Dairy giant Fonterra is calling for government laboratories to be better equipped to identify bugs in food, after finding E.coli bacteria in its fresh cream.
The company recalled up to 8700 small bottles of Anchor and Pams fresh cream on January 13 after routine testing found E.coli, a bacteria that in its most virulent form can cause deadly stomach illness. The recall came just four months after the Government AgResearch lab wrongly cited botulism in milk powder.
Through another Government lab, Environmental Science and Research, Fonterra has ordered samples sent to labs in Denmark and Australia to identify E.Coli - but the company says scientists are still a month away from identifying it.
Fonterra Brands managing director Peter McClure told the Herald on Sunday the delay called into question New Zealand's testing capability. The company, New Zealand's biggest, sent "a lot" of lab testing work to ESR, but had been forced on this occasion to go further afield. "Should New Zealand have better (testing) capability? We need to contemplate that. It is a question I am about to raise," he said.
Suspicion in the E.coli contamination has fallen on a process pump in its Takinini factory failing to effectively flush cleaning fluid through the system.
