List of Pan Pharmaceuticals products sold in NZ released

The list of suspect products linked to Pan Pharmaceuticals has finally been released.

The New Zealand Food Safety Authority has released the list of 642 dietary supplements and vitamins sold in New Zealand that are made by or contain ingredients made by the disgraced Australian company.

It took three days to put the list together, mainly because complementary medicines do not have to be registered here so authorities have no record of what is sold here, who makes what, or where products come from.

The delay caused public concern and frustration and by late yesterday more than 400 callers had inundated a food safety helpline.

"There have been calls from people who say they have had adverse reactions. If it's current we recommend they go to the doctor," FSA director of policy and regulatory standards Carole Inkster said.

Incidents would be recorded.

Ms Inkster stressed that not all dietary supplements were implicated in the biggest ever recall in Australian and New Zealand.

However she acknowledged it was hard for New Zealanders to find out which ones were. "We just don't have a handle on the scope of the New Zealand industry."

"It is complicated by the fact that its an offshore company, and that that we are dealing with an industry that we don't have a register for."

The list was compiled by the National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA), which represents companies that sell between 70 and 80 per cent of dietary supplements on the market.

Until its release, consumers were forced to wade through a 193-page Australian recalled product list, some of which had different names to the New Zealand products.

Ms Inkster said the list would be cross-checked against the recall list to see if any items had been missed.

Full list of all known products manufactured by Pan Pharmaceuticals in New Zealand
(Requires the free Adobe Acrobat Reader)