#Fonterra chairman finally fronts

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Fonterra chairman John Wilson has broken his silence this afternoon to apologise to customers and consumers and announce a separate no-holds barred board inquiry into the food safety scare.
Wilson has copped heavy criticism for ducking interviews and press conferences in the wake of revelations that Fonterra had distributed 38 tonnes of potentially contaminated whey powder to eight customers.
Asked why he had taken so long to front up, he said it was an operational matter and the board had «huge confidence» in chief executive Theo Spierings and his management team.
Wilson insisted the management team had done «exactly the right things» and said the situation had been extremely complex.
Asked whether he deserved to keep his chairman role, Wilson said it was ultimately up to shareholders and the board but he «absolutely» intended to stay.
He kicked off the press conference by apologising to mothers and fathers on behalf of Fonterra for any confusion that had been caused.
«I need to say how deeply concerned we are in Fonterra for the anxiety that has been created by this precautionary recall,» he said.
«I have confidence that Theo and his management team are continuing to do everything they can as quickly as they can to deal with the situation.»
Wilson conceded that there were serious lessons that needed to be learnt from the sorry saga.
«That is why … the board will also be conducting a full and thorough formal review that will be led by the independent directors of Fonterra, and will include independent expert advice.»
The board review would be separate to Fonterra’s own internal inquiry, which has already started and is expected to be closely supervised by the Ministry for Primary Industries.
«The full scope of that review is still being finalised, but my expectation is it will challenge every aspect of the process we are now concluding,» he said.
«We will not be shying away from any findings.»
Both Wilson and Spierings will also appear in a special Sky TV broadcast on channel 950 every hour on the hour from 5pm to 10pm tonight.
Fonterra also said it welcomed government confirmation that the issue involving whey protein concentrate was confined to the products made from three batches of whey protein concentrate (WPC80).
Over the weekend the dairy co-op revealed that it had supplied eight customers with the whey which was potentially tainted with a strain of bacteria that can cause the deadly botulism illness.
«When we informed our customers and the Ministry for Primary Industries of the quality issue, we advised them that it was limited to three batches of whey protein concentrate,» Spierings said in a statement to the stock exchange.
«We appreciate the New Zealand Government confirming this to be the case and reiterating the safety of all other New Zealand dairy products, including Whole Milk Powder (WMP) and Skim Milk Powder (SMP), butter and cheese.»
The potentially affected product was used to make infant formula, juice and dairy beverages, yoghurt, body building powder, and animal stock food.
«Our customers have worked quickly to locate and secure products that were not in the market and, where they had already reached retail shelves, initiate recalls. Their fast response has meant that almost all products are now back or on their way back,» Spierings said.
CHAIRMAN CRITICISED
Although Wilson has been in regular contact with shareholder-suppliers through email updates, his public invisibility has been slammed by former Federated Farmers dairy head Lachlan McKenzie .
«Where’s Johnny?,» said McKenzie.
«The first principle of public relations is to front. You front to your peers, you front to your customers and in the most serious cases, you front the farmers and you front the Government.»
The Government was acting as if it was speaking on behalf of Fonterra when the co-operative should be doing that themselves.
Wilson needed to front the issue earlier, McKenzie said.
«He has to talk on the radio, he has to front the television and he has to answer the questions to the papers and be able to be directly quoted. He has to come out and say ‘sorry we’ve stuffed up’, and someone has to fall on their sword.»
Waikato dairy farmer Bruce Rowe said the board and Fonterra’s top tier management must be held accountable.
«The image of a securely managed factory processing system has been destroyed. This issue should be considered by every shareholder-supplier as I believe it is our future and our financial loss.»
McKenzie said Fonterra needed to be proactive and should have flagged the problem in March when it was first discovered and recalled the affected products then.
By not showing, it gave the impression he had something to hide. It also left the perception that the scare was a major catastrophe, when there were no reports of anybody being sick, he said.
«It’s not a disaster, but on the basis of the delay and the handling of the PR, Wilson needs to fall on his sword.»
He accused Wilson of only speaking to the media when there was positive news.
«When the good news is out there, he’s there. You have to take the good with the bad, but he’s not even returning media calls.»
McKenzie said there were parallels with Fonterra’s reaction to the Sanlu scandal in 2008 and last years DCD contamination scare.
«What is, is that they are doing the same thing with Sanlu, they are doing the same thing as DCD. They seem to have kneejerk reactions once something has come out.
«In the absence of the board fronting, you have to say that they haven’t done a very good job,» he said.
Rowe said the botulism crisis will be damaging to every Fonterra shareholder-supplier and would lead to major financial losses for the co-operative.
Fonterra’s competition such as Tatua and Westland have clean track records and he questioned why Fonterra could not have the same.
It was a management issue and Rowe urged other shareholder-suppliers to contact their local director and ask them what the costs were likely to be.
«It’s best we present a united front. We must have accountability.»
If dairy farmers were going to have to pay for the cost of this, then these questions had to be asked, Row said.
«I tried to ring two different directors when this hit the news and I couldn’t get a reply from any of them.»
He was then informed those directors were in meetings with government officials.
It annoyed him that farmers were made accountable if they did not comply to their environmental responsibilities.
«There is so much accountability on farmers and very little upon the company.»
The shareholders council’s Ian Brown said he was «not uncomfortable» that Wilson has so far failed to speak publicly on the food safety scare. He had spoken with Wilson regularly this week, he said.
Some farmers had commented to Brown on Wilson’s absence.
«At the moment these the things have to play out. It’s management’s role to talk with the Government and find out about production matters,» Brown said.
«In time he will appear.»
 
Source: Stuff

Mirá También

Así lo expresó Domingo Possetto, secretario de la seccional Rafaela, quien además, afirmó que a los productores «habitualmente los ignoran los gobiernos». Además, reconoció la labor de los empresarios de las firmas locales y aseguró que están «esperanzados» con la negociación entre SanCor y Adecoagro.

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