It referred to the crisis following revelations it had produced 38 tonnes of whey concentrate contaminated with the potentially deadly Clostridium botulinum, which can cause botulism, as “the quality issue”.
The farmer co-operative’s statement said it had assured consumers in global markets including Australia, Asia, China, Latin America, New Zealand and the Middle East that none of its range of branded consumer products contained the affected whey protein concentrate (WPC80).
In addition to branded consumer products, Fonterra markets a range of commercial ingredients under its NZMP label. These ingredients are sold to other food companies that use them to manufacture their own consumer products.
The three specific batches of WPC80 produced at a single New Zealand manufacturing site, which were identified by Fonterra in its initial announcement, are the only NZMP ingredients affected by this quality issue.
Those batches were sold to eight of Fonterra’s customers – with some receiving it as base product and others receiving finished product manufactured by Fonterra using the affected WPC80 as an ingredient.
“Of these customers, three are food companies, two are beverage companies and three are companies that manufacture animal stock feed.
“Fonterra is continuing to communicate with and provide support directly to these eight customers.
“At this stage, no product recalls have been announced.
“Any product recalls that may be necessary in the coming days will be announced and initiated by the respective customers, in conjunction with local regulators,” the co-op said in the statement which was not attributed to any staff member.
