1. I have a new food product. How do I make sure my labels comply with the New Zealand and Australian regulations?
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2. How much will it cost me to have you review my labels for compliance with the New Zealand and Australian regulations?
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3. How do I get nutrition information for my label?
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4. I have an idea for a new food product. But I have no experience. What do I do next?
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5. I'm making my product on a small scale, and I want to scale up. How can you help me?
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6. We've managed pretty well without a strategic plan. Why should we have one now?
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7. Why would we want an outsider helping us with our strategic plan?
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8. How much do you charge to help us with our strategic planning?
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9. Our company is based out of Auckland. Can you still help us?
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10. Can New Zealand government funding cover some of your fees?
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11. Our company is looking at importing food products into New Zealand. How can you help us?
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12. Our company is looking at exporting food products from New Zealand. What can you do for us?
Answer.

1. Q: I have a new food product. How do I make sure my labels comply with the New Zealand and Australian regulations?
A: The food regulations for New Zealand and Australia are now common to both countries. Atack Industries has developed a system to help you comply with the food regulations, and at the same time, help you think through how you want to communicate with your customers through your product labels. This system is in three parts:

· Label Questionnaire. This asks you questions about your product, packaging, and claims you wish to make on your label. Each of the questions relates to a specific area of the regulations. You complete one questionnaire for each product variant, and forward the completed questionnaires to us with a sample of the artwork or existing labels.

· Confidentiality Agreement. Since Atack Industries needs to know confidential details of your product, we sign a confidentiality agreement to protect your information.

· Checklist. We have developed a Compliance Checklist which covers all areas of the food labelling regulations. We use the information in the questionnaires, together with the sample of the proposed label and additional ingredient information as needed, to document the label's compliance. Wherever the label complies, it gets a tick. Where it doesn't, it gets an X, and we note exactly why it doesn't comply and what you must change in order to have it comply. At the bottom, we sign, giving our company's assurance of the label's compliance status.

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2. Q: How much will it cost me to have you review my labels for compliance with New Zealand regulations?
A: Your investment varies with the complexity of the products and the number and type of claims made. A simple label with no nutrition or other claims would typically cost around NZ $350 (plus GST for NZ customers only). We are happy to provide a fixed price quote for this work, based on a number of similar labels.

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3. Q: How do I get nutrition information for my label?
A: There are two ways to generate this information depending on the type of product. In many cases, nutrition can be done by calculation using data from your suppliers or from recognised data bases. The cost to calculate nutrition information starts at NZ $250 (plus GST for NZ customers) for the standard nutrition requirements. Additional requirements relating to specific claims will need to be assessed on a case by case basis.
Where the exact composition of a product can't be determined from the ingredients e.g. where there are losses or gains due to processing, nutrition will have to be determined by analysis. The basic analysis starts at around $425 (plus GST for NZ customers). Again depending on claims you wish to make (e.g. low cholesterol), additional analyses may be required. We are happy to provide you with a quote for additional tests.

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4. Q: I have an idea for a new food product. But I have no experience. What do I do next?
A: Contact us for an initial free consultation to assess your idea. Call, write, or e-mail:

Atack Industries Ltd
Unit E,
4 William Pickering Dr
North Shore City
Auckland 0632
NEW ZEALAND.
Ph +64 9 414 7730
Email: solutions@atack.co.nz

We'll quickly be able to brief you on the cost and commitment to bring a product to market.

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5. Q: I'm making my product on a small scale, and I want to scale up. How can you help me?
A: We provide a comprehensive food product and process development service including plant design, sourcing and management to achieve quality, consistency and cost effectiveness for your product within the framework of the relevant legislation.
We provide an initial free consultation to help you work through the process. If you are located in Auckland, we will come to you. Contact us at solutions@atack.co.nz

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6. Q: We've managed pretty well without a strategic plan. Why should we have one now?
A: Here is just a partial list of benefits from getting your team together for a strategic planning session. You will:
· Have a shared and clear vision of the future.
· Remove uncertainty, avoid surprises, pull your team together, and save time and money.
· Improve the focus, commitment, and morale of employees.
· Achieve faster growth and higher profits.
· Be able to sharply focus your resources (time, talent, cash) on things that are critical.
· Make better plans for new products or services. You will be more prepared for a major new venture.
· The company as a whole will be able to respond faster to new opportunities, or new competitors

Diane specialises in straightforward, workable strategic planning sessions, geared to the real world of small to medium-sized food businesses. Ask her how she runs them: Diane@atack.co.nz

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7. Q: Why would we want an outsider helping us with our strategic plan?
A: An outsider is very helpful when:
· Your company has not done strategic planning before.
· For whatever reason, previous strategic planning was not very successful.
· There are many issues to be addressed, and some of them have caused strong debate in the management team.
· You want to get the most from the session, both from yourself and from your management team. You want to fully focus on strategizing, not managing the discussion, watching the clock, or refereeing disputes.
· You want an objective voice; someone who is not likely to have strong pre-dispositions about the company's strategic issues and ideas.

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8. Q: How much do you charge to help us with our strategic planning?
A: A full day session is NZ $1400 plus GST, plus expenses for sessions outside Auckland. Contact Diane for an initial free session to discuss how to get the most benefit for your unique situation: Diane@atack.co.nz .

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9. Q: Our company is based out of Auckland. Can you still help us?
A: Yes. Distance is no barrier. Samples of product can be couriered throughout the world. Label and food regulation compliance, and marketing guidance can be provided over the phone or Internet. For technical or strategic planning guidance, we are available to come to you.

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10. Q: Can New Zealand government funding cover some of your fees?
A: Yes, if it is a New Zealand company. The exact amount and programme open to you will vary depending on your company, and the opportunity. The government is interested in assisting Small and Medium Enterprises create wealth for New Zealanders through increased export and employment opportunities. For more information, contact us at solutions@atack.co.nz .

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11. Q: Our company is looking at importing food products into New Zealand. How can you help us?
A: We can advise you on your product labelling obligations. We can help you with your marketing and distribution strategy, and provide useful contacts in the New Zealand food industry.

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12. Q: Our company is looking at exporting food products from New Zealand. What can you do for us?
A: We can help you understand and comply with food regulations in other countries.
If you are looking at exporting to the USA, we have special expertise, contacts, and knowledge to help you. Diane travels to the US to visit family, and while there, scans the US market for our New Zealand clients. She notes trends, new products, gathers product samples, documents pricing and shelf space, etc. See details of what she can do under "Services".


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