DIRA Review: Open Country Dairy Warns Against Regulatory "Complacency"
The country's second largest milk processor is warning against 'complacency' during a review of competition regulations in the dairy sector.
The Ministry for Primary Industries must name the imported berry products linked to Hepatitis A and recall them, says Labour's Primary Industry spokesman Damien O'Connor.
"It is not good enough to just warn people to boil the berries before eating them. Thousands of people every day around the country are drinking smoothies full of berries," says O'Connor.
"Hepatitis A is particularly dangerous for the elderly and those with chronic liver damage."
O'Connor says the Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy must seek urgent answers from his ministry over its handling of imported frozen berries linked to a Hepatitis A outbreak.
"Australian officials recalled important frozen berries there in February. Nathan Guy must explain why – when there is a joint Australasian approach to food safety – the same wasn't done here," he says.
"This latest scare is yet again proof that Labour is right to call for the return of a stand-alone food safety agency."
Potatoes New Zealand has congratulated Peter Reynolds of TA Reynolds Ltd in Pukekohe on being awarded the Horticulture New Zealand Bledisloe Cup, recognising a lifetime of service and contribution to New Zealand horticulture.
Signing up to a benchmarking tool is not about competition, but about improving collectively, says Ximena Puig and Alvaro Luzardo who are 50-50 sharemilkers at a 164-hectare (effective) dairy farm in Eketāhuna in the Lower North Island.
A leading British farming politician says he's impressed with the positive attitude of New Zealand farmers that he met during his recent trip here.
OPINION: With 10,500 dairy farms, New Zealand continues to punch above its weight around the world.
The Southern Dairy Hub (SDH), which runs a demonstration farm for South Island farmers, has a new general manager.
Esther Guy-Meakin has been announced as the new chief executive of the New Zealand Meat Board (NZMB).

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