Dairy scare questions trouble Nats
A BROAD inquiry is to be announced on Monday into the Fonterra contaminated food scandal after ministers emerged from a meeting with bosses of the dairy giant still questioning how they handled the scare.
Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce said the Cabinet would decide if a further inquiry was needed once it had seen the scope of one set in train by the Ministry for Primary Industries.
But it seems certain a further probe will go ahead given the potential impact of a food contamination scare on New Zealand’s economy.
Prime Minister John Key has indicated it will be rigorous after criticisms of the Henry inquiry into the leak of a report into the Government Communications Security Bureau.
Mr Key said the scare ‘‘worried and worries the hell out of me’’ .
‘‘The words ‘infant baby food’ and ‘botulism’ are not made to go together, and ‘food production’ and ‘dirty pipe’ . . . nothing good comes from this.’’
Fonterra was the poster child for New Zealand. ‘‘When it goes wrong it goes wrong for everyone.’’
His comments came as China’s food watchdog announced it would tighten supervision of milk powder makers and severely punish any companies with quality or safety problems. It was not clear if critical comments by the China Food and Drug Administration about producers and regulators were aimed at Fonterra.
Meanwhile, Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings yesterday defended the co-operative against claims it may have breached rules requiring it to promptly alert authorities.
Fonterra’s scientists became aware the strain in whey from the company’s Hautapu factory was clostridium botulinum on July 31 and the company told the Ministry for Primary Industries two days later on August 2.
But heading into the meeting with Mr Joyce, Trade Negotiations Minister Tim Groser and Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy, Mr Spierings said there had been no delay.
‘‘A decision on food safety risk was taken on August 1, late,’’ he said.
‘‘Within 24 hours everybody was informed, including the public, including our customers, including Government, including local authorities.’’
Although the risk was ‘‘minute’’, it was decided an alert should be raised.
But government officials said the required notice within 24 hours was not given. Mr Spierings also said the company was not required to alert regulators at AsureQuality and the Ministry for Primary Industries when a strain of clostridium was found in March. He said the product, which was later found to be contaminated with the dangerous botulinum strain, was within specifications.
Speaking to reporters after yesterday’s meeting, Mr Spierings said the company had presented ministers with its timeline of events.
But Mr Joyce said there were still unanswered questions.
‘‘It wasn’t a meeting for him to tell us that everything was fine and for us to say ‘thanks very much’ and wander on our happy way. That was a meeting for them to give us an update and their view, but it was never going to be the answer to the questions we want answered. It was nice to get his view but actually we will be testing everything pretty thoroughly.’’
Mr Guy said the Government still had concerns about the timeline and ’’what went on and when’’, and that needed to be worked through in an inquiry. That would include whether there was an issue with the actions taken in March, when Fonterra was first aware bacteria had been found.
Mr Guy and Mr Spierings also disagreed about when Fonterra first warned officials.
The Labour Party’s primary industries spokesman, Damien O’Connor, said the differing stories showed why a full inquiry independent of the company and the ministry was needed.
‘‘The problem is not cow shit in the milk, it’s bullshit in the story,’’ Mr O’Connor said.
Mr Guy said he had expressed his disappointment to the Fonterra executives, who had said they were sorry for what happened.
Mr Spierings and Fonterra chairman John Wilson said the first step had been to deal with the crisis.
Things were now under control and the next step was to answer those questions through two internal reviews. Mr Wilson said independent international experts would be brought in to help the board’s inquiry.