Expert Food Safety and Regulatory Compliance Consultants.
We provide Quality solutions to Food and Beverage manufacturers and the Dairy industry.
Flexible Consultancy Services
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Our food safety consultants include senior QA Managers and Specialists, experienced Auditors, and our New Product Development (NPD) and Food Technologist.
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The support we offer can be on-site, remote, or a combination depending on your needs.
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We cover short, medium, and long-term Quality Assurance roles, act in roles during recruitment gaps and effectively manage your business-critical projects.
Exporting?
COLIN OLIVER - Managing Director
I founded Produco in 2016, as I saw the need for food safety leadership and regulatory guidance in the Dairy and Food industries.
I gained extensive experience across New Zealand’s regulatory environment including New Zealand Standards Development, Regulatory Interpretation, Market Access, and Official Assurance Specification Implementation through my previous roles working for New Zealand’s leading dairy companies.
Raised on a dairy farm which ran sheep and beef, gave me a good grounding of on-farm practices. I studied Science at Waikato University and was lucky enough to work at MilkTest NZ and then landed my first role at Tatua Dairy Company in the Microbiology and Functional foods laboratory. This was quickly followed by time in the Chemistry laboratory, which would prepare me well for future roles in all aspects of Quality and Regulatory Compliance from cow to customer for Dairy/Food and FMCG.
I’m passionate about developing great teams and growing people by finding opportunities to expand their careers. I also relish the challenge of creating sustainable quality management solutions to ensure compliance while adding value and implementing opportunities to continually improve.
ANNETTE GANE - Technical Manager
A focused, accomplished professional, Annette is an influential, strategic, and innovative business leader with multiple capabilities. She offers significant management experience across the Quality, Technical, Laboratory, and Management areas within the Food sector industry.
A strong track record of strategy development and deployment, business transformation leadership, programme and project management, and delivering high-performance teams and results.
Coupled with this, Annette offers:
- 25+ years in the Dairy Industry with a strong leadership background in Infant Formula and Toddler Nutrition
- Quality, Manufacturing and Technical policy, Process and Procedural Development, Integration and Optimization
- Strategy development and deployment knowledge and experience
- Significant Laboratory experience across a number of primary industries
- Extensive Change Management and Business Transformation development – including multiple company mergers
- Due diligence and trouble-shooting knowledge of technical, quality, manufacturing, and laboratory environments
ELIZABETH MALONEY - National Quality Assurance Manager, New Zealand
An engaging senior leader, with many years in the Dairy industry, working for NZ’s largest dairy company in Food Safety & Quality roles. Liz has successfully led and managed regional quality teams across multiple manufacturing sites for many years. Her specialties lie in Infant Formula and Nutrition as well as Regulatory, Laboratory Management and Sensory Evaluation.
Liz has a natural style and warmth, allowing her to quickly build rapport with any team; from diverse nationalities, senior executives to operators and vendors. She builds capable, engaged individuals and teams of people with a strong focus on food safety culture.
She’s passionate about working with and understanding her clients to create the best possible outcomes.
Liz represented her previous company many times during Customer, Regulatory and Internal Audits and has hosted international organisations. She is comfortable managing multiple projects across multiple sites with her major achievements including:
- Implementation of FSSC22000 Certification Standard
- Implementation of Infant Formula Standard (Manufacture of Dairy Based Infant Formula Products & Formulated Supplementary Foods for Young Children)
- Country Listing Audits for China, CNCA , EEU, EU (European Union)
- Development and implementation of Sensory training programs
Recent Qualifications:
- Advanced Course in Hygienic Design (EHEDG) – Hygienic design of
equipment and hygienic engineering aspects especially for food industries.
GAVIN KOUWENHOVEN - Quality Assurance Specialist (Seafood, Meat)
Based in Queenstown, Gavin’s projects range throughout New Zealand for Produco.
Previous roles saw him as General Manager in a value-added food company with extensive involvement in food safety, quality, and product development areas. Coming through the operations side of the business, an ability to understand production needs, while meeting safety and quality parameters was instrumental in developing new products and enabling existing products to be sold profitably in the marketplace.
Working in a small management team, adaptability and awareness of many areas of the business were vital in maintaining regulatory and customer compliance.
Gavin also brings a Commerce degree to his skillset and is looking forward to sharing his business experience to help businesses meet the varied challenges producing food can bring – from product development to production improvements to regulatory compliance. Some career highlights include:
- Develop HACCP-based documentation and operate a food facility with multiple food types – fish, shellfish, pork, beef, and chicken
- Company representative for successful external audits from customers (WQA, BRC) as well as local (MPI) and international (FDA) regulations
- Develop and implement HACCP-based RMP for an export packhouse
- Part of the team that won the Supreme NZ Food Award (2014) for a Smoked Salmon product we developed and produced
- Obtain certification as an Approved Person for LACF
- Install and operate a High Pressure Processing vessel to shuck raw mussels and for use as listeriacidal step
- Assist with packaging design and compliance
- Develop new products
- Install and operate a retort vessel
JANE STOCKTON - Food Technologist
Jane is our Food Technology architect, holding a Food Science and Human Nutrition degree from the University of Otago. She’s worked with top NZ food companies including Cerebos Greggs, Delmaine, LHF, NZDF and Epicurean Dairy Company to name a few.
‘What I love is the challenge of NPD. New Product Development. Inventing a new food product, a new flavour variant, a more cost effective product. I’ve developed hundreds of new food products’ across:
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- RTE meals and soups
- Cultured dairy products
- Fresh dips and sauces
- Nutritional beverages
- Snack foods
- Bakery and pies
- Coconut yoghurt
- Vegetarian and vegan products
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‘I love being part of the Produco team and relish the opportunity to work with customers to solve their NPD / Technical problems’.
Jane also holds a Dip. Business Administration and delivers a skillset that encompasses:
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- New Product Development
- Recipe Development
- Product Formulation & Reformulations
- Food Regulatory Requirements
- Nutritional Information Panels (NIPs)
- Product Labelling
- Commissioning and implementing new plants
‘I am a passionate and creative foodie. This, teamed with my strong business acumen and love of solving problems means I can efficiently deliver the perfect NPD solution for you and your team’.
VIVIAN O'KANE - Quality Assurance Specialist (Dairy, Medicinal Cannabis)
Based in the Waikato, Vivian’s projects span across New Zealand.
Previous Vivian has over 20 years experience in Quality roles across the Dairy, Meat, Honey, Dietary Supplements listed medicines (Australia) and Veterinary pharmaceutical industries.
She’s highly skilled in Quality Systems, Audit and Management, Health & Safety, Food Certifications, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
Vivian’s qualifications include New Zealand Certificate in Science (Chemistry). Strong technical working knowledge of Risk Management Plans (RMP), Food Control Plans (FCP), HACCP, NZFSA, ISO, SQF, Therapeutic Goods and GMP manufacturing requirements.
Her in-depth skillset includes:
- HACCP – Develop and review HACCP plans across a variety of industries.
- Writing policy and procedural documentation and initiating new workplace practices to improve results and introduce preventative actions.
- Experience in the Medicinal Cannabis industry including licensing applications with regulatory authorities, and creating Quality Management Systems for seeds and medicinal cannabis products imported into New Zealand.
Previous hands-on responsibilities have included staff supervision and training, documentation control, SOP development, internal auditing, product release, customer complaints investigation process and response, coordination of activities with Production and Support Services, and providing technical support to Manufacturing.
Vivian really enjoys introducing systems that help the people doing the job, rather than adding complications to their day. The changes she’s proudest of are the small changes that have made a significant, positive impact.
DELWYN ASKEW - Quality Assurance Specialist
Based in Auckland, I have been involved in the Food Industry all my working life.
Initially I began with Dairy FMCG, at the now Fonterra site in Takanini. Here, we manufactured iconic brands across a range of products and processes; Fresh and UHT milks, Yoghurt and other Cultured products. We also produced Dairy foods, custards and Fruit drinks and juices.
Working with ‘living’ products triggered my love of microbiology. My responsibilities during this time included Quality Assurance, Quality Systems and Laboratory Management.
I then moved into other food industries holding Quality Management positions and working with a variety of standards and programmes including:
- VITAL Allergen Management, Food Fraud and Food Security
- HACCP, FSP and FCP
- AIB (Unannounced audits)
- Customer standards (WQA, McDonalds, PepsiCo, YUM)
- FSSC22000, ISO9001
I enjoy writing and reviewing HACCP plans, drafting procedures and systems, staff training and undertaking audits, including gap audits against new standards and encouraging continuous improvement projects.
Due to my diverse background, I can quickly get up to speed and contribute to the company I am assisting. I enjoy being able to play a part in our client achieving their quality and food safety goals.
