Theo
Spierings (C), CEO of New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra, at a press
conference
in Beijing on August 5, 2013 (AFP, Ed Jones)
|
BEIJING —
New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra apologised Monday for a botulism scare that
saw product recalls in China but denied accusations by Prime Minister John Key
that it delayed releasing information.
"We
deeply apologise to the people who have been affected," CEO Theo Spierings
told a news conference in China, the world's biggest market for baby formula.
But he
insisted that the company had informed customers and the authorities within 24
hours of confirming the contamination problem.
Dairy
product sales to China are a significant contributor to the New Zealand economy
-- it is the world's largest dairy exporter with the sector accounting for 25
percent of total exports -- and the scare is a blow to its reputation.
Dumex baby
formula from a batch declared
safe pictured in a store in Beijing on
August 5,
2013 (AFP, Wang Zhao)
|
Fonterra
revealed at the weekend that a whey product used to make baby milk and soft
drinks had been contaminated with a bacteria that can cause botulism.
Beijing
ordered recalls of some potentially-tainted products -- including baby milk
produced by Dumex, a subsidiary of French foods giant Danone -- and demanded
affected importers check their sales records.
A New
Zealand minister said China had banned all imports of milk powder from the
country, but there was no Chinese confirmation. Officials in Wellington rowed
back on Monday, saying instead that Beijing had imposed a temporary suspension
on imports by Fonterra.
Spierings
said there were "restrictions" on some of Fonterra's products.
"We
totally understand the concern among parents," he told reporters.
"Parents have the right to know that infant nutrition and other dairy-related
products are 100 percent safe."
New Zealand
Prime Minister John Key had earlier Monday accused the company of a
"staggering" delay in revealing the contamination.
Graphic
charting the stock performance of
Fonterra Shareholders' Fund on the New
Zealand stock exchange (AFP/Graphics)
|
"You
would have thought that for a business where its top business is essentially
based around consumer confidence, food safety and the quality of its products,
that they are risks that you wouldn't take," Key added.
Spierings
said the first signs of a problem only emerged after tests in March this year,
when further tests had been needed to identify "the root cause and the
exact strain" of bacteria involved.
"That
takes time," he said. "On July 31 we got that message and we went out
24 hours later in the proper way to inform our customers and to inform the NZ
government."
Dumex told
mothers in a post on its verified Sina weibo account, a Twitter-like service:
"We share your anxiety."
It said in
a statement it had "urgently sealed and deshelved" affected product
batches and was recalling them.
The other
two Chinese companies affected, Hangzhou Wahaha and Coca-Cola's Chinese
subsidiary, who used the whey in soft drinks, both said their products were
safe but they would recall them as a precaution.
Chris
Galloway, a senior lecturer in public relations at Massey University, said
there were concerns Fonterra had not learned the lessons of a 2008 scandal when
six children died and more than 300,000 fell ill after one if its part-owned
Chinese partners illegally laced milk with the chemical melamine.
"The
repetition makes it harder for people to accept that this is an isolated incident,"
he told AFP.
Graphic
charting the stock performance
of Fonterra Shareholders' Fund on the
New
Zealand stock exchange (AFP/
Graphics)
|
Russia's
Ria Novosti news agency reported Moscow was "recalling Fonterra's
products, including infant formula and advised Russian consumers not to buy the
company's other products".
Singapore
and Malaysia have also recalled some Fonterra-linked baby milk products, saying
it was a precautionary move.
Fonterra
said there had been no reports of illness linked to consumption of the tainted
product, which contains the bacteria Clostridium botulinum, which can cause
botulism, an infection that can lead to paralysis and death.
The company
has blamed the contamination on a dirty pipe at a North Island processing
plant. Fonterra accounted for 89 percent of New Zealand's milk production in
2011, collecting 15.4 billion litres.
About 95
percent of China's milk powder imports in January-March came from New Zealand,
up by a third on the same period in 2012, a government website reported in
April.
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