Fonterra stressed that the criminal threat targeted New Zealand and the entire dairy industry. The authorities assessed the likelihood of the threat being carried out as extremely low.

Theo Spierings, CEO of Fonterra said: “We can fully assure our customers and consumers that all our milk products are safe and of high quality and our supply chain continues to be secure and world class. We have taken immediate and decisive steps to give our customers added confidence-including increased testing and security measures.”

The Minister of Primary Industries, along with dairy companies, has established a validated testing regime that is being used by the dairy industry for both raw milk and dairy products targeted by the threat. In addition, Fonterra is testing all raw milk it processes and all paediatric products and nutritional base powders that it manufactures.

Meanwhile, other dairy players such as Synlait Milk moved to increase security and reassure customers. Synlait MD Dr John Penno commented: “We have full end-to-end supply chain control from farm to container for milk powder and infant formula products. This includes quality testing of raw milk and comprehensive testing of finished product before it is loaded in shipping containers for export.”

New Zealand relies on dairy for about a quarter of its total export earnings and dairy products, account for 7% of the country’s GDP. The dairy sector and government are moving to limit the impact of the threat, with an eye to export markets such as China where food safety is a major issue.

The poisoning threat is the second food safety scare to hit the country in two years. Export markets, including China, closed in 2013 after Fonterra’s botulism contamination warning which turned out to be a false alarm.

Packages of poisoned infant formula sent to New Zealand dairy giant