A Far North farmer is offering a $30,000 reward to anyone who can provide evidence leading to conviction of the person who contaminated milk on his property.
Orakau dairy farmer Tony Liefting is trying to uncover the mystery of expensive spoiled milk and is alleging foul play.
Just three weeks before Christmas
last year Tony Liefting was left with a $28,000 bill when his milk was found to be contaminated with penicillin.
The penicillin was identified in his milk product when it arrived at the Fonterra factory.
If it had been pumped into the factory things could have been catastrophic - the high levels of penicillin found in the milk product would have contaminated the entire day's milk take, which would have had to be dumped at a cost of more than a million dollars.
Fonterra's milk supply general manager Tim Deane said Fonterra tested every tanker load before it was unloaded at the factory.
"Food safety standards dictate we must ensure there are no contaminants in milk. If contamination is found we dispose of the milk," Mr Deane said.
The $28,000 bill received from Fonterra was for additional testing.
It was found the levels of penicillin in the milk were so high that the incident became the second worst Fonterra had encountered in the country, Mr Liefting said.
"When Fonterra contacted me about this, I said there was no way we could have contaminated milk as we weren't giving any penicillin at the time."
Mr Liefting - who acknowledged a long-standing feud with a fellow farmer - said he suspected someone had sabotaged his milk supply.
Mr Liefting contacted police who he said were reluctant to pursue the incident.
"It took a letter to a police commander in Whangarei before it began to be properly investigated," he said.
"Because the incident took so long to be investigated, forensics were not carried out around the property at the time."
Police spokesman Sarah Kennett said police in Kaikohe were investigating the incident and an inquiry was ongoing.
Mr Liefting had also been investigating the incident with his insurers and had talked to other farmers around the area and had managed to secure some evidence of the culprit but not enough to form charges.
