French food giant Danone was "lulled into a false sense of security" by allegedly misleading information Fonterra gave it months before the botulism scare exploded into the public domain, the High Court heard yesterday.
Danone is suing in the wake of last year's botulism fiasco and alleges Fonterra Co-operative Group employees provided it with "incorrect and misleading information" in April 2013.
This included that whey protein concentrate - known as WPC80 - was clear of certain bacteria when some testing was yet to be completed, the QC acting for Danone, David Goddard, told the High Court at Auckland yesterday.
Danone also alleges Fonterra told it that all lot codes of WPC80 were put on hold when in fact substantial amounts of it were supplied to the French firm, Goddard said.
Danone was "lulled into a false sense of security" by the statements made to it in April and continued to manufacture and distribute product, Goddard said.