French food giant Danone's legal action against Fonterra will cause uncertainty for investors and is more bad press for the dairy co-operative and NZ, says a commentator.

Fonterra's top executives will have plenty to think about early next year when they devise the co-operative's next three-year business plan.

Strengthening systems to track dairy products through ever-lengthening domestic and international supply chains will be one of the key areas of work following the latest report on the Fonterra botulism scare.

A sudden and unexpected divergence in the price of milk powder relative to other dairy products has forced Fonterra to take a big knife to its dividend and earnings forecasts for the 2013/14 year.

Federated Farmers says a report on Fonterra's botulism scare has highlighted the need for a stronger food safety regime.

Theo Spierings, the chief executive of Fonterra, said: "The elephant! So you heard about the elephant."

Higher dairy export prices have driven New Zealand's terms of trade to their highest point since 1973, Statistics NZ says.

Fonterra has to lift its game in food safety and quality, and also sustainability, says chief executive Theo Spierings.

Seven Fonterra workers treated after a toxic fumes scare today have all been discharged from hospital, and five have already returned to work.

The loosening of China's one-child policy is expected to provide a boost for New Zealand infant formula exporters.

New Zealand and Australian employees of infant formula manufacturer Nutricia could be the latest victims of Fonterra's botulism botch-up.

Listed landlord Goodman Property Trust has provided the first glimpse of Fonterra's new headquarters and announced it will own the building in Auckland's Viaduct area.

Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings says the roll-out of the dairy co-op's infant formula brand in China is "on track" despite the ongoing fallout from the company's botulism fiasco.

Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings says the company is "eight to 10 years" behind other dairy players overseas when it comes to sustainability.

Prices of dairy products fell in the second straight GlobalDairyTrade auction overnight.

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.

Editorial: Fonterra's botulism false alarm was a chapter of errors that simply should not be able to happen in a food manufacturer of its scale.

Botulism scare avoidable if responsibility passed swiftly to top management: review chairman.

That the scare turned out to be the result of a false positive test does not mitigate the need for Fonterra to up its game, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

An independent inquiry into Fonterra's botulism scare has revealed a broken torch sparked the contamination scandal.

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