Dairy exporter says cattle disease prompting food safety inquiries

Both meat and dairy products are safe to consume. Photo / Paul Estcourt

The discovery of the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis has prompted enquiries from overseas about the food safety of New Zealand products, says dairy exporter New Image Group.

The Government and farming sector leaders this week announced that they would attempt to eradicate M. bovis at estimated cost of $886 million over 10 years after the disease was first detected in the South Island 10 months ago.

New Image said it had been "inundated" with inquiries from its international consumers and clients.

The company was busy allaying fears, advising its products were completely safe, that the disease was wide spread throughout the world and did not affect humans.

A Taiwanese partner urgently requested some safety information from New Image and said it too was handling lots of consumer requests for assurance in that country, said New Image founder Graeme Clegg.

New Image said it pointed its customers and consumers to further information on Mycoplasma Bovis on the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) website.

"As someone from a farming background my heart goes out to farmers who are faced with losing sometimes whole herds that they have reared and tended over the years," he said.

"But as an exporter I am feeling upset that we will have to again battle to correct a misconception about New Zealand dairy products."

A spokesman for Fonterra - New Zealand's biggest dairy exporter - said it had only received "a few general calls" from customers with questions about M. bovis, but that none of them had been food safety or quality related.

The Ministry for Primary Industries said it had received a number of enquiries regarding food safety following the discovery.

"We have been clear – there is absolutely no food safety concern with this disease," MPI said in an emailed response to an inquiry from the Herald.

"Both meat and dairy products are safe to consume. The disease is present in all other meat and milk producing countries in the world where animal products are safely consumed," a spokesperson for the ministry said.

- Staff reporter