WELLINGTON: A botulism scare that sparked global recalls of Fonterra milk products was a false alarm and there was never any danger to consumers, New Zealand officials said yesterday after new tests.
The crisis led to infant formula being taken off shelves from China to Saudi Arabia earlier this month and damaged New Zealand’s “clean, green” reputation in key Asian markets.
However, New Zealand’s Ministry of Primary Industries said a barrage of tests ordered after it sounded the alarm had confirmed the contaminant was not the potentially fatal clostridium botulinum, but a milder bug called clostridium sporogenes.
“It is therefore not capable of producing botulism-causing toxins,” the ministry said in a statement. “There are no known food-safety issues associated with clostridium sporogenes, although at elevated levels certain strains may be associated with food spoilage.”
It said the initial tests had pointed to botulism contamination but subsequent checks on a further 195 samples in laboratories in New Zealand and the US showed no sign of the bacteria.
“We are very, very relieved that this is not a food-safety issue and that none of the children in the world were affected by this event,” Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings told reporters.
The dairy industry accounts for about a quarter of New Zealand’s exports and ministry acting director-general Scott Gallacher said officials had been right to issue a public warning early.
“We needed to act on what we knew at that time,” he said. “The information we had then said there was a food-safety risk to consumers and we moved quickly to address it.” AFP
