Watties product closures

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#3472484 23-Mar-2026 09:18

That's annoying since I discovered recently that the Masterfoods Lemon-Pepper seasoning contains "chicken flavour". That's problematic when I'm cooking for a vegetarian friend.

Found the Greggs one does not have chicken anything in it but now have potentially the last packet if the removal of it as a brand is a thing.

Might have to start using the Mrs Rogers ones but get 3 to refill the bigger Masterfoods shaker jar.

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MikeAqua

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#3472485 23-Mar-2026 09:22

eracode:

OT but I’m always amazed at how long and how well many fresh veges (cauli, broccoli, carrots, capsicum, cabbage, celery - even lettuce) last just in the fridge when stored in decent containers (sistema gear).

Even more OT ... homegrown vegs last even longer. I grow bits and pieces on our small section and I'm always impressed by how well they keep in the fridge, compared to supermarket veges. I put that down to fewer chemicals used growing them, less handling and less temperature abuse.

Mike

Groucho

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#3472514 23-Mar-2026 10:42

nitro:

John19612:

It seems like a case of the supermarkets wanting to push their own foreign sourced products and Kraft Heinz not even caring enough to give an iconic New Zealand brand a proper website.

as with most businesses, profit margins drive decisions.

Like if you follow Woolworths' boost rewards. More often than not it's the no-name Woolworths branded products that earn the extra points. Imported from Australia with contents that may or may have even been grown or manufactured in Australia.

Yetti92

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#3472532 23-Mar-2026 11:41

gzt: Greggs Instant Coffee is a surprise. I probably haven't had that for years ago, when it was a work supplied instant. I doubt it's made in NZ anymore anyway. I'll go get some for nostalgia purposes if I can find it

All NZ for now. They were at one point roasting BP Wildbean and McCafe's own coffee. Unsure if that's still the case.

gzt

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#3472541 23-Mar-2026 12:13

Yetti92:
gzt: Greggs Instant Coffee is a surprise. I probably haven't had that for years ago, when it was a work supplied instant. I doubt it's made in NZ anymore anyway. I'll go get some for nostalgia purposes if I can find it
All NZ for now. They were at one point roasting BP Wildbean and McCafe's own coffee. Unsure if that's still the case.

I quite like a BP occasionally. Not so much the mcds weaker blander please everyone and no-one type thing.

mattwnz

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#3472555 23-Mar-2026 12:54

NZ really needs clear country of origin labeling. So many people don’t know where the food comes from. I noticed my supermarket had started selling 1kg blocks of cheese under your house brand. The fine print says packed in NZ. Not then it also says produced in NZ from local and imported ingredients. The thing is how much is actually local if it is also using ingredients when it is a block if cheese….it also has colour added, yet the cheese that says produced in nZ does not have colour added. The saving was less that a dollar to not buy the NZ produced one.

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mattwnz

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#3472557 23-Mar-2026 12:57

MikeAqua:

eracode:

OT but I’m always amazed at how long and how well many fresh veges (cauli, broccoli, carrots, capsicum, cabbage, celery - even lettuce) last just in the fridge when stored in decent containers (sistema gear).

Even more OT ... homegrown vegs last even longer. I grow bits and pieces on our small section and I'm always impressed by how well they keep in the fridge, compared to supermarket veges. I put that down to fewer chemicals used growing them, less handling and less temperature abuse.

a lot of supermarket stuff is chilled for a long time I think. Carrots I think also get soaked. Notice that carrots no longer have green leaves left on them and they ever up going slimy or they wrinkle up now if you keep them a week or so

geek3001

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#3472566 23-Mar-2026 13:05

mattwnz:

a lot of supermarket stuff is chilled for a long time I think. Carrots I think also get soaked. Notice that carrots no longer have green leaves left on them and they ever up going slimy or they wrinkle up now if you keep them a week or so

That's the benefit of frozen veges, if the marketing info is to be believed, they are harvested at their best, processed and frozen within hours, and retain more nutrients.

Contrast that with the so-called fresh produce at the supermarket, that has been sitting around for days, that is not really fresh.

As an extreme example, my local supermarket routinely sells bunches of parsley for five dollars that are limp. No one would buy them and they sit there untouched until staff finally realise they are only fit for the compost.

You can't beat fresh produce from your own vege garden or fruit trees, however I reckon that frozen products at the supermarket are the next best thing.

mattwnz

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#3472578 23-Mar-2026 13:45

Yeah I agree with all that. But NZ supermarkets used to have fresher stuff than they do these days. Broccoli for example used to be fresher and still had the leaves left on it. But now they remove all the leaves and often it is going yellow on the shelves. If not then it goes yellow a few days later. putting the stem in a glass of water in the fridge can help though
Snap frozen veges processed the day they are picked was the marketing of companies like watties, NZ grown. It was perfect for things like peas and generally they the the ones I buy.

elpenguino

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#3472579 23-Mar-2026 13:47

In the food industry, fresh means 'not frozen', not recently harvested like we imagine it to mean.

I'd also like to see complete country of origin information on packaging - e.g. Contents, NZ 80%, India 10% etc etc.

The reality is food is a global business. Thats a good thing for resilience and variety, I just want to know where it all came from.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

geek3001

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#3472581 23-Mar-2026 13:54

elpenguino:

In the food industry, fresh means 'not frozen', not recently harvested like we imagine it to mean.

I'd also like to see complete country of origin information on packaging - e.g. Contents, NZ 80%, India 10% etc etc.

The reality is food is a global business. Thats a good thing for resilience and variety, I just want to know where it all came from.

100% agree.

Apart from that level of detail only being voluntary, I have suggested this in conversation in the past and have been told it's too complicated to legibly print that level of detailed info on packaging on a batch-by-batch basis.

In response I suggested that perhaps a QR code for each batch could be printed on all the packaging of that batch of product, and then we could simply read that QR code with our smart phone while we're shopping, which would take us to a page on a website where we could review the info in detail and make an informed decision.

It shouldn't be that hard... unless the companies supplying our food don't actually want us to know where it's coming from.

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MikeAqua

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#3472583 23-Mar-2026 13:57

geoffwnz:

That's annoying since I discovered recently that the Masterfoods Lemon-Pepper seasoning contains "chicken flavour". That's problematic when I'm cooking for a vegetarian friend.

That's silly of them, they could just use additive 621 (MSG).

Mike

mattwnz

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#3472592 23-Mar-2026 14:09

Food being global is a good thing. But buying in food from overseas and ripping out NZ trees because it is cheaper to produce and ship it here is bad for NZs food security. Eg what happens if fuel costs rise so much in the short term that it makes it far more expensive to produce. We are the stuck paying higher prices and if supply overseas dries up. . Then NZ has standards when it comes to chemicals used in growing food and some chemicals are banned in NZ. Other countries may not have such standards and we would never know, especially if we don’t know where they are coming from. So it makes a mockery of having these standards to protect NZers health if it only applies to NZ produced food.
we also have to remember that supermarkets have essentially put a lot of grocers out of business. It used to be common for a block of local shops to have local grocer and butcher. Now some town have neither.

mattwnz

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#3472593 23-Mar-2026 14:11

geek3001:

elpenguino:

In the food industry, fresh means 'not frozen', not recently harvested like we imagine it to mean.

I'd also like to see complete country of origin information on packaging - e.g. Contents, NZ 80%, India 10% etc etc.

The reality is food is a global business. Thats a good thing for resilience and variety, I just want to know where it all came from.

100% agree.

Apart from that level of detail only being voluntary, I have suggested this in conversation in the past and have been told it's too complicated to legibly print that level of detailed info on packaging on a batch-by-batch basis.

In response I suggested that perhaps a QR code for each batch could be printed on all the packaging of that batch of product, and then we could simply read that QR code with our smart phone while we're shopping, which would take us to a page on a website where we could review the info in detail and make an informed decision.

It shouldn't be that hard... unless the companies supplying our food don't actually want us to know where it's coming from.

i do wonder how much lobbying is going on in parliament to prevent this information being provided where they try to use these arguments . UK seems to provide far more info to the consumer and their food prices can be a lot cheaper

MikeAqua

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#3472597 23-Mar-2026 14:22

mattwnz:

a lot of supermarket stuff is chilled for a long time I think. Carrots I think also get soaked. Notice that carrots no longer have green leaves left on them and they ever up going slimy or they wrinkle up now if you keep them a week or so

As an example ... I grow spring onions at home. They're all clustered around an olla, so they have plenty of water. I harvest them, wash them, shake them dry and put them straight into the vege draw in the fridge. They last for weeks. Supermarket spring onions ... they don't last a week without deteriorating. But then, supermarket spring onions might have been grown in Nelson, sent to ChCh and then to Blenheim before I buy them.

Mike

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