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Click below to see our
Summer 08/09 issue
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A Century of Good Health
Over a century ago, in 1898, a small business opened its doors in Melbourne, Australia with the vision to help people ‘learn to stay well’ - the meaning of the word Sanitarium - by linking good diet with good health.
From a modest rented bakery, Edward Halsey, a baker, created Sanitarium peanut butter (Australia’s first) and ready-to-eat breakfast cereals like Granose (an unsweetened forerunner to Weet-Bix) and Granola (a cereal made from wheat, oats, maize and rye) which were unlike anything previously available.
In late 1898, the fledgling company relocated to larger premises in Cooranbong, south of Newcastle in New South Wales. Halsey installed bake house equipment in a large building that had previously been a sawmill.
In 1900, Halsey transferred to New Zealand where he began making the first batches of Granola, Caramel Cereals (a coffee substitute) and bread in a small wooden shed in the Christchurch suburb of Papanui.
Since Edward Halsey began the business, the Sanitarium company has been at the forefront of healthy eating. Sanitarium advocated vegetarianism before it was trendy and were the first to introduce the concept of the health food shop. Throughout the years, Sanitarium has remained true to the vision of its founders by promoting a better life through better nutrition.
Today, Sanitarium Australia is owned and operated by Australians while Sanitarium New Zealand is owned and operated by New Zealanders. We do work together, however, to produce over 150 products and employ approximately 1700 people in our manufacturing and distribution sites throughout Australia and New Zealand.
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Weet-Bix™
Sanitarium’s original wheat biscuit, Granose, was marketed in Australia and New Zealand during the early 1900s, not only as a breakfast cereal but also as an alternative to bread. During the 1920s, 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 1928, Sanitarium acquired Grain Products, which also had connections to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and made Weet-Bix its own.
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Marmite
Marmite was introduced to Australia and 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 Australian Marmite in our Cooranbong factory in 1944.
Since the 1970s, Sanitarium’s Christchurch factory has manufactured all the Marmite sold in the South Pacific.
As early as the 1900s, Sanitarium introduced Australians and New Zealanders to the concept of health food shops and vegetarian cafes. The first Sanitarium cafes opened in March 1902 in Sydney’s Pitt Street and in 1907 in Auckland’s Victoria Street. These stores generally incorporated a cafe as well as a retail outlet where patrons could buy much of what they had eaten.
The overriding aim of the cafes was to introduce people to a better way of living through vegetarian meals and cooking lessons. While the stores flourished through to the 1960s, changes in buying habits of consumers prompted Sanitarium to close its cafes and retail shops.
However our commitment to sharing our knowledge has not ceased. We now provide education and information through our Nutrition Education Service, which was established in 1987. |
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