'At-risk' confectionery sold in Rotorua store

Chinese confectionery containing milk powder is being sold at The Warehouse in Rotorua - and the Food Safety Authority says it falls into the "risk" category.

Health authorities are still to decide whether to test the Chinese-made product, called Mr Mallow Party Mix, which The Daily Post discovered on the shelves at The Warehouse in Rotorua yesterday.

After discovering the Chinese-made lolly White Rabbit Creamy Candy, known to contain unacceptably high levels of melamine, being sold in one local store, The Daily Post yesterday visited others in Rotorua's central city to see if they were selling milk-related products.

Melamine is the chemical at the centre of the Chinese milk scandal in which four babies have died and 54,000 been made ill.

The White Rabbit candy was pulled from the shelves of NewSave Asian Fresh Supermarket in Rotorua as soon as the Auckland-based owner was made aware.



When The Daily Post visited The Warehouse, it found it was selling the Chinese-made confectionery Mr Mallow Party Mix - marshmallows containing milk powder.

The product is imported by an Australian company Mike & Jack Pty Ltd and the marshmallows contain flavoured fillings including chocolate.

There were several bags of the marshmallows on the shop's shelves, each selling for $3.59 and containing 30 to 40 individually wrapped marshmallows. Other lollies made in China were found at The Warehouse but they did not appear to contain milk products.

New Zealand Food Safety Authority deputy chief executive Sandra Daly said such an item did fall in the "risk category" but she did not know if it would be tested. She said the top priority was the testing of baby formulas and then the authority would test other Chinese made milk products as quickly as possible.

People were being warned not to eat White Rabbit Creamy Candy. However, she said it was consumers' choice whether they ate other Chinese milk products.

The Daily Post emailed the name of the product and the name of the importer to the authority's communications manager Gary Bowering, who sent an email last night saying he was still trying to find out if the lolly was being tested.

The manager of The Warehouse in Rotorua directed any comments to the company's confectionery buyer but when The Daily Post called the store's head office in Auckland yesterday it was referred to a communications officer who has not yet responded to messages left by the newspaper. Another attempt to contact The Warehouse's head office was made this morning but the office did not open before this newspaper's final deadline.