Infant formula threat unlikely to hurt New Zealand exports long-term: experts

The threat to poison New Zealand infant formula would have no long-term effects on agricultural exports, although the continuous stream of food safety issues could cause concerns, experts from the country's main agriculture university said Thursday.

Lincoln University Agribusiness and Food Marketing Program director Nic Lees said he could not see the threat having a significant long-term effect on either dairy exports or the New Zealand brand.

"Firstly because it is only a threat of contamination and secondly because the majority of New Zealand food exports get further processed or repackaged or blended so for many consumers the New Zealand country of origin is not obvious," Lees said in a statement.

"We are basically an ingredients supplier to international food manufacturers. They are our main customers. These industrial buyers have a good understanding of the New Zealand supply chain integrity and have been communicated to regarding the increased security and testing."

This was the reason why the false botulism scare and global recall in August 2013 had little effect on New Zealand dairy milk powder prices.

Farm management and agribusiness lecturer Bruce Greig agreed, saying New Zealand had managed numerous biosecurity risks over the years with robust regulation and monitoring.

The threat would increase vigilance by exporters which could increase New Zealand's reputation for food safety, Greig said in the statement.

"I am not surprised that this has happened. Our primary sector and export industry are very vulnerable to these kinds of threats and industrial sabotage. It is one more aspect of being competitive in a global economy," he said.

However, Dr Malik Hussain, associate director of Lincoln's Centre for Food Research and Innovation warned that continuously emerging food safety issues could ruin the reputation of a company and country of origin.

Overseas consumers and importers would suspect not only the product in the discussion due to a particular incident, but the entire food system in a country.

"This recent threat to deliberately contaminate formula with 1080 could be a typical food supply management issue. This reminds us that food safety management is a vital component of an entire food business chain, from raw material production, to processing, to distribution and retailing, and to consumption," Hussain said in the statement.

Police revealed Tuesday that letters sent to the Federated Farmers industry group and the Fonterra dairy cooperative in November last year were accompanied by small packages of milk powder that subsequently tested positive for the presence of a concentrated form of the pesticide 1080.

The letters threatened to contaminate infant and other formula with 1080 unless New Zealand stopped using 1080 for pest control by the end of March 2015.

The 1080 threat is the third food safety or contamination alert that the dairy industry and MPI have had to deal with in as many years.

At the beginning of 2013, residues of pasture treatment chemical DCD was found in some Fonterra milk products, and in August that year came the false botulism alarm and the global recall of whey protein concentrate.

Sodium monofluoroacetate, known as 1080, is a poison used to protect New Zealand's native flora and fauna against introduced pests such as possums and ferrets.

Its use has been controversial over the years with opponents saying it poisons native animals and contaminates the environment. Endi