Marmite is running out
Last updated 09:30 19/03/2012

Stacy Squires
END OF AN ERA: Sanitarium's Harewood building is to be demolished because of earthquake damage. It was rebuilt in the 1960s after a fire.

Production on the Kiwi breakfast staple had to be suspended after earthquake damage to a cooling tower at the company's Christchurch factory rendered the nearby Marmite building unsafe.

Sanitarium general manager Pierre van Heerden said he hoped enough stock was in circulation to last a few weeks, but production wasn't expected to resume until midway through this year.

"The tower, which is next to the Marmite facility, suffered considerable damage in the Christchurch earthquake and has had to be deconstructed. While that is happening, workers have had to vacate the Marmite factory because it is unsafe."

He said work was happening to either identify a new building to house the Marmite factory in, or to carry out work on the tower as quickly as possible so staff could move back in, but another jar of Marmite was not expected to be made there until July.

"We are in the process of talking to food distribution centres to get an idea of how much stock is out there, but it is hard because some supermarkets will have more stock than others.

In the meantime, he recommended enjoying the spread on toast, not bread, as the heat would melt the Marmite and stretch it further.

"Some sizes have already sold out in some places. But we urge consumers not to buy huge boxes of it, as it's a Kiwi favourite and people need to be considerate of their fellow Kiwis."

The plant produces about 640,000kg of Marmite every year.

The  damaged tower is attached to the Weetbix factory, and earlier this year Sanitarium had to halt manufacturing on New Zealand's favourite cereal, while they shipped production up to a smaller factory in Auckland.

Last month Sanitarium announced 36 redundancies at its quake-hit Christchurch manufacturing centre and indefinitely suspended Weet-Bix manufacturing.

The company had decided to permanently deconstruct the main food processing tower at the building and remove the Marmite machinery and putting it in another safe part of the building.

Van Heerden said then that a final decision on the future of the site was at least six months away.

Sanitarium has been on the site since 1905, with buildings also dating from 1963, 1974 and 1977.

The Seventh Day Adventist Church of New Zealand owns Sanitarium New Zealand.

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