That the scare turned out to be the result of a false positive test does not mitigate the need for Fonterra to up its game, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

Fonterra failed to recognise the "explosive reputational risk" involved in the botulism scare, an independent inquiry has found.

French food giant Danone says it will lose more than half a billion dollars in sales in the current financial year as a result of Fonterra's botulism false alarm.

An infant formula exporter has slammed the service a taxpayer-funded business support centre in Shanghai provided to a delegation of New Zealand companies.

Fonterra's botulism scare will be one of the key themes of this year's China Business Summit, which takes place today.

There is understandable concern that the recent food contamination scandals in China could have a corrosive effect on the trading relationship between China and New Zealand.

World dairy prices were up 2.4pc in the latest overnight auction.

Fonterra said it was too early to say what the impact of last month's contamination scare would have on its earnings for the 2013/14 year.

Fonterra said its normalised earnings before interest and tax for 2012/13 came to $1 billion, down 3 per cent on the previous year.

Fonterra has once again raised its farmgate milk price for the 2013-14 season, this time by 50c to a record $8.30 per kg of milk solids.

Fonterra's annual earnings look set to fall short of its prospectus forecasts when the company reports its result for the July 31 financial year tomorrow.

Exporters say many Chinese consumers remain unaware that Fonterra's botulism scare was a false alarm.

Trade Minister Tim Groser says New Zealand is partway through a process of restoring its reputation in the world as a safe food producer after Fonterra's whey product contamination scare and subsequent product recall last month.

Two Fonterra managers "on leave" as a result of the botulism scare are now awaiting a board review to find out their fate.

AgResearch has defended its testing of Fonterra's whey concentrate products that led to a false alarm over the presence of a botulism toxin.

Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings says he wasn't informed of the contamination event that led to the company's botulism fiasco quickly enough.

Fonterra has found reprocessing that occurred after plastic was found in whey protein at its Hautapu plant led to its recent contamination scare.

New Zealand has pushed Fonterra's case in meetings with the Sri Lankan government following a tumultuous month which saw the dairy giant temporarily shut down its Sri Lankan operations.

Baby formula maker Nutricia says it still considering whether to take legal action over the Fonterra botulism scare.

When Nutricia's Karicare infant formula was recalled, Auckland mother Hayley Nieuwoudt vowed never to feed her 7-month-old son, Eric, the brand again.

Fonterra "got away with it" over the botulism scare - but NZ's reputation took a big hit in China and that won't suddenly be undone, writes Liam Dann.