Sri Lanka issues Fonterra summons

A court in Sri Lanka has issued summons to New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra’s local subsidiary after they defied an earlier court order banning advertising of dairy products suspected of contamination. Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal released an order, which makes it illegal for Fonterra to continue advertising campaigns with the slogan “100 percent pure” until 3 September 2013.

However, Fonterra Lanka had distributed leaflets in contravention of the order resulting in charges of contempt of court being filed against the directors, Shanghai Daily reports.

Two batches of New Zealand milk giant Fonterra’s imports were banned by Sri Lanka’s Health Ministry two weeks ago for containing toxic agricultural chemical dicyandiamide (DCD), but the company has rejected the charge. The 39 metric tons of milk powder was recalled and products such as chocolate that could also contain contaminated milk powder or whey protein have also been ordered off shelves.

Sri Lanka is the fifth largest purchaser of Fonterra products in the world and the company also has two large-scale factories in the island producing half a million milk packets and yogurt cups each day.