When the restaurant scene is in the crosshairs: ‘The South Island needs more foodstuff’

When the South Island has been hit hard by the food supply shortage, the South’s food industry is often at the centre of the discussion.

Foodstuffs South Island says it needs to do more to address the issue.

In its latest report to the New Zealand Parliament, Foodstuffs said it was “trying to keep up with the changing needs of South Island consumers” and said it needed to “get on top of the supply chain issues in order to stay competitive in a global marketplace”.

Foodstuff South Island chief executive officer Nick Brown said the South was “in a situation where the supply chains are shifting in the wrong direction”.

He said a key focus was getting the South in front of the shift in supply chains.

“We have been pushing to the South, we’ve been trying to get the South on board, and it’s been difficult because the South has a history of not really being on board.”

He said the Government needed to help by making changes to the supply sector so the supply side was better integrated.

“The supply chain needs to be more integrated so there is more supply, more trade and more opportunity for business,” Mr Brown said.

“You have to get out of the way of what’s happening in the supply process and what’s going on at the food processor level.”

If we can do that, we can get food to the people that need it.

“Mr Brown said food processing had a “huge impact” on the local economy and the country’s food security.”

When we think about food processing, it’s not just food that goes into the supermarket, it goes into our kitchens,” he said.’

Food is everywhere’Foodstamps South Island said there was a shortage of basic items, from bread to chicken wings, because of the lack of supply.

It said it had also experienced a rise in the number of people coming into its services seeking to purchase their first-time food.”

It’s a very, very complex situation, but we do need to get our supply chain in place to be able to respond,” Mr Gray said.

The report said it could take up to six months to get a foodstamp to a household.

Foodstuff South Island also said it would not be able get a new food stamp payment to the same person twice in a row, and the new payment would be delayed if it took more than six months for the person to get it.

FoodStuffs South East said it is currently negotiating with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to help it get a supply chain upgrade.

Food and Drink South Island, the industry body representing the Souths food processors, said it understood the food processing sector was a “critical part of the local food and drink supply chain”.”

We are aware that some of our processors are not able to keep pace with the demand for their products, which has been a challenge for the South,” Foodstuff SA chief executive Peter Pugh said.