Fonterra Reassures Consumers Amid Second Contamination Scare

January 16, 2014 Leave a comment

Fonterra Reassures Consumers After N.Z. Fresh Cream Recall

Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd. (FCG), the world’s biggest dairy exporter, says its food safety standards are being maintained after a recall of a batch of fresh cream distributed within New Zealand.About 8,700 bottles of fresh cream already distributed to retail outlets in regions of New Zealand’s North Island are being recalled after tests showed high levels of the E.Coli bacteria, the Auckland-based company said late yesterday.

“Consumers can rest assured on our record of supplying high quality milk and cream into this market,” Peter McClure, managing director of Fonterra Brands NZ told Radio New Zealand. “Fonterra is still known for very high quality products. We moved very quickly to remove this product from the shelf.”

Fonterra in August warned that a whey protein used in baby formula may have been tainted with a botulism-causing bacteria during processing at a New Zealand plant. Although it was a false scare, the incident prompted product recalls across Asia, and nations including China temporarily halted imports of some Fonterra milk powders. Danone last week canceled its supply contract and is seeking compensation.

“This is a totally separate issue from the last one,” said McClure. “You wouldn’t want this at any time and now is not a good time for us, but we’re doing everything we can.”

The fresh cream was distributed under the Anchor and Pams brands with a best before date of Jan. 21, the company said. It was produced at the company’s Takanini plant last week.

No other product from the plant, which processes 1 million liters of milk a day, showed anything unusual in testing, McClure said. Fonterra is investigating how the contamination occurred, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tracy Withers in Wellington at twithers@bloomberg.net

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