NEW YORK — This week, New Zealand announced the launch of the Made with Care campaign in the United States. The campaign is a global initiative designed to raise awareness of New Zealand’s food and beverages and share New Zealand’s commitment to being a trusted, sustainable global food source.
The Made with Care campaign includes a storytelling series here to showcase New Zealand food and beverage stories, lifestyle and recipes and encourage Americans to cook, try, share and enjoy a taste of New Zealand in their own homes over the holiday season.
The campaign not only focuses on New Zealand food and wine products, but the ethos that guides the way the food and beverages are produced.
“New Zealand has taken great strides in moving food culture away from one that is heavily focused on ‘you are what you eat’ to one of also understanding the impact your food choices make on the environment and the future of our planet,” says New Zealand’s Trade Commissioner and Consul General, Hannah Lee-Darboe.
The Made with Care initiative reinforces values unique to New Zealand’s food and beverage industry, originating from its Māori culture. Values such as kaitiakitanga (protecting and caring for people, place, and planet for future generations), manaakitanga (caring for others and showing hospitality, kindness and respect) and ingenuity (challenging the status quo with original and bold solutions).
Here are some ways New Zealand brings these three guiding principles to life.
- 96 percent of all the vineyard areas in New Zealand are certified sustainable.
- New Zealand ranked 1st out of 180 countries for Transparency – 2019 Transparency International Corruption Index.
- New Zealand ranked 1st for Food Safety by the EIU Global Food Security Index 2019.
- 94 percent of commercial seafood catch in New Zealand comes from sustainable stocks.
- Aquaculture products originating from New Zealand can be traced back to the farm it grew in, the date it was harvested, and when and where it was processed.
- 365 days of free-range grazing for livestock every year.
- Software Technology tracks honey back from your jar in the USA to its origins in the beehives of remote farmlands of New Zealand. Each step is traced from the location of the bees that made the honey through to where it is packaged and who handled it during shipping and delivery.
- QR codes on the free-range grass-fed meat packaging linking the consumer to the farm of origin and to the farmers’ stories.
- The New Zealand government is planting a billion trees by 2028.
- A New Zealand dairy company was the first to electronically trace its products allowing their customers, in real time, to understand the products lineage – where it’s from, how it’s produced and its journey through the supply chain.
The pandemic may have stopped millions from traveling to New Zealand, but the enduring values of care and the quality of New Zealand food and wine will allow millions of others — no matter where they are — to taste a slice of New Zealand and become part of its ever-growing circle of care.
About New Zealand Trade and Enterprise
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) is the New Zealand government’s international business development agency. Our job is to support exporters in order to grow a productive, sustainable and inclusive economy. We work with all kinds of innovative businesses, including food producers, Māori land trusts and iwi, tech startups, service providers, manufacturers and more.
