The latest on the Fonterra situation

The Ministry for Primary Industries has updated its advice on the Fonterra contamination situation.

As regards infant formula, they advise as follows:

What products are affected?

MPI cannot rule out the following Nutricia Karicare products as potentially contaminated and recommends they are not fed to children until further notice.

• Nutricia Karicare Infant Formula Stage 1 for babies from birth
• Nutricia Karicare Stage 2 Follow-on formula for children from six months old

MPI recommends parents and caregivers use alternative products until further notice.
UPDATE - Additional product identified but cleared of food safety risk
Vitaco Health has provided consumer advice about its Aussie Bodies sports nutrition products. A limited number of Aussie Bodies UHT (ultra high temperature) ready to drink products contain whey protein from one of the batches concerned. However, MPI has verified that the product has been subjected to a production process that would have killed Clostridium botulinum.
A technical team from MPI has looked closely at this product and the evidence is that it carries no increased food safety risk as a result of this issue. 

MPI has also noted a recall of whey-based calf feed:

UPDATE - Calf feed recalled

Fonterra has announced that its animal feed subsidiary NZAgBiz, which is one of the eight customers that received affected whey protein concentrate, has issued an immediate product recall of a small amount of calf replacement feed. MPI will continue to update as new information comes to hand. 

And lastly, the export situation has been updated. With regard to China, things may not be as bad as first thought. Rather than attempt to paraphrase MPI, here's information direct from the Ministry's website:

What is the impact on export markets?

Officials are working hard to get information to relevant authorities in our export markets. We are working with Fonterra and its customers to verify all of this information.
We do face some market closures:

• Russia appears to have put a temporary ban on all New Zealand dairy exports. MPI is focusing on getting further clarity on this.
• Chinese authorities have suspended imports of Fonterra-produced Whey Powder and Dairy Base powder, and increased inspection and supervision at the border for New Zealand dairy products. China has not closed the market to all New Zealand dairy products; and it has also been quite specific about the range of Fonterra products which it has temporarily suspended. Chinese authorities still have a number of questions which we will be working to provide answers for today.
• At this stage we are not aware of any additional market closures. 

We commend those officials who have worked all weekend and today to try and provide some certainty to buyers of New Zealand dairy exports. They are doing a terrific job under intense pressure, and they deserve our appreciation.