Fonterra accepts fine for WPC

New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra has been given a NZ$300,000 (€187,000) fine by admitting food safety violations over its whey protein concentrate recall of last year.

The four counts were associated with the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI)  accusing Fonterra of not processing dairy products in accordance with its risk management programme, and of not notifying its verifier of significant concerns that products had not been processed in accordance with its risk management programme. It also said Fonterra exported product that didn’t meet relevant animal product standards, and that the company failed to notify the MPI as soon as possible over the exported product. This led to the voluntary recall of Fonterra WPC in 2013, where Fonterra warned customers that batches of WPC were potentially contaminated with Clostridium botulinum. However, the recall was a false alarm.