In
December of 1900, Edward Halsey, a Seventh-day Adventist and baker
trained at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, came to New Zealand to prepare
healthy food for a small health home. He began making batches of
Granola, New Zealand’s first breakfast cereal, Caramel Cereals (a
coffee substitute) and wholemeal bread in a humble wooden shed in the
Christchurch suburb of Papanui. These products became known as
Sanitarium Health Foods. Demand began to grow outside the health home
as patients wished to continue eating these products even when they
were well.
Since Edward Halsey began the business, the Sanitarium Health Food Company has remained at the forefront of healthy eating. We advocated vegetarian eating as a healthy diet option long before it was trendy to do so and we were the first to introduce the concept of the health food shop to New Zealanders.
Today, Sanitarium New Zealand is owned and operated by New Zealanders while Sanitarium Australia is owned and operated by Australians. We do work together; however, to produce over 150 products and employ approximately 1700 people in our manufacturing and distribution sites throughout New Zealand and Australia.
Weet-Bix
Sanitarium’s
original wheat biscuit, Granose, was marketed in New Zealand during the
early 1900's, not only as a breakfast cereal but also as an alternative
to bread. During the 1920's, Sanitarium faced a challenge to Granose
from a new sweetened flake biscuit called Weet-Bix, which was produced
by a company called Grain Products.
In 1930, Sanitarium acquired Grain Products, which also had connections to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and made Weet-Bix its own.
Puffed Wheat
Puffed Wheat is made from natural whole grains of wheat, with the added goodness of iron and B vitamins. With only one gram of fat per 30g serve, wholesome Puffed Wheat is a great way to start your day. Puffed Wheat are a good source of wholegrains, which means that they retain the natural goodness of the grain without the nutrients being stripped away.
Marmite
Marmite
was introduced to New Zealand by Sanitarium. Initially it was imported
from the United Kingdom but shortly before World War II, we secured the
secret recipe from the English and made the first Marmite in our
Cooranbong factory in 1944.
Since the 1970's, Sanitarium’s Christchurch factory has manufactured all the Marmite sold in the South Pacific.