New Zealand seeks answers on milk scare ‘embarrassment’

New Zealand on Thursday demanded answers on how a false test reading triggered a botulism scare for diary giant Fonterra that led to global product recalls, calling it a costly embarrassment.

Officials sounded the alarm earlier this month after tests showed batches of whey power produced by Fonterra were contaminated with the potentially fatal bacterium clostridium botulinum.

Infant formula was pulled off shelves from China to Saudi Arabia as New Zealand’s reputation for producing gold standard foodstuffs, which command top prices in Asia, took a battering.

But it was revealed on Wednesday that subsequent tests had proved the bug in the milk power was in fact a non-toxic bacterium called clostridium sporogenes and there had never been any danger to consumers.

“The whole thing’s been an embarrassment to New Zealand,” Trade Minister Tim Groser said.

“I’ve never tried to conceal the fact that it was going to cost us - the question was always ‘how long, how much?’”

With New Zealand reliant on the dairy industry for 25 per cent of its exports, Groser said it was important to prevent such mistakes occurring again.