Farmers will pay the price for tainted milk powder exported to China by a South Island dairy company, one of their biggest shareholders says.
Batches of specialist milk powder exported to China by Westland Milk Products were tainted with higher than acceptable nitrate levels from a cleaning fluid.
The problem comes just weeks after whey protein made by dairy giant Fonterra was revealed to have been contaminated with a bacterium that had the potential to cause botulism.
Westland said the elevated nitrate levels were not a food safety scare as the specialist lactoferrin powder is only used in small quantities in any final product.
The company was investigating how nitrates from cleaning products were not completely flushed from plant at its Hokitika processing site.
Two batches of lactoferrin totalling 390 kilograms showed nitrate levels of 610 and 2198 parts per million.
The maximum limit is 150 parts per million in New Zealand.
West Coast farmers are concerned about the possible fallout from the contamination and the fact they were not told about the problem for weeks.
The company told the Government of the problem on August 2, but shareholders were not informed of the problem until yesterday.
Some farmers only became aware of the nitrates problem through the media. Westland’s sixth largest shareholder, Alison Knight, said the problem would impact on profits.
«It’ll hit us in the pocket, not the workers in the factory or [chief executive Rod] Quin,» she said.
«It’s not good and it won’t be good for the payout. It will have an effect down the line. The guys in the factory doing the work still get their wages but we don’t get paid as much.»
She was angry that she had not been informed before news broke publicly.
The Knights only learned of the problem yesterday afternoon when contacted by The Press. Knight, whose company owns four dairy farms at Ahaura and 1650 cows, said shareholders should have been warned at least a few days before the contamination scare erupted.
«If they knew about it on August 2, all the shareholders should have known on the third or fourth.
«We’ve put the milk in to their standards but they’re not finishing off properly. They need to tidy up their backyard.»
Hokitika farmer Andy Thompson said he found out about the problem when he heard it on the news at lunchtime.
He was «obviously surprised» and concerned about the cumulative effect this latest scare could have on New Zealand’s dairy industry.
«[China is] our biggest market. We just want to make sure that none of our access or ability to sell to them in any way is affected.»
Thompson said the company had emailed shareholders at 11.34am yesterday to inform them of the problem.
West Coast farmer Katie Milne said farmers were feeling uneasy about the issue being lumped in with the Fonterra food scare.
«It’s not a food safety issue which is really good . . . People are being hysterical about this after the Fonterra issue. Things that would normally never make a headline, like products out of specification, are for any reason going around the world.»
Westland chief executive Quin said the powder had been placed in quarantine and the co-operative had put a hold on all of its lactoferrin in its warehouse and begun re-testing individual batches.
He said the issue was not made public earlier because there was no need for a public recall.
Ministry of Primary Industry (MPI) acting director-general Scott Gallacher said its technical experts had looked closely at the Westland issue and believed any food safety risk to consumers in China was negligible.
Source: Â Stuff
