New Zealand dairy company suspends exports after melamine discovery

A New Zealand dairy company has suspended exporting one of its products after tests found it was contaminated with melamine.

 

The Tatua Cooperative Dairy Company stopped exports of the dairy protein lactoferrin, which is used mostly in baby formulas.

 

A recent melamine contamination scandal in China has been blamed for killing at least four children and leaving thousands of others ill.

 

A Chinese customer told Tatua's agent two weeks ago that melamine, a chemical found in plastic, had been detected on its product in China.

 

Further tests were done in both China and New Zealand, and results on September 22 and 23 confirmed low-level contamination.

 

Tatua's board will meet on Tuesday, 30 September 2008 and is expected to discuss the issue.

 

Tatua chief executive Paul McGilvary said there were no health concerns over the product, but the company was being cautious because of the current sensibilities over melamine.

 

He said every food and safety authority in the world is claiming that there is no issue with the product.

 

McGilvary said while milk products in China that caused babies to become ill had melamine levels of about 2,500 parts per million, the lactoferrin from his company was found with just four parts per million.

 

The New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA), inspected the factory on Wednesday, 24 September 2008.

 

He said the company had decided to suspend exports even though some customers were happy to continue taking the goods.

 

He also said that others encourage a more detailed investigation to understand the situation better by checking with consumers before taking any action.

 

The NZFSA has no legal maximum residue level (MRL) for melamine in milk, even though in June it published MRLs for melamine at 0.3mg/kg in sheep meats, and 0.15mg/kg in poultry and eggs.

 

A trace on the goods may discover whether the melamine at Tatua was introduced to the raw milk by farmers using insecticides or by feeding dairy cows cheap imported feeds such as palm kernel contaminated with cyromazine or its metabolite, melamine.

 

The investigation has serious implications for dairy exporters, despite the other two manufacturers of lactoferrin, Fonterra and Westland, saying their products were not contaminated.

 

Tatua is an independent dairy cooperative owned by 124 farmer shareholders in New Zealand.