Editorial - Storm in a cream cup

Everyone, from opposition politicians to a handful of Fonterra’s 10,500 shareholders, has jumped on the bandwagon to bag the dairy co-op. One unsuccessful Fonterra board candidate went as far as calling for board chairman John Wilson to resign.

And all because the co-op voluntarily recalled 8,700 bottles of fresh cream from North Island retail and foodservice outlets. The recall was triggered by quality tests showing there may be the presence of E.coli in some Anchor and Pam’s bottles of cream.

To put this in context, Fonterra produces around 17 million bottles of fresh cream annually in New Zealand.  It is recalling fewer than 9000 bottles or about 0.05% of its annual production. In New Zealand there are 100 voluntary food recalls and withdrawals every month. But no other food producer faces this scrutiny from the media and politicians.

We don’t condone the presence of E.coli or any other bacteria in our food products. The bottom line is that all our food products must be safe and of top quality. But let’s give credit where its due - Fonterra has acted decisively in recalling the products.

 One would expect the co-op to have learned its lessons from the botulism fiasco. It should have processes in place to manage consumer fallout and should in time shake off any perception issues about its food safety record.

The investigation into the alleged contamination is continuing and everyone will be eagerly waiting to see how this happened. For overseas consumers, still recovering from the false botulism scare and its impact on infant formula trade, publicity around the cream recall will cause some concern.

However, the fresh cream recall is a domestic issue for Fonterra’s brands business. Food recalls come with being a major player in the FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) sector.

Using every minor food safety issue at Fonterra to humiliate the co-op is plain wrong. And using the minor food recall to push political agendas is worse.

The cream recall is a minor issue, but as a global food exporter, Fonterra knows the stakes are high in the international market. The co-op is now operating under scrutiny both at home and abroad.