Uploaded August 2013 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
New Zealand's Fonterra apologised on Monday (August 5) for a milk powder contamination scare in China that has raised safety concerns that threaten New Zealand's nine billion U.S. dollar annual dairy trade and Fonterra's own business in a top market.
Fonterra, the world's biggest dairy exporter, said over the weekend that it had found bacteria in some products that could cause botulism.
It said contaminated whey protein concentrate had been exported to China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Saudi Arabia and used in products including infant milk powder and sports drinks.
At a media briefing in Beijing after hurriedly flying to deal with the fallout in one of its largest markets, Fonterra's chief executive, Theo Spierings, said he regretted the distress and anxiety which the issue could have caused.
In China, Spierings said that products from two companies, Coca Cola, and Chinese food firm Wahaha, are safe because any bacteria would be killed during processing. Protein drinks made by Auckland-based Vitaco Health Group Ltd., another Fonterra customer, were also unaffected for the same reason.
A third company in China, Dumex Baby Food Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of France's Danone, has told Fonterra that 12 batches could have been affected, he said. Half have been recalled as a precautionary measure and the other half remain in factories.
He also said the problem originated in a pipe in a factory in New Zealand that was seldom used, and normal cleaning was not sufficient to sanitize it.
The majority of the affected products have already been contained, he said, and the problem will be resolved within two days after all contaminated products have been recalled.
Many Chinese consumers have taken to buying imported infant formula after hundreds of babies were sickened in 2008 by domestic powder tainted with the chemical melamine, used to increase protein levels.
Fonterra's unit price and the kiwi dollar slid on Monday after the dairy giant warned of potentially contaminated products.
New Zealand's Fonterra apologised on Monday (August 5) for a milk powder contamination scare in China that has raised safety concerns that threaten New Zealand's nine billion U.S. dollar annual dairy trade and Fonterra's own business in a top market.
Fonterra, the world's biggest dairy exporter, said over the weekend that it had found bacteria in some products that could cause botulism.
It said contaminated whey protein concentrate had been exported to China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Saudi Arabia and used in products including infant milk powder and sports drinks.
At a media briefing in Beijing after hurriedly flying to deal with the fallout in one of its largest markets, Fonterra's chief executive, Theo Spierings, said he regretted the distress and anxiety which the issue could have caused.
In China, Spierings said that products from two companies, Coca Cola, and Chinese food firm Wahaha, are safe because any bacteria would be killed during processing. Protein drinks made by Auckland-based Vitaco Health Group Ltd., another Fonterra customer, were also unaffected for the same reason.
A third company in China, Dumex Baby Food Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of France's Danone, has told Fonterra that 12 batches could have been affected, he said. Half have been recalled as a precautionary measure and the other half remain in factories.
He also said the problem originated in a pipe in a factory in New Zealand that was seldom used, and normal cleaning was not sufficient to sanitize it.
The majority of the affected products have already been contained, he said, and the problem will be resolved within two days after all contaminated products have been recalled.
Many Chinese consumers have taken to buying imported infant formula after hundreds of babies were sickened in 2008 by domestic powder tainted with the chemical melamine, used to increase protein levels.
Fonterra's unit price and the kiwi dollar slid on Monday after the dairy giant warned of potentially contaminated products.
