FX.co ★ Onishchenko bans dairy produce from New Zealand

The produce of Fonterra, a company from New Zealand, is under the embargo imposed by the Russian Federation. Rospotrebnadzor (Federal Service for Control in the Sphere of Protection Consumers' Rights and Well-Being of Humans) put a stop to importing Fonterra’s dairy products. Such crucial measures were imposed by statements that the produce could contain botulism-causing bacteria. “In order to avoid reaching dangerous goods the consumer, Rospotrebnadzor assumed measures for removing the contaminated produce by Fonterra out of commodity circulation and suspending its import into the Russian Federation area,” the agency’s head Gennady Onishchenko announced. The botulism contamination menace was detected not by Russian specialists, it was reported by the producer itself. Recently, the company’s representatives have made a statement that a variety of products used by other companies for making infant formulas may contain botulinus. Fonterra warned its partners and customers buying the ingredients for further fabrication and requested to tighten control and testing finished products. In case of the positive analysis results, it is supposed to withdraw batches of baby food out of sales. Fonterra is the fourth on the list of the largest dairy companies in the world dealing with milk powder supplies to Russia. In New Zealand, the dairy industry is the keystone of the country’s economy and it accounts for 90% of the total export.