Key puts Fonterra on notice

John Key said yesterday on TVNZ's Breakfast that "Now is not the time for recriminations" with regard to Fonterra's role in the infant formula contamination saga. 

But likewise the Prime Minister is not going to waste too much time before finding out how this gaffe happened, and why Fonterra only reported it now; the Herald reports:

Prime Minister John Key says there will be a probe into Fonterra as the Government increases pressure on the dairy giant to front up with all of the information it has to try to limit the international damage from potentially contaminated whey powder.
Mr Key said it was likely two inquiries would result from the issue, including one into Fonterra. "They will need to answer some questions around the length of time it took for all of us to know, the processes it went through from when it first identified there could be an issue to when it was brought into the public domain, to their general approach to the issue."
He said the second inquiry was likely to be into how food safety regime and systems had responded.
Mr Key refused to give a view on Fonterra's performance, saying he wanted Fonterra to focus on ensuring it provided all the information required for public safety in New Zealand and overseas.
But he made it clear he was dissatisfied with its response.
He said the full extent of possible contamination was still unknown, and the information Fonterra was giving kept changing, making it clear more products were potentially affected than originally thought.

"Until we get that information, the situation remains fluid and we are unable to give New Zealanders or or trading partners absolute certainty."
He did not believe the company was deliberately withholding information but it would have to justify its decisions.

Time and a wide-ranging inquiry should tell whether Fonterra has in fact deliberately withheld information, and it is pleasing that Key has signalled his intention so strongly. There are many unanswered questions over this whole mess.

Pleasingly, David Shearer told Breakfast this morning that the Government's response to the crisis so far had been correct, and offered Labour's support. In a political climate where confrontation is the norm, this consensus is a welcome development. There's been not a lot of comment as yet from the Greens, although their dislike for the dairy industry is no secret. Hopefully they will be able to see an important bigger picture at play.

This was Fonterra's sanitation error but it is now New Zealand's problem, and it is important that the Government is able to calm the fears of those who import all dairy products from this country, not just the contaminated whey. Thus far, the Government's response is generally being regarded as exemplary in the circumstances by all except some from the far Left.

We've been following the issue quite a bit on Homepaddock, given Ele's dairy farming pedigree. She offers this observation on Fonterra:

Once the health concerns are allayed it is essential that all these questions are answered.
But there wouldn’t be as many questions to be answered if Fonterra had had a much better protocol in place for handling the issue – or at least the publicity around it.

We couldn't agree more.