Working with us
FoodPilot has access to a wide range of expertise and equipment across Massey's broad range of options. With the largest collection of pilot-scale food processing equipment in the southern hemisphere, we work with you to provide solutions to your organisation's food-related needs.
Customised solutions
From your idea to workshopping, information-gathering, lab scale testing and pilot scale testing, we know each project is unique. To help you meet the project needs, we can customise each step we help you with.
Consultancy
FoodPilot is ideally suited for the early stages of a project, including initial pilot-scale trials. In these stages, the focus is on developing and refining the formulation and process, and understanding the characteristics (shelf-life, sensory, functionality) of the product.
Once this phase has been completed, the project can be scaled up at one of our other New Zealand Food Innovation Network hubs for the first commercial runs, or larger-scale market validation.
Cost-effective services
We understand that funding research and development projects can be challenging, and we strive to make working with us as cost-effective as possible.
Talk to us about your project needs and costs. We can also take you through funding grant options you may be eligible for.
To help us get a better understanding of how we can help you, fill out this form.
Our services
The FoodPilot is a thousand square metres of food-safe space, containing the largest collection of pilot-scale food and beverage equipment in the southern hemisphere.
We can handle any material, whether it is for further research and development work, for export, or consumer research.
Services we offer include:
- workshops and ideation
- product and process development and innovation
- food safety
- shelf life determination
- consumer and sensory evaluation.
Book our facilities or ask a question.
Expertise and facilities
One of the many benefits of working with FoodPilot is the access we have to a wide range of expertise and facilities within Massey.
This means you can have a single project that draws in skills from across a variety of disciplines, and that we can connect you to experts in most areas.
We can coordinate Massey's extensive services, facilities and research expertise to meet your organisation's needs. As well as the food processing space within FoodPilot, many of our projects take advantage of specialist facilities within our wider network.
Explore our facilities
We have access to a wide range of expertise and facilities within Massey.
Nutrition Laboratory
The laboratory specialises in analysing food, plant and animal products. The facilities enable nutritional testing of food products, including for:
- food safety
- labelling
- product formulation
- shelf life.
Human nutrition and dietetics facilities
Facilities for nutritional assessment and running clinical studies. These span multiple disciplines in the field, including human studies, animal studies, molecular and cellular biology, microbiology and biochemistry, and rheology.
Food characterisation laboratory
Equipment in this laboratory includes:
- Paar Physica MCR 301 and 302 control-stress rheometers
- texture analyser
- Instron universal testing machine
- spectrophotometers
- rapid-visco analyser
- Minolta colourimeter.
BodPod and other specialist equipment
The BodPod is an advanced piece of equipment used to accurately and easily measure your body composition. It uses an air-displacement method to measure all the fat in your body, which sets it apart from less direct techniques of body composition measurement.
Location: Manawatū (Palmerston North) campus
Food microbiology laboratory
The laboratory is capable of all the standard microbiological tests required by the food industry and has specialist equipment for:
- rapid microbial analysis (flow cytometry and impedance)
- biofilm work
- fermentation and molecular analyses (PCR).
The food microbiology laboratories are supported by academic and technical staff.
Companion animal nutrition
This facility specialises in nutritional research with emphasis on palatability testing of complete diets (or individual ingredients) and general nutritional adequacy testing.
Research can be carried out into all aspects of companion animal nutrition.
Engineering workshop
The FoodPilot engineering workshop is well equipped to enable us to modify existing equipment or design and build new items in order to meet specialist requirements.
FEAST Consumer and sensory laboratory and services
Sensory and consumer research, training and consultancy.
Facilities include:
- ISO standard sensory booths
- areas for running central location tests
- focus groups
- virtual reality testing.
Our partners
We work closely with a number of other facilities outside Massey.
NZ Food Innovation Network
We are part of the New Zealand Food Innovation Network (NZFIN), a national network that provides the facilities and the expertise needed to develop new products and processes, from idea to commercial success. To find out more how you can work with all our hubs, visit the NZFIN website.
Learn about the New Zealand Food Innovation Network
Food HQ
FoodPilot is also part of FoodHQ, a partnership between organisations with interests in food. Members include R&D and analytical service providers like Massey University, AgResearch, Plant & Food Research, the Riddet Institute, AsureQuality, ESR and the Cawthorn Institute. This partnership lets us pull together the best expertise from across these different organisations for large and complex projects.
Who we are
At the FoodPilot, we have skilled team of technologists, operators and technicians ready to support your projects. We also have access to all of Massey’s expertise across all disciplines; together we form the best project teams to solve your R&D challenges.
Nikki Middleditch
Before joining the FoodPilot as a senior food technologist, Nikki Middleditch spent over 15 years commercialising food products in the UK and Europe. Her manufacturing and brand-based experience spans a number of product categories. Nikki’s success at leading development projects is evident in products on European supermarket shelves, British casual dining menus, and within global QSR menus.
She credits her achievements to building strong relationships between her teams and clients “understanding what the clients’ needs are and taking them through the project with you, makes success much more meaningful not just for the client but for the teams behind the delivery of that new product”.
The FoodPilot has delivered similar successes with a wide range of NZ and international clients, ranging from start-up entrepreneurs through to multi-national companies.
Case studies
Read about some of the FoodPilot projects that we’ve undertaken for clients and how they’ve found the experience.
Contact us
FoodPilot
- Hours
9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday
- Phone
- Location
FoodPilot
Riddet Complex
University Avenue
College of Sciences
Massey University
Palmerston North 4474
Book our facilities or ask a question.
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