Shearer David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to MembersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeShearer David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members[Sitting date: 06 August 2013. Volume:692;Page:12299. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]2.DAVID SHEARER (Leader of the Opposition)to thePrime Minister: Does he stand by his statement that he is “deeply concerned” about the Fonterra whey proteinscare and if so is he satisfied that parents in New Zealand and overseas now have accurate information on this issue?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister):Yes. I am satisfied that Government agencies are working hard to provide New Zealand parents and caregivers with the utmost up-to-date information that they have. Parents should continue to monitor the Ministry for Primary Industries website and callHealthline andPlunketLine for further advice. In respect of overseas customers their respective regulatory agencies are responsible for providing information to their consumers. The Ministry for Primary Industries and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade are giving those regulators the latest information as they have it.David Shearer: What role is the Ministry of Health taking to reassure parents that the baby formula they are feeding their child is safe?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: My understanding is that the Ministry of Health has been involved with the response group that was established by the Government. The Minister of Health has been involved in every teleconference that I was involved in over the weekend. I might stand corrected but his director-general was involved right through the weekend in terms of all of the information. The Ministry of Health website has been updated and we have been monitoring admissions to hospitals around the country for any signs that might indicate that a baby has consumed infant formula that is tainted.David Shearer: Were Ministers told of the issue before the Ministry for Primary Industries; if so what actions did those Ministers take?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: My understanding is that at 12.35 on Friday Fonterra advised the Ministry for Primary Industries and then from there the other contact flowed with Ministers.David Shearer: Is he satisfied that the protocols—if those protocols exist—between the Ministry for Primary Industries and Fonterra resulted in timely disclosure?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I think it would be very difficult for me to actually give an answer to that today. I think we do need to go and have a full inquiry. I mean we have made it quite clear—or I think the company has made it quite clear—that it was aware on the Wednesday and yet the Ministry for Primary Industries was not aware until Friday lunchtime. I cannot explain that gap in time. I think that is one of the very real issues that needs to be looked at.David Shearer: Given that the Chinese media is calling the “100% Pure New Zealand” brand “a festering sore” what urgent action is he taking today to limit the fallout for New Zealand?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Well I think that in reality the first issue we need to do is actually identify all of the potentially contaminated product and make sure it is off the shelves and not accessible to consumers. I think secondly from there we need to be transparent actually with all countries that trade with us that we have actually gone and looked at what went wrong and ensured that it will not happen again and then ultimately we need to continue to communicate with our customer markets. But I do think a bit of perspective needs to be put on this. I am not in any way downplaying the very seriousness of what has taken place but I think we can also look back on 100 years of trading food internationally and we have generally speaking very very safe and high-quality standards.Dr Russel Norman: Is the Minister in a position to tell us whether the tests in March 2013 that foundClostridium in those ingredients—and at that point we did not know whether it was a toxic form ofClostridium —triggered some kind of notification to the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Minister for Primary Industries?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Authoritatively I cannot be sure but I think it is fairly unlikely that it did trigger a response to the Ministry for Primary Industries. My understanding ofthe way things went is that when they did the tests in March I think it was partly done in Australia withNutricia. That showed up they spoke to the company and the company did a series of other tests but it was only really on Wednesday of last week when the company was sure as a result of all of its testing that it had a potentially very serious problem.Dr Russel Norman: Is the Minister in a position to tell us why there was a 5-month delay between the identification of some kind ofClostridium and the final identification that it was actuallyClostridiumbotulinum ?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: No but I think the member asks a very good question and it will be part of the review that will be undertaken.Dr Russel Norman: Does the Minister believe that there should be some kind of automatic process whereby when a food manufacturer like Fonterra but any other as well findsClostridium in their product particularly a product that is destined for infant formula the Ministry for Primary Industries should immediately be told that there is a potential problem?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: That might be something that can form part of the review. I suspect that Fonterra may argue or other manufacturers may argue that that actually shows up more regularly than we think but in fact it depends on the circumstances. One can only assume that Fonterra itself certainly does not want to do damage to its markets and its customers and therefore if that had really sent the alarm bells ringing back in March 2013 one would assume that it would have acted much faster than it did. So it obviously believed that it was not a serious enough threat to stop the production of that infant baby formula.Dr Russel Norman: Accepting that answer does the Minister agree that having foundClostridium  it should have been an urgent question that needed answering very quickly as to whether that wasClostridiumbotulinum rather than just a harmless kind ofClostridium  because the answer to that question was critical to whether it should have allowed more of the product to go forward into the food chain?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Well again I think the member makes exactly the right point. We just cannot answer that question today. But it does seem very very odd that Fonterra allowed production to carry on and for that infant baby formula to go into the supply chain or into the distribution chain. So one can only assume that it believed right up until Wednesday of last week that that was not an issue. I cannot explain why it did not think that that was an issue but their scientists in the fullness of time may be able to.Dr Russel Norman: Has the Minister put this question to the Ministry for Primary Industries rather than just Fonterra as to whether the Ministry for Primary Industries believes that there should have been much quicker action on having found the generic kind ofClostridium ?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I personally have not although there was a sort of round-table discussion yesterday with the acting director-general which sort of broadly traversed these kinds of topics. I suspect those sorts of questions have been asked but the acting director-general has been extremely focused on trying to understand and quantify exactly the issue and where the product actually is. So as I have sort of said on numerous occasions there will be plenty of time to look at these questions but it probably has not been the top of priority in the last 48-odd hours.