The Ministry for Primary Industries has laid charges against Fonterra in relation to last year’s contaminated whey protein scare.
Four charges were laid in the Wellington District Court yesterday, but the ministry would not comment further because the case is now before the courts.
Fonterra has been charged with:
Processing dairy products not in accordance with its Risk Management Programme;
Exporting dairy product which failed to meet relevant animal product standards
Failing to notify its verifier of significant concerns that dairy product had not been processed in accordance with its Risk Management Programme
Failing to notify the Director General as soon as possible that exported dairy product was not fit for intended purpose.
Fonterra is also involved in another court case brought by French food company Danone which says it was «significantly affected» by the incident.
In August last year, New Zealand’s biggest dairy company feared several batches of whey protein concentrate were contaminated with a potentially dangerous form of clostridium bacteria but the protein was ultimately cleared.
Source: 3News
