AQ Assured by AsureQuality, New Zealand’s Government-owned food assurance company.
Lewis Road Creamery - Chocolate Milk
250ml
PRODUCT ATTRIBUTES VERIFIED BY AQ ASSURED
- 100% Pure New Zealand milk
- Made with fresh milk (not milk powder)
- Belgian 5-Roll Refined Milk Chocolate
- Certified Grass-Fed Cows
- Free range cows
- Good source of Calcium
- Source of Protein
- Ultra heat pasteurised (UHT)
- No added preservatives
- Permeate free
- NZ Origin Assured via Oritain
Origin
This product is produced in New Zealand.
Fresh milk is sourced from cows located on dairy farms in New Zealand.
Lewis Road Creamery is certified and licensed by NZ Fernmark (License number: NZFM100177). The Fernmark license is a formal government recognition of Lewis Road Creamery's connection to New Zealand.
Supply Chain
There are systems in place throughout Lewis Road Creamery's supply chain to ensure that each bottle of chocolate milk meets high standards of safety and quality.
The Farm
Farm Assurances
- Third-party auditing (by AsureQuality Limited) of Risk Management Programs (RMP) for all farms.
- Health checks and tests are regularly undertaken on cows and their milk.
- Water that comes into contact with the milking process is tested at an accredited laboratory to ensure safety and quality.
- Milk is cooled immediately to below 6˚C, with records kept of temperature and volumes.
- Milk is kept chilled awaiting collection.
- Milk is collected from the farm using refrigerated tanker trucks and transported to the factory.
- Tankers have an automatic computer controlled milk sampling system on board.
- Milk is tested for harmful bacteria, chemical residues and contaminants at a recognised laboratory.
Milk is not collected if the temperature, colour or quality is not to the specification.
The Factory
The milk is transported from the farms to the factory in refrigerated tanker trucks. The factory operates under an RMP (Risk Management Program) where processes are regularly audited to ensure requirements are being met.
Factory Assurances
- Samples of milk are tested to ensure quality and safety prior to further processing.
- The fresh milk is sterilised by heating to 137˚C for 4 seconds and immediately cooled to 30 - 35 ˚C.
- The milk is bottled under sterile conditions, sealed with a sterile cap and wrapped in a tamper evident label.
- Each bottle is individually labelled with a unique QR code which contains information specific to that batch for traceability purposes.
- The milk is tested using both in-house (factory) and external accredited laboratories to ensure compliance.
- Once all laboratory tests are completed and passed, New Zealand's Ministry for Primary Industries issues a health certificate, making it eligible for export.
- All products are stacked in pallet sized units, stretch wrapped and barcoded for traceability.
- The product is loaded into a shipping container, which is then locked.
- A numbered Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) seal is applied to the container.
The container is loaded onto an approved vehicle for delivery to the wharf.
Transport
The containers of product are delivered from the factory to the appropriate distribution route via a registered transport company.
Transport Assurances
The transport company that makes this delivery must have a current New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries Risk Management Program before it can freight any dairy products, as per the Animal Products Act, 1999.
The transport company is audited regularly by accredited personnel to ensure that standards are being met and maintained.
Shipping
This product has several possible distribution routes via airfrieght or seafreight
Freight Assurances
The freight company ensures that the products are accompanied by all EAD (export accompanied documents) that is required by the importing country, including:
- Customs documents
- Health certificates
- Certificates of analysis
- Other documents required by the importing country must be completed and approved before it can be loaded on-board
The product is transported to China and checked by China Customs on arrival. China Customs check all import documentation to confirm that requirements have been met, and may test the product again prior to releasing it into the country.
Once cleared, the product is transported to the distribution warehouse.
Retail
The products arrive at the warehouse, where they are managed using barcoding and traceability systems. No product leaves the warehouse until it receives a final quality check.
The AQ Assured Transparency and Authenticity QR code is available for consumers to scan in order to be confident of the product authenticity and to view further information on the quality measures undertaken throughout the product supply chain.
Environmental
The Farms
The farms ensure that milk is produced in compliance with New Zealand's Resource Management Act (2009) and all environmental regulations prescribed by New Zealand's Regional Councils.
Farms supplying the milk are committed to operating in a sustainable way through participating in initiatives like the Sustainable Dairying Water Accord (SDWA) which is a set of national good management practices aimed at lifting environmental performance on dairy farms to improve efficiency of water and nutrient use and effluent management.
The farms supplying the milk have committed to a standard that allows the cows to spend on average at least 90% of their time outside where they free range and graze on grass and pasture which makes up on average 85% of their diet.
Milking of the cows follows the natural pattern of pasture growth in New Zealand, influenced by climate and season.
Million Metre Streams
Lewis Road Creamery are members of the Sustainable Business Network and are committed to helping the industry plan for a sustainable future.
Lewis Road Creamery supports the 'Million Metre Streams' initiative, an organisation dedicated to native planting across the country to help protect New Zealand's water ways. Lewis Road has recently completed their first project with Million Meters which saw them raise over $20,000 all of which went towards the planting of trees along the edge of the Wairoa River to improve the water quality and biodiversity of the waterway.
Sustainability
Lewis Road Creamery is committed to sustainability. They have signed the New Zealand Packaging Declaration where they are committed to 100% of all their packaging being recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.
The bottles this milk comes in is made from PET plastic which can be recycled.
Social & Ethical
Animal Welfare
Farms who supply their milk to Lewis Road Creamery comply with the New Zealand Animal Welfare Standards (The Animal Welfare Act 1999) governed by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).
The standards mandate the following as basic conditions all animals must be cared under;
- Freedom from hunger or thirst
- Freedom from discomfort
- Freedom from pain, injury or disease
- Freedom to express normal patterns of behaviour
- Freedom from fear and distress
The Ministry for Primary Industries regularly monitor compliance to these standards.
Employee Care and Culture
Lewis Road is a small team, of 25 people. Their approach to production, sees the company outsourcing but with complete oversight of the manufacturing. This allows the team to multi task, remain flexible and innovate quickly.
The team is encouraged to participate in team sports days, regular inspiration sessions and new product tastings.
Safety & Quality
Laboratory Testing
This Lewis Road Creamery Milk is tested for safety and quality at each step, from the raw milk collection on farm through to the final product.
Laboratory tests include:
- Harmful bacteria
- Contaminants
- Analytical components
The final product is tested to ensure compliance.
Auditing
All farms supplying fresh milk for this Lewis Road Creamery Milk are independently audited annually by an accredited organisation. Additional unannounced audits may also be conducted by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).
The factory environment, processes and records are routinely audited to verify the requirements of dairy factory's Risk Management Programme (RMP).
Produced under New Zealand Government Regulations
New Zealand has Acts and Regulations in place to ensure all dairy products produced are safe for consumers. All milk suppliers must meet the New Zealand Animal Welfare standards and all dairy products must comply with the Animal Products Act, 1999.
All producers, manufacturers, transporters, packing and storage facilities operate under a Risk Management Programme which is independently audited.
Authenticity
Lewis Road Creamery Chocolate Milk has been scientifically tested and certified by Oritain meaning that the milk can be verified to ensure integrity and origin.
Each individual bottle is uniquely coded to provide consumers with product information and assurance of product authenticity.
Nutrition
Made from fresh New Zealand Milk (not milk powder)
Contains Belgian 5-roll Refined Milk Chocolate
Good Source of Calcium
Source of Protein
No added preservatives
Permeate Free
Ultra Heat Pasteurised (UHT)
250mL bottle.
Messages from Lewis Road Creamery
Our flavoured milks are the perfect marriage of whole New Zealand milk and high quality, real ingredients.
Welcome to the Lewis Road Creamery kitchen where everything we make is made the way it’s meant to be. Our head office isn’t built around a boardroom table or a reception desk. Its main feature is its kitchen. There you’ll find there’s always some new idea simmering away on the stove, or being whisked together on the bench. And if it’s good enough, one day that same idea will make it onto your kitchen bench as well.
We hope you get a taste for the very best New Zealand has to offer.