Research budget good news for EasiYo

WARMLY WELCOMED Prime Minister John Key officially opened the new EasiYo building in Albany on May 27.

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Prime Minister John Key made a timely appearance at the opening of the new EasiYo building in Albany.

Largely focused on research, the company was pleased to hear of his initiative to invest $321 million on research and development for New Zealand companies as announced in the 2010 Budget.

The EasiYo brand was founded in 1992 by Len Light and within a few years the brand had become a household name in New Zealand and Australia.

It is 100 percent owned by the West Coast dairy co-operative Westland Milk Products and the product is now found in more than 20 countries.

EasiYo chief executive Paul O'Brien says the company has been working on a number of research and development projects.

The lab at Westland has been involved in counting the number of good bacteria in EasiYo compared to supermarket brands.

It was validated by Assure Quality to have two to four times more lactobacillus.

As part of a research operation the company has also been taking yoghurt to decile one and two schools in West Auckland.

EasiYo has teamed up with leading health and nutrition researchers at Auckland University's Liggins Institute to research the link between nutrition and learning and cognitive outcomes in school children.

EasiYo has also been selected as a preferred partner for an initiative in the United Kingdom.

The Royal College of Obstetrician and Genealogists have chosen EasiYo to be the sole yoghurt-preferred brand in a medical promotion to increase the calcium intake of 500,000 pregnant women over the next 12 months.

The prime minister says we are currently underspending when it comes to research and development at just 1.2 percent of gross national profit.

The next 20 to 30 years will be the best in a long time if we get things right, he says.

"It's going to happen in this type of product," he says.

- © Fairfax NZ News