Goodhew Jo: Urgent Debates — Dairy Products Whey Protein—Response to Contamination IncidentText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeGoodhew Jo: Urgent Debates — Dairy Products Whey Protein—Response to Contamination Incident[Sitting date: 06 August 2013. Volume:692;Page:12339. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon JO GOODHEW (Associate Minister of Health):Well right from the earliest moments of this incident our first thoughts were for the safety and security of our food. In our health portfolio roles both Minister Ryall and I were intricately involved right from the beginning and it very quickly became apparent that our most vulnerable citizens—our youngest children—would be those most at risk if their milk formula powder should be contaminated withClostridiumbotulinum . From the earliest time on Friday as other Ministers have expressed Ministers from across portfolios joined together to look from all angles at how we could work our way through this incident—the Minister for Food Safety Nikki Kaye; the Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy; Minister Ryall and me; and the foreign affairs and trade Ministers McCully and Groser along with other senior Ministers.I want to say right now that I feel for the families who through this time have worried about what information should be in front of them. Those parents are of course hungry for information and it would be fair to say that as information has changed and as the information put before the Ministry for Primary Industries has improved in its quantity and quality then more information has been able to be conveyed to parents. As many members here in the House will know two products have now been recalled. I want to lay on the record of the House today again the names of those two products:NutriciaKaricare Stage 1 New Baby Infant Formula—that is from birth—all batches andNutriciaKaricare Gold+ Stage 2 Follow-on Formula from 6 months all batches. There is a recall currently under way. I urge any families using those products to return them to the place of purchase.In terms of the role of the Ministry of Health its role has been to maintain vigilance regarding any possible cases of infant botulism and I want to just remind the House of the symptoms that people should be looking out for: poor feeding or a weak suck on the part of a baby or toddler lethargy and floppiness a weak cry facial weakness and an impaired gag reflex. But in essence if there are any concerns on the part of a parent they should ringPlunketLine orHealthline or take their child to a doctor. In terms ofHealthline andPlunketLine well their volumes have increased significantly. That tells me that our messages about the phone numbers which are consistently going out via websites and other media have been heard. YesterdayPlunketLine had 1500 calls. It has done a wonderful job as hasHealthline of gearing up the numbers of people who are taking shifts to respond to the increased numbers of calls coming to it for the advice that families so eagerly seek. I just want to actually thank those people who are staffing those lines for the extra work that I know they have done.In terms of the other roles the Ministry of Health has they are around working to ensure the adequacy of supply and that includes the adequacy of supply to our paediatric units our baby-care units and in addition to that maintaining the information that goes out to general practices so that the doctors whom families go to for advice are also completely up to date with what they need to know. These are the roles that the Ministry of Health has undertaken. It has sat at the table through the Director-General and his senior deputy directors-general. They are sitting round the table keeping Ministers informed and working with the Ministry for Primary Industries. This is a concerted united front so that we can present the very best of information to the public of New Zealand to reassure those families who will be concerned with the most up-to-date information that we have before us. So I just want to finish by thanking all of the people within the health sector who have done their bit to reassure those families and to say to the House that we are really hoping that soon the families will be able to look back on this and be sure that their babies are fine.