Poison blackmail response should prompt confidence in Kiwi food safety

23-Dec-2015 - Last updated on 23-Dec-2015 at 08:19 GMT

Photo: iStock

Consumers in New Zealand and abroad should take confidence in the way a criminal blackmail threat to contaminate infant formula with a pesticide was handled, the country’s food ministry has claimed.

Speaking after a man pleaded guilty to two counts of blackmail in Auckland High Court for threatening to contaminate nutritional dairy products with the 1080 pesticide, the director-general of the Ministry of Primary Industries said safety authorities and the private sector had put on a strong show.

“What we saw in response to this threat was multiple government agencies working together with dairy companies and retailers with a common purpose—to protect consumers,” said Martyn Dunne in a statement after the court hearing.

The 60-year-old man threatened to contaminated formula unless the government stopped using 1080, which contains sodium fluoroacetate, in its fight against introduced mammalian pests.

When the threat was made, the government, manufacturers and retailers collaborated to implement additional layers of security so consumers could continue using infant formula “with confidence”, according to the MPI, which named the response “Operation Concord”.

“The New Zealand Police should be congratulated for getting to this point. They managed a determined and focussed investigation,” Dunne added.