February 20, 2013


Fonterra denies accusation on culled milk powder in China

 

 

As it sought to allay concerns fuelled by reports that milk powder imports from New Zealand had been culled in China, Fonterra said none of its products had been destroyed there.

 

Initial worries that New Zealand milk powder had been destroyed weakened the New Zealand dollar on Tuesday (Feb 19). The safety of the country's milk products is a sensitive issue for the local currency as dairy products account for around one-third of the country's exports.

 

Chinese media in recent days reported on spoiled products destroyed or rejected by China's food quality authority (AQSIQ) in November and December, including Chinese brands of infant formula made with powder imported from New Zealand that did not conform to Chinese product specifications.

 

The AQSIQ also culled batches of Herobaby milk formula imported from Europe that were found contaminated with salmonella, as well as 210 tonnes of Anhydrous Milk Fat from New Zealand and cheddar cheese made by Kraft Foods (KRFT.O), both of which had passed their expiration dates, according to the original report in a Chinese daily.

 

"(The AQSIQ's) latest list, published Monday (Feb 18), refers to a sum total of 97.2 kilogrammes (of formula) - that's less than four bags of bulk export product," Kelvin Wickham, Fonterra's managing director of Greater China and India, said in a statement on Tuesday (Feb 19).

 

"None of the items mentioned by AQSIQ were Fonterra products," he added.

 

Last month, reports that traces of a potentially toxic chemical had been found in a New Zealand milk samples had also prompted some selling in the kiwi. Foreign milk powder brands and imported formula command a premium in China, following numerous safety scandals involving Chinese infant formula including the deliberate contamination of baby powder in 2008 with melamine that killed at least six babies and sickened 300,000.

 

The firm at the centre of the melamine scandal, in which Fonterra owned a stake, eventually collapsed. Fonterra now sells New Zealand milk ingredient products into China and also operates three dairy farms in Northern China.

Video >

Follow Us

FacebookTwitterLinkedIn