Sellahewa (CSIRO), who leads CSIRO's program on Sustainable Food Processing
• Dr Steve Crimp, Stream Leader, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
• Dr Peter Carberry, Theme Leader, Sustainable Agriculture National Research Flagship
• Dr Roger Bektash, Director of Scientific Affairs, Mars Australia 
• Dr Brad Ridoutt, Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems.

Sustainable food manufacturing forum presentations: Session 2:

• Dr Manny Noakes, Research Program Leader and Co-author of the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet books, CSIRO Food and Nutritional Sciences
• Ms Peta Ashworth, Co-author of the CSIRO Home Energy Saving Handbook, CSIRO Earth Science and Resource Engineering
• Mr Tony Mahar, Director Sustainable Development, Australian Food and Grocery Council
• Dr Brad Ridoutt, Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems.

Sustainable food manufacturing forum presentations: Session 3:

• Anne-Marie Poirrier, NSW Department of Environment Climate Change and Water
• Dr Silvia Estrada-Flores, Food Chain Intelligence
• Dr Sean O'Malley, Head of Technical Consulting for Planet Ark
• Prof Julian Cribb, editor of the Australian R&D Review and ScienceAlert.com.au.
  

Sustainable food manufacturing forum presentations: Session 4: 

The speakers in were Mr Lloyd Higginbotham (CSIRO) and Kate Parker, Deputy State Director New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory, Enterprise Connect, who were followed by the panel.

An imperative

Changing consumer demands, increasing water scarcity and energy costs, tightening environmental legislative requirements and other climate change effects makes moving to adopt sustainable practices imperative for food manufacturers.

Read more about how CSIRO Food & Nutritional Sciences can help your business be part of more sustainable food manufacturing practice in Australia.