Bern, Switzerland [CD EUDNews]. The Sanitarium Health & Wellbeing Company is the trading name of two sister food companies (Australian Health and Nutrition Association Ltd and New Zealand Health Association Ltd). Both are wholly owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Australian Health & Nutrition Association Limited is classified as a very large company, with an operating revenue of more than 300 million dollar (2012 - Orbis company report, BvD).
Sanitarium produces a large range of breakfast cereals as well as a range of vegetarian products. Founded in 1898, its flagship product Weet-Bix is a top seller in the Australian and New Zealand breakfast cereal market.
During her time in Australia, pioneer Adventist Ellen G. White's son Willie convinced Seventh-day Adventist Edward Halsey, a baker at Dr Kellogg's Battle Creek Sanitarium to immigrate to Australia.
He arrived in Sydney on 8 November 1897. He rented a small bakery in Melbourne, and produced Granola (made of wheats, oats, maize and rye) and Granose (the unsweetened forerunner to Weet-Bix). He and his team sold it from door to door as an alternative to fat-laden or poor nutritious foods popular at the time. The business relocated to larger premises in Cooranbong, New South Wales.
In 1900, Halsey transferred to New Zealand - where he began making the first batches of Granola, New Zealand's first breakfast cereal, Caramel Cereals (a coffee substitute) and wholemeal bread in a humble wooden shedin the Christchurch suburb of Papanui.
Sanitarium New Zealand and Sanitarium Australia are now separate companies, but work together.
Sanitarium has factories in a number of locations across Australia and New Zealand, including: Berkeley Vale, Cooranbong, Carmel, Perth, Brisbane, Christchurch and Auckland. Weet-Bix was originally manufactured, from 1928, at 659 Parramatta Road, Leichhardt where until recently Sanitarium signage could still be seen. This factory predates the purchase of Weet-Bix by Sanitarium in 1930.
"Our mission is to share with our community a message of health and hope for a better life. We value those within our communities by offering our time, talents, and resources to support and serve others. Making a long-term positive difference is important to us – which is why we’re proud of our partnerships with trusted organisations who, like us, want what’s best for our communities“, so the Sanitarium Administration.
Sanitarium & ADRA
More than 16,000 Cambodians will benefit from a two year partnership program between Sanitarium and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA).
Sanitarium Research and Development staff will invest $56,000 worth of time, trial cost and travel expenses to develop fortified nutritious noodles which will be produced and distributed by rural Cambodian villages. This will provide affordable and highly nutritious meals and also empower communities to run their own small businesses. Sanitarium Research and Development Manager John Menzies is passionate about working with local Cambodian communities on this project. “Serving the needs of others enriches the soul in a way that returns many times more than what you invest of yourself,” he says.
Malnutrition is a major problem with 40 per cent of Cambodia children under the age of five developmentally stunted, and 14 per cent severely stunted as a result of malnutrition during pregnancy or through their early years. Over the next six months through the partnership program, Sanitarium will also be developing an instant rice porridge for use in Cambodia.
Since the 1860s when the church began, wholeness and health have been an emphasis of the Adventist church. Adventists are known for presenting a "health message" that recommends vegetarianism, expects adherence to the kosher laws in Leviticus 11 and more in general to a christian lifestyle.
To learn more about Sanitarium, please visit the following web page: www.sanitarium.com.au/
pictures: 1. Edson and Willie White. Willie inspired Edward Halsey, Sanitarium founder. 2. Cooranbong Sanitarium Factory Australia (White Estate)
