September 30, 2008

New Zealand's Tatua Cooperative Dairy Company Ltd has suspended exports due to suspicions of its product being melamine-contaminated.

Tatua's agent was told two weeks ago by a Chinese customer that melamine had been detected on its product in China.

Tests were conducted in both China and New Zealand, with results on September 22 and 23 confirming contamination at less than four parts per million.

However, Tatua chief executive Paul McGilvary said the company's own investigation detected no melamine in its raw milk.

Tatua has begun a trackback project with the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA), according to McGilvary.

The trackback was expected to find out whether the melamine was added to the raw milk by farmers or feeding dairy cows cheap imported feeds contaminated with melamine.

The NZFSA has no legal maximum residue level (MRL) for melamine in milk. NZFSA and major multinational food companies including Nestle and Heinz said melamine contamination does not pose a health risk, but China's milk scandal portrays the exact opposite picture.

Tatua expects exporters to test for melamine contamination before releasing product for sale in the future.