The world questions NZ milk safety

The world asks if NZ milk is safe to drink. 

 In years gone by there would have been no question about this. But that was in the day before factory farming and the development of dairying as a monoculture that has led to destruction of traditional farming land, the pollution of our pristine waterways,

So much for 'clean and green New Zealand'!

Those governments that have a zero tolerance for toxins are correct. Fonterra can issue assurances until the cows come home (sorry for the pun), but there is NO 'safe level' of toxins (such as fertilsers) in our food. 

By the way there has been NO mention in the media about what NZ consumers are exposed to.

In the meantime, it has been revealed that New Zealanders have been guineapigs, not only for a new Facebook system, but, more importantly for copyright regulations.

Here is coverage from international media as well as a reaction from the NZ press.

Is NZ milk safe to drink?

From the Wall Street Journal

Fonterra, Government Working to Quell New Zealand Milk Scare

By Chris Bourke -

Bloomberg,

25January, 2013

Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd. (FCG), the world’s largest dairy exporter, and New Zealand officials are working to stop a milk contamination scare from hurting the nation’s NZ$14.5 billion ($12.1 billion) dairy export industry.

Fonterra has fielded “a few” enquiries from customers, with no adverse reactions, a spokesman for the Auckland-based company, said today by telephone after tests found low levels of the fertilizer aid dicyandiamide, or DCD, in dairy products. Fonterra isn’t recalling any products, he said.

The discovery, while presenting no food safety risk, may become a trade issue, Fonterra, which accounts for about 40 percent of the global dairy trade, said yesterday. Ravensdown Fertiliser Co-operative Ltd. and Ballance Agri-Nutrients Co- operative have voluntarily suspended DCD sales, while the government has established a working group to assess the future of DCD to ensure it meets trade requirements.

“If this was to actually become an issue for international players, then clearly two-thirds of our exports rely, to some extent, on that sort of reputation and it’s going to raise an eyebrow or two,” Doug Steel, a markets economist at Bank of New Zealand, said by phone. “But I don’t think this is that one.”

Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund fell 8 New Zealand cents, or 1.1 percent, to NZ$7.23 in Wellington trading at the 5 p.m. close. The shares climbed 1.1 percent yesterday.

DCD aims to improve water quality on farms by reducing nitrate levels, as well as cut greenhouse gas emissions, according to the government. It’s been used on about 500 out of around 12,000 dairy farms, said Federated Farmers.

Global Markets

“There was the possibility that New Zealand milk products could have been excluded from international markets because of this,” according to a statement on the Ministry of Primary Industry’s web site. “The action we have taken is to prevent that happening.”

Fonterra, which exports to more than 100 countries, is relying on China and emerging markets to drive growth. In 2008, a melamine-milk contamination in China killed at least six infants, causing the collapse of its local partner Sanlu Group.

Fonterra’s precautions reflect the company’s reliance on international markets for growth. The company forecasts the global diary trade will increase at least 100 billion liters by 2020, led by China and India.

The government is working with Fonterra to decide how DCD can be used to meet trade requirements, according to the ministry. The absence of agreed levels means that any presence could be unacceptable to some markets, according to the statement.

Trade Risk

“These residues have only come to light given the increased sophistication of testing we now possess,” William Rolleston, food safety spokesperson for industry body, Federated Farmers said yesterday in a statement. “That said, a detectable level at this time presents a trade risk, no matter how small.”

The agricultural supply companies have worked with Fonterra and the government to assess DCD use since December after low levels were found in milk powder, Ravensdown said in a statement on its website.

“Food regulators around the world are reflecting market demands with increasingly rigorous testing and in some countries there is a zero tolerance to detected residues outside agreed standards,” said Carol Barnao, MPI Deputy Director General Standards, in the MPI statement.

Fonterra in December raised its forecast payment to farmers, saying it expects higher global dairy prices in the first half of 2013. While milk prices fell toward year-end as new season output from New Zealand and other southern hemisphere producers entered the market, they are 28 percent higher than in mid-July after the worst U.S. drought in 56 years curbed supply.

World asks: is NZ milk safe to drink?

Stuff,

27 January, 2013

The decision to sit on the discovery of a toxic chemical found in consumer milk was as part of a "measured and effective response" that is now threatening to froth into a PR disaster for New Zealand.

New Zealand trading partners are demanding answers and global business media are playing up the tension over another potential milk tainting scandal, with the Wall Street Journal running a headline: "Is New Zealand milk safe to drink?"

The Washington Post, running a story from the Bloomberg wire service, said Fonterra and the Government were facing a "milk scare".

On Friday, dairy company Fonterra announced that it had found low levels of the fertiliser aid dicyandiamide (DCD) in dairy products. The tests were undertaken in September, two months before the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) was alerted.

That delay has caused Labour's trade spokesman, Clayton Cosgrove, to question whether such a decision could cause more widespread damage.

"In customer relations, perception is the truth. Where there is a vacuum, people will look at the media and what people have said and, more importantly, what they haven't said, and make their own assumptions."

Despite the tests revealing only "minute traces" of DCD residue in a small number of Fonterra products and posing no apparent health risk, the lack of information around the chemical has caused international players like Taiwan to panic. While there was no health risk, some countries have zero tolerance on adulterant in their food products.

The issue had become a "trade risk", said Greg Campbell, chief executive of Ravensdown, which manufactures DCD.

Taiwan's department of health asked its importers to investigate if their products have came from New Zealand pastures that have been using fertilisers containing DCD.

The China Post quoted director of the Department of Toxicology at Linkuo Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Lin Chieh-liang, as saying high doses of DCD could irritate human skin, potentially cause dermatitis and may lead to liver damage.

That panic was sparked by a Wall Street Journal article which labelled DCD a "toxic" substance that could cause damage to New Zealand's $10 billion dairy industry. Farmers apply DCD to pastures to prevent the fertiliser byproduct nitrate from getting into rivers and lakes.

After the MPI was alerted, a working group comprising Fonterra, Ravensdown and fellow DCD producer Ballance Agri-Nutrients, along with Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand and staff from MPI, met discuss how to deal with the problem. "It was important to fully assess the situation and take a measured and effective response," a ministry spokesperson said.

Fonterra has said it chose not to disclose the chemical findings before launching its $525m shareholder fund last November because it wasn't "material" information. But Cosgrove said the public might read into that and think there was something to hide, he said.

Cosgrove was in government in 2008, when a melamine-milk contamination in China killed at least six infants, causing the collapse of its local partner Sanlu Group. He said "there was no politics in trade" but he was surprised that Trade Minister Tim Groser had not made any definitive statements about the DCD discovery. It was important to keep New Zealand's trading partners informed about the integrity of the country's food export products, he said.

Earlier this month the Government told Fonterra there would be a voluntary withdrawal of DCD products from the market.

Fonterra managing director co-operative affairs, Todd Muller, said he was "fully supportive" of this. He said the delay in making the discovery public was because the working group had been gathering information, sourcing scientific opinion, and conducting further testing.

Muller said that a 60kg person would have to drink more than 130 litres of raw milk or consume some 60kg of milk powder to reach the limit for an acceptable daily intake, and considerably more to have any health effects from DCD.

"Clearly, this would never happen."