Screw turns on Fonterra to come clean

Calls are mounting for Fonterra to release documents at the centre of the melamine baby milk scandal in China, with a New Zealand legal expert rubbishing the dairy giant's claims it could not release the information for legal reasons.

Sanlu chairwoman Tian Wenhau last week said she allowed melamine to be added to its infant milk formula on the advice of its New Zealand shareholder. Fonterra has confirmed it gave her a document about Europe's safe limits of melamine in food, but said it made it clear zero was the only acceptable melamine level.

Tian's lawyer, Liu XinWei, told the Sunday Star-Times from China he was unable to release the Fonterra documents because they were with the Chinese courts, but confirmed they showed Europe's highest permissible level of melamine in food was 30mg/kg.

He said Tian, who was sentenced to life in prison after she was found guilty on December 31 of producing and selling false or substandard products, told the court she allowed up to 15mg/kg of melamine in milk on the basis of Fonterra's information after August 1 last year. That was the date Sanlu, in which Fonterra had a 43% stake, discovered melamine was the contaminant making Chinese babies die or become sick.

Fonterra learned of the contamination the following day, but Sanlu stopped producing milk only on September 12, despite Fonterra's push for a recall of all its milk. According to Chinese media reports, the Fonterra document was given to Sanlu on August 13.

Wellington media lawyer Steven Price, a law lecturer at Victoria University, said he knew of no legal reasons preventing information about a case in China from being revealed in New Zealand and called for Fonterra to release the documents, doubting it would affect Tian's appeal.

"Our sub judice laws do not stop Fonterra here from releasing documents because it might prejudice the case. It seems a bit self-serving by them.

"It's conceivable that they might not want to release them. Had these documents contained a very clear document saying that zero tolerance was allowed, would they be so reluctant to release them?"

He said if Tian appealed her conviction, it would not be considered by a jury so publication of any documents would not affect her case.

Six babies died and more than 290,000 were seriously harmed by drinking the contaminated milk. Sanlu and 21 other dairy companies had offered 200,000 yuan ($57,000) for families whose children died, 30,000 yuan ($9000) for serious cases such as kidney stones and acute kidney failure, and 2000 yuan ($600) for less severe cases.

According to China's Oriental Morning Post newspaper, 11 victims plan to lodge legal action in Chinese courts to sue Sanlu and Fonterra over the melamine tragedy.

University of Canterbury political science senior lecturer Dr Anne-Marie Brady, a specialist in Chinese politics, questioned the dairy giant's motives in giving Sanlu information about safe melamine guidelines in Europe when the company would have already known the melamine contamination was malicious because of extremely high levels detected.

"[Tian] is taking the blame for a large number of people," she said.

Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier told a press conference last week the document on European melamine levels had been given to Tian by a Fonterra director on Sanlu but the company made it clear to Sanlu that zero melamine was the only acceptable level. Fonterra would not answer further questions from the Star-Times.

According to its website, the European Food Safety Authority provisionally recommended in July 2007 that a tolerable daily limit of melamine from food for humans and domestic animals was 0.5mg/kg body weight per day, based on figures from the Scientific Committee of Food (SFA). A specific migration rate of melamine from plastic of 30mg/kg of food was agreed on by the SFA, assuming the maximum food eaten was 1kg for a 60kg person.

- © Fairfax NZ News