The New Zealand police said on Tuesday that letters had been sent to the national farmers’ group and the dairy giant Fonterra in November accompanied by packages of infant formula laced with the pesticide 1080, formally called sodium fluoroacetate.
The poisoning scare dragged the New Zealand dollar to a six-week low over concerns about the possible effect on the country, which depends on dairy products for about a quarter of its export earnings. China is its biggest dairy buyer.
“China has already taken steps and will demand each batch of milk powder imported from New Zealand has an official New Zealand certificate that it does not contain 1080,” The Chinese General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a news release posted on its website late Tuesday.
The regulator added that importers should provide test reports that the product was free from the contaminant, and that dealers should ensure that all packaging was intact. It said there had been no reported cases of poisoning within China.
The New Zealand police said no traces of the poison had been found in any products in factories. The Ministry of Primary Industries also sought to assure consumers, saying the chances of contamination were extremely low.
The scare is the latest threat to New Zealand’s dairy sector, which exported $11 billion in milk products in 2014. It follows a contamination scare in 2013, when a botulism-causing bacteria was believed to have been found in one of Fonterra’s products.
The incident prompted a recall of infant formula, sports drinks and other products in China and elsewhere before the discovery was found to be in error.
Source: NY Times
