Google – AFP, 19 august 2013
A Chinese
family buys baby milk powder at a store in Beijing on August 7,
2013 (AFP/File,
Mark Ralston)
|
WELLINGTON
— A new contamination scare hit New Zealand's multi-billion dollar dairy
industry on Monday after it was revealed a milk product with excessive nitrate
levels had been exported to China.
Both New
Zealand's Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) and the company at the centre of
the latest scare, Westlake Milk, insisted the product called lactoferrin did
not pose a safety risk.
But the
timing could not be worse for the country's dairy industry -- which generates a
quarter of New Zealand's exports -- as it struggles to recover from a botulism
contamination crisis earlier this month.
Westland
said two batches of lactoferrin totalling 390kg (860 pounds) were exported to
China despite showing nitrate levels of 610 and 2,198 parts per million -- well
above the New Zealand standard of 150 parts per million.
Chief
executive Rod Quin said it appeared the contamination was an isolated incident
caused when cleaning products were not properly flushed from a South Island
processing plant before a new run of product was sent through.
"We
immediately initiated a process to find and quarantine all of the product and
it has been put on hold," he said.
The
government said that by the time the product had been through the manufacturing
process, nitrate levels would have been so diluted as to be harmless.
"MPI's
technical experts have looked closely at this issue and believe any food safety
risk to Chinese consumers is negligible because the quantities of lactoferrin
used in consumer products was very small," MPI acting director-general
Scott Gallacher said.
"The
nitrate levels in those products would easily be within acceptable
levels."
New
Zealand's reputation for producing top-quality dairy products was damaged when
Fonterra revealed earlier this month that some whey product used in baby
formula was contaminated with a potentially deadly bug that can cause botulism.
The scare,
blamed on a dirty pipe at a North Island processing plant, caused product
recalls from Saudi Arabia to China.
New
Zealand's dairy exports are worth more than NZ$12 billion ($9.7 billion) a
year, according to government data, with China its largest market.
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