New Zealand’s Fonterra on the defensive over chemical tainted milk
(01-28 15:02)
New Zealand dairy company Fonterra, the world's largest, said today its milk remains “100 percent,’’ safe despite tests finding trace elements of an agricultural chemical in milk powder.
Fonterra, which reported revenues of US$16.6 billion in the 2012 financial year, said tests had revealed low levels of dicyandiamide in some milk samples, AFP reports.
Chief executive Theo Spierings said the DCD levels were 100 times lower than those permitted under European standards and the company was taking steps to reassure international consumers that there were no safety issues.
“Everything that has been exported out of New Zealand is 100 percent safe for consumption,'' he told Radio New Zealand.
He said suppliers of DCD, which is used to reduce greenhouse gases from dairy herds, had voluntarily agreed to suspend sales of the chemical last week.
Fonterra is sensitive about milk contamination after a partially owned Chinese subsidiary, Sanlu Group, was embroiled in a scandal involving melamine-tainted baby formula in 2008 that killed at least six infants and made 300,000 more ill.
Spierings said Fonterra was in touch with authorities in key markets in Asia about the latest findings.
“We are in contact with Chinese authorities, with Taiwanese authorities and these authorities are adopting the same standard as what we are talking about for these products,'' he said.
“We will do testing and they will do testing.’’
The dairy industry contributes about 25 percent of New Zealand's exports.
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