7 Aug 2013

Fonterra to review delay in contamination announcement

2:26 pm on 7 August 2013

Fonterra is to review why it took more than two days to make information about its contamination scare public.

Fonterra knew last Wednesday that some exported whey protein was contaminated, but did not tell the Government or the public for days.

The Financial Markets Authority is also questioning why the stock exchange was not informed immediately.

Fonterra said on Tuesday the delay will be the subject of an internal review, overseen by the Ministry for Primary Industries.

Opposition parties say the Government should not wait until the contamination scare is over to critique the dairy company's handling of it.

Labour said there is a lot riding on how the incident is handled. Party leader David Shearer told Morning Report on Wednesday that any inquiry into the contamination scare should also question how the Ministry for Primary Industries has handled the situation.

He said an internal review is not sufficient and the Government needs to set up an independent inquiry.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said New Zealand's trading image has been severely tarnished.