Inquiries and reviews

Fonterra reviews.

CEO Operational Review.

At Fonterra, we are committed to providing high quality dairy ingredients and products to our customers and to people around the world. 

Having finalised the precautionary recall, our priority was finding out why this happened, prevent it from happening again, and ensure we take all steps necessary to maintain our global leadership position within the dairy industry.

Our initial investigations gave us a clear idea of the events that led to the recall, then we established a detailed understanding of the processes, systems and decisions involved.

Fonterra’s Group Director of Strategy, Maury Leyland, lead an in-depth review covering our business processes, information and traceability systems, and current ways of working, including decision-making processes.

New Zealand Government inquiries.

Joint Ministerial Inquiry into whey protein contamination.

On August 19 Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy and Food Safety Minister Nikki Kaye released the draft terms of inquiry for the Government’s investigation into the whey protein concentrate contamination (WPC) incident.

The Government has agreed in principle to establish a joint Ministerial-led Government Inquiry which will be divided into two parts:

Part A will look at how the potentially contaminated whey protein concentrate entered the New Zealand and international market, and how this was subsequently addressed.

Parts B and C will look at regulatory and best practice requirements against the background of this incident in relation to the dairy industry, including the response of regulators.

The inquiry will then report back on any recommended legal, regulatory or operational changes

The Ministers have invited Miriam Dean QC to chair the inquiry. Ms Dean is the past president of the Bar Association, a former partner at Russell McVeagh, and has held a range of board appointments. Two other members will also be appointed shortly, one of whom will be an international food safety expert.

The details of the Ministerial inquiry, including the appointment process, are ‘in principle’ because it’s proposed that the inquiry will be carried out using powers in the Inquiries Bill currently before the House.