Dive Summary:
- Fonterra on Thursday that high nitrite levels led the New Zealand dairy giant to cancel the shipment of 42 tonnes of milk powder destined for China in May.
- According to Fonterra, the milk powder had been approved for export in its home country, but the nitrite levels were determined to be unsafe at the Chinese border.
- "The limit is 2 parts per million in China and the product tested at somewhere between 2.4 ppm and 2.8 ppm," Ian Palliser, Fonterra's group director of food safety and quality told Radio New Zealand.
Dive Insight:
Fonterra recently had to apologize in China and other countries for bacteria that was found in its milk powder. The scandal has since widened, attracting scrutiny for New Zealand's dairy industry more widely, after Westland Milk Products Co.'s China-bound lactoferrin powder was found to have unsafe nitrate levels. China has since ordered more extensive testing for New Zealand dairy products.