Authorities in New Zealand prompted recall of up to 1,000 tons of dairy products globally across seven countries after Fonterra, the world’s fourth largest dairy company, declared that it has identified a type of bacteria that can cause botulism on its products.
On Saturday, the New Zealand’s Ministry of Primary Industries revealed the list of contaminated products that include baby formulas, protein drinks, and sport drinks supplied to (beside New Zealand) Australia, China, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Customers of Fonterra were urgently checking their supply chains.
One New Zealand Company, Nutricia, sheltered down five batches of contaminated products and China is urging importers to recall products immediately.
Consumers in different places are willing to pay a lot for New Zealand’s baby formula because the country has a good reputation. Especially Chinese consumers after contaminated local milk formula killed six babies and sickened 300,000 more in 2008.
China’s product quality watchdog released a statement advising importers of Fonterra dairy products to immediately start recollecting the products.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention describes botulism as a rare disease that sometimes causes fatal paralytic illness.
At a news conference on Saturday, Fonterra repetitively rejects to reveal the companies, countries or products affected. Fonterra’s New Zealand milk products’ managing director, Gary Romano said, “The company supplies raw materials to the eight companies and it is up to them to inform their consumers of what products might be tainted.”
However, the company acknowledged that Theo Spierings, its chief executive, intended to fly to China, to deal with the news of botulism scare.
Romano said the problem was caused by unsterilized pipes at a Waikato factory. He said three batches of whey protein weighing about 42 tons were tainted in May 2012, adding that Fonterra has since cleaned the pipes.
The news comes as a blow to New Zealand’s dairy industry, which powers the country’s economy. New Zealand exports about 95 percent of its milk.
