'Fonterra products safe'

Fonterra Brands Sri Lanka today said it was confident that all of its dairy products meet the DCD free standard to be introduced by the Government from June 1, 2013.

Managing Director Fonterra Brands Sri Lanka Leon Clement said Fonterra has not found any detectable traces of DCD in any of its branded products in Sri Lanka from 187 test results carried out to date.

"Internationally certified and independent testing laboratories, the Cawthron Institute and AsureQuality, carried out 187 tests on our branded products sold in Sri Lanka and no traces of DCD have been found.

"The tests carried out on our Anchor brand, for example, cover the equivalent of 35 million packs of Anchor full cream milk powder sold in Sri Lanka and no trace of DCD has been detected." Clement added that DCD is no longer used on New Zealand farms so all products produced since mid November 2012 are DCD free. "DCD has never been a food safety issue. In addition, we have never even detected DCD in our Sri Lankan consumer products. There has been a lot of misinformation shared about imported milk powder and our Anchor brand - some of which has been deliberately driven,- which has created unnecessary confusion for consumers in Sri Lanka.

"That's why we are sharing our test results today. Fonterra has one of the highest standard food supply chains in the world - our products go through more than 300 quality tests before they reach the retail shelves. "Consumers can rest assured our products are safe," he said.