Fonterra says the potential contamination of 14 milk tankers with mud and gravel is a "very minor incident" and its safety systems worked as intended.

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

Fonterra's botulism scandal was one of the "greatest gifts" the company could have given to the Chinese Government, according to a visiting foreign correspondent.

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

Hokitika dairy co-operative Westland Milk Products and Waikato's Tatua outperformed their far larger competitor, Fonterra, for farmer payouts over the 2012/13 year.

Last Wednesday, Fonterra bosses were heaving a collective sigh of relief, but as Fran O'Sullivan writes the clean-up from its dirty pipe debacle continues.

As the turmoil from the Fonterra whey product contamination scare starts to subside.

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.

The Ministry for Primary Industries says it is exploring interim measures to strengthen consumer assurances about dairy production after the recent food contamination scares.

For those from other parts of the world, how are we different from Australia? Our flag is a major branding problem, writes Malcolm Wright.

A food scare as serious as the risk of botulism in infant formula produced by New Zealand's biggest company will inevitably result in a call for heads to roll, and for Government inquiries into what went wrong.

With a product as healthy as milk, this is one child-directed selling ploy that is not going to upset the nutritionists or, for that matter, parents, writes Brian Rudman.

North Waikato residents are calling for Fonterra to consider the effects on the wider community as it goes ahead with plans for a second open-cast coal mine.