Chinese mistrust NZ food

Reuters

FAVOURED FOODS: More than half of Chinese consumers say they are now less likely to trust New Zealand food products after the melamine contamination scandal, according to a just-released survey.

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More than half of Chinese consumers say they are now less likely to trust New Zealand food products after the melamine contamination scandal, according to a just-released survey.

Sinogie Consulting, a company that advises foreign firms investing in China, surveyed 300 people in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou between September 22 and September 25.

Just over half (51.2 percent) of respondents said they were now less likely to trust New Zealand brands of dairy or other food products than they did before. However, New Zealand still came second when consumers were asked to rate which country's food products were the most trustworthy - behind the European Union but ahead of the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and China in that order.

Sinogie Consulting chief executive Bruce McLaughlin, who is based in Shanghai, said he was surprised New Zealand's reputation as a food producer had not suffered more.

"People are well aware that it was Fonterra who was involved with Sanlu," he said.