We must confess that we've been a bit slow off the mark with this; it was only late yesterday that the gravity of the situation became apparent to us, and by that time we had visitors, and were getting disapproving glances from She Who Must Be Obeyed when we looked in the direction of the computer desk! But over at Homepaddock, Ele has plenty of coverage which, given that she and her farmer are at the bovine end of the dairy industry is unsurprising. This post (which we only saw this morning) is especially relevant.
And the Herald's lead story this morning is not flattering for Fonterra; check this out:
Worried parents are flooding an infant formula company's hotline, amid revelations almost 68,000 cans of formula could be tainted with a botulism-causing bacterium after the Fonterra contamination scare.
Karicare products affected were being bought by New Zealanders as late as Saturday night before a precautionary recall notice was issued, angering parents around the country.
The Government has criticised Fonterra, our largest company, for its handling of the situation amid growing frustrations at the amount of misinformation and lack of details, given it has known about the scandal since Wednesday when test results confirmed a contamination.
Last night, Prime Minister John Key told the Herald he was "deeply concerned" about the issue and said the trade implications were worrying.
John Key and his Ministers, especially Trade Minister Tim Groser are justified in being deeply concerned. New Zealand is one of the world's largest producer of dairy products, and by and large, it's something at which New Zealand excels
Two Karicare infant formula products have been recalled in New Zealand. The Ministry for Primary Industries has more information on the domestic situation here. We have just subscribed to the Ministry's news feed, so that we will receive regular updates.
But it is the wider issue that is of deeper concern. Russia's blanket ban on Fonterra dairy products seems to be an over-the-top response, especially given that Russia imports none of the affected product. However it is the reputational damage being done in China that is of the greatest concern from an export perspective.
The Dominion-Post suggests that Fonterra's response has been wanting; check this out:
Mr Groser and Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce held a meeting yesterday with top Fonterra officials, including chairman John Wilson, where they demanded full disclosure to the public.
The Government has promised a thorough investigation into the handling of the scare, but that it would not pressure Fonterra until food safety issues were resolved.
"Obviously there's a number of concerns about the time taken in terms of how this has come out," Mr Joyce said.
Botulism fears were raised on Saturday after Fonterra made public a "potential quality issue" in whey concentrate from a plant in Hautapu, Waikato.
Contamination had been traced to a pipe and three batches of whey, which were turned into 900 tonnes of varied food products sold by eight companies in seven countries.
The product was manufactured in May 2012, and the first signs of a problem emerged in March this year.
However, Fonterra discovered the scale of the potential problem only on Wednesday and the Government was told of it on Friday afternoon.
Prime Minister John Key has just reaffirmed his concern on Breakfast, but has sensibly noted that "this is not the time for recriminations". We agree wholeheartedly; there will be plenty of opportunity for that in due course, but as of this moment the most important issue for the Government is to reassure the countries who buy our exports that the products are safe, and of the highest quality.
And we've heard that Steven Joyce was not his usual jolly self on TV3's The Nation on Saturday. Perhaps having this dumped on his plate late on Friday may explain that. Messrs Joyce and Groser have a devil of a job to do over the next few days to convince the international market that this is a single and isolated error on Fonterra's part.
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